POULSBO — Jim Savage had a good read on the competition by the second mile. He started passing other runners who had started off at a faster pace, and he soon had a lead that he never yielded.
Savage, 37, of Bainbridge Island won the Viking Fest Road Race 5-Mile Run Saturday, finishing the course in 27 minutes 4 seconds, a full two minutes ahead of the No. 2 finisher. Combined, more than 800 runners competed in the 5-Mile and 1-Mile races.
“It’s one of the better courses out there,” Savage said after the race. Conditions were perfect too: Cool temperatures and a fairly even, scenic coastal route that started at Lions Park, continued to Lemolo, then looped back toward downtown.
Savage said he knew the course so he knew when to pick up his pace. “After the first mile and a half, we separated,” he said of the other runners.
Savage was one of the more experienced runners in the field. He won the 2011 Poulsbo Half-Marathon with a time of 01:19.57, the 2011 Bainbridge Island Half-Marathon at 01:19:48, and finished 218th in the 2009 New York City Marathon at 02:44:42.
Liz Starks, 31, of Poulsbo showed some potential as a competitor in the Roll ’n Roll Half-Marathon June 23 in Seattle: She finished the 5-miler at 31:15, the first female finisher and eighth place finisher overall.
Starks said she hadn’t run the course but had a good idea of her pace. She was challenged by a grade change on the loop back toward town, but retained her pace for a split time of 6:15 per mile. Her plans for the rest of Viking Fest: “Probably just hang out with the kids,” she said.
The 5-Mile and 1-Mile races were followed by the children’s Fun Run. Children raced 25-, 50- and 100 yards down Front Street.
The top 10 finishers of the 5-Mile Run:
Jim Savage, 37, Bainbridge Island, 27:04
Mark Cook, 38, Keyport, 29:03
Jansen Falen, 39, Kingston, 29:05
Sage Duggal, 14, Poulsbo, 29:59
Michael Janesh, 22, Silverdale, 30:10
Anthony Woelke, 17, Kingston, 30:53
Carter Maurer, 38, Poulsbo, 31:03
Liz Starks, 31, Poulsbo, 31:15
Samuel Zimmerman, 18, Poulsbo, 31:18
Sampson Alvarado, 15, Poulsbo, 31:19
The top 10 finishers of the 1-Mile Run:
Michael Thorson, 18, Poulsbo, 4:37
Cooper Wall, 17, Poulsbo, 4:52
Nick Rothwall, 20, Silverdale, 4:54
Ben Walters, 16, Poulsbo, 5:03
Cam Winger, 18, Silverdale, 5:12
Gill Thomas, 17, Kingston, 5:13
Todd Petrovich, 34, Tracyton, 5:18
Jared Wartman, 21, Poulsbo, 5:22
Henry Baldwin, 14, Poulsbo, 5:23
Rick Tomlinson, 53, Bremerton, 5:40
