Shaw & Piers hit Olympic Marathon Trials "B" Qualifiers at US Marathon Championship @ Twin Cities
Race Results
Ethan Shaw of the Hanson Brooks Distance project, and former Falmouth HS & Dartmouth College standout had a tremedous marathon debut on Sunday at the Twin Cities Marathon. Shaw covered the 26.2 mile course in 2:17.27, good for a 5:15 mile pace and earning him a 13th place finish overall. Shaw ran a very conservative race in the early miles as he covered the first 5k in 16:32 (5:20) pace, his pace increased over the next 5k down to 5:17 pace (32:56). At this point in the race he was in 24th place, with the pace continuing to drop as he hit the half way point in 1:09:01. Shaw made his move between the halfway and the 30k (18.6mi) as he went from 23rd all the way up to 16th. Hitting the 30k mark in 1:37:57, Shaw continued to drop the pace as he made it to the 21 mile mark in 1:50:11. At the 24 mile mark he had moved up to 14th overall as he crossed in 2:06:04 before passing one more over the last 2.2 miles for his 13th place finish.
A negative split effort for the 23 year old Shaw, as he covered the 2nd 13.1 miles in 1:08:26, a drop of 35 seconds over his first half. The mark is an Olympic Trials "B" qualifier which means Shaw can run in the 2016 Olympic trials. The mark moved Shaw up to 4th on the Maine all-time marathon list as well
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On the other end of the spectrum, 42 year old marathon veteran Sheri Piers showed she still has what it takes to be a top runner. Piers covered the first 5k in 18:20, then edged the pace down just a few seconds over the next 5k as she covered the first 10k in 36:36. Hitting half way in a quick 1:17:47, left Piers a little leeway over the final half to hit the Olympic Trials mark. Sheri would slow a little, hitting 30k in 1:51:12, and 24 miles in 2:25:01. The final two miles saw Piers picked the pace up to 6:10 pace per mile as she moved up to 8th overall finishing with the "B" standard 2:38:33 With her finish, Piers won the US Masters title worth $7500 plus $2000 for the 8th place overall.
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