Sports

Ghent native wins Stockade-athon 15K

By Austin Mort

SCHENECTADY — Ghent native Emory Mort added another jewel to his local road racing crown, winning the 33rd running of the Stockade-athon 15K Sunday in Schenectady.

Mort, 25, broke the tape in 47:52, 55 seconds ahead of second-place finisher and Willow Street Athletic Club teammate Andy Allstadt of Albany.

Featuring over 1,250 runners, the Stockade-athon acted as this year’s USA Track and Field (USATF) East Regional 15K championship.

Mort opened the race at a conservative pace, laying off the lead until he saw the right opportunity to overtake the competition.

“The goal was to run even or negative splits, and up until three miles, I was behind the leaders,” he said. “I slowly made up ground and caught up to [Allstadt] and we went through 5K together.”

The two teammates stayed close through the middle of the race, before Mort began to pull away at the 5.5 mile mark.

“Right before 10K, I opened up a gap on the hill. My usual plan with hills is that I’m a better downhill runner than I am uphill. I figure everyone is hurting, including me. I just try to get up the hill. In this race I actually pulled ahead.”

From that point on, Mort had a firm grip on the race. Thanks to his temperate start, he had plenty of strength for the final third.

“I basically maintained that lead or widened it for the rest. My effort and my pace was pretty even throughout the race. I knew my best chance was to have some left in the end no matter what.”

The victory earns Mort free travel and entry to the USATF National 15K Championship in Jacksonville, Fla. in March 2009. He finished 30th in that race in 2007.

“You’ll see many of the top U.S. runners there, you’ll see Olympians there. If I go to that, for me it would be great to be in the top 20 or 25,” he said.

Mort also competed at the 2007 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in the 3000-meter steeplechase and twice ran in the Izumo Ekiden, a nationally-televised Japanese distance event. He has found, though, that competing in local races rivals those experiences.

“It’s just as fun to run in local races, if not more fun. I get to know the race directors and I get to run with my teammates and my family can come watch. It’s fun to go to a race and throw it all out there and hang out with your buddies afterwards,” said Mort.

“And as a competitor, just having chance to win is a lot of fun,” he added.

In September, Mort claimed the USATF East Regional 5K title with a victory in the Bruegger’s Bagel Run in Albany. He now has is sights set on the Troy Turkey Trot, a race he won in 2006. The race will take place on Thanksgiving and is this year’s East Regional 10K championship. A win there would complete a sweep of the region’s 5K, 10K and 15K championships.

The Cornell University alumnus currently lives in Ithaca, where he volunteers as an assistant cross country coach for his alma mater and helps maintain a running Web site.

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