Space City 10-Miler Race Story

HOUSTON -- It was a double danger kind of race morning at Sunday's Space City 10-Miler.

Not only were runners able to see the humidity at the start, but they also felt the heat at the finish line as conditions worsened through the morning -- despite sunny skies.

However, Georgetown's Alfred Kiplagat and Houston's Hillary Montgomery navigated the hexagon-shaped course in times that seemed a bit of a paradox.

Kiplagat, the 28-year-old, who wasn't pushed by runner-up Todd Van Velson, ran the slowest winning time of all 16 Space City 10-Milers in 52:34.7, while Montgomery, the 24-year-old former Texas A&M Aggie and 2016 US Olympic Olympic Marathon Trials qualifier, seemed in top form.

Even though Montgomery's margin of victory over Madison Brown - the former University of Houston Cougar - was more than twice that of Kiplagat's.

Her winning time of 56:45.8 was the fourth fastest in the race's history -- one that she holds the course and event record from two years ago in 55:11.8.

Both Kiplagat and Montgomery walked away with $800 each -- $500 for the win from title sponsor One Main Financial and another $300 from Nationwide Insurance for being the first runner at miles 2, 4 and 6.

Van Velson, 33, and Brown, 22, were second overall in 54:27 and 1:00:53, respectively, earning $300 while Luis Armenteros, 45, and Lauren Stroud, 26, were third - taking home $100 each -- in 56:18 and 1:01:55.

It was Armenteros' third show finish to go with a win in 2003, second place in 2004 and masters' victories the last three runnings of the race.

Meanwhile, Stroud has finished on the podium in each of the last five years, including winning the race last October and three consecutive second-place efforts in 2013-2015.

The masters' titles - and $200 in prize money - were won by a pair of Houstonians in Peter Lawrence and Stacy Holden.

Lawrence's winning time of 57:29 was actually the fourth best of nine consecutive finishes, including five 40-44 age group wins in the race's last six runnings, while Holden defended her title -- the fifth women in race history to do so -- in 1:08:17.

Montgomery, Van Velson, Armenteros and Holden were four of nine runners who earned entry into January's Chevron Houston Marathon or Aramco Houston Half Marathon as part of that race's Local Elite Invited Runner program.

Runners who live in a 19-country area surrounding Harris County can earn a free entry at each of the four Houston Area Road Runners Association's (HARRA) Fall Series races if they are the first to finish in a time that beats a pre-determined qualifying standard.

(UPDATE:  Montgomery declined the entry - or lives outside of the area now - and it rolled down to the former Cougar, Madison Brown, according to the Chevron Houston Marathon website.)

Kingwood's Stewart Everett, 51, and Katy's Lynn Malloy, 57, represented the Grandmasters with finishes of 1:05:02 and 1:12:30 -- beating the 1:06:19 and 1:17:06 standards.

Houston's Miguel Lopez, 66, and Sabra Harvey, 68, earned the Senior Grandmasters entries with showings of 1:11:29.7 and 1:11:34.5.

Harvey was a week removed from winning her age group at the USATF Masters 5K Championship in Syracuse, New York in a time of 20:44, which age grades to 99.04%.

The final Local Elite Invited Runner slot went to 70-year-old Ben Harvie, who finished in 1:17:14 -- easily more than two minutes under the 1:19:42 standard.  It was Harvie's sixth age group win in 11 career Space City 10-Miler finishes.

Harvie was one of 43 runners before the race who had finished 10 or more Space City 10-Milers since 2003 -- and another 12 on Sunday finished their 10th race (in 16 runnings of the race).

Runners will have the opportunity to earn up to 10 spots in each of the next three races of the HARRA Fall Series - the Houston Half Marathon, the Fleet Feet Sports HMSA Classical 25K and the Fort Bend Kia 30K.