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Solof ties course record Photos by Bob Pennell / Mail Tribune More than 1,000 set out Saturday morning to compete in the 25th Pear Blossom Run. Mild temperatures greeted the runners when they started at City Hall. By Don Hunt Three elements are often in place when distance runners break a record. One, they�re in tiptop shape. Two, the weather conditions are favorable. And three, other runners are alongside them or on their heels, pushing them throughout. Ian Solof entered Saturday�s 25th annual Pear Blossom Run in perhaps the best shape he�s ever been in. And the conditions � cool, sunny and no wind � were ideal. All he needed was some company at the front. He had some for the first three miles, then ran the last seven miles alone and still tied the course record of 49 minutes, 49 seconds. The official clock had Solof in 49:48.58, but all times are rounded up to the nearest second. Bill Raitter of Bend was more than two minutes behind in 51:53. Mike Lynes of Tacoma, Wash., finished third in 52:03, Damian Baldovino of Lakeview was fourth in 53:35 and Matt Ellis of Tacoma fifth in 54:57. The top local finisher was Ashland�s Robert Julian, Jr., sixth in 55:52. "It�s a little frustrating to come so close to breaking the record � one more second was all I needed," said Solof, who ran the last mile in 4:50 and sprinted the final 200 meters as if shot out of a cannon, knowing he had a good chance to break the record that Matt Cato first set in 1990. "But I did my best." Solof needed to run at roughly a 4:58-per-mile clip to put his name in the record book. He went out in 5:01 and reached the three-mile mark in 15:02, slightly behind record pace. At that juncture, Raitter (15:04) was on his heels, with Eugene�s Chris Katon (15:09) and Baldovino (15:12) close behind. The 29-year-old Solof felt strong, and cranked into a higher gear. The other three couldn�t keep up, and Katon eventually dropped out. "I wanted to go with him but I didn�t have the energy," Raitter said. "When that happens you ask yourself, do I want to die or do I want to finish?" Added Baldovino, a former Medford High runner who was competing in his first Pear Run in five years: "My legs just wouldn�t turn over fast enough to go with him. I was hoping I could catch him on the way back, but not today." Solof reached the halfway mark on the north side of Hanley Hill in a blistering 24:41 � 27 seconds ahead of record pace. If only he could average five-minute miles on the way home he would have his place in history, with a little room to spare. But his sixth mile, which began on the hill, was 5:14, and that put him a couple of seconds behind. "My legs started to tighten up a little bit," said Solof, an assistant coach at the University of Portland who became the first back-to-back winner since Ken Hunter in 1987. "I felt like I was still running hard, but that sixth mile was definitely my slowest. It�s tough because you�re going downhill at the turnaround and then suddenly you�re going uphill. Your body and legs have no time to adjust." Solof reached the nine-mile mark in 44:59, meaning he would have to cover the final mile in 4:49 to set the record. He just missed. "It�s tough to maintain your pace for that long when no one�s there to push you," said Solof, who won last year�s event in 50:49, exactly one minute slower. "I didn�t drink any water the whole way because I didn�t want to lose any time and the temperature was cool enough that it didn�t really matter." The 31-year-old Raitter, meanwhile, was pleased to take second following his third-place effort in his inaugural Pear Run a year ago. "Fifty-one minutes has been good enough to win this thing some years, but not today," Raitter, said. "Ian was just too tough." Reach reporter Don Hunt at 776-4469, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.