Poyee Oster, of Lincoln, shows her excitement to friends after finishing yesterday’s Willow Tree Half Marathon.

The Providence Journal / Andrew Dickerman

PROVIDENCE –– More than 3,300 runners and walkers ages 7 to 72 remained undeterred by early downpours and forged ahead at the inaugural Cox Providence Rhode Races, an event that featured three races of varying distances all taking place simultaneously on the streets of downtown Providence and all finishing next to Johnson & Wales University’s Gaebe Commons.

Chris Magill was the first victor to be crowned, as the former St. Raphael Academy and Iona College standout won the New Balance 5K with a time of 15 minutes, 50 seconds.

“As soon as the gun went off, the rain started to come down hard, but I still wanted to put a good effort in today,” said Magill, 35, of Cumberland, who has returned to racing a little more seriously after devoting more time over the last several years to his two young sons, Chris Jr. and Connor, as well as his career. “I led it pretty much from start to finish, and my (Boston Athletic Association) teammate Steve Bishop was second. We were hoping for faster times, but it was nice to have another race in downtown Providence and it was a lot of fun.”

Although she didn’t meet her target time of 18:10, Brandee Boice was still more than fast enough to take top honors in the women’s 5K, winning by well over a minute in 18:47.

“I wanted to do a lot better than what I did, but it’s OK,” said the 32-year-old who hails from Weston, Mass. “It’s my first race back in probably about a year, and I’ve some (knee) injuries a couple of months ago, so I’ve only been training for six weeks or so.”

For the last several years, Sean Livingston has been helping the men’s and women’s track and cross country runners at Roger Williams University enjoy plenty of success, and yesterday it was his turn, as the Hawks’ coach grabbed first place in the Willow Tree Half Marathon.

With young daughters, Abigail and Caroline, waiting excitedly to congratulate him, Livingston finished in 1:12:07, nearly 3 minutes ahead of runner-up Jonathan Blocker of Tallahassee, Fla.

“The first mile was a little slower than I thought effort-wise, so I tried to pick it up a little bit after that,” said Livingston, 39, of Barrington. “(I was) pretty much was by myself the whole first of the way, so it was a little bit of a struggle to maintain the pace I was hoping for, but it was OK.”

Madeleine Marecki far surpassed her expectations in her half-marathon debut, running almost 2 minutes faster than she had hoped to run and winning the women’s crown in the process.

“I started out slow. My first mile was like 6:55, and I was doing 6:40s for a while,” said the recent Brown grad, who makes her home in New Canaan, Conn. “But then at the 5-mile mark, I took the lead and I felt good and I’m like, ‘I’ll just go for it and see what I can do.’ And I ended up running like under 6:10s for a lot of the miles. I just felt good and I just surprised myself.”

The Cox Sports Marathon represented Blaine Moore’s 13th marathon in his 12th state, but more importantly, it marked his first victory. Finishing no higher than seventh (at the 2005 Mystic Places Marathon) in his previous attempts, the 28-year-old Portland, Maine, resident won yesterday’s 26.2-miler in 2:43:28, finishing 1 minute and 10 seconds ahead of Chris Schulten, 36, of Middlefield, Conn.

“Within about a mile or so, I met up with a guy named Devin Jones,” said Moore, a member of the Dirigo Racing Club. “He was running his first one and was hoping to do about the same pace, so I ran with him for about 16 miles. … I just kind of pulled away from there; his knee was bothering him a little bit. And then I was just reeling in the guy that was in front, and as you’re coming along that bike path along the river, there’s a little hill before you get off of it, and he just started walking near the top of that and I caught him and I was just with the bikers from then on.”

Alyson Venti made her first marathon in state a memorable one. A grad student studying oceanography at the University of Rhode Island, the 25-year-old Boston native took the women’s title in 3:01:02.

“I guess I kind of went out kind of fast. I was a little bit worried because there were so many people on the line. The last marathon I ran had 15 people in it,” said Venti, who twice ran the Fiji Bula Marathon while she was in the Peace Corps. “It got off OK, but I started feeling kind of tired at mile 19 or so. But I just tried to stay with it.”

The only wheelchair participant, West Warwick’s Jason Pisano, who travels backward propelling himself with his left foot, completed his second marathon in two weeks and his 43rd overall, with a time of 7:52.

Log on to www.projo.com/running/ for more coverage of the Cox Sports Rhode Races, including complete results, a look at the unique way that Warren couple Joseph and Hannah Miller celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary and the story of 33-year-old Kate Conklin, who ran the marathon –– in sandals –– despite suffering from a rare and extremely painful disorder called Erythromelalgia.

NEW BALANCE 5K

Top finishers

MEN – 1, Chris Magill, 15:50; 2, Steven Bishop, 16:22; 3, Norm Bouthillier, 16;41; 4, Scott Finlay, 18:07; 5, Joseph Sullivan, 18:28; 6, Ryan Leary, 18:42; 7, David Hartwell, 18:42; 8, Mark Bowker, 18:45; 9, Dave Schaad, 18:46; 10, Kevin Bickerstaff, 18:54.

WOMEN – 1, Brandee Boice, 18:47; 2, Helen Hanson, 20:00; 3, Danielle Sargent, 20:39; 4, Gabrielle Charbonneau, 21:14; 5, Katherine Keehan, 21:37; 6, Talia Ringer, 22:28; 7, Susan Kenney, 22:38; 8, Tara White, 22:48; 9, Michele Haskell, 23:15; 10, Meghan Purvis, 23:46.

WILLOW TREE HALF MARATHON

Top finishers

MEN – 1, Sean Livingston, 1:12:07; 2, Jonathan Blocker, 1:15:06; 3, Andrew Greene, 1:15:09; 4, Marc Leblanc, 1:15:58; 5, Robert Laplante, 1:16:13; 6, Paul Hughes, 1:17:35; 7, Darren Moore, 1:17:59; 8, Steven Brightman, 1:18:36; 9, Kent Taylor, 1:21:08; 10, Richard Chmielecki, 1:21:21.

WOMEN – 1, Madeleine Marecki, 1:23:14; 2, Amanda Kourtz, 1:26:47; 3, Kimberly Battipaglia, 1:28:55; 4, Heather Crosby, 1:30:31; 5, Katie Libby, 1:30:36; 6, Laura Pagnozzi, 1:30:39; 7, Christy Dannenberg, 1:32:03; 8, Lauren Leslie, 1:32:07; 9, Michelle Collie, 1:33:44; 10, Kari Stanek, 1:34:58.

COX SPORTS MARATHON

Top finishers

MEN – 1, Blaine Moore, 2:43:28; 2, Chris Schulten, 2:44:38; 3, William Hart, 2:47:46; 4, Brian McNeiece, 2:48:37; 5, Elvedin Lukovic, 2:49:59; 6, Joe Haidul, 2:54:17; 7, Devin Jones, 2:55:25; 8, Jeremy Angell, 2:55:57; 9, Timothy Milenkevich, 2:56:45; 10, Patrick Meacham, 2:57:56.

WOMEN – 1, Alyson Venti, 3:01:02; 2, Heather Bessette, 3:19:40; 3, Lindsay Crouse, 3:19:52; 4, Theresa Soracco, 3:20:20; 5, Sarah Wignall, 3:22:13; 6, Danila Musante, 3:22:41; 7, Hilary Barlow, 3:24:47; 8, Gina Guiducci, 3:28:52; 9, Ayano Murase, 3:29:39; 10, Liz Durant, 3:30:50.

cthorn@projo.com