Bobby Curtis 2nd in Tactical B.A.A. 5K in Boston

In very windy conditions, Ben True outsprinted Bobby Curtis to the finish at today's Boston Athletic Association 5K road race. Given the windy conditions, no one had a vested interest to lead the race. As a result, it came down to the final sprint among four runners.

5k Ben True Over Bobby Curtis ad Ben St. Lawrence
By Tom Davis and Jess Barton, LetsRun.com
April 17, 2011

The 5k was up first at 8am and was won by Dartmouth grad Ben True in 14:07. The men’s race went out fairly slow through the first two miles (4:41 and 9:20) but the top runners finished strong, with Ben True crossing the line first in 14:07 and Bobby Curtis(14:07) and Ben St Lawrence (14:09) finishing second and third respectively. “I have been sick all week so my coach (Tim Broe, the top American 5000m runner from 2003-2005) told me don’t do anything and just kick. So at the start I was leading, I was like ‘oh no.’ I was jogging, so I knew it would be a cat and mouse game, and sure enough it turned out to be. “I think it was the wind and nobody wanted to take the lead.” True said of the race. But it was True who showed that he had the strongest kick of the day as he battled it out with Curtis at the end. “I have to admit I was a little nervous. He [Curtis] went at the three mile mark, and I was a little nervous because he got a quick jump on me, but I was able to reel him back in. So it’s nice to know that the fitness is there.”

True attributed the wind and nobody wanting to take the pacing duties to the slow opening miles, “I think they were looking at me to take the lead, but I wasn’t going to take the lead. Nobody wanted to do anything and that was a problem,” said True. “We were just crawling around the course and we just started jockeying for position the last 400.” True is using the BAA 5k as a tune-up for his 10,000m debut at Payton Jordan in two weeks. Former NCAA 5000m Champion Bobby Curtis and Ben St Lawrence, the Aussie who recently ran 13:10.08 for 5000m beating Chris Solinsky, have been training at altitude together and also used this race as a tune-up for the Payton Jordan 10,000m. They are currently training at an altitude of 6,000 feet in the mountains of Southern California. Curtis was pleased with his race performance, “It was good until the last 50 meters for me,” said Curtis. “It was fine, it was a windy morning, but overall I thought it was a pretty good result.”

Place Name City State/Province Official Time
1 Benjamin True Hanover NH 14:07
2 Bobby Curtis Louisville KY 14:07
3 Ben St. Lawrence Australia 14:09
4 John Korir Kenya 14:09
5 Ben Bruce Springfield OR 14:14
6 Lucas Meyer Ridgefield CT 14:19
7 Jarrod Shoemaker Maynard MA 14:23
8 Jonathan Pierce Mammoth Lakes CA 14:24
9 Nicholas Arciniaga Flagstaff AZ 14:24