By Tim Hipps

October 10, 2006

ARLINGTON, Va. (Army News Service, Oct. 10, 2006) – Alisa Harvey became the first four-time winner of the Army Ten-Miler in a masters women's record time of 59 minutes while Jared Nyamboki coasted to the men's victory in 48:24.

The 22nd running of America's largest 10-mile road race started and finished Oct. 8 at the Pentagon. There were 15,134 official finishers in the field of 16,676 runners.

"It's more than just a road race for me," said Harvey, 41 a mother of two from Manassas, Va. "I love the military aspect when I get out there with the men who are all 'Hooah!' They're excited about the race and they're competitive even with the women. It's a whole new feel, so I just love being a part of all that."

Harvey also was grateful that second-place finisher Army Capt. Emily Brzozowski of Fort Carson, Colo., set the women's pace for most of the first seven miles.

"I was so happy that she was there because the 10-mile distance is still a stretch for me, being a miler, so I wanted to hang with her," Harvey said. "I have a tendency to go out too hard. She set a perfect pace for a perfect race. She helped me a lot."

Harvey passed and pulled away from Brzozowski during the eighth mile along Independence Avenue in Washington, D.C., just past the U.S. Capitol Building.

"After the eighth mile, I stopped hearing her," Harvey said. "I didn't look back."

Harvey was an NCAA track champion in 1986 at the University of Tennessee and recently was inducted into the school's Hall of Fame. She struck gold in the mile and silver in the 800 meters at the 1991 Pan American Games in Havana, Cuba. She qualified for the 2000 U.S. Marathon Olympic Trials with a 2:49 clocking in the 1999 Richmond Marathon. "I nearly died doing it, but I had a good time," recalled Harvey, who also set American masters records for the mile (4:46.29) and the 1,500 meters (4:26.49) at the 2006 Penn Relays.

Brzozowski, 27, a 2001 West Point graduate now training as a modern pentathlete in the U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program, held onto second place with a time of 59:26. She finished third here last year and won the Armed Forces women's crown at the 2005 Marine Corps Marathon.

"I wanted to win for the Army, that's what I was thinking the whole time,” said Brzozowski. “I love this race. It's fun. There's a lot of camaraderie. Some people are out here to race it. Some people are out here just to have fun and run. It's really a great race."

Erin Swain, 24, a former cross country standout at N.C. State University and nearby Lake Braddock (Va.) High, finished third among women with a time of 59:52. She, too, knew the women's chase was over when Harvey made her move.

"I run a lot of races in Northern Virginia so I've raced against her a lot and finished second to her a lot," Swain said. "I think she's amazing. I hope when I'm 41, I'm running as fast as her and winning just as many races as her."

Johanna Allen (1:00:03), 25, of Woodbridge, Va., and Mickey Kelly (1:00:44), 28, another WCAP modern pentathlete stationed at Fort Carson, rounded out the women's top five.

They were followed by Lt. Col. Heidi Grimm (1:00:47), 39, a WCAP triathlete from Fort Carson; Amanda Cooley (1:00:54), 29, of Fountain Inn, S.C.; Trisha Stavinoha (1:01:14), 30, of San Antonio, Texas; former women's masters record-holder Martha Merz (1:01:35), 44, of Annandale, Va.; and Lauren Manero (1:01:35), 25, of Alexandria, Va.

Nyamboki, 30, of Peachtree City, Ga. was running for Foot Solutions. He left the men's pack during the second mile and ran unchallenged throughout.

Nyamboki ran the first mile in 4:27, went through two miles in 9:15, and hit the midway mark in 23:21.

"From the two mile mark, I ran alone so it was difficult for me to break the course record," he said of chasing Dan Browne's 47:32 clocking set in 2004.

Nyamboki is training for the Marine Corps Marathon, where he hopes to run 26.2 miles in 2 hours, 10 minutes. On this day, however, he wanted to run with the U.S. Army.

"There are more races around the United States today that have money but my mental thing was to challenge the American guys, the Army guys, because it's better to run with them because America's Army is the best in the world," said Nyamboki, 30, of Peachtree City, Ga. "Maybe I will be wanting to join the military. Who knows? I'm serious."

Nyamboki's Foot Solutions teammates, Belay Kassa (49:37) and Richard Ondimu (50:03), who also live just outside Atlanta, finished second and third.

WCAP Sgt. Sandu Rebenciuc, 37, a former steeplechaser turned modern pentathlete stationed at Fort Carson, led the All-Army Team and finished fourth in 50:18.

"I finished fourth for the fourth time so they need to make a fourth-place award for me or something," said Rebenciuc, who also fell off a horse four days earlier while training for the pentathlon. "It could have been a lot worse. I thought I was going to find the nearest bridge, take a right, and come back home. These guys took it out hard and I wasn't even planning to go with them. A couple of them fell back and I ended up running with one of them the whole time, taking turns leading.

“Most of the times I hurt on the downhills because I couldn't stretch my legs properly. Then towards the end, I started compensating. It was really ugly. I felt like a truck out there. But I ended up out-kicking the guy I worked with the whole time. I'm just happy I led the team and I helped the team."

Tamrat Ayalew, 32, of Fayetteville, Ga., finished fifth in 50:19 and was followed by Brian Butzler (51:14), 23, of Beloit, Wis.; Fikadu Deme (51:36), 26, of Fayetteville, Ga.; Justin Lutz (51:38), 26, of Framingham, Mass.; Keith Matiskella (51:57), 34, of Fort Leavenworth, Kan.; and Ryan Carrara (52:29), 30, of Hudson, Mass.

"It's an incredible event," Harvey concluded. "I'm so proud. My brother is Navy but I've always been pro-military. If they could just keep this going forever and ever, it would be the best thing. It's a wonderful event, it really is."