Olympic marathoner brings Bluffton training week to end with 5K win

Olympic marathoner Nicolás Cuestas made good on his friend’s promise at the Southeast Georgia Health Systems 5K, crossing the Sydney Lanier Bridge in record time Saturday as Beaufort County runners made off with several top honors at the race in Brunswick, Ga.

Cuestas, who placed 40th for Uruguay at the Rio Games last summer, knocked 11 seconds off the “toughest 5K in Georgia” record when he crossed the finish line in 15 minutes, 9 seconds. Kenya’s Euclid Ngetich set the mark two years ago.

Cuestas spent the past week training in Bluffton, working alongside the River Ridge Academy track team. The arrangement was set up by River Ridge track coach Enrique Baez, a fellow Uruguayan who had promised race officials Cuestas would break Ngetich’s record.

Bluffton’s Seth Tucker finished third overall, 69 seconds behind Cuestas.

Beaufort’s Joy Miller took second in the women’s division, 31 seconds behind Stephanie Pezzullo’s new women’s record of 17:43. Miller, who has qualified for April’s Boston Marathon, still matched the previous course record.

Baez also was part of a Bluffton Fire Department team that won the event’s Firefighters Challenge, joining with David Adams and David Romine with a combined time two minutes faster than a trio from Dalton, Ga. Adams was the division’s overall winner, seven days after placing second at the Hilton Head Island Marathon.

This story was originally published February 19, 2017 at 4:07 PM with the headline "Olympic marathoner brings Bluffton training week to end with 5K win."