| |
Reprinted from: [unknown],
November 1981
Bulldog Bests Cotton in Southport
The 1981 edition of the Pequot Thanksgiving Day race shaped up as
a battle of former champions, as last year's winner and course record
holder Dave Peterson would meet the man whose record he'd broken, Mike
Cotton, who won the race in its initial running in 1979.
However, neither of them counted on the presence of Ben Wheeler, a
Yale senior from Seattle who had placed fourth in the Heptagonal XC
championships the month before. In the end, it was Wheeler who took
the race and the record from the other favorites, cruising to an easy
victory in 23:28.
Right from the start the three separated themselves from the 1,000
other runners, and by one miles Peterson fell off the pace. But just
past the halfway mark, Wheeler began to open ground on Cotton, who
had been hampered by a bad knee the week before the race. Over the
last two miles the Eli harrier steadily increased his margin, looking
smooth the whole way. Cotton could take some solace in that he had
dipped under the old mark as well, although a construction detour may
have made the course a bit faster this year.
With Kiki Sweigart foregoing the race, the battle for top female honors
was wide open, but in the end Joy Green used her knowledge of the home
course to take the title in 29:49. Deede Garvey was second in 30:15,
nine seconds ahead of Dede Grace, with Jane DeMarco five seconds behind
her.
In the veterans division, the home team again proved supreme as Dave
Sarles edged John Dugdale by 15 seconds. Between them came the first
junior, Fairfield Prep XC star Dan O'Connor.
|
|
 Wheeler pulls away from a
laboring Cotton
|
|
|
