Monday, September 29, 2003

By Pohla Smith, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

Jim Hommes had no problem registering to run in The Great Replacement Race after Mayor Murphy canceled the Great Race to save money. He thinks he actually prefers it.

	Runners leave the starting line of The Great Replacement Race in Schenley Park yesterday. (Martha Rial, Post-Gazette photos) Related information Great Race diehards follow traditional course in unsanctioned run Great Replacement Race results

Hommes, however, had two very good reasons for his equanimity.

In the first place, he's a member of the Pittsburgh Pharaoh Hounds, a running club that helped sponsor the event yesterday at Schenley Park.

In the second place, he won the 10K portion of the race. There also was a 5K.

Hommes, 32, a history teacher from Wilkinsburg, said the switch to private sponsorship made financial sense.

"The city has other things to spend its money on," he said. "I'd rather have them spend the money on police and firemen."

Hommes covered the 10K in 33 minutes, seven seconds, a pace of 5:20 per mile.

The women's winner, Mary Alico, 40, of Shadyside, was timed in 37:21, good for 11th place among men and winner combined. She averaged 6:01 per mile.

Both runners called the course difficult, much more so than the mostly downhill route The Great Race used in going from Frick Park to Point State Park Downtown.

The Great Replacement Race had a 1-mile downhill finish, but it also had two trips up a very steep hill in Schenley Park.

"The hill the second time around was much tougher," Hommes said.

"The first time was not too bad," Alico said, "but the second time was very difficult."

More than 1,300 people registered for the substitute race -- a far cry from the five-figure turnouts that had been recorded for the Great Race, which was founded in 1977 by the late Mayor Richard Caliguiri.

But local runners didn't began planning the Great Replacement Race until six weeks ago and announced it to the public 23 days before the event. It took about a week for the mayor's office to grant a permit.

"I always gear my training for the Great Race," said Tom Abbott, 48, of Natrona Heights, who is among a select group of 28 men called "the Greats" who have run in every one of the Great Races. "When I heard that it was off I backed off my training. Then when I heard about this, I had a remotivation, a rediscovery."

Jim Wright, left, hugs his friend Jennifer Angelo, both of the North Side, after completing the Great Replacement Race in Schenley Park.

Abbott was among 13 of the Greats to run in the replacement race. Others ran the old course as a fun run.

The route for the Great Replacement Race was sanctioned by USA Track & Field.

"This is the Great Race to me," Abbott said.

Runners praised the sponsors for putting on a professional event.

"They did an excellent job, very organized," Alico said.

David Doty, 18, a Pitt student from McKees Rocks, was the overall winner of the 5K with a time of 17:03. The women's winner was Becky Carter, 22, of Pittsburgh, who finished eighth overall at 19:12.

A total of 348 runners finished the 5K.

Phil Gibbons, 42, of Pittsburgh, won the masters' division of the 10K in 37:24. Breen Smith won the women's masters' in 43:32.

Septuagenarians made a good showing in the 10K. Bill Kenworthy, 70, of Pittsburgh won the division and finished 246th overall in a time of 49:22 -- an average of 7:57 per mile. Margretta Lutz, 74, of Saxonburg, won the women's division in 59:36, finishing 576th with a per-mile pace of 9:36.

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