Conway’s Lance Beckman was stride-for-stride with Tim Richard for most of the Firecracker Fast 5K on Thursday.
Beckman, who runs for Arkansas State, even thought he could make a run at Richard as the two approached the course’s most difficult portion - a hill that reaches its peak right in front of the Little Rock Zoo just before a left-hand turn less than a mile from the finish line.
But Beckman watched from behind as Richard turned it on and didn’t look back.
“He burnt me down pretty good,” Beckman said.
Running in his first Firecracker 5K, Richard was the top male overall finisher as he coasted down South Monroe Street in front of War Memorial Stadium and crossed the finish line in 15 minutes, 37.12 seconds. He finished almost 20 seconds ahead of Beckman, who finished in 15:56.83; Fort Smith’s Ian Brecht, 20, checked in third in 16:20.68.
Erika Setzler, 21, of Conway made her return to the race after a one-year hiatus and was the top female finisher in 17:07.50. Last year’s top female finisher, Bryant’sTracy Tungac, 31, finished second in 17:24.63.
Seeing Richard, a 25-yearold originally from Boston, finish in front of a pack is becoming common on Arkansas road courses. Richard ran collegiately at Holy Cross but moved to North Little Rock last summer and works at Little Rock Air Force Base.
He won the Hogeye Marathon in April in Fayetteville,distancing himself from the second-place finisher by 13 minutes. In May, he won the Toad Suck 10K in Conway.
He added another victory to his growing list of credentials Thursday.
“It was a good, quick run,” he said. “The guy that got second was with me for about 2 miles, then I got a little bit of separation and I just kept it.”
Richard is starting to make an impression on those who have been around the Arkansas running community for decades.
“I don’t think he ever even got pushed,” said Gary Smith, who founded the Firecracker Fast 5K and has helped put on the race every year since. “He sure looked good to me.”
Beckman said he thought he could catch Richard until the two started climbing the hill on Zoo Drive.
“That’s where he broke me down pretty good,” Beckman said.
Beckman, 19, took solace in the fact that his time was about a minute better than what he ran in last year’s Firecracker. Plus, he still had plans for an enjoyable holiday even if he did fall short at the end of the race.
“Probably go fishing,” he said when asked of his plans for the rest of the holiday.
It was a relaxing day for Richard, too, who has taken to road courses since moving to Arkansas in the past year.
“I just wanted to go out there and have fun,” he said. “I don’t have to go to work today. So I might as well come out here.”
Richard was the clear cut winner, but Richard’s winning time, even in cooler temperatures, was more than a minute slower than last year’s winner and the slowest winning time in at least a 15 years.
The slower times were expected. This marked the first time the FirecrackerFast 5K didn’t award cash prizes to the top overall and female winners as well as the male and female winners of the master’s division. That meant many of the elite runners from years past didn’t participate this year.
Smith, who was overseeing his last Firecracker Fast 5K, said he didn’t think the change made for a poor race.
“I think everybody had a good time,” he said of the 1,394 who finished the race.
Setzler, who runs cross country and track and field at Central Arkansas, ran the Firecracker from 2009-2011 before taking a break last year and beat her personal record on the course by about a minute.
“The last hill was definitely the toughest part, going up about 200 meters,” Setzler said. “Once I got to the top of the hill, I felt I had it.”
Sports, Pages 19 on 07/05/2013