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GASPARILLA DISTANCE CLASSIC

Snyder Wins 15k, But Lakeland's Bell Gets Check

By BILL WARD The Tampa Tribune

Published: Feb 18, 2007

TAMPA - Toward the latter stages of Saturday's Bank of America Gasparilla Distance Classic 15-kilometer road race, the wheels started turning in Tyrone Bell's head.

The former Florida Southern College standout was pretty sure the guy who was leading the race was from out of the area, which meant he wasn't eligible for the prize purse. And he knew the runner in second was still competing in college, which meant he couldn't accept any award money without breaking NCAA rules.

As he sorted it all out, Bell eventually realized that if he could just hold on to third place, he stood a good chance of taking home the first-place check of $2,000 for the top "local" finisher.

Despite the presence of two-time defending champion Elias Gonzalez of Tampa and current FSC star Eric Walker, Bell managed to hold his spot, run a 15k personal-best of 47 minutes, 1 second, and earn his biggest road race paycheck to date. Last fall, Bell won $1,500 at a 5k in Tampa.

"I wanted to make sure I was in good position and pretty comfortable with the pace before I started to think how much money I might be able to take," said the 23-year-old Bell, who was a two-time Sunshine State Conference champion while at FSC and is now an assistant coach at the school. "But I can sure use it. I'm saving up to buy a new car. I think it's about time for the old [Dodge] Neon to go."

To be eligible for the money, runners have to reside year-round in one of seven area counties: Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, Hernando, Manatee or Sarasota. Saturday's race marked the first time the overall winner did not take home the first-place check since prize money for locals in the 15k was introduced in 2005.

The overall winner, Todd Snyder, hails from Utica, Mich., where he is currently training with an enclave of runners called the Hansons Distance Project. Saturday's near-perfect running conditions (low 50s and light winds) helped him set his own lifetime best of 45:58, which was the fastest time of any runner since Gasparilla officials dropped their elite runner prize purse in 1998.

Snyder, who was an All-American in cross country at the University of Michigan, got a plane ticket from his training group and a hotel room from Gasparilla. With a newborn son, he and his wife, Amanda, figured a training trip to Florida would be a good idea.

"I wasn't really planning to come down here but I asked my coach and asked if I could take a vacation to Florida," said Snyder, who worked briefly as a youth minister before diving back into running full time. "The next day he said, 'Hey, we'll pay for your flight if you go run a race.' It's beautiful here. I left [Detroit] Wednesday morning in subzero weather and they were having to clear the roads [of snow] and everyone was driving 30 mph on the highway."

From the looks of his time Saturday, the 29-year-old Snyder has a good chance of hitting the mark. He averaged about 4:56 per mile, and to make the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials A standard by running faster than 2 hours, 20 minutes, which is about 5:20 a mile. He already owns the B standard with his 2:21 from last year's Chicago Marathon and hopes to make the A cut at this fall's New York City Marathon, the same course that will host the trials in 2008.

Nearly a minute behind Snyder in second place was Clewiston native A.J. Richmond, who is a senior at Webber International in Babson Park. Last fall, he earned all-American status at the NAIA finals with an 18th-place finish.

Gonzalez, who has been stationed in Iraq with his U.S. National Guard unit, finished sixth in 48:13 but still earned a third-place local prize money award of $750. His time was actually faster than the two years he won the race, but with one of the most competitive fields at Gasparilla in years, it only got Gonzalez sixth.

"Maybe I need more speed workouts," Gonzalez said. "But that's tough to do in Iraq. There's no track, no one really to run with, no nothing."

Reporter Bill Ward can be reached at (813) 259-7456 or wward@tampatrib.com.