Crowd Energy Carries Athletes to Victory at the 52nd ASICS Falmouth Road Race

August 20, 2024

FALMOUTH, Mass. /ENDURANCE SPORTSWIRE/ – Under cloudy skies and at times a light drizzle, noteworthy and historic performances unfolded in front of this year’s more than 11,000 runners at the 52nd running of the ASICS Falmouth Road Race. Of the four professional races, two saw dominant performances from rising stars while two were tactical affairs that counted on the winner’s confidence in a closing kick. Full results are now available online.

The elite wheelchair racers were the first athletes to leave the Tommy Leonard Start Line outside the Captain Kidd in Woods Hole. In the women’s race, Hoda Elshorbagy of Egypt jumped to the front early. By the 5K mark, she had a 15-second lead and it only grew from there. Elshorbagy, who trains in Illinois, eventually held onto a 50-second lead finishing in 29:20. Elshorbagy is the very first Egyptian athlete to win any division of the Falmouth Road Race.

Yen Hoang of the United States finished second. Hannah Babalola of Nigeria placed third.

Former Falmouth champions Jenya Senbeta and Krige Schabort took the lead in the opening miles of the men’s race as last year’s runner-up Miguel Jimenez-Vergara waited patiently nearly 30 seconds back. The 24-year-old Californian used the mid-course hills and the energy from the fans to reel in the veterans and by mile five he had powered past. Vergara cruised down the hill to claim his first Falmouth title. He is the first Californian to win the division since Keith Davis in 1999.

“I fell behind immediately. At the start of the race, I was almost a half mile behind,” said Jimenez-Vergara, who recently competed in the U.S. Paralympic Trials in Florida. “I think as you hear people cheering, it adds adrenaline and a sense of urgency. The crowds had so much positivity just moving me along.”

Schabort and Senbeta, both of the United States, held on for second and third, respectively. Winners of the wheelchair division each earned $3,000 in prize money.

The women’s open division had an out-of-this-world send-off as Needham, MA native and US Astronaut Sunita Williams gave the command to start from her treadmill in the International Space Station. A pack of nine women – four Americans, three Kenyans and two Ethiopians – stuck together through the opening miles, controlling the pace and taking turns blocking the headwind. Nearly the entire pack was still in the hunt until after the 10K mark when the Ethiopian duo, Fentaye Belayneh and Melknat Wudu, broke away. That opened a six-second gap on American Emma Bates over the final half mile with Belayneh finishing in 36:10, one second ahead of Wudu.

“The competition was good,” said Belayneh, who dropped out of the 2022 edition of the Falmouth Road Race. “It’s great. I am glad I won.”

Emma Bates finished third in 36:17, the sixth fastest time ever by an American woman here.

“It’s always so welcoming here,” said Bates, who will run the Bank of America Chicago Marathon this fall. “People were shouting ‘Emma’ the entire way and I was running with Emma Grace Hurley so both of us were just soaking up the energy from the crowd.”

The men’s open division played out much differently. Just seven minutes after receiving the start command from two-time Falmouth champion and Olympic Gold Medalist Frank Shorter, John Korir shut the door on his competition. Korir, last year’s runner-up, had an eight-second gap by the two-mile mark. A mile later that gap had doubled and he was already high-fiving the crowd. The Kenyan then dropped back-to-back 4:21 miles to stretch his lead to 30 seconds and it was nearly 50 seconds when he appeared at the top of the hill in Falmouth Heights. Korir broke the tape as the clock read 31:15, the third fastest time in race history.

“I was confident. I knew I was going to win because I am in very good shape,” said Korir who also won last month’s Boilermaker 15K in Utica, NY. “I was feeling good, so I decided to go and see how it went.”

Fellow Kenyan Athanas Kioko finished second in 32:06, barely outkicking Morocco’s Mohamed El Aaraby who finished third.

Morgan Beadlescomb, who finished fifth in the mile at Friday’s Falmouth Track Festival, was a late entry into the race. In what was the longest competitive race of his career, Beadlescomb finished fifth in 32:21, taking top American honors.

“I didn’t have any expectations so I just wanted to go in and be tough,” said Beadlescomb, who was a late entry into the race. “It turned out that we learned a lot about what our training is gearing toward so we will take that into next year.”

Open winners will each take home $10,000 for their efforts.

Runners and walkers from 45 states and 12 countries including Canada, Mexico, France, Germany, England, Ireland, Kenya, Brazil, Japan, and India took part in the 52nd ASICS Falmouth Road Race. Of the 11,400 entrants, more than 3,000 live in the Town of Falmouth.

The ASICS Falmouth Road Race is set to return on August 17, 2024. For more information about the ASICS Falmouth Road Race, visit www.falmouthroadrace.com and follow the event on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

ABOUT FALMOUTH ROAD RACE, INC.

The Falmouth Road Race was established in 1973 and has become one of the premier running events of the summer season. Each year the race draws an international field of Olympians, elite athletes and recreational runners to enjoy the iconic 7-mile seaside course. The nonprofit Falmouth Road Race organization is committed to promoting health and fitness through community programs and philanthropic giving.

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