Run! Geek! Run! 8K

By James Moreland
Washington, DC
October 31, 2009
For the Washington Running Report

Christine Hackman (#520) and Joanna Russo (#512) battle down the final stretch.

One day before the clocks go back, nearly five hundred runners descended on West Potomac Park for the 2^nd Annual Run Geek Run 8K. With overcast skies the race was still a little dark as it got [button-red url=”http://old.runwashington.com/results.htm” target=”_self” position=”left”] Results [/button-red]underway. Runners charged down Ohio Drive headed for Hains Point. Last year’s masters winner Bill Bray (44) of Fairfax, VA was eighth overall in 28:43. This year he pulled away from everyone early to win solidly in 28:08.

[button-red url=”http://old.runwashington.com/news/2201/” target=”_self” position=”left”] Photos[/button-red]He really did not seem in a real hurry at the end as the closest competition came from Alex Caudana (27) of Arlington, VA in 29:38. Adam Pignatelli (32) of Washington, DC was next in 29:48 but seemed content with third. Fourth place Eric Sonnenschein (36) of Washington, DCV could definitely hear the footsteps of fifth place Matthew Broaddus. Broaddus finished in 30:01 just four seconds behind.

The top three overall were placed by gun time. The age group winners got their places with ChronoTrack net time. Brooaddus had the second fastest net time in 29:29 but got a late start. Surprisingly last year’s event record holder Peter Silverman did the same thing, starting 45 seconds late. He did beat runner-up Pat Murphy to the tape 26:16 to 26:31 anyway.

Last year Laurel Jefferson (23) of Bethesda, MD set the standard, just breaking the 6:00 pace in 29:43. This year Mary Davison (36) of Bristow, VA finished eighth overall running with the lead men for a commanding 31:06 victory. Third place Emily Reuter (29) of Arlington, VA hurried after runner-up Elyse Braner (25) of Washington, DC, falling just short 33:46 to 33:55. She probably did not know how close grandmaster Alison Suckling (54) of Arnold, MD (in photo) was as she closed to 34:00 at the finish. With about 150 meters she pulled alongside Michael Cannon (in photo), second 50-54 in 34:08. She planned an even pace with a sprint at the end and left him in the dust. Cannon a mega racer was running his 55^th race of the year. Perhaps he was a little tapped out as he had run three 5Ks last weekend. Earlier in the year he had run the Van Metre 8K in 31:52.

Bill Stahr of the Plains, VA may have been a little confused having run so many 10Ks from West Potomac Park. He is gunning for the record for 10Ks in a year; with 65 already he needs just five more. Today he ran race #124 in 32:13, nearly matching his best for the year (31:57) run on the hot and hilly Rockville Twilight 8K. It netted him the second place in the division. His award was picked up by his hometown mayor, Robert Gurtler. Gurtler (74) will soon be a regular ranked runner when he joins the 75-79 division in February. For now he finished second in the 70-74 division for his 108^th racing adventure of the year.

Patricia Zerfas (47) of Kensington, MD is hard to please. She ran an excellent 34:48 to top her age group but when asked about her race she replied, “It was terrible.” Maybe that is why she runs so fast. Betty Blank (56) of Falls Church, VA (in photo – R) knew last week when she took top masters at the Race for World Peace 5K in 21:50 that she would be here today. She had won the grandmaster at Geek last year in 34:03, which would put her right on Suckling’s (in photo – L) heels. The two have traded wins for the last half dozen years. This year Blank throttled back to finish tops in the 55-59 in 35:16.  Tops in the 60-64 division Gretchen Bolton (64) of Bethesda, MD missed a ranked time by 15 seconds in 49:11, though her net time was 48:47.

Paul Bousel (56) Alexandria, VA knew he would pulverize last year’s best time of 48:08. He bolted away with the leaders for a fine 33:14. It was a good thing he did as Tom Nolan (57) of Kensington, MD was not too far behind in 34:36. Michael Wesbecher (61) of Oakton, VA belied his age and finished soon after in 34:43.

For the older guys, John Churchman (66) of Arlington, VA was terrific in 37:47. Ralph Bayrer (70) of Washington, DC missed the Ranked Runner cutoff time by 21 seconds in 44:45. Larry Dickerson (78) of Burke, VA is still tough in 46:23. Nearly ten years older than him, Walt Washburn (87) of Vienna, VA finished his third race of the month and 18^th of the year by winning his 80-99 division.

Throughout the morning there was rousing music for the runners. Many of the runners decided to run in costumes. There were scores of portajohns still hanging from last week’s marathon. After the race, there was plenty of food and a bit of candy as well. The awards went three deep in five year age groups with nice engraved medallions as mementos. We are looking forward next’s year race.

FEMALE Open
 1   507 Mary Davison         36 Bristow VA            00:31:06 
 2   466 Elyse Braner         25 Washington DC         00:33:46 
 3   115 Emily Reuter         29 Arlington VA          00:33:55

MALE Open
1 283 Bill Bray 44 Fairfax VA 00:28:06
2 503 Alex Caudana 27 Arlington VA 00:29:38
3 46 Adam Pignatelli 32 Washington DC 00:29:48

FEMALE AGE GROUP: NET TIME – NET PACE 01 – 19
1 Katie Trainum 13 F ARLINGTON VA 52:47 51:30 10:22
2 Anna Degarmo 14 F ARLINGTON VA 52:48 51:30 10:22

MALE AGE GROUP: NET TIME – NET PACE 1 – 19
1 Sergey Gribach 14 M RESTON VA 34:36 34:34 6:58
2 Paul Stetekluh 16 M ARLINGTON VA 40:13 40:11 8:05

FEMALE AGE GROUP: NET TIME – NET PACE 20 – 24
1 Joanna Russo 24 F WASHINGTON DC 37:34 37:25 7:32
2 Susie Skoda 24 F WASHINGTON DC 38:24 38:18 7:43
3 Jessica Miga 22 F KENSINGTON MD 38:42 38:39 7:47

MALE AGE GROUP: NET TIME – NET PACE 20 – 24
1 James Pacala 24 M ARLINGTON VA 37:04 37:01 7:27
2 Jared Anderson 24 M STERLING VA 39:23 38:52 7:50
3 Sam Dupont 23 M WASHINGTON DC 39:55 39:23 7:56

FEMALE AGE GROUP: NET TIME – NET PACE 25 – 29
1 Marley Rave 27 F WASHINGTON DC 36:15 36:10 7:17
2 Helen Knudsen 29 F WASHINGTON DC 37:52 37:44 7:36
3 Linda McGreevy 25 F WASHINGTON DC 39:01 38:46 7:48

MALE AGE GROUP: NET TIME – NET PACE 25 – 29
1 Ian Brim 26 M MCLEAN VA 32:08 31:53 6:25
2 Matthew Gerke 27 M ALEXANDRIA VA 32:28 32:27 6:32
3 Joshua Herbert 26 M ALBUQUERQUE NM 33:17 33:10 6:41

FEMALE AGE GROUP: NET TIME – NET PACE 30 – 34
1 Lindsay Dudbridge 31 F ALEXANDRIA DC 39:30 39:17 7:55
2 Caroline Wizeman 32 F POTOMAC FALLS VA 39:40 39:26 7:56
3 Laura Clayton 31 F ARLINGTON VA 40:20 39:52 8:02

MALE AGE GROUP: NET TIME – NET PACE 30 – 34
1 Matthew Broaddus 32 M WASHINGTON DC 30:01 29:29 5:56
2 Benjamin Young 33 M WASHINGTON DC 30:50 30:49 6:12
3 Colin Shah 34 M WASHINGTON DC 32:01 32:00 6:27

FEMALE AGE GROUP: NET TIME – NET PACE 35 – 39
1 Jennifer Steen 35 F ARLINGTON VA 39:43 39:33 7:58
2 Heather Kauffman 36 F ARLINGTON VA 40:06 39:44 8:00
3 Mary Ege 38 F ARLINGTON VA 42:31 40:49 8:13

MALE AGE GROUP: NET TIME – NET PACE 35 – 39
1 Eric Sonnenschein 36 M WASHINGTON DC 29:57 29:57 6:02
2 Jon Torrance 38 M WASHINGTON DC 30:45 30:42 6:11
3 Stephen Ahern 38 M ALEXANDRIA VA 31:45 31:44 6:23

FEMALE AGE GROUP: NET TIME – NET PACE 40 – 44
1 Cynthia Olsen 43 F ARLINGTON VA 35:10 35:09 7:05
2 Cheryl Young 40 F RESTON VA 36:53 36:51 7:25
3 Toby Warden 42 F ALEXANDRIA VA 37:01 36:59 7:27

MALE AGE GROUP: NET TIME – NET PACE 40 – 44
1 Michael Honch 40 M TAKOMA PARK MD 34:42 34:33 6:57
2 Bill Bejeck 43 M GERMANTOWN MD 38:26 38:09 7:41
3 Scott Burrell 44 M WASHINGTON DC 38:41 38:24 7:44

FEMALE AGE GROUP: NET TIME – NET PACE 45 – 49
1 Patricia Zerfas 47 F KENSINGTON MD 34:48 34:47 7:00
2 Kris-Anne Kane 45 F PRESTON CT 36:36 36:27 7:20
3 Christine Hackman 46 F ARLINGTON VA 37:40 37:38 7:35

MALE AGE GROUP: NET TIME – NET PACE 45 – 49
1 Nadim Ahmed 48 M BETHESDA MD 31:59 31:59 6:27
2 Bill Stahr 49 M THE PLAINS VA 32:13 32:12 6:29
3 Jack Tade 45 M FALLS CHURCH VA 34:11 34:07 6:52

FEMALE AGE GROUP: NET TIME – NET PACE 50 – 54
1 Alison Suckling 54 F ARNOLD MD 34:00 34:00 6:51
2 Laura Moore 50 F 39:57 39:22 7:56
3 Christine Picklo 54 F OLD SAYBROOK CT 41:12 41:01 8:15

MALE AGE GROUP: NET TIME – NET PACE 50 – 54
1 Timothy Kane 52 M PRESTON CT 31:17 31:16 6:18
2 Michael Cannon 51 M SPRINGFILED VA 34:08 34:06 6:52
3 David Cristeal 51 M ARLINGTON VA 37:14 37:10 7:29

FEMALE AGE GROUP: NET TIME – NET PACE 55 – 59
1 Betty Blank 56 F FALLS CHURCH VA 35:16 35:16 7:06
2 Merrilee Seidman 55 F ALEXANDRIA VA 40:51 40:51 8:13
3 Anne Case 55 F MANASSAS VA 49:33 49:10 9:54

MALE AGE GROUP: NET TIME – NET PACE 55 – 59
1 Paul Bousel 56 M ALEXANDRIA VA 33:14 33:14 6:41
2 Tom Nolan 57 M KENSINGTON MD 34:36 34:32 6:57
3 Gary Morgans 56 M ARLINGTON VA 42:29 42:13 8:30

FEMALE AGE GROUP: NET TIME – NET PACE 60 – 64
1 Gretchen Bolton 64 F BETHESDA MD 49:11 48:47 9:49
2 Patricia Canestra-He 61 F ARLINGTON VA 59:46 59:32 11:59

MALE AGE GROUP: NET TIME – NET PACE 60 – 64
1 Michael Wesbecher 61 M OAKTON VA 34:43 34:40 6:59
2 Marshall Collins 60 M SALEM CT 41:27 41:16 8:18
3 Randall Nelson 61 M SILVER SPRING MD 45:33 45:24 9:08

MALE AGE GROUP: NET TIME – NET PACE 65 – 69
1 John Churchman 66 M ARLINGTON VA 37:47 37:43 7:36
2 George Gillespie 67 M COVENTRY CT 42:28 42:27 8:33
3 Jim Verdier 67 M ALEXANDRIA VA 48:32 48:27 9:45

MALE AGE GROUP: NET TIME – NET PACE 70 – 74
1 Ralph Bayrer 70 M WASHINGTON DC 44:45 44:35 8:59
2 Robert Gurtler 74 M THE PLAINS VA 50:30 50:16 10:07

MALE AGE GROUP: NET TIME - NET PACE 75 - 79

1 Larry Dickerson 78 M BURKE VA 46:23 46:15 9:19
2 Edward Green 78 M WASHINGTON DC 49:56 49:48 10:02

MALE AGE GROUP: NET TIME – NET PACE 80 – 99
1 Walt Washburn 87 M VIENNA VA 74:12 73:45 14:51

FEMALE FIRST TIME RACER: NET TIME – NET PACE 1 – 99
1 513 Amy Trautman 25 F Washington DC 42:02 41:30 8:21

MALE FIRST TIME RACER: NET TIME – NET PACE 1 – 99
1 24 Matthew Gerke 27 M Alexandria VA 32:28 32:27 6:32