The male and female winners in Sunday’s Great Race took different paths to victory. Men’s champion A.J. Kelly came from behind twice, while Olga Romanova was never challenged the entire 6.2 miles. He finished in 31 minutes and 3 seconds, and she ran it in 33:27. Both competed in the 28th annual Richard S. Caliguiri City of Pittsburgh Great Race for the first time. “I was not sure what to expect from the competition, because this was my first road race since graduating,” said Kelly, 23, of Altoona, who ran for Indiana (Pa) University. “I just tried to hang in there and stay close. I decided to take him on the hill.” That is exactly what Kelly did. Matt Meurer, 23, of the South Side, started strong, running a five-minute mile and took what looked like a comfortable lead, but Kelly stayed close enough to make a move on Fifth Avenue in Oakland and overtake Meurer. Then, Meurer and Kelly ran another two miles together before Meurer pulled in front again. Kelly took the lead for good at Mile 5 and entered Point State Park to cheers from his fiance, Jen Moore, and her mother, Silvia Paesano, both of Jeannette. Meurer, who finished second at 31:22, said he went out at the pace he wanted to and was able to put distance between himself and Kelly and unseeded runner, Peter Boyd, of Union City. The downhill portions hurt Meurer, who said he is not strong on the descent. “(Kelly) came on strong at the end,” said Meurer, who ran for Carnegie Mellon. “Whenever you are ahead, you never want to get caught, so when he came up on me I just started to go (faster) and just run the best race I could.” Kelly, who has a tattoo of the Road Runner cartoon character on his left leg, doesn’t have the most fluid running stride. He picked up the sport to try and lose weight, which he did. He went from 180 to 130 pounds on his 5-foot-7 frame. Romanova, 25, didn’t have any other females to push her. The closest runner was Monroeville resident Tammy Slusser, 40, at 36:23. Romanova, a Russian native, who trains in Germantown, Md., said she would have liked to have had competition, but used this race to see how her right leg, which she injured in August, had healed. Kelly and Romanova, who is considered an international elite runner, did not receive any money yesterday because there was no orize money, but she will get compensated from a shoe company that sponsors her. Coming to race in Pittsburgh was a good choice for Romanova because it is close and she stayed with a friend of hers and her coach Konstantin Selinevich, Penguins defenseman Sergei Gonchar. “I like the hills here,” she said. “I felt really good on the course. The weather was really nice, too.” Notes: There were 5,042 10K runners and 2,360 5K run/walk competitors… Eighteen runners received medical attention, and four were transported to local hospitals. None of the injuries were life-threatening… Derek Miller, 33, of Hummelstown, won the 5K men for the second consecutive year in 16:07… Emily Beckwith, 26, of Gibsonia, was the female 5K winner at 19:07… Ian Rice, 30, of Pittsburgh, won the 10K wheelchair division at 30:10… Meurer received the Richard S. Caliguiri award because he was the first Pittsburgh male finisher, while Lynn Fleckenstein, 28, of Pittsburgh was recognized as the first local female.

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