WESTPORT, Conn. Norwalk's Eneas Freyre was in a hurry Saturday. The Norwalk triathlete had biked to Compo Beach to run the Westport Road Runners 9.3 mile run at Compo Beach, and was scheduled to teach a class at Target Training right after. Plus, there was the little matter of Hurricane Irene looming over the procedings.
Freyre made short work of the compeititon, finishing in 52:52, nearly three minutes ahead of runner-up Luke McCambley of Westport. McCambley, who ran 55:49, exclaimed "What's that guy on?" when he finished, followed by James Osborn in 56:56. Freyre is preparing to run the World Duathlon Championships next month in Spain. He won his third straight age group title in the duathlon earlier this year. He didn't stick around for his award, biking away to the class almost immediately after finishing.
In the women's race, Darien's Liz Herbert got a measure of revenge on Mary Zengo of Wilton, avenging her loss in the 5.9 mile race earlier this summer. Hebert, who finished eighth in her age group behind two Olympians at the prestigious Falmouth Road Race two weeks ago, found the cool but damp conditions to her liking, pulling away from Zengo at the midway point to win in 1:02:56, with Zengo back in 1:04.02. "I guess the weather was a lot like Falmouth," Herbert said. "But the course was a lot hillier." Bonnie Averbach of New York, McCambley's girlfriend, finished third among women in 1:07.14.
There were 104 finishers in the race, which coincided with an 11-mile race in Norwalk. The summer races in Westport had several record fields in events this year.
The Westport series concludes Saturday with a 10-mile run at Staples High School. All of the Westport races begin at 8 a.m. For more information, log on to the Westport Road Runners website.
Have you been a part of any of the record fields at Westport this summer?
Click here to follow Daily Voice Norwalk and receive free news updates.