Former bandit steals show

Portland Press Herald Writer

Copyright © 2006 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.

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DONNY DRAKE AGE: 21 RESIDENCE: Portland and Orono OF NOTE: Drake is a cross country runner at the University of Maine and was a former Deering High School cross country, track and baseball standout. Drake finished 78th in the 2003 Beach to Beacon (34:56) and was an unregistered runner last year. In this year's 10-kilometer race, Drake ran a 5:02-per-mile pace and finished 33 seconds ahead of Dartmouth College runner Ben True. To top of story

Staff photo by Shawn Patrick Ouellette Donny Drake of Portland had been regarded by some as a middle-distance runner. But no more. He proved Saturday thhat he can race 10 kilometers with the best in the state, sweeping to victory in the Maine men's division of the Beach to Beacon.

CAPE ELIZABETH — In a matter of less than 32 minutes, Donny Drake became a believer. An athlete who less than four years ago was a middle-distance specialist in high school, Drake affirmed his value as a distance runner by winning the Maine men's race Saturday in the TD Banknorth Beach to Beacon.

Drake, a University of Maine cross country runner and former Deering High three-sport standout, completed the 10-kilometer course in 31 minutes, 15.8 seconds.

Drake paced a top-five Maine men's field that featured some big names. Finishing behind Drake were Dartmouth College's Ben True of North Yarmouth (31:48.8); former Portland High standout Ayalew Taye (31:55.9); University of Southern Maine graduate Michael Bunker (32:14.3), who was an All-American steeplechaser; and University of New Hampshire distance runner Andrew Van Hoogenstyn (32:20.2).

"When you see those names," Drake said, "you're surprised to be in the same race as those guys."

Also in the field were Evan Graves, a Boston Marathon finisher in the spring, and Maine men's Masters winner Bob Winn, who held the Maine men's course record from 1998 to 2004.

When asked about Drake, Taye had one answer.

"Who?" Taye asked. "I didn't know who he was until just now."

Drake was a middle-distance runner and baseball player at Deering. While he also ran cross country, it wasn't until he started working with University of Maine cross country coach Mark Lech that he began to understand his promise as a distance runner.

"I was skeptical," Drake said. "I really had never run those kinds of distances before. Summer training is so much different. Your mileage gets higher and your body's got to adjust."

Drake surprised some competitors.

"He's an 800 guy, but 10,000 meters . . . I wasn't expecting him to be in this race," Bunker said.

Ethan Hemphill, one of the favorites, finished 13th among the Maine men and 44th overall in 33:17.7. Drake's pace, which quickened late in the race, astounded Hemphill, the 2004 Maine men's winner.

"I didn't know who he was until some guy just pointed him out," Hemphill said. "But he passed us going up the hill to the 5-kilometer mark and he looked like he had a whole other gear. He was really tearing up that hill.

"I didn't know who he was, but it's clear he was fit and ran a strategically good race."

In the 10-man Maine winner's bracket, Winn saw a glimpse of the future.

"They're all great kids," Winn said. "They're where they should be, the young guys. God bless them. Keep running."

Absent was Eric Giddings of South Portland, a two-time winner who flew Friday from Kenya and intended to run.

Giddings said he was recovering from "a real bad flu," which kept him from racing.

"Coughing, sore throat, a fever," said Giddings, who set the Maine men's course record of 30:34 in 2005. "I was real fatigued."

Without Giddings, the door was open. In came Drake, who ran last season as a bandit - a runner who competes but doesn't officially register - but entered this year at the urging of his aunt, Cathy Moulton.

Saturday, with sweat dripping down his forehead as the masses came through the finish line, Drake talked about two team titles that helped him develop: being part of Deering's four-man relay team in 2003 that set the New England 3,200-meter indoor record and the 2004 America East Conference championship squad with the Black Bears.

While Drake holds those team titles in high regard, his finish in the Beach to Beacon - leading the Maine contingent in one of the country's most respected races - proved to be the fruit of his own labor, as a distance runner.

"I went into (the 2004 cross country) season hoping to do well," said Drake, "and I just kind of let it take off from there. I loved it. I love going out every day and putting in the miles and getting the rewards, and it's just a real good feeling.

"Yeah, I'm a believer."

Staff Writer Rachel Lenzi can be contacted at 791-6415 or at:

rlenzi@pressherald.com