Past Races Mean Little for Loaded Carlsbad 5K

The top three men from each of the first two Carlsbad 5,000-meter road races and last year’s women’s champion, Lorraine Moller, may be back, but perhaps none will place as high as they have in the past.

That’s how good the fields are for the third Carlsbad 5,000 Sunday. The open race starts at 7:45 a.m., the packed invitational race at 9.

Last year’s race was held at the end of July, but many top athletes will be training for the Olympics at that time this year, so the date was pushed up. It worked. Many of the entrants have good chances of competing in the Olympics.

Steve Scott of Fallbrook has won the men’s race the past two years, and he ran a world best for a road 5K (13 minutes 31 seconds) here in 1986. He says he still believes he is the one to beat, but he concedes his chances are slimmer.

“The competition is so much better, anything can happen,” Scott said. “The difference is that it is my home course. None of these other guys are going to have thousands of people lining the streets screaming for them.”

John Gregorek of Barrington, R.I., was ranked by Running Times as the top U.S. road runner in 1987. He has run a personal best of 13:17.44 for 5,000 meters on the track, although Scott does not believe that Gregorek is in top shape.

Marcos Beretto, the second-ranked road runner in Mexico behind Arturo Barrios, won the 5,000 at the 1986 Mt. SAC Invitational in 13:22. He has been ranked among the top five in the world the past two years for the road 10K and was third here in 1986.

Ed Eyestone ran the 10,000 meters for the U.S. team at last year’s world track and field championships in Rome and has a personal track best of 27:41.0, fifth-best by an American.

Doug Padilla, the top-ranked American at 5,000 meters, also has said he will run.

Five top Kenyans also are expected to compete: Peter Koech, who finished second in 1986; Wilson Waigwa, who finished third last year; Ibrahim Hussein; Paul Rugut, and Yobes Ondieki, who won last year’s Buick 10K.

Gidamus Shahanga of Tanzania, second last year, also returns.

The other top local runner is Terry Cotton of San Diego. Cotton finished third at the Tom Sullivan St. Patrick’s Day 10K (28:33).

Moller won’t have it much easier in the women’s race. Her top rival will be Scotland’s Liz McColgan (formerly Liz Lynch), who ran a world road 10K best of 30:59 in Orlando, Fla., in February. She also won the Tom Sullivan race.

Mary Knisely of Dallas also is expected to run. Knisely won a gold medal in the 3,000 meters at the 1987 Pan American Games.

The combination of Moller, McColgan, Knisely and others such as Sue Addison, 1987 second-place finisher Lisa Weidenbach, and former Olympian and San Diego State star Monica Joyce should push the winning time under 15:30, the world-best that Patti Sue Plummer ran here in 1986.

Men’s prize money for first, second and third is $5,000, $3,000 and $2,000. Women’s is $5,000, $2,000 and $1,000.

The 3.1-mile race begins at the corner of Jefferson and Grand, winds along the coast and finishes at State and Elm streets. Police estimated last year’s crowd to be between 10,000 and 15,000 spectators. Almost 20,000 are expected this year.

Race officials are expecting 4,500 to run in the open race; nearly 3,000 had registered by Friday. Race registration begins at 6:30.