Freehold's Pedro Espinosa outran the rest of the polar bears. The veteran road racer won the Shore Athletic Club's (SAC) 45th annual Asbury Park Polar Bear Five-Mile Race on Dec. 27. Espinosa toured the Asbury Park boardwalk course in 27:07, finishing ahead of Matt Carlin (27:33) of College Park, Md. Third place went to Wall's Jeff Propert (29:18).

Long Branch's Luciano DeOliveria (30:23) and West Long Branch's Farnese DaSilva (30:36) were fourth and fifth.

Rounding out the top 10 were: Chris Peters, Barnegat, (30:44); Joe Ward, Asbury Park, (30:48); Matthew Schaad, West Belmar, (31:28); Tom Zarra, Point Pleasant, (31:36); and Miguel Quintena, South River, (31:37).

Finishing 11th overall and first among the women was former Red Bank Catholic star Erin Lunny. She posted a 31:58. Second place went to Lauren Rhatigan of Ship Bottom (32:47). Ocean Township's Eugena Arias was third (33:18). Melissa Vasel (35:00), San Diego, Calif., and Gayle Ciallela (35:26), Princeton, took fourth and fifth among the women.

Hazlet's Panse Geer, who also competed for the SAC, won the women's race in 1:53:47, just seven seconds ahead of teammate Maria Paul of Long Branch (1:53:54). Brick's Susan Middaugh was third (2:01:58).

The SAC will be staging its Winter Series at Thompson Park in Middletown in February. For additional information, log on to www.ShoreRunner.com.

Also, the Freehold Area Running Club's Winter Race Series is under way. The 5K races in Michael Tighe Park, Georgia Road, Freehold Township, continue Sunday and will run Sundays through Feb. 1. Log on to www.farcnj. com for more information or call 732-431- 2627.