Cheptoek, Wangeci Peace Race winners

October 27, 2014 at 12:05a.m.

Peace Race

field greeted

by sun, wind

YOUNGSTOWN

There was a point during the first half of Sunday’s 40th annual Peace Race when Patrick Cheptoek found himself pushing a little too hard and enjoying the race a little too much.

“I was thinking I may have problems at the end,” Cheptoek said.

So he eased up around the three-mile mark, allowing Shadrack Kiyai to shrink his seven-second deficit to about four seconds. Once they got to the five-mile point, Cheptoek decided it was time to end the drama.

Fresh off a second-place finish at last week’s Columbus Marathon, Cheptoek cruised to the overall title, winning by 16 seconds with a time of 29 minutes, 18.5 seconds in the 40th annual Peace Race through Mill Creek Park.

“I’ve competed against Kiyai and I was confident in the last stages I was gonna beat him,” said Cheptoek, a Ugandan who ran cross country at Western Kentucky and is still a graduate assistant there. “I wasn’t scared at all.”

Sunday’s race drew just under 1,700 runners between the 10K and two-mile races and runners were treated with windy, yet sunny, conditions and temperatures in the low 50s.

“I think it’s awesome,” Cheptoek said of the course. “It’s cool, no traffic, just perfect running out there.”

Wangeci top female

Mary Wangeci cruised to the overall women’s title, finishing in 33:22.0 to beat fellow Kenyan Jane Murage by 20 seconds.

“I was not expecting to win, but I was hoping,” Wangeci said. “The race was very nice.”

Olympian Bridget Franek of Hiram, who ran the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the 2012 London Games, ran 35:06.8 and earned $500. Jackson-Milton High graduate Samantha Hamilton was just behind her.

“It’s a great course, amazing competition and just so fun for me to see all the awesome Northeast Ohio runners and start to get to know them a little bit,” said Franek, a Crestwood High graduate who has spent the last few years training in Eugene, Ore. “I really look forward to coming back for some more races. There’s a lot of very nice people and it’s a pleasure to get to run against them.”

Rozic wins two-mile

Austintown Fitch junior Matt Rozic won the two-mile race in 10:35. Rozic finished his high school season on Saturday, placing 54th at the Division I regional at Boardman High School.

“I just wanted to go out in five-[minute] flat and see what I could do after that,” Rozic said. “I ran a 5:05 and just cruised the last 800 meters. I didn’t slow up a lot — I was still going hard — but I kind of cruised when I saw there was a 100-meter gap.”

Stellar Stella

The Peace Race donated $500 to Angels for Animals in honor of Stella, a boxer/terrier mix who ran the 2008 race and was adopted afterward by Jim and Pam Gianoglio. Stella was also made an honorary member of the Peace Race board.

“She sees the runners going by and was kind of whimpering, pulling at the leash to go out and run too,” said Jim Gianoglio, who lives in Pittsburgh, but whose in-laws are from Youngstown. “Not this time.”