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Baddeley and Donohue Win New Balance Games Miles
Published by
Jan 24th 2010, 6:31pm
Baddeley and Donohue Win New Balance Games Miles By Peter Gambaccini (c) 2010 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved - used with permission NEW
YORK (23-Jan) -- With the challenge of the Wanamaker Mile at the
Millrose Games looming just six days ahead, Britain's Andy Baddeley
showed impressive early season form as his 3:55.64 win at the New
Balance Games here came close to erasing Mark Carroll's Armory Track
& Field Center record of 3:54.98. Erin Donohue was a virtual
wire-to-wire winner with her 4:28.92 mile, though she did get a late
challenge from an unexpected source. Both athletes set indoor personal
bests.
After pacemakers Chris Spooner and Rob Novak peeled off,
Baddeley, who won the Continental Airlnes Fifth Avenue Mile here last
September, went through three-quarters in 2:58. His triumph was never
really in doubt. He did glance back several times "just to see how
close they were," but he left the impression that he could have run
faster if circumstances required it. Ricky Stevenson (3:56.31) and
Mark Draper (3:56.80) made the race a 1-2-3 British sweep. They also
ran career best indoor times.
"I'd like to think I did have
gears left," Baddeley said of his performance. "I think I can go a bit
quicker." He's been forced to do more treadmill training than he'd
like during an unusually rough English winter (he's based in
Twickenham) but notes that his treadmill is "not too bouncy so it's a
bit more realistic." Baddeley will soon be on his way to
altitude training in Australia, followed-up by a 5000-meter race in
Melbourne. But first he has that Wanamaker Mile, and New Yorkers may
spy the buzzcut Briton training in Central Park this week. It will be
his first venture on an 11-lap-to-the-mile track. If he could upset
Bernard Lagat and deny him a record eighth Wanamaker triumph "I might
tell him I feel guilty, but I think I'd be pretty excited," quipped
Baddeley.
Donohue, a 2008 U.S. 1500-meter Olympian from
Haddonfield, N.J., led her mile after taking over from pacesetter
Lesley Higgins of the New York Athletic Club. After a 3:25
three-quarter split, Megan Wright, who as Megan Metcalfe, won an NCAA
5000-meter title for West Virginia, seemed ready to pounce and possibly
poach a victory. But the Canadian Olympian came mysteriously unglued
(she faded to tenth, and later smirked "something jumped on me").
Another Canadian, Nicole Edwards, who competed for the University of
Michigan, mounted a serious challenge with a move into second place
with 300 meters left. But Donohue held on for the victory in 4:28.92,
with Edwards a close second in a personal best 4:29.42 and Sarah
Bowman, the former University of Tennessee star who is now a New
Balance-sponsored professional, third in 4:32.14. "Fortunately,
the speed was still there at the end," observed Donohue, who said her
goals for this mile were "to be strong enough and to be able to respond
to anyone at the end." She accomplished that. Next, she'll run at
800-meters at the B.U. Terrier Classic in Boston next Friday "to be 100
percent ready to go for the 1000" at the Reebok Boston Indoor Games on
Feb. 6.
The Varsity Boys Invitational Mile was a virtual one man
show; Chris FitzSimons of Hamden, Conn., seized the lead with 500
meters remaining and staged a runaway, clocking a 4:17.33 to runner-up
Miles Schroeder's 4:21.77. Heavily favored Emily Lipari of Roslyn,
N.Y., took the lead in the Girls Mile from the outset, but she did get
reeled in by Joelle Amaral, who pulled ahead slightly with 300 to go
before Lipari found another gear and reasserted herself and won,
4:53.84 to 4:56.81.
"I saw her come up," said Lipari who also is
a top soccer player. "I saw her body language and she looked strong.
She helped me get an extra second wind."
The New Balance Games also featured two elite 400s, with Natasha Hastings (52.68) and Miles Smith (46.70) taking the wins.
ENDS
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