Kevin Sullivan wins Fifth Avenue Mile - Photo: NYRR
Canada’s Kevin Sullivan was missing in action. Or at least he was before Saturday’s Continental Airlines Fifth Avenue Mile. In fact, the Brantford, Ontario native was notably absent from its pre-race interviews and mini-media tour along the world’s most famous thoroughfare. We spoke with two other pro entrants, Kim Smith of New Zealand, and Grant Robison of the U.S.
But you’ve got to give Sullivan credit. He sure knows how to put on a show.
Sullivan blasted through the field of some of the world’s fastest milers, unleashing his trademark finishing kick in the final 100 yards to best New Zealand’s Nick Willis for the win in 3:54.1. While his time was almost seven seconds shy of Sydney Maree’s record (3:47:52) set here in 1981, Sullivan picked up a cool US$4,000 and 70,000 Continental Airlines miles for the effort.
Sullivan could probably use the points. He’s been flying a lot lately. In fact, he flew into New York only three hours before the gun went off on Saturday. He’d been at a University of Illinois cross country meet with his wife, former Canadian steeplechaser Karen Harvey, who coaches the women’s team. The week before, he’d logged over 18,000 miles from Shanghai, China.
“I knew I was fit coming in but I didn’t know how the travel was going to affect me,” said Sullivan, who bettered his disappointing 8th place finish last year. He said his conservative start cost him last time around, so he decided to be aggressive right from the start of this year’s race and set himself up for his winning finishing kick. It worked.
The women's elite field at the Fifth Avenue Mile - Photo: NYRR
New Zealand’s 5,000M Olympian, Kim Smith, also changed tactics this year to improve on her 8th place finish in 2005. This time around, she flew to second place in 4:30.3, 2.3 seconds behind California’s Sara Hall.
Smith filled in for the peripatetic Sullivan in the pre-race media call, along with 2004 U.S. 1,500M Olympian Grant Robison. She said she felt strong going into the race and was pretty much healed form a nagging achilles injury that was followed by a blood clot in her lungs that she suffered earlier this year.
She admitted that her aggressive front-running was a mistake last year. “I definitely don’t plan to do that again,” she said during the call. “I’m more of a distance runner. I tend to think of the race as so short that you really need to go out fast. This year, I plan on hanging back.”
Robison, who celebrated his 28th birthday three days before the race, finished out of the top 3 but said he was just happy to get invited to the world’s foremost city mile road race. “I’ve been wanting to get here for a while,” he said.
He added that the mile races on the road have a special draw because they are so different from the usual track fare. “There are no bell laps or curves to tell you where you are. The finish line is deceiving. It always looks a lot closer than you think. More than anything, you need to be alert.”
You could say that no one was more alert in the home stretch of the 26th annual Continental Airlines Fifth Avenue Mile than men’s champion, Kevin Sullivan.
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