Here's your real Bensenville 5K 60-and-older champion
Apparently Alfonso Ramirez isn't so fast after all.
The 62-year-old Bensenville man had been considered the winner of the 60 and older division during a 5K run last month in Bensenville.
But after being accused of cheating by another competitor and revisiting the July 15 race in his mind, Ramirez now is acknowledging that he "may not have run the last lap" of the controversial race.
"I apologize to anyone I may have inconvenienced, but I now realize that I may not have run the last lap," Ramirez said Friday afternoon. "I had no intent of misleading anyone or cheating Mr. (Robert) Williams. I just thought I had run the race."
Williams, a 65-year-old avid jogger from Bensenville, accused Ramirez of cheating Thursday and argued Ramirez couldn't have completed the 3.11 mile course in 16 minutes, 25 seconds -- more than six minutes faster than Williams' time.
Williams said he believes Ramirez finished only two of the race's three laps "before coasting into the finish chute with the group that just lapped him."
According to official race results, Ramirez averaged a little more than five minutes per mile on his way to a 16:25 finish. Williams, who specifically trained for the event, finished the race in just over 22 minutes.
MastersTrack.com, a records tracker and runner-ranking Web site, lists the fastest 5K time this year by a runner in the 60-64 age category is 19:08. The world record for that age division is 16:13.
"I have no doubts that Mr. Ramirez is a great runner but I didn't need him to admit it to know he's not a world class runner," Williams said. "If he would have beaten me by 30 seconds, I never would have said a word."
Stan Urban, Bensenville's director of special events, said Thursday that other competitors questioned Ramirez's finish, prompting a review of the runner's timing chip data.
Friday, however, Urban said the chips had been erased after a week so there is no way to determine the outcome using the chips. Instead, he plans to meet with Ramirez in person to discuss the allegations before awarding the age division's $150 cash prize.
As of early Friday evening, they had not yet met.
But Ramirez suggested that Williams should get the money. "But only give it to him if you're sure he ran all three laps," Ramirez said.
Monetary winnings in all of the other race categories were dispensed immediately following the race.
Williams reiterated his suggestion that the two joggers settle the debate over who is faster during the Bensenville Park District's Blue Hawaiian 5K on Aug. 11. Ramirez said he intends to register today.
"That would be really interesting," Williams said. "Then we could see how fast he really is."