This year’s Delmar Dash belonged to the Willow Street Athletic Club.
The Guilderland-based road running club swept the top two places in both the men’s and women’s divisions at Sunday’s 5-mile race.
Andy Allstadt captured the men’s title with ease. The Albany resident jumped out to a comfortable lead in the first mile and won with a time of 25:01, 22 seconds ahead of WSAC teammate Chuck Terry.
I went out pretty hard the first mile and tried to hold that pace, said Allstadt. `I slowed down the last two or three miles.`
`I ran about 15 seconds fast this year,` said Terry, who placed second for the second consecutive year. `Andy’s just too fit.`
Terry did what he could to keep up with Allstadt, but Allstadt was aiming for a time that Terry was unable to match.
`I tried for 24:30, but obviously it didn’t work out,` said Allstadt.
`He was never more than 50 or 60 yards ahead of me,` said Terry, who finished with a time of 25:23. `People [race course officials] were yelling split times throughout the course, and he was always about 10 seconds ahead of me.`
Schenectady’s Emily Bryans earned another Delmar Dash women’s title by surging past WSAC teammate Eileen Combs and pulling away for a 24-second victory. Bryans finished with a time of 29:58, while Combs ran a time of 30:22.
`[Combs] led for the first half [of the race] ` maybe through three [miles] even,` said Bryans. `But I know she’s on her taper [for the Boston Marathon], and I guess she didn’t want to burn out her legs.`
`I kind of was [wanting to win], but I didn’t want to push it too hard because I’m preparing for Boston,` said Combs. `I’m more than happy to come in second to a teammate.`
Christian Lietzau and Eileen Leavitt were the top runners from Delmar. Lietzau placed 22nd overall with a time of 29:11, while Leavitt finished eighth in the women’s division with a time of 33:17.
More than 700 runners participated in this year’s Delmar Dash. For a complete list of runners, visit www.spotlightnews.com.“
