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Bowerman Track Club Cruises To Michigan Pro Ekiden Win

Published by
DyeStat.com   Nov 17th 2021, 8:59pm
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BTC's All-Star Lineup Builds Big Lead, Capped By Fisher's 10K

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Prompted by teammate Woody Kincaid, Grant Fisher turned to the finish line of Wednesday's Michigan Pro Ekiden and solemnly bowed his head. 

The Bowerman Track Club, with four U.S. Olympians on its six-athlete Japanese-style distance running relay, breezed through loops of Stony Creek Metropark outside of Detroit and won the marathon-length event in 2 hours, 8 minutes and 24 seconds. 

Fisher wore the sash for BTC over the final 10K of the race and ripped through it in 28:36 – 59 seconds faster than the other teams' closers – to complete the unique fall racing opportunity. Fisher was not only making his professional road racing debut, he was competing in his home state of Michigan for the first time since high school. 

RACE REPLAY | PRE-RACE DYESTAT DISCUSSIONS

"We all had a great time," Fisher said. "It was a really fun event."

With prize money available to the top teams ($20,000 first prize) and separate $2,000 payouts to the fastest runner on each leg, BTC cleaned up much of it. The Nike-sponsored group ran fastest on five of the six legs. 

The event, organized by Hansons-Brooks ODP founders Kevin and Keith Hanson, brought six teams together for an event that started in 2020 near the height of the pandemic when racing opportunities were scarce.

The 2021 event was marked by growth, a higher-caliber field, and added enthusiasm. 

For the BTC group, four of whom are Stanford alums, the event felt a bit like a cross country race with staggered warm-up times. 

The race began with a women's 6.1-kilometer leg and Annie Frisbie, just 10 days after finishing seventh in the TCS New York City Marathon, pulled away from Courtney Frerichs, the Olympic 3,000-meter steeplechase silver medalist, to give Minnesota Distance Elite an early lead. 

Frisbie made her move to pull away a mile into the race and clocked 19:25 to Frerichs' 19:43. 

But on the second leg, BTC's Thomas Ratcliffe overtook Minnesota Distance Elite's Colin Abert with a 14:10 split for 5K. From that point on, the lead continued to grow. 

"I just wanted to make sure I didn't go too hard and stayed patient," Ratcliffe. said. "I wanted to drive the pace down and not let him hang on for too long (after the pass)."

Vanessa Fraser ran 16:22 for 5K with the BTC sash on the third leg. HOKA Northern Arizona Elite runner Dani Shanahan also made a strong showing with 16:28.

Kincaid took the sash from Fraser, standing still to take it from her and put it on, and then burned through 6.1K in 17:16. That run built the lead even more and was 24 seconds faster than Frank Lara's 17:40 for Roots Running, the next fastest on Leg 4.

Next up was Olympian Elise Cranny, who ran all alone for 10K and split 32:19 – four seconds faster than Northern Arizona Elite's Lauren Paquette and 15 seconds faster than Hansons Brooks runner Natosha Rogers

The BTC finished more than three and a half minutes ahead of HOKA Northern Arizona Elite (2:12:01), which won the inaugural race last year. Hansons Brooks finished third in 2:12:27, Roots Running was fourth in 2:13:01, Minnesota Distance Elite was fifth with 2:14:36 and Team Boulder finished sixth in 2:17:29.

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