Mira Costa girls cross country coach Renee Williams-Smith couldn’t help but smile as she watched runners cross the finish line at the Hermosa Beach Pier Saturday morning.
As race director of the Dick Fitzgerald 2-mile Beach Run, Williams-Smith was encouraged with the turnout and elated to see two former Mira Costa distance runners win the male and female divisions of the race.
“We had more runners pre-register this year than all of the participants at last year’s race,” Williams-Smith said. “It really helps our running programs.”
Proceeds from the race benefit Mira Costa’s track and cross programs so it was fitting that recent graduate Ty Garrett and ex Mustang and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo runner Savanna Pio emerged as champions.
In a battle of 18-year-olds, Garrett edged his ex-Mira Costa teammate Ethan Williams by two second posting a winning time of 13 minutes, 31 seconds.
Chris Bitcon, 36, of Torrance finished third at 13:56.
“I ran this race last year for the first time,” said Garrett, who will be attending UC San Diego in the fall. “The first half is tough because the sand is so deep but I picked up time coming back on the hard-packed sand.”
Pio, 22, finished the course at 15:23 besting Mira Costa senior Gaby Guerrero (16:31) and Diane Silva (17:27).
The race is named after the former Director of the Department of Beaches Dick Fitzgerald who helped start the International Surf Festival.
Results are available at surffestival.org.
