This was vintage Shamrock Shuffle, plain and simple.

Two new three-peat champions crowned a spectacular day of running in Chicago on Sunday morning, leading the way in the 24th annual LaSalle Bank Shamrock Shuffle 8K.

The sun was out, the temperatures were close to 50 at the start and close to 60 by the time most of the runners were in the post-race party tent. It was a day to celebrate the sport and get Chicago's' season off and running with a flourish.

Shaun Creighton, an 11-time Australian national champion at a variety of distances, and Collette Liss, a strong U.S. middle-distance and cross-country standout from Indianapolis, each notched their third Shamrock victory, pacing a starting field of 17,717 registered runners, a record for the world's largest 8K event.

For Creighton, 35, who will be back in October trying to break 2:10 at The LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon, the Shamrock Shuffle was all about winning and getting the event's first three-peat. In his first two victories, he knew his opponents. This time, he didn't. It added to the challenge.

"Last year, I went head-to-head with Michael Aish (New Zealand)," Creighton said as he soaked up some rays in the finish area. "I knew what his strengths were. With these guys, when you don't know anything about them, you've got to run the race and play to your strengths. I figured the only way I could lose would be if the race became a kick-down."

"These guys" were a lot of top regional runners, many from the Michigan-based Hansons Olympic Distance Project, a few from the Wisconsin Runner Team based in Racine, WI, and Polish 5,000-meter champion Biegala Leszek, who has been training at altitude in Albuquerque, NM.

A pack of 15 quickly broke away from the field and went through the first mile in 4:40. Several runners took turns leading while Creighton stayed tucked in near the front, keeping his eye on everything from the runners to the tightest tangents for each turn on the course.

At the two-mile mark, Brian Sell, 24, one of the Hansons runners from Birmingham Hills, MI, surged a bit and broke ever so slightly ahead of the pack.

They were at 9:25 at that point, and as the pack, now down to 12, turned east onto Jackson from Abderdeen at about 2.5 miles, Creighton jumped into second behind Sell. Close behind, Leszek, 24, and Peoria native Justin Young, 23, also of Hansons, jockeyed for third as the leaders went through three miles in 14:05.

Soon, it was down to a pack of five: Sell, Creighton, Leszek, Ryan Meissen, a Wisconsin Runner entry from the Twin Cities (MN) and Richie Brinker, yet another Hansons competitor. But others were still in range.

Sell made one last surge on the bridge over Canal Street at about 3.5 miles, Creighton waited, and then almost on cue, took off. After turning it up to his higher gear, the Aussie law student went through four miles in 18:49, built a gap with three-fourths of a mile to go and headed for home. When he wiped his brow as he ran over the IC tracks before the final turn, you knew it was hammer time.

Getting that gap on Sell and Leszek was part of Creighton's plan, not knowing if one of them had a strong kick. He broke the tape in 23 minutes, 13 seconds, slower than the 22:51 and 22:57 he won with the two previous years. Time did not matter, only winning for Creighton, who will run in the Australian national 10,000-meter championship in a couple of weeks.

Meanwhile with 500 yards to go, Lezsek broke away from Sell, but Sell had save something left after letting Creighton go, and surged back to get second in 23:19. Leszek settled for third in 23:24, comfortably ahead of fourth-place finisher Kevin Doyle, 22, yet another Hansons runner from Rochester Hills, MI.

"He (Leszek) was the reason I didn't go with Creighton," Sell said. The decision to go for second was wise as he came back for the runner-up spot.

Leszek, a native of the Polish city of Bydgoszicz, has been training in New Mexico for more than a month. He will run a couple of more road races in the U.S. and then head home on April 10.

In the women's race, there were no packs. The finish positions were established before the mile mark as the top runners ran virtually solo with men of similar ability pulling them along throughout the picturesque course, which traversed Grant Park, the Loop and the West Loop area.

Liss, 30, a former Valparaiso University star, is focused on next week's World Cross Country Championships in Switzerland and then wants to make the U.S. team for the World Track and Field Championships this August in Paris at 1,500 meters. So for her, this was a competitive fun run. However, her time of 26:14 didn't come easily.

"It was tough. I went out too fast, - I tried to go for the record " said Liss, who also won this race in 1999 and 2000. "I had the record here (25:26), but Kathy Butler broke it by a second in 2001 and I wanted to get it back."

Still, no one else was close. Jenny Crain of Eugene, Ore., was runner-up in 26:39, while Jenelle Deatherage, 25, of Madison, Wis., nailed third in 27:19. Jennifer Michel, 25, of Gunnison, Colo., was fourth in 28:09.

"It went great," said Crain, a Milwaukee-area native who moved to Eugene a year ago. "This was my fourth Shamrock Shuffle. It really felt good the whole race, although I went out too fast! I'm training right now for the Stanford 10K (Palo Alto, CA on May 2)."

East Peoria native Deatherage admitted the 8K distance was a little bit of a stretch for her right now. "It's a little longer than I'm training for," she said. "I'm more of a middle-distance runner, but this is a good time of year for me to do something like this. I guess I would have liked to have broken 27 minutes."

Top local men (overall times) were: 9. Christopher Birchall, Chicago, 23:52; 13. Christian Goy, Normal, 24:24; 14. Chris Wehrman, Chicago, 24:30; 15. Scott Anderson, Chicago, 24:40 and 17. Jason Bialka, Lockport, 25:22.

Leading local women were: 5. Jenny Spangler, the 1996 Olympic Marathon Trials winner from Gurnee, with a 28:46; 6. Megan Levin, Chicago, 29:20; 7. Susan Appleyard, Lisle, 29:44; 8. Lisa Menninger, LaGrange, 29:45 and 9. Dorothy Gach, Morton Grove, 29:46.

Modest prize money was awared in this race, which is more about the everyday runners of Chicago than anything else. Creighton and Liss each earned $1,240 for their efforts.

World events were not forgotten on this day of enjoyable racing. Event director Carey Pinkowski said he was proud that the race went off and that people could get on with their lives with no hitches, while in the nation's capital, the Washington, D.C. Marathon had to be canceled because of security reasons.

Editor's note: This story will be updated as needed, and photos will be added early in the week. Thank you for your patience.