By Hugh Bowden

GOULDSBORO — As a student at Sumner Memorial High School a few years ago, Brendan O’Keefe was a runner to be reckoned with, winning a handful of Penobscot Valley Conference, Eastern Maine and state championships in cross-country and track.

During his college years at Brown University, O’Keefe battled one injury after another and never fully realized his running potential.

Georgie Schaefer offers words of thanks to runners competing in the George Schaefer Memorial 5K honoring his dad on Saturday at Gouldsboro. A field of more than 100 runners competed in the five-kilometer race, and a shorter mile run for children ages 12 and under drew 24 participants. Race winner Brendan O’Keefe (left) set a record time of 14:50 and his younger brother Ryan (right) finished fourth in the feature event. 11-year-old Stephen Kirby (left) of Ellsworth won the one-mile race. The two youngest race participants were five-year-old Maddie Bierman (center) of Sorrento and three-year-old Maddie Nida (right) of Gouldsboro. Both of them ran the entire mile. staff photos by hugh bowden

But on Saturday, the Gouldsboro runner returned to his home town to win the annual George Schaefer Memorial five-kilometer run. And he did so with a blistering — and record-setting — time of 14 minutes and 50 seconds.

O’Keefe bested runner-up Judson Cake of Bar Harbor, last year’s winner, by 12 seconds in the field of 101 runners.

The cool, foggy morning provided the kind of conditions runners love. In addition to O’Keefe’s fast time, Cake slashed nearly a minute — 59 seconds to be exact — off his winning time of a year ago.

The course begins at Wonsqueak Harbor and takes runners into and back out of Acadia National Park at Schoodic Point.

Before the race began, Georgie Schaefer, son of the man for whom the race is named, thanked those who participated for honoring his dad. He also paid tribute to the late Bill Pinkham, a popular runner who died earlier this summer just moments after competing in a race at Bangor.

O’Keefe, who is now training at ZAP Fitness in North Carolina for possible international or Olympic competition, left the starting line with a goal of breaking 15 minutes.

“It was really cool,” he said. “Having Judson pacing me for the first mile really made the difference.”

Having been pretty much pain-free for the past several months of training, O’Keefe now is looking ahead to a possible berth on a national team.

“I spent the whole of last year trying to get healthy,” he said, “and now it’s starting to pay off.”

Another goal — one his coach, himself a three-time Olympian, believes is within reach — is a less than four-minute mile.

O’Keefe has run 4:06 indoors and the equivalent of about 4:04 in outdoor competition.

Others finishing among the top 10 in Saturday’s Schaefer Memorial run were Bob Greaser, third in 15:41; O’Keefe’s younger brother Ryan, fourth in 15:45; Andrew Goupee, fifth in 16:01; Adam Goode, sixth in 16:34; and Eric Rudolph, seventh in 17:00.

Old Town standout Cassie Hintz was the first woman to finish, placing eighth in 17:06. Brian Hubbell was ninth in 18:10 and Mikey Hibbits was 10th in 18:41.

Finishing second and third among the women runners were Christine Ganz, 16th in 19:26, and Kate McGuire, 17th in 19:28.

In the mile run for youngsters age 12 and under, 11-year-old Stephen Kirby of Ellsworth took top honors with a time of 6:44 and 10-year-old Logan Martell was second in 7:08.

Serena Smith, 12, was the first girl to finish and placed third overall in 7:12.