
DATE: Sunday, August 17, 1997               TAG: 9708170179

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C9   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ED MILLER, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   66 lines

NO WAITING FOR MILE-RUN WINNER A NORFOLK STATE FRESHMAN TAKES THE SHOWCASE EVENT OF GHENT RUNNING FEST.

Sure, Fidele Baregensabe ran 4:14 on Saturday morning to win the Charlie Falk Showcase Mile in Ghent.

The question is, how fast could he have run carrying a cup of beer on a waiter's tray?

Scott Murphy did, and the 21-year-old Norfolk waiter finished in 5:20.

``With one inch of beer left,'' he said.

The two races represented the opposite ends of the spectrum at the five-race event, run on Colley Avenue and 21st Street. A total of 242 runners braved the muggy conditions to see how fast they could complete a mile, a benchmark distance in track and field.

The competitor expected to be the fastest, Norfolk native Joe King, a world-class 800-meter runner, did not show up. That left Baregensabe, a 19-year-old freshman at Norfolk State, to set the pace in the premier event, the men's open mile.

Baregensabe led most of the way, and, without King in the field, it would not have been a race at all had another runner not entered at virtually the last minute.

John Collins, a former runner at Iona College and North Carolina-Wilmington, moved to the area from Indiana on Friday. On Friday night, he happened to stop by the Running Etc. shop on Colley Avenue, where he saw a sign-up table for the race.

``I was like, `Cool, let's run it,' '' he said.

Collins, 25, closed on Baregensabe at the half-mile mark, and stayed with him until the final 400 meters.

``Then he (Baregensabe) found another gear,'' Collins said.

Baregensabe, a 5,000-meter specialist from Burundi, will run in the World University games next month. He was looking forward to running against King, and said he was surprised to see Collins when he looked over his shoulder.

``He gave me a hard time,'' Baregensabe said.

Collins finished in 4:21. Jokum Gitau, also of Norfolk State, was third in 4:32.

Barbara Kannewurf, a 28-year-old Navy Lieutenant, won the women's division in 5:03.

For comic relief, there was the Elliot's Challenge, a race among waiters and waitresses.

Murphy, a former runner at Granby High who was representing O'Sullivan's Wharf in Norfolk, crossed the line nearly 30 seconds ahead of the next runner, carrying a sloshing ``concoction'' of several brands of beer. He gulped the little bit that remained after crossing the finish line.

``It was kind of a ceremonial thing,'' he said.

Murphy and about 100 others then repaired to Elliot's on Colley Avenue, where there was more beer, plus pizza and other refreshments. Raymond Ochs, president of the Tidewater Striders, said the club hopes to make the race an annual event. ILLUSTRATION: PHOTOS BY NHAT MEYER/The Virginian-Pilot

Chris Roessler, No. 818, and Laura Edwards, No. 5650, a pair of

10-year-old competitors, get the kinks out Saturday morning as they

loosen up for the Charlie Falk Showcase Mile on Colley Ave. in

Norfolk.

Petros Ioannou balances a cup of beer on a tray while running in the

Elliot's Challenge for waiters and waitresses. Ioannou finished

second.

Fidele Baregensabe won the Showcase Mile in a time of 4:14.