By Jeff Hartsell | The Post and Courier
NORTH CAROLINA – Tilahun Regassa appeared to thoroughly enjoy his Cooper River Bridge Run on Saturday morning. Regassa, a 20-year-old from Ethiopia, runs with an odd gait — his right foot turns in awkwardly on each stride — and likes to look around as he races. Regassa took in the Lowcountry sights under a cloudless blue sky, kept a close eye on his competitors, and gradually wore down his fellow elite runners to claim the men’s overall title in the 32nd annual Cooper River Bridge Run.
Regassa, who won a 10K in Richmond, Va., just last weekend, toyed with the field Saturday, surging ahead and then falling back to the pack time and again before finally racing away from Kenyan veteran Mark Kiptoo to cover the 10 kilometers from Mount Pleasant to downtown Charleston in 28 minutes and 24 seconds.
Regassa is the first non-Keynan to win the Bridge Run since American Jeff Cannada of Carrboro, N.C., took the title in 1991, and he led an Ethiopian sweep of the top prizes. Countrywoman Amane Gobena, 26, took the women’s title in 32:25.
Cool temperatures and a brilliant morning sun greeted the 31,430 walkers and runners and 16 wheelchair athletes who completed Saturday’s Bridge Run. But runners reported a slight wind on the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge, a breeze that kept times from matching the best in Bridge Run history.
Regassa’s time of 28:24 tied for the 20th-fastest men’s time in the Bridge Run, while Gobena’s 32:25 ranked 13th in Bridge Run history, which dates back to 1978.
Local and state runners competed well, with 28-year-old Sopagna Eap of Johns Island finishing 15th overall among women to win the Marcus Newberry Award for top local finisher in 36:04. Mount Pleasant’s Brian Johnson claimed the men’s Marcus Newberry Award in 32:41. Noted local runner Tom Mather of Mount Pleasant won the men’s grand masters division in 36:03, just three years after suffering serious injuries when he was hit by a car while cycling.
Regassa, a rising star in road racing, ran 28:21 in raw and damp conditions last weekend in Richmond. He could have bettered that time Saturday, but instead chose to run a strategic race, testing his competitors by pulling away and then falling back to the pack several times.
“He used the tactics very well,” said Kiptoo, the 32-year-old Kenyan who finished second in 28:28. “There was no one to really push the pace consistently. He (Regassa) was trying to see who was strong.”
A lead group of six runners, including 2008 Bridge Run champ Robert Letting of Kenya, hung together off the bridge and down onto Meeting Street in Charleston. As the runners turned right onto John Street and then left on King, Regassa and Kiptoo separated from the pack. And by the time he turned off Wentworth and back up Meeting to the finish, Regassa was by himself.
He spoke no English, but his smile said it all.
“He ran a smart race,” Kiptoo said. “I felt like I had to do a lot of the work myself. And at the end, he just sprinted away.”
Regassa and Gobena each collected a winner’s check of $3,500. The total of 31,430 finishers was the second-highest in Bridge Run history, behind only the 33,678 who finished in 2006, the first time the race was run over the Ravenel Bridge.