Steve Scott and PattiSue Plumer used experience gained from numerous races at the world-class level to outkick very talented fields in the men’s and women’s elite races in the Congress Avenue Mile on Sunday. Both Scott and Plumer shattered the course records. Scott’s time of 3 minutes, 53 seconds knocked four seconds off defending champion Doug Padilla’s 3:57, and Plumer’s 4:24 dropped 13 seconds from Mary Knisley’s 4:37. Padilla didn’t compete in the race because of an illness.

Race morning was clear and quite windy. However, much to the relief of the runners, it was a tailwind – and not a headwind – that whipped down Congress Avenue.

The men’s group took off in a tight pack at the start, with Sean Murray serving as a rabbit, taking the early lead. Murray led the pack through the first quarter in well under 60 seconds and held pace through the halfway mark in 1:56. He then faded back into the pack, where American mile record holder Steve Scott was biding his time.

Frank Weigman and Steve Ave were running strongly at the front of the pack, when Richard Shummer of San Antonio suddenly made a bold move. Approaching the 3/4-mile mark, he shot out ahead, putting about 15 yards on the rest of the pack.

By this point, Scott had worked his way to the front of the pack, positioning himself for the final duel on the bridge.

“When I saw that guy go, I knew I had to make a move,” he said. “You never know what someone’s got left at that point in a mile race.”

Shummer’s bold move cost him, though, as Scott flew past him onto the Congress Avenue Bridge. Ave and Weigman both mounted terrific surges across the bridge, and it took everything Scott had to outkick them. Weigman edged Ave for second place 3:54.2 to 3:54.5. Shummer faded to 11th in 4:02.

“It was a very competitive and tactical race,” Scott said afterwards, “but I ran exactly the way I wanted to.”

Danny Azcona of Austin ran a 3:59, bringing the total number of runners under four minutes to eight. Jose Gonzalez Alonso, also from Austin, was 10th overall in 4 minutes flat.

The women’s race was closely fought, with the whole pack gliding through the halfway mark at about 2:14. Plumer, ranked No. 1 in the world in the 3,000 and 5000 meters, waited patiently, always alert to the situation.

Austin’s Shiela Carrozza and Canadian 1,500-meter record holder Brit Peterson began separating themselves from the rest of the pack, with Plumer only a step behind. Again the battle began on the bridge, where Plumer put the hammer down, pulling ahead of Peterson 4:24 to 4:30. Carrozza finished strongly at 4:32 for 3rd.

“I didn’t think I had it won until three-quarters of the way across the bridge,” Plumer said. “I know the way upsets can happen, and I wanted to prevent someone from making a late kick, so I ran the last quarter really hard.”

Scott and Plumer pocketed $1,500 each in prize money, with $1,000 going to second place and $500 going to third in both elite races.

The most spectacular age-group win belonged to 18-year-old Rick Harney of Georgetown. Harney’s 4:13 was the fastest mile run outside of the elite race.

Austin’s Mark Mason, 35, and Bret Davis, 30, had the next two fastest winning times, in 4:15 and 4:17, repectively.

Sunhine O’Neal, 16, also of Georgetown, ran the fastest women’s mile outside the elite group with a superb 5 minutes flat.

Nearly 500 runners turned out for the second annual race.

With the Congress Avenue Mile, race director Paul Carrozza has put Austin in an exclusive club. New York, Stockholm and Paris are the only other cities that play host to world-class road miles.

PUBLICATION: Austin American-Statesman
SECTION: SPORTS
PAGE: C2