There’s a new sheriff in town and his name is Derek Yorek. The 23-year-old Fort Worth native (by way of Adams State) has been in Austin for a few months now, but Sunday was Yorek’s coming out party. In his biggest (and longest) road race of his life, Yorek took down Bernard Manirakiza in the final mile to win the EAS Run for the Water 10-Miler.

The 10-Miler wasn’t exactly a coming out party for Chris Kimbrough—she’s lived here for years--but the 38-year-old from south Austin overwhelmed Ironman diva Desiree Ficker to also record a major road-race victory.

On a moist, but tolerable morning, more than 1800 runners ran the winding, hilly course which started in downtown and snaked over several steep short hills through west Austin neighborhoods along Pecos and Scenic roads before heading back along Cesar Chavez to the finish at 5th and San Antonio. It was the first time in years this course had been utilized and it received near-unanimous praise for its beauty (part of it went right along Lake Austin and Lady Bird Lake), fairness (the ups were balanced by the downhills) and wide, traffic-free surface. Compared with the fiasco of the IBM Uptown Classic, the EAS Run for the Water 10-Miler was darn near spotless.

Manirakiza led the pack of 20-somethings down Cesar Chavez in the early miles. For the 28-year-old, it was his first competitive race in nearly a year. Troubled by a sore knee, the Abilene Christian grad hadn’t even started training again until just a couple of months ago, after returning from his first trip back to his native Burundi in six years.

While in Burundi, Manirakiza made a DVD which showed in graphic detail the dire need his village and others have for high quality wells. This race was designed to raise funds to build better wells in Burundi and with the proceeds, at least one new well will be built.

Anxious to test his fitness, Manirakiza cruised through the opening 5-K at a 5:10 per mile average. Yorek wasn’t far behind as they motored up the Exposition hills with the toughest hills (on Scenic and Pecos) coming up. Manirakiza backed off just a bit which allowed Yorek to catch up. Between miles six and seven, Yorek went by Manirakiza but it was a short-lived lead.

"Bernard is not your normal competitor," said Yorek afterward. "He never lets go. After I caught him, he just hung in there."

After emerging from the hills onto Lake Austin Boulevard near the seven-mile mark (just past the Hula Hut), the two settled into a solid rhythm together, knocking out 5:10 miles on the flats back to downtown.

Although Manirakiza still led, his lead was just a few meters. But as they passed Lamar, Yorek flashed another gear to pull even and then gradually extended his shot lead with one final 5:10 mile up and over the Cesar Chavez hills.

Yorek’s winning time of 52:19 bettered Manirakiza’s by three seconds to notch his first high-profile road-race victory in Austin. Astonishingly, it was also the first race Yorek had ever run farther than 10-K.

What made it even more remarkable was that Yorek won a 5-K at The Domain on Saturday in 15:03 and hadn’t even planned to race on Sunday. He showed up at the start (after going to bed at 4 a.m.) to hook up with some guys to do a long run and when someone from RunTex handed him a number, figured he might as well go for it.

"It was a very, very hard race for me" said Yorek whose forte is 5- and 10-K’s. "The race I ran yesterday took a lot out of me. But once I got into this race with Bernard, I wanted to go for the win."

So did Chris Kimbrough.

The Olympic Marathon Trials qualifier hadn’t run a race longer than 5-K since qualifying for the Trials in her first marathon in May. Since then, she has run a few short races and duathlons, but hadn’t really tested her fitness.

We’ll give her a solid A in her test on Sunday. Ficker, who also ran the same 5-K that Yorek did on Saturday, took out the lead in the first three miles with Kimbrough about 30 seconds back. Also in the mix was 39-year-old Michelle Maton.

But going up Exposition, Kimbrough took over the lead from Ficker and maintained a solid 5:45 pace to just dip under an hour and win in 59:46 with Ficker second in 1:03:48 and Maton third in 1:03:58.

"After I passed Des," said Kimbrough, "I was by myself the rest of the way. The only other runner I could see was Gundy" {i.e., Chris Gunderson who finished five seconds faster than Kimbrough to take third in the masters to triguy Barry Trickey in 58:36}.

"The hills slowed me down a bit," said Kimbrough whose next race is the Decker 20-K, "but I felt strong the entire way. Right now, I feel where I’m supposed to be in my training for the Trials. So I’m pleased."

So was Trickey. He led all the masters, followed by Carl Clark and Gunderson. The 45-49s were won by Scott McIntyre in 1:01:03, followed by Michael Woo and James Brandenburg.

The old guys (50-54) were paced by Brad Sprague in 1:08:20 with Dan Wood second and Craig Potts third. The really old guys division (55-59) was dominated by Danny Spoonts, prepping for the Philadelphia Half Marathon next weekend, in 1:09:02 who bettered John La Claire and Wish. Gregg Evans (1:14:12) was an easy winner in the Geriatrics (60-64) with reliable Dick Wilkowski in second.

Nancy Dasso continued her masters mastery (1:10:42) which she carved out as the middle portion of a 20-miler. (This is one tough cookie.) Cindy Schlandt was second and Jennifer Fisher third. Lynn Doelger won the 45-49 (1:14:02) while Anne Flanagan (1:12:55) had a super race to beat out her friend Mary Faria to take the 50-54. The mature gals (54-59) were led by Jan Lebourgeois (1:20:38) with Clemmie Cummins in second and Reenie Smith in third.

Next up in the RunTex Distance Challenge is the formidable Decker 20-K on December 2nd.