Peace Race on course despite bridge closure

October 21, 2018 at 12:07a.m.

Runners must deal

with slight detour

in Peace Race today

YOUNGSTOWN

Organizers for the Youngstown Peace Race had to call an audible, but the 2018 edition of the race should still deliver today.

The 10k course that starts in Mill Creek Park and ends in downtown Youngstown had to be tweaked due to the Idora Bridge closed for repairs.

“We have to go into the Park instead of going up on Canfield Road. It’s just for one year while the bridge is being fixed,” Peace Race president Al George said. “Normally you’d go up Chestnut Hill and then cross the bridge by the old mill to go back into the Park.”

Per the Peace Race’s website, runners will enter Mill Creek Park at the School Rec Area off Bears Den Road, then proceed on High Drive down Big Bear Hill, then turning right go over the Silver Suspension Bridge. Runners will then turn around on the bridge and head right onto West Cohasset Drive to continue the race.

The update to the course isn’t the only new thing on tap for 2018. Every runner who completes the 10K race gets a medal — which is shaped like the Peace Race logo with the bridge in rainbow colors. Any runner who completes the Peace Race, any distance in the Youngstown Marathon and Firecracker 4K race in Canfield will receive a t-shirt to commemorate the feat.

George said roughly 65 runners will complete the trifecta on Sunday. Between the 9:30 a.m. 2-mile race and the 10 a.m. 10K, the Peace Race will have about 1,200 runners.

Of those runners, roughly 15 of them qualify as elites.

Michigan cross country runner Ryan Robinson is one of the overall favorites. The top-25 finisher in the Nike Cross Country Nationals is currently racing unattached for the Wolverines because he transferred from Michigan State.

Three runners from Kenya are in the Peace Race. Cleophas Ngetich — who is capable of running a four-minute mile — has the 51st best time in the world in the 5K at 13 minutes, 31 seconds. His personal-best in the 10K is 28:02. Dennis Kipkosgei cleared 10-mile race in 48:55 at the Crim 10-mile in Flint, Mich., in August. Brilliant Jepbkorir is a favorite on the women’s side after running the Genworth Virginia 10-miler in 54:57.

Kent’s Elizabeth Herdon returns the Peace Race as former world record-holder in the beer mile. McDonald’s Summer Wark and Lancaster’s Samantha Zishka could see themselves among the top five.

Maplewood brothers Craig and Eric Rupe return. Craig, an assistant cross country coach at Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy, holds a 5k PR of 14:02 with Eric — an assistant track coach at Youngstown State — is about a minute behind him. Their mother, Michelle, returns as a grand master elite competitor. The master elites running are Jacob Smith of Greenville, Pa., and Beth Woodward of Orrville.