Green runs into red light in 8K win

dnilsen@flintjournal.com • 810.766.6394

Eric Green had no trouble with the 8-kilometer field in the Crim Festival of Races this year.

It was those 10-milers that slowed him down.

Green, 36, of Pontiac, won the 8K race for the second straight year Saturday, clocking 26:48 to outdistance runner-up Matthew Yacoub of Farmington by 2:34. Zachary Gunneson of Flint was third in 29:41.
 

Green's time was 24 seconds slower than last year's effort, partly because he had no competition pushing him but also because of the pack of runners in front of him.

Blame Mother Nature.

The start of the 10-mile was delayed 30 minutes by a thunderstorm, but the support races remained at their scheduled time, meaning the buffer between the 10-mile and the 8K was cut from 90 minutes to 60.

With the 8K course following much the same route as the 10-mile, Green eventually caught up to the back end of the big race.

"I led the whole way, but I had to weave through all these 10-mile runners," Green said at the finish line, as a mass of 10-mile finishers continued to stream through the chutes. "I got ahead of the pace truck because they had to slow down trying to get people over to the side."

Alison Ebanoff, 36, a high school teacher from Toronto, was the first women's 8K finisher in 32:34, three seconds ahead of Sara Crowe of Grosse Pointe Woods. Kelly Edwards of Grand Blanc was third in 32:58.

Green was an NCAA Division II All-American in the 800 in 1992, when he was running for Northwest Missouri State. Now the track and cross country coach at Oakland Community College, he continues to take on college kids whenever he can.

"If it's an open meet, they let unattached former college runners run," said Green, who's getting a reputation around the collegiate circuit. "Some of the coaches are telling their guys, 'Beat the old man.' "

Green had five top-five finishes in the Crim 8K until breaking through for his first victory last year in his ninth appearance. He beat David Vandermeer of Wyoming by eight seconds, but Vandermeer didn't enter this time.

"I didn't have any competition this year," said Green.

Ebanoff wasn't even looking to compete when she joined a group of friends to run her first Crim this year. After raising twins the past 81/2 years, she just got back into hard training six months ago.

"I'm not that serious," said the former University of Toronto runner. "I'm just doing it now because I want to feel good. I didn't know what to expect."

But she admitted feeling the competitive juices once the race started.

"I don't think you ever lose that part," she said. "When you're in it, you go."