RESULTS OF 21ST CAPE COD MARATHON AND OCEAN SPRAY MARATHON RELAY

Vermont man and Newburyport woman capture Cape Cod Marathon

Running on a warm fall day, Chip Pierce of Newport, Vt., and Susannah R. Landreth of Newburyport, Mass., captured the men's and women's titles at the 21st Cape Cod Marathon in Falmouth today.

Both Pierce, 38, and Landreth, 30, won by more than 6-minute margins and each received $1,500 in prize money. Pierce's winning time was 2:28:16.

With her 3:01:33 victory, Landreth also clinched the 1998 U.S.A. Track and Field New England Road Race Grand Prix women's title. The Cape Cod Marathon was the final race in the seven-race series.

For Pierce, his Cape Cod victory was his best marathon since winning the Seattle Marathon in 1989. Pierce, a member of the Greater Lowell Road Runnes, ran the second half of the race faster than the first - a tough task on a course that saves its hills for the final 13 miles.

"My training in Vermont is up and down, up and down," Pierce said. "The hills didn't seem that much."

Pierce said the early pace was slower than he expected and that he started picking up the pace around mile 14. "From 10 to 23 felt great," he said.

The second-place finisher was Mel Gonsalves, a 1982 Falmouth High School graduate who now lives in Randolph. He was elated with his showing in his hometown race. "I was just loving it," he said.

Running for the Boston Athletic Association, Gonsalves won $750 for his second-place finish in a time of 2:34:55.

Landreth, a member of the Winners Circle Running Club, took the women's title in just her first attempt at the marathon distance. She originally planned to make her marathon debut at the Ocean State Marathon in Rhode Island next month, but decided to run Cape Cod when she realized she could win the USATF-New England Grand Prix title.

Landreth is coached by Rich Bayko, 1984 winner of the Cape Cod Marathon. "I was able to alert her to the fact there was some serious hills there."

"It was everything I expected to be," said Landreth. She took the lead early in the race and said she knew by 10 miles she could win if she did not fall apart. She started slowing down around 18 miles, she said.

The second-place woman was 52-year-old Susan Gustafson of Norwell. She also received $750 for taking second.

The marathon drew a field of 790 registered runners.

In the simultaneous Ocean Spray Marathon Relay, Cambridge Sports Union took first in the men's division with a time of 2:33:47. The Cape Cod Road Runners won the women's division of the relay in 3:10:00.

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