As runners exited Meadow Brook Music Festival en route to Walton Road on Sunday at the start of the sixth annual Brooksie Way half marathon, it appeared there would be a tight showdown between Shane Logan, who won the race in 2012 and 2011, and Leo Foley, the 2010 winner.
The runners kept a close pace heading into the portion on the Paint Creek Trail, out of sight from the onlookers lining stretches of road to cheer on runners. Foley emerged from the trail onto Tienken Road, however, with a sizable advantage and kept pace for a first-place finish with a time of 1:12:56, while Logan followed with a 1:14:21 finish.
"The second half is incredibly hilly, so I wanted to open up as big of a lead as I could," Foley, of Independence Township, said after claiming his first-place trophy. "Basically the seventh mile, where the hills started, and I knew if I could maintain a lead at mile 10, I'd have the win at hand."
While weather forecasters predicted a soggy race day, the rain held off until late in the half marathon, just before 11 a.m. and after a bulk of the approximately 6,200 runners had crossed the finish line.
"It could not have been better," Foley said. "It was perfect weather to run."
For Foley, running the Brooksie Way is extra special, as he proposed to his current wife, Leah, at the finish line of the race in 2011. That year, Foley didn't defend his 2010 Brooksie Way title, as he was preparing for the Chicago Marathon at the time.
Janet Mundell, of Clawson, was the top women's finisher in the half marathon, with a time of 1:21:55.
Richard Koenig of Oakland Township was the top finisher in the Brooksie Way's inaugural 10k race with a finish of 42:27, while Nicole Monette of Royal Oak was the top women's finisher with a 44:09 finish.
In the 5k race, Sheila Lopez of Sterling Heights and John Cornack of Ann Arbor both crossed the finish line with recorded times of 16:31.
Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson, whose late son Brooks Stuart Patterson is the namesake for the event, joked that while the official estimate was about 6,200 runners, he "personally counted 7,000" crossing the finish line.
"Next year we hope to have you all back, and a couple more," he told a lively crowd inside the celebration tent after the race.
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