Everett to Athens winners will fly away

Published 9:00 pm Sunday, June 13, 2004

EVERETT – For two hours on Sunday morning, the downtown streets of Everett were littered with world-class athletes, all competing for cash and prizes in the sixth annual Everett to Athens 10- and 5-kilometer runs sponsored by Evertrust Bank and the Everett Rotary Club.

When it was all said and done, marathoner Uli Steidl defended his title in the men’s 10K and three-time Canadian Olympian Leah Pells came away with women’s 10K crown.

Steidl, a 32-year-old German national and five-time Seattle Marathon winner, broke away with two kilometers remaining to win with a time of 30 minutes, 34.9 seconds – 8.5 seconds faster than second-place finisher Jose Garcia of Yakima. Everett’s Axel Stanovsky and Matthew Kaftanski finished eighth and ninth respectively.

First-place finishers in the 10 and 5K and the winner of the Best Costume contest each received 50,000 frequent flyer miles – enough for a roundtrip flight to Athens, Greece, or almost any destination of their choosing.

Second-place finishers in the 10K for both the men and women’s divisions received a Ben Bridge Jewelers watch worth $1,500. Second place in the 5K and Best Costume contest received $500.

“I really like the atmosphere here in Everett and the prizes are really good, especially being from Germany,” said Steidl, who came to the United States in 1992 on a full track scholarship to University of Portland.

“I’ll use this to go back home. But first I am competing in the Seattle International Marathon next week, and I want to break the 30-minute mark. So this was a good course to prepare.”

Pells, a silver medallist at the 1999 Pan-Am Games in the 1,500-meter race, held off Bothell’s Mary Thomas and Mountlake Terrace’s Dorrie Johnson to win with a time of 34:12.6.

“We have had an amazing group of athletes come through here,” incoming Everett Rotary president Lyle Ryan said. “Leah is just an exceptional athlete. The field has been getting bigger and stronger each year. Overall, we couldn’t be happier.”

Russia’s Vasilyeva Lyudmilo captured the women’s 5K with a time of 16:50.0 and Tacoma’s Eric Tollefson won the men’s 5K division in 14:53.6.

“This is a great prize, I’ll use this to fly back home to Russia,” said Lyudmilo, who was ranked seventh in the world when she competed in the 1,500 at the 2001 Goodwill Games.

“This wasn’t an easy race to win,” Lyudmilo said. “The course is difficult, but I like that. The field is strong so it feels even better to win.”

Steidl sold last year’s winning miles prize to a friend. This year, he’ll use them to go back to Erlenbach, Germany – a small town 30 miles from Frankfurt.

“I couldn’t go back home last year after I won this race,” Steidl said. “This year, however, I am looking forward to going home.”

The grand prize winners in the Best Costume category went to high school friends Sam Seprish, 23, and Pam Glover, 27. Seprish dressed as a fishing boat and Glover was a hammerhead shark hooked by the boat.

“I dressed up at school once wrapped up with fish, and then I had an idea to make it a shark,” said Glover.

The two will share the 50,000-mile prize.

“This was all (Pam’s) idea,” Seprish said. “We had this fish thing going on so we just expanded it. I guess it worked.”