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O�Neil�s legs hold up to give her win No. 8 By Don Hunt As long as Deanna O�Neil�s tender hamstrings held firm, it was almost a foregone conclusion that the Canby runner would breeze to another victory in the 25th annual Pear Blossom Run Saturday. O�Neil�s legs held up fine, and she handily won her second straight and her eighth overall in 11 tries in the Rogue Valley�s showcase running event. No other woman has won the run more than twice. O�Neil�s time over the out-and-back 10-mile course in and around west Medford was 59 minutes, 28 seconds. A pair of Bend runners � Sarah Raitter and Cheryl Tronson � were second and third, respectively. Raitter clocked 1:00:43 and Tronson 1:04:21. Medford�s Bonnie Havens was fourth in 1:06:51 and Portland�s Kari Swetlund fifth in 1:06:54. "My two main goals were to win and run under an hour," O�Neil said. "I did both." O�Neil�s third objective was to beat her husband, Jeff. That didn�t happen as Jeff O�Neil clocked 58:48 to finish 14th overall. "He went past me at about the 6�-mile mark," said Deanna O�Neil, who has beaten her husband four times in the Pear Run but not since her record-breaking performance of 57:07 in 1995. "He finished strong, and I couldn�t keep up with him. "We�re so close in our abilities, it�s scary. People think we�re out there running together, but we�re not." O�Neil has only been training about 45 miles per week due to her chronically-tight hamstrings, and Saturday�s cold temperatures at race time weren�t the best medicine to loosen them up. But the 36-year-old O�Neil had no problems with her legs. Her only anxiety came in the opening mile when she ran into Leonard Hill, who abruptly stopped in front of her after his leg tightened up. "We collided, but I kept my feet," O�Neil said. Raitter, meanwhile, was within striking distance of O�Neil at the halfway mark but couldn�t match the winner�s pace over the last half of the race. "She gained a lot of distance the second half," said Raitter, who has hit the finish line in third, third and now second in her three appearances. "I slowed down a little the second half, but she didn�t. She�s a strong runner." 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.