Not surprising, another successful race is securely in the books for the Bobby Summer Classic. This year’s 17th annual event, held this past Sunday in Narragansett, had 864 finishers and a near record 1K signups.
The race itself produced a new men’s course record and a pending world age-group record on the women’s side from an 80-year-old runner from Needham. Talk about inspiring.
One of the more impressive performance turned in by our current or former high school stars was turned in by Cumberland High alum Ben Drezek, who continues to prove that he’s at elite status when talking about some of our top regional runners on the open circuit. Drezek, who excelled at UMass-Lowell and now competes for Tracksmith Boston Hares, finished third overall with a time of 23 minutes, 15 seconds for the five-mile race. His effort was a PR by 40-plus seconds and also under the previous course record of 23:26. Unfortunately for Drezek, two more were also under the 2022 mark on a perfect day for racing. Moroccan Mohamed Reda El Aaraby, a 2:06 marathoner, claimed the top prize with a blistering 23:04. Finishing second was Butler alum Barry Keane in 23:14. Keane was the 2023 Big East outdoor 10K champion.
Drezek found out about Reda El Aaraby the morning of the race. He was informed about the Olympic marathoner, who was 11th in Tokyo three years ago, less than an hour before the start by training partner and former UMass teammate John Riley.
“He was like, ‘I know who that is. He’s a big marathoner.’ He pulled him up on his cell phone and, of course, it’s him,” Drezek said. “I wasn’t going to change my race strategy once I found out. I knew in the back of my mind that there’s always going to be elite athletes here, and he’s probably going to win and run away with it. Of course he did and he was barely breathing.”
Drezek and Keane certainly did do their part in making sure the race was honest, and fast! Both hung with Reda El Aaraby up until about the 6K mark when the Moroccan made a decisive surge, one that would bring him home the title.
The silver lining for Drezek is he made it competitive for a runner of Reda El Aaraby’s stature. Beside clocking his all-time best of 2:06.55 at the Schneider Electric Marathon de Paris two years ago, the victor also has dipped under an hour for the half marathon.
“I think it’s a big confidence-booster for myself to hang on to him and a guy like Barry Keane, a multiple All American at Butler. He just competed at the European Championships,” Drezek said. “To run with these guys really is a huge confidence-booster. I’m excited for the fall.”
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Soon-to-be senior Cole Francis of Narragansett, was the first high-schooler to cross the line. Francis placed 32nd overall in 26:14. Less than 100 meters behind was Hendricken sophomore Colby Flynn, who was timed in 26:27 for 37th overall. Among some of the top HS alum from the Ocean State were Hendricken grad Bronson Venable (11th, 25:07), West Warwick’s Jesse Principe (19th, 25:36), La Salle’s Joseph dos Reis (21st, 25:40), North Smithfield’s Nathan Masi (28th, 25:59) and Barrington’s Brandon Piedade (31st, 26:08).
Portsmouth senior Allie Kaull was RI’s top HS finisher for females, taking 225th overall in 31:27. La Salle sophomore Alyssa Parenteau was not too far behind, placing 261st overall with a time of 32:32. Kenzie Doyle (La Salle), who will be running her final year of eligibility at Providence College in the fall, led the local contingent of former high school stars by finishing 13th in the women’s division (146th overall) with a time of 29:22. Cranston West grad Allie Hackett was 14th in 29:28. Shayna Cousineau (Cranston East) was 255th at 31:16.
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Proceeds from the race support the Bobby Doyle Scholarships and Youth Running Fund. In its nearly two-decade history, its awarded more than $70,000 to enhance and support high school and youth running in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Awarded $2,000 scholarships at the conclusion of the race were Classical’s 400m specialist Zaida Depina and Piedade, the Eagles’ distance ace.
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Kudos to Hendricken assistant coach Danny Brennan for another outstanding job announcing the finishers at this weekend’s race. Each and every year, Brennan makes it a point to give shout outs to as many participants as he can. We’re guessing it’s got to be in the 60-70 range, and probably even more.
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About the possible world record that we mentioned earlier. That was run by ageless wonder Jan Helmquist, a holder of several world and American marks in the older age divisions. Helmquist cruised to a pending 8K WR of 40:16. She was 40:27 for the five-mile distance. If the record holds true, which we believe it will, she’ll annihilate the previous mark of 43:39. Think about this one for a minute. She ran just about eight-minute mile pace at age 80! Incredible!
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Click on the video below. We have more than 40 minutes of race footage of Sunday’s race (w/commentary).
