University of Massachusets Athletics
Talking Turkey: Johnson Brothers Steal Spotlight
December 01, 2010 | Men's Cross Country
Dec. 1, 2010
HOLYOKE, Mass. -
The Springfield Republican
By Bill Wells
Twins Dave and Kevin Johnson of Ludlow said even though their running strategies are different, at the end of a race things tend to balance out between the two.That balancing out came at the finish line Saturday afternoon as Dave beat Kevin by a chest to win the Talking Turkey 6-Mile Cross Country Race.
"It's nice," Dave Johnson said. "He got me two years ago and I was second."
Holyoke's Abby Mahoney easily won the women's division to win her hometown race for the first time."I was thinking during the race, `If I win this I can take a big `ol break and don't have to come back next year'," said Mahoney, with a laugh. "It feels great."
The 32nd annual event, run mainly along beautiful Ashley Reservoir, drew more than 1,300 runners to the Holyoke Lodge of Elks. This year's race was in memory of Clayton Hough Jr., a Holyoke resident who lost both legs in the Vietnam War. Hough, a former volunteer at the race, died in 2004.
Dave Johnson crossed in 29 minutes, 49 seconds, with his brother less than one second behind. Westfield native Jason Ayr was third in 30:21, followed by Belchertown's Erik Nedeau (30:46) and South Hadley's Andrew Mulvaney (31:27).
Woods won by almost a minute in 36:42. Amherst's Dana Parrot was the female runner-up in 37:36. Westfield's Anne Paredes (37:53) and Lauren Stocker (39:14), and Springfield's Betty Quinn (39:30) rounded out the women's top five.
Dave Johnson led a group of five runners at the first mile in 5:09. Kevin was in a second pack about 10 seconds back. Dave Johnson held a one-second lead over Nedeau at the second mile, and was nine seconds head of Ayr, Nedeau, Mulvaney and Kevin Johnson at the third mile.
"We took it out and I noticed it was going a little bit slow," Dave Johnson said. "I decided to take over and do a little bit of the work for a little bit. It turned out to be about 95 percent of the race.
"Then my brother came up on me. I could feel him breathing down my neck. At about mile 5 we started working together and had a good last mile."
Kevin Johnson made his move during the fourth mile and pulled even with his 22-year-old brother at the 4 ½ mile mark."For the next 2 miles I dropped some pretty fast miles to catch up," Kevin Johnson said. And from there, the Johnsons were never more than 2 feet away from each other.
After the uphill and final left turn toward the finish line, just strides before the finish line, Dave Johnson put on just enough of a surge to get a half-step ahead of his brother.
"Kevin tends to come on strong at the end of the race and I tend to go out a little quicker and try to hold on," Dave Johnson explained. "He'll go out slow and close a lot faster. Usually it comes to an equilibrium at the end of a race. "We have a little bit of a rivalry but if he beats me or I beat him, it really doesn't matter," Kevin Johnson said.
Mahoney was never challenged, leading the race from start to finish to win for the first time in her eight attempts."There's no way I expected to win today," the 32 year old said."I felt OK. I like the hills and mountains. The turnover on the flats is always a challenge for me, but I had another man run with me the whole way and he was very encouraging, which helped out. I ran pretty even splits so I was pretty happy."