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Vaknin, Benton Win Bay To Bay

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By LEE DIEKEMPER Tribune correspondent

The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 16, 2009

ST. PETERSBURG - Tampa's Dror Vaknin and former USF All-American and St. Petersburg resident Christa Benton won Sunday's Bay to Bay 12-kilometer race.

St. Petersburg's most popular race cuts across the city from Boca Ciega Bay on the western edge of the city and ends at The Pier on Tampa Bay.

Both runners captured last year's race as well.

Vaknin, 41, finished the race in 41:45, almost a minute ahead of Lee Rietsma (42:37). Benton, 26, who clocked in at 44:42, finished sixth overall, well ahead of her nearest competitor, Mary Menton (48:07).

For Vaknin, the biggest advantage in winning the race was that one of his biggest local rivals, Lee Stephens, did not participate. Stephens edged Vaknin at the Gasparilla 15k race Feb. 28 for sixth place by 17 seconds and Vaknin feared the same result had Stephens raced Sunday.

"With Lee not being here, I kind of ran by myself most of the way," Vaknin said. "Lee has won this race so many times."

The weather was near perfect for the runners, sans humidity, as there was a good bit of cloud cover. Most years the runners have had to battle the rising sun as the race course is largely a straight west-to-east route. Only until the runners got past downtown did they face a stiff wind coming off Tampa Bay right into their faces.

"It was nice - 'Oh, OK, this is great' - until maybe the last mile and all of a sudden, 'Whoa, where did this come from?'" Vaknin said.

"I remember some years runners wearing long sleeves and gloves," Benton said.

Benton won despite - by her own confession - possibly coming back too soon from an illness. After winning the Gasparilla 15k on Feb. 28 she developed a respiratory infection that sidelined her, forcing her to pull back significantly on her training regime.

"I had to rest a lot and take two rounds of antibiotics," Benton said. "I'm just now coming off of that. Maybe thinking back running wasn't the smartest. But it's hard to say no to the Bay to Bay. I did feel it after the first mile in my chest."
Michael Lamb (16:41) and Madeleine Zolfo (19:14) won the 5k race. A total of 1,136 runners competed in the 12k (699) and the 5k (437). The event also had a one-mile run and a Kids Dash.

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