Brady, Saunders Capture 4 on the 4th Titles

Kyle Brady, 23, of Naperville, made it two titles in three years (he took second last year by a whisker) as he won the 2012 Community Bank of Elmhurst 4 on the 4th on Wednesday morning. Brady and eventual runner-up Andy Derks, 32, of Aurora, were side-by-side for the most part until the end of the underpass hill on the third mile. That's when Brady put in a small surge to finally break Derks who hung tough to the end. Brady won in 20:04 on a very warm and humid race course. Derks crossed the finish line at Elmhurst College in 20:16 for second. Third place in the hotly-contested race for that spot was Emisael Favela, 35, of Berwyn, who ran a 20:19. Fourth place was taken by Jerome Tharaud, 32, of Oak Park. Tharaud, who won the Downers Grove 5-miler 10 days earlier, ran a 20:26. Fifth went to Michael Frigo, 21, of Elmhurst (the first hometown finisher), who posted a 20:38. Ashley Saunders, 15, of Gardner, IL, added her name to the list of 4 on the 4th women's winners with a 23:19. She was 11 seconds ahead of runner-up and past winner Lindsay Hattendorf, 28, of Crown Point, IN, who came in at 23:30. Third place went to Kristen Heckert, 25, of Lisle, and a force on the local scene. She came in at 23:34. Fourth went to past winner Jean Marinangeli, 28, of Schaumburg, in 23:56; and fifth went to Christina Overbeck, 26, of Portland, OR (and Chicago) in 24:03. Many more top names came in close behind the two top fives. As race director, I can say the hosting Elmhurst Running Club was thrilled to welcome so many great runners along with so many other great weekend warriors. While the results currently say we had 853 finishers, there were at least 30-35 more who ran with race numbers over 1,000 but without chips. We ran out for the first time in our eight years and appreciate people understanding the situation.