Matt Pelletier and Eric Lonergan were way head of the rest of the field at the Gaspee Days 5k in Warwick, RI on Saturday. Pelletier was easily in control with his winning time of 15:07. Lonergan was only a few ticks back in 15:16, keeping the pace up front honest.

A win is a win, but this represents a sharp drop for Pelletier. Matty just ran a 14:26 on Thursday at the Hollis Fast 5k. Matt must’ve gotten really lazy in the two days between. Okay, not really. The Hollis course is famously fast (and all downhill), so you can’t exactly compare the two times straight up. Plus, again, he only had two days in between races.

Matt ran 16 seconds faster than he did last year, when he finished runner up to Glarius Rop’s winning 14:25. Not taking a wrong turn helps in running faster.

Alexandria Hackett won a similarly close battle of over Kaela O’Neil for the top women’s spot. The 20 year old Hackett ran a 17:51 to take down the more experienced O’Neil, who was about 9 seconds back in 18:00. The two ladies finished 12th and 14th overall, respectively.

Just ahead of them, Chris Fox came in 11th overall as the first masters runner (17:50). Trish Hillery (surprise, surprise) of lovely Greenville, RI came in 46th overall as the top women’s masters runner in 19:34.

Photo cred to Scott Mason Photo.