Joseph Sitenei won the BlueCross Riverbend Run 10k for the second time in two years Saturday morning in downtown Chattanooga, and Jan Gautier remained the only 10k women’s winner with a gutty performance for her fifth Riverbend triumph in a row and her 13th overall, counting eight 5k wins from 1991 to 2000.
The addition of a couple of hills, including the closing stretch, since his 2008 win was fine with Sitenei, who grew up in Kenya. It was a painful combination with high humidity Saturday for Gautier, whose hectic week included taking care of a sick daughter.
“The heat had gotten to me this week,” she said. “Whatever she had may be catching up with me. Still, I shouldn’t have run that bad.”
The 44-year-old Gautier was 22nd overall out of 516 finishers in the 10k with a time of 43 minutes, 46.9 seconds. She finished in 43:00 on the same 6.2-mile course last year.
“I’m in better shape now, so I was disappointed with the race,” Gautier said, “but I gave it what I had and a win’s a win, so you’ve got to be happy with that.
“This has got to be one of the most brutal courses Chattanooga has. That uphill finish is a test of everybody’s will. It sure was hard on my body. But I was aware of where No. 2 (Elizabeth Sawyer) was. I walked a little when I needed to. She got pretty close, but I was able to push through it.”
Sawyer, 27, was 27th overall in 44:31.79.
Sitenei, who was in Europe at the time of the 2009 Riverbend Run, finished in 33:44.03 after a 32:50 win in 2008. Bryan College runner Zach Buffington from Ooltewah was second in 34:26.47, and Alan Outlaw was third in 35:52.66.
Buffington was eighth overall in the 10k in the recent NAIA national outdoor track meet, with a 31:57 time on a flat track.
“He took off right about four miles,” Buffington said of Sitenei. “I tried to stay with him when he surged, but I couldn’t. The back section of this race is no joke. I hadn’t run it before.”
Hugh Enicks, 50, was the masters winner and fourth overall Saturday in 37:41.95 in his first race since the Boston Marathon, and Matt Mansell was fifth in 38:01.08. Cliff Milam, 51, was the grand masters winner and 10th overall in 40:16.74.
Barb Nausley, 49, was the women’s masters winner in 50:15.15. Mary Preisel, 63, was the female grand masters winner in 50:35.96.
Patrick Hall was the 5k winner in 16:28.04, with Allen Thurman second in 16:50.51, and Mark Lorello and Mike Usher took the masters and grand masters titles.
Former University of Tennessee at Chattanooga standout Lanni Marchant, who is back in town as a lawyer, was the female 5k winner and sixth overall in 17:59.01, faster than her 2004 winning time.
Wendy Houston, 44, was the women’s 5k masters winner for the fourth year in a row, and Joy Scruggs, 56, took grand masters honors.
The 5k had 743 finishers, and the two competitive races plus the 5k walk and 1-mile fun run/walk pushed the total BlueCross Riverbend entry total to a record 1,564.