Liberty Mile sets participation record; Edinboro runner is top pro woman

Another Friday night with nearly perfect weather conditions greeted runners of all ages for the annual Fleet Feet Liberty Mile in Downtown Pittsburgh.

“It was beautiful with a little breeze,” said Troy Schooley, the CEO of P3R, the local running organization charged with coordinating all aspects of the event. “It was perfect for the runners, especially since it’s just a mile. It’s always a special time to come downtown, enjoy the atmosphere and run a mile. This is an event for everyone.”

The Fleet Feet Liberty Mile, named “one of America’s most iconic races” by Runners World, was run entirely in the Cultural District from its start on Penn Avenue near Sixth Street to its finish near Sixth on Liberty Avenue.

“Not often do you get the chance to run Penn Avenue and Liberty Avenue on a Friday night,” Schooley said.

More than 1,600 runners ages 23 months to 86 years, a Liberty Mile participation record, took part in several races, from the One for Fun to kick off the festivities to the pro men’s and women’s races with a total purse of $23,000, one of the largest in the nation for a road mile.

The pro men’s and pro women’s races alone featured a total of $16,500 in prize money to the top five in each race, including $4,000 to each winner.

Kenyan Amon Kemboi, 27, made his Pittsburgh running debut Friday. He made a kick in the home stretch to finish with a time of 4 minutes to outduel Australian Jack Anstey, 26, and U.S. Olympian Ben Blankenship to the finish.

Anstey finished in 4:01, and Blankenship crossed the end line in 4:02.

“There were so many people cheering for me, and that gave me extra energy to push myself (down the stretch),” said Kemboi, who hopes to come back next year and defend his title. “I was happy to race against so many good runners.”

Blankenship is no stranger to the pro race at the Liberty Mile. It was his fifth overall. He won in 2016 and 2017 and was runner-up last year.

“I came off the Peachtree Road Race (10K in Atlanta) on Tuesday over a hilly 10K. I just wanted to come here and run a good race and be positive all the way through it,” said Blankenship, who owns an all-time best mile time of 3:52.51. “Those two guys in front of me ran great races.

“Every year I come here, I am going to have a blast. The day of, it is the most nervous I am throughout the entire season. Each time, I just want to come out here and show the crowd a really good time and run well in front of them. It is such a great field every time and a race I want to win every year.”

Peters Township’s Nick Wolk, who won the Unstoppable (ages 14 to 39) race at last year’s Liberty Mile to earn a spot in this year’s men’s pro race, finished fifth overall with a time rounded up to 4:02.

Canadian Stefanie Parsons, a mile specialist who ran in college at Edinboro and New Mexico, ran in Pittsburgh for the second time and captured the women’s pro race in a time of 4:35.

She last competed in Pittsburgh in 2018 at the NCAA Division II cross country championships at Schenley Park.

“I wasn’t really sure who was in the race, so I just went out hoping to run my best and see what I could do,” said Parsons, who won by four seconds over American Grace Barnett and Malta native Gina McNamara.

“It was a little humid, but I’ve been training in pretty humid conditions the past few weeks, so it wasn’t anything I wasn’t prepared for.”

This year’s Unstoppable race again carried a cash prize of $500 to the men’s and women’s winner and also an automatic bid to next year’s pro race.

Hunter Steinau, 21, an Annapolis, Md., native and rising senior at High Point in North Carolina, won the men’s race in a time of 4:13. Hannah Long, 26, a former Stanford running standout, won the women’s Unstoppable in 4:45.

In celebration of the National Senior Games in Pittsburgh, this year’s event included exclusive heats and prize money for National Senior Game Participants age 50 and older.

Timothy Vigil Sr., 59, (5:14) on the men’s side and Anabelle Broadbent, 55, (7:20) on the women’s side finished first, and pocketed $500 each.

North Hills graduate Margo Malone, who won the Pittsburgh Marathon in May, returned to the Pittsburgh streets Friday and was fourth in the Unstoppable with a time of 4:55.

She was 41st overall.

“I signed up Thursday, and there wasn’t a lot of speed training ahead of my run, but I just went out there and tested my legs,” Malone said. “There’s just such a fun energy with this race, and I wanted to be a part of it.”

Pro results

Men’s

1. Amon Kemboi, Kenya, 4:00

2. Jack Anstey, Australia, 4:01

3. Ben Blankenship, U.S., 4:02

4. Reid Buchanan, U.S., 4:02

5. Nick Wolk, U.S., 4:02

6. Jesse Hunt, Australia, 4:02

7. Colin Kelly, U.S., 4:04

8. Josh Higgins, U.S., 4:08

9. Graham Crawford, U.S., 4:08

10. Elias Graca, U.S., 4:08

11. Ben Veatch, U.S., 4:14

Women’s

1. Stefanie Parsons, Canada, 4:35

2. Grace Barnett, U.S., 4:39

3. Gina McNamara, Malta, 4:39

4. Stephanie Brokaw, U.S., 4:43

5. Emilee Trost, U.S., 4:47

6. Ellen Feringa, U.S., 4:50

7. Maria Seykora, U.S., 4:54

8. Lauren Finikiotis, U.S., 5:05