RUNNING : Cushing-Murray Fast Enough at Redondo

It’s nice to be rewarded, even when specific goals aren’t accomplished.

Christian Cushing-Murray’s motivation for entering the 17th annual Redondo Beach Super Bowl Sunday 10K run was to break 29 minutes.

Cushing-Murray, a miler for the Santa Monica Track Club, ran 29:30.

Still, he won and goal or no goal, he was happy to collect his $1,000 first-place prize money.

“I was hoping there would be someone out here to help me break 29 minutes,” said Cushing-Murray, whose 10,000-meter best is 29:08. “But it feels good to lead from wire to wire in a race of this distance.

“I knew I would be a contender today because some of the big guns weren’t here. The money might not have been big enough for them, but it’s fine for me.”

Cushing-Murray, who led for the entire 6.2 miles and finished 15 seconds ahead of Kenya’s Cosmas Musyoka, was never seriously threatened. A mini-challenge came at the three-mile mark when Musyoka and third-place finisher Eric Polanski (29:51) crept to within about five yards of the leader.

Cushing-Murray speeded up, extending to a 20-yard advantage.

“I wanted to discourage them, so I stepped it up a little,” he said. “I wanted to let them know (that) if they were going to catch me, they would have to work.

“After that, I was surprised no one came up.”

Linda Somers successfully defended her women’s 10K title, cruising in with a time of 33:10. She easily outdistanced Regina Joyce, who finished in 34:11.

Somers, the third-ranked marathon runner in the United States, explained the differences in running a shorter-distance race.

“The 10K hurts more for a shorter period of time,” she said. “You run faster here, so the pains are sharper. A marathon hurts less for a longer period of time.”

Although she won at Redondo Beach last year, Somers forgot about the difficulty of the course.

“I was surprised how hilly it was, so it made it a lot tougher,” she said. “I didn’t feel very good today, but I seemed to be able to keep my momentum. I was happy with my finish.”