There’s one thing the top runners agreed on regarding Saturday’s second Ceres Juices 10K Series tour stop in Carrot Bay: the course is tough.

Besides the challenging course, Virgin Gorda’s Maxford Pipe had his hands full with visiting North Carolina’s Wake Forest High School runners, Bailey Autry and his brother, John, after they broke from the field early in the race.

“Honestly, out of all the 10Ks I’ve run this is the hardest one,” Pipe said after navigating the scenic route on the water’s edge from Carrot Bay to Smugglers Cove and return in 42 minutes and 37 seconds to finish less than a minute ahead of Bailey. “There are lots of hills and they are steep and quite lengthy”.

It was Pipe’s first time running the course and his aim was to run faster than the 41:33 in the series opener but didn’t expect the hills to be so steep. “I’m satisfied with the time which is good because of the difficulties but I wanted to run a faster time than I did in the first race which was a lot easier”, he recalled. “Thanks to my pace setter (Bailey). He went out on the first half that led me to a better time”. 

An 11th grader this fall, Bailey said the course was harder than one at his house that had more hills over which he ran a faster time. “That’s how hard this course was”, noted Bailey, a 4:43 miler who has run the 800m in 2:11. “Since some of it is on gravel, it’s hard to step on it and you loose your traction on it so you had to run harder to got the same speed”. 

John who will be a 9th grader in the fall and has a 19:03 5K best to his credit, finished third in 45:04. “There weren’t too many hills but the three we did were incredibly steep so that you almost wanted to start walking”, he recalled. “It took all your energy before you got to the top”. 

Hanging with the leaders early in the race Julius Farley said he tired his best but just couldn’t hold out as he placed fourth in 46:31.

“This course is a very tough course”, he lamented. “The hills are really tough. That was the hardest I’ve ever done. Even harder than the Virgin Gorda Half Marathon”. 

Women’s winner Katrina Crumpler, eight overall in 53:51, said it’s her favorite course. “I love the views, the different terrain, the variety and it’s really interesting”, she explained. “It wasn’t really the best race for me today. I was a bit tired. I had a hard week at work and I was a bit slow, but it was nice to win it. I enjoyed running it anyway”. 

Final Results.

Men: 1. Maxford Pipe, 42 minutes and 37 seconds.2. Bailey Autry, 43.12. 3. John Autry, 45:04. 4. Julius Farley, 46.31.  5. Curwin Andrews, 46:59.  6. Adrian Dale, 51:54.  7. Joseph McIvor, 53:08.  8. Russell Crumpler, 54:21. 9. Ben Mays, 54:22. 10. Adam & Alysiana De Monte, 54:51. 11. Jermain Abrams, 58:04. 12. Shane Donovan, 59:21. 13. Patrick Ormond, 1:05.25. 14. Zebalon McLean, 1:05.27. 15. Howard Moore, 1:07.32. 16. Andrew Willins, 1:10.01. 17. Jeremy Snead, 1:13.48.

Women: 1. Katrina Crumpler, 53:51. 2. Rosmond Johnson, 56:37. 3. Clare-Louise Whiley, 56:57. 4. Kay Reddy, 58:33. 5. Sarah Hayes, 59:35.6. Anna Kinkead, 1:01.44. 7. Sally Blackmore, 1:03.33. 8. Maureen Peters, 1:06.30. 9. Jenny McIvor, 1:09.43. 10. Jo Vass, 1:09.43. 11. Ghislaine Hoogendijk, 1:13.12.  12. Clair Burke, 1:14.52.

Power Walker: 1. Sophie Bennett, 1:30:34.