Courtney Filliben, age 12, Wins Women'sTropical 5K run

 

Miami Gulliver Prep graduate Bryan Sharkey won the men's Tropical 5K, and Courtney Filliben, 12, was the women's winner.

BY JOSUE SAKATA

Miami Herald Writer

CHET ELFENBEIN / PR RACING

FIRST ONE IN: Miami Gulliver Prep graduate and Princeton runner Bryan Sharkey wins the Tropical 5K.

The strong winds challenged, but they could not stop the youthful energy of Bryan Sharkey and Courtney Filliben as they went on to capture the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Tropical 5K on Saturday.

Young runners turned in solid performances to win their overall groups and kept anyone older than 20 from taking the race from them.

Filliben, 12, beat out two teenaged runners to capture the women's title, and Sharkey, 19, beat the second- and third-place runners convincingly.

Filliben's time of 19:43 was 19 seconds faster than 13-year-old Catherine Ventura (20:02) and 37 seconds ahead of 16-year-old Michelle Robinson (20:20).

Sharkey, 19, finished 45 seconds faster than Thomas Springer, 22, with a time of 15:40. Rodrigo Berger, 36, was third with a time of 17:11 -- 1:31 behind Sharkey.

The scenic course down MacArthur Causeway took runners past the Port of Miami's cruise-ship row and into South Beach, and was said to normally have a gentle breeze. But instead, stronger-than-usual winds challenged runners.

''It was really windy going up, and the hill was tough,'' Filliben said. ``It was better going down.''

Sharkey shared the same opinion as Filliben.

''[The wind] was out,'' Sharkey said. ``You didn't have the wind on your back.''

However, the strategy both runners used worked. Filliben bettered her 2006 time by 57 seconds.

''At the end, I began to look back,'' she said. ``I didn't see anybody.''

On the first mile, Sharkey used Springer to shield himself from the wind as both runners exchanged leads. He picked up the pace on the second mile and used the downhill part of the MacArthur Causeway bridge to pick up even more speed on the final mile.

''The first mile we were back and forth, and I used the other person as a wind blocker,'' Sharkey said. ``After that, I picked up the pace and wanted to see how fast he really was.''

Despite being young, both Filliben and Sharkey are experienced runners. Filliben won the 3K Midget Cross Country race of the AAU 2006 National Cross Country Championships, and she was the second overall female in last year's Tropical 5K.

She started running when she was in second grade and bounced back from a skull fracture she sustained while running.

Sharkey, who went to Miami Gulliver Prep, is on Princeton's cross-country and track and field teams. The race was good practice for the mile and steeplechase races he is slated to compete in for the Tigers.

''Longer distances at a fast pace help me,'' Sharkey said. ``So when I run shorter distances, I go faster.''