Pierpoint, Gibbs run to Great Race wins
By Dick Sparrer
When the Great Race was born back in 1978, it was meant to be friendly competition between the communities of Los Gatos and Saratoga.
Bill Glennon, the mayor of Saratoga at the time, offered a trophy for the winner. Runners would start in both Saratoga and Los Gatos and race past each other on Highway 9 on their way to two different finish lines in the two communities.
The race was limited to residents of Los Gatos, Monte Sereno and Saratoga, and the community registering the most runners would be awarded the Glennon Cup.
And it was all in fun.
Well, much has changed over the past two-plus decades.
Oh, runners still compete in the race for the fun of it--only now, it's fun for the fun of the competition.
And the Great Race, now sponsored by the Los Gatos Rotary Club, is no longer limited to runners from Los Gatos and Saratoga. In fact, in the April 1 running of the 4-mile road race only two runners from those communities made it into the top 20--Rob Nast of Saratoga and Michael Matthews of Los Gatos.
Two runners from Sunnyvale set the pace in the 2001 Great Race with Kevin Pierpoint and Eric Ollila finished one-two overall.
Race Results: 2001 Great Race results
Pierpoint covered the Saratoga to Los Gatos course in 19:49 to finish nearly 30 seconds ahead of the field. Ollila was second in 20:27, edging out Matt Heard of San Jose who finished third in 20:28.
Among the other local runners who finished in the top 20 overall were Bob Tapia of San Jose, seventh in 20:52; Jeff Hongo of Campbell, ninth in 20:56; Brian Lavelle of San Jose, 11th in 21:00; Ryan McGuire of San Jose, 14th in 21:29; Nast, 15th in 21:32; Jim Angelpoulos of San Jose, 16th in 21:42; Pete Kain of Cupertino, 17th in 21:50; Scott Bang of San Jose, 18th in 21:53; and Matthews, 19th in 21:56.
San Jose's Becky Gibbs raced to a win in the women's division, finishing in 23:12. Ana Martinez of San Jose was second in 23:41 with Lisa Lord of Los Gatos third in 23:56 and Jacque Ryan of San Jose fourth in 24:05.
Other top local female finishers included Tina Wang of San Jose, eighth in 25:07; Cathy Rusiniak of Los Gatos, ninth in 25:11; Katy Tremann of San Jose, 10th in 25:28; Stepanie Hovacik of San Jose, 13th in 25:46; Sheri Mulroe of Saratoga, 14th in 25:53; Sheryl Fales of Los Gatos, 15th in 25:55; Tammy Partlow of Campbell, 16th in 25:58; Denise Genovese of San Jose, 17th in 25:58; Katie Mitchell of Los Gatos, 18th in 26:03; Amanda Combs of San Jose, 19th in 26:05; and Elizabeth Nast of Saratoga, 21st in 26:23.
Hongo was a winner in the men's 30-39 age group with Nast second, and Tapia took the men's 40-49 division.
Ron Geary of Los Gatos raced to a win in the men's 50-59 class and Ralph Poole of Sunnyvale was a winner in the 60-69 age group with Norm Saucedo of Los Gatos third and Ray Taylor of Saratoga third.
Joe Spicer of San Jose ran to a first in the 70-79 age class with Darrell Dukes of Cupertino second, and Woody Riley of Saratoga rambled to a victory in the 80-95 age division with Williams Cilker of Los Gatos second. Clay McKell of Los Gatos finished third in the 14-18 age group.
Lord romped to a win in the women's 30-39 class and Leilani Reyes of Los Gatos was first in the women's 40-49 division with Debbie Follmar of Saratoga second and Sue Francis of Sunnyvale third.
Joy Johnson of San Jose, a Great Race regular, was a winner in the women's 70-79 age group and Kacey Aumack of Los Gatos was third in the 14-18 division.
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Saratoga, California Since 1955
