Cooper River Bridge Run rookie pulls away from three former champions

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Cooper River Bridge Run 2008

The 31st annual Cooper River Bridge Run across the Ravenel Bridge took place Saturday April 5, 2008.

With oppressive humidity bearing down and a warm headwind in their faces, even the mighty Kenyans labored as they sprinted up the Arthur Ravenel Bridge on Saturday morning in the 31st annual Cooper River Bridge Run.

"It was a tough run," said Kenyan Robert Letting. "Very tough."

But not tough enough to keep Letting from winning Charleston's famed 10-kilometer race in his first try. Letting, 23, outdistanced a field that included three former Bridge Run champions and one of road-racing's hottest runners, covering the 6.2 miles from Mount Pleasant to downtown Charleston in a time of 28 minutes, 47.8 seconds.

The time was not one of the fastest in Bridge Run history — it did not make the top 20 fastest times — but earned Letting a winner's check of $5,000 and made up for his second-place finish in last week's Azalea Trail Run in Alabama.

"I liked it very much," Letting said of his first trip to Charleston.

Letting's victory highlighted the second-largest Bridge Run in the event's 31-year history. A total of 37,666 runners and walkers entered the race, ranking behind only the 45,663 who entered the race in 2006, the first time it was run over the new Ravenel Bridge.

A total of 29,247 finished the race, again the second-highest figure behind 33,678 finishers in 2006.

Leah Malot, a 35-year-old from Kenya, won the women's race in a time of 33:22.6 and also earned a $5,000 check. New Zealand's Sean Wade was the male master's champ for the second year in a row, and Firaya Sultanova-Zhdanova of Russia won the female master's division for the first time.

Winners of the Marcus Newberry Awards for top local finishers were Kurt Russell of Ladson for the men and Rives Poe of Mount Pleasant for the women, Poe winning for the second straight year.

As the numbers show, a threat of rain Saturday morning did not scare away the thousands of runners and walkers who

filled Coleman Boulevard in Mount Pleasant as far as the eye could see behind the starting line near Scott Street. But at 6 a.m., two hours before the race was to start, the humidity already was at 80 percent and the no-see-ums came out as race time approached.

Ten of the top 12 seeds in the men's race were Kenyans, including past Bridge Run champions Richard Kiplagat (the top seed), John Itati and Linus Maiyo. The No. 2 seed was Moses Kigen, a 25-year-old from Eldoret, Kenya, who had won his last two races, at the Crescent City Classic in New Orleans and the Azalea Trail Run.

Those former champs fronted a lead pack that started at about 20 and was gradually reduced to eight at the top of the Ravenel Bridge. That group remained intact as the lead runners headed down the bridge into Charleston, down Meeting Street and onto John and King streets. It wasn't until the final stretch, down King Street and onto Wentworth Street, that Letting and defending champion Kiplagat started to distance themselves from the pack. After the final turn up Meeting back toward Marion Square, Letting pulled away to win and 2002 champion Itati sprinted to a second-place finish in 28:50.3. Kigen was third, Kiplagat fourth and 2005 Bridge Run champ Maiyo came in fifth.

"It was very difficult conditions for us," Itati said.

The first non-Kenyan to cross the finish line was Wegayehu Girma of Ethiopia in 10th, followed by countryman Worku Beyi. Runners from Africa took the first 15 spots.

Even for veteran Charleston runners used to the humidity, personal records were hard to come by.

"It was definitely humid and definitely windy," said veteran runner Hudson Belk of James Island. "I felt good for about half the race, but when I got to the bottom of the bridge, I kind of fell apart. My training was not what it should be, so these conditions really took their toll."