Run Through the Grapevine 8K – 17th Year

By Jim Carbary
Linganore Wine Cellars
Mount Airy, MD
November 6, 2011
For the Washington Running Report

For 17 years, the Run Through the Grapevine 8K course at Linganore Winery was actually a little short, so this year an extra hill was added around another grapevine to satisfy a more exact measurement. The unofficial story for the route change, though, was that Mark Buschman vowed to beat the best time of Pekka Stenholm, a former racing team member who had moved back to his native Finland. Buschman and Stenholm had met at the Berlin Marathon earlier in the year and must have had a discussion about the Grapevine. Race director Jason Tripp decided the course should be as accurate as possible, so a course extension occurred, and Buschman failed by 20 seconds to beat the time (about 30:30). Everyone else reported slower times at the Grapevine 8K this year, too.

Race winner Carlos Renjifo far in front of the field.

The extra 0.2-mile did not bother Carlos Renjifo, who won the race by more than 1:30, the largest margin by which anyone had ever won the race (29:07). Carlos led the field for essentially the entire race; although he inexplicably went off course twice. Once, he took second place Andrew Revelle off course with him and third-place Mike Colaiacovo shouted to them to turn left rather than right. They quickly corrected themselves and resumed the competition. “I thought I could run in 27 or 28 [minutes] but I couldn’t,” Carlos said, not realizing the extra mileage had its effect. Still, he was the only runner in the field to break half an hour on the treacherously hilly course.

The women’s race was a much closer affair than the men’s. Initially, Howard County’s Rian Landers-Ramos assumed the lead, but then Jill Krebs took the lead after emerging from the second set of grapevines. Jill and her teammate Sherry Stick battled “back and forth through the woods.” Jill then took “a weird step” at four miles and Sherry was on her. “I could see she had her game face on,” Jill said. “I knew it was all over.” A perennial winner, Sherry hung on to win by 12 seconds (35:03).

Showing her game face, Sherry Stick leads Jill Krebs out of the woods.

Elkridge’s Donna Wecker out sprinted Jane Wickman of Germantown to claim the award as top master-woman (41:25). Although Donna regularly runs trails, she had never run Grapevine before and was not prepared for the steep hills and ankle-twisting grass. “The hills were brutal,” she said, “and there were so many of them.” Donna turns 50 in a few weeks and will then begin to terrorize the grandmaster women.

The top master man was Mike Colaiacovo, who finished third overall (30:53) and earned an overall award. The next fastest master was grandmaster Keith McIntyre (34:03). Keith’s stunning performance was blunted only by his son Conner’s beating him.

The Run Through the Grapevine featured a plethora of team competitions. The Howard County Strider Men’s team, with Renjifo, Revelle, Buschman, and Colaiacovo crushed the opposition to win the overall men’s team competition with a perfect score of 10 points. The Baltimore-Washington Athletic Club consisted of Stick and Krebs with their old pal Diana Pool and new-comer Joan Namasinga had a nearly perfect score of 13 in winning the women’s team competition. Put together by Steve Anderson, the OMG men’s masters team won a prize for the seventh year in a row (although it was only men’s masters team). There was no prize for the best team name, but some of the outstanding samples were “Mac Attack” (the McIntyre family) and “Merlot is how we roll” (Ken Miller, Jeanine Rogers, and Laura and Ryan Guenin).

The 18th Annual and Newly-Recalibrated Run Through the Grapevine took place at the Linganore Winery in Carroll County on November 11. The race is staged each year by the Howard County Striders, who wish to thank the winery owner Anthony Aellen for the use of his grapevines and hills. Jason Tripp directed. Award winners received gift certificates for bottles of wine, which they could redeem immediately after the race. The weather was so nice this year that many stayed after the race to enjoy wine and lunch under pleasant autumn skies.

The race sold out two weeks before with a total of 650 registrants. Of these, 573 actually showed up and ran the race. “Not a record, but close,” said official scorer Jim DiSciullo.

     Name                  Hometown           Age   Time      Overall  
Overall Male                 
 1   Renjifo, Carlos       Columbia, MD        28   29:07.34        1
 2   Revelle, Andrew       Clarksville, MD     22   30:41.08        2
 3   Colaiacovo, Mike      Baltimore, MD       42   30:53.16        3
 4   Buschman, Mark        Ellicott City, MD   27   30:56.88        4
 5   Korbelak, Nik         Odenton, MD         19   31:18.81        5
Overall Female    
 1   Stick, Sherry         Sykesville, MD      33   35:03.58       16
 2   Krebs, Jill           New Windsor, MD     30   35:14.99       17
 3   Landers-Ramos, Rian   Columbia, MD        30   36:26.53       19
 4   Pool, Diana           Gainesville, VA     31   39:32.93       40
 5   Farrar, Karyn         Mt. Airy, MD        25   39:58.18       43
1-19 Male      
 1   McIntyre, Conner      Ellicott City, MD   18   33:46.48       12
 2   Evans, Samuel         Woodbine, MD        16   34:27.03       14
 3   Basham, Bryan         Mt. Airy, MD        18   37:15.61       24
1-19 Female      
 1   Miller, Madeleine     Glenwood, MD        13   41:13.17       54
 2   Keyes, Emily          Timonium, MD        18   48:08.96      158
 3   Sheffrin, Hanna       Laurel, MD          17   50:41.32      202
20-24 Male     
 1   Allen, Brian          Laurel, MD          22   31:59.04        7
 2   Thomas, Ben           Columbia, MD        23   32:47.43        9
 3   Harvan-Matosich Nikol Ellicott City, MD   22   36:34.80       20
20-24 Female     
 1   Kaisler, Rebecca      Laurel, MD          23   42:06.46       66
 2   An, Amanda            Ellicott City, MD   24   48:56.88      171
 3   Wilson, Casey         Columbia, MD        21   52:56.91      251
25-29 Male     
 1   Blackwood, James      Ellicott City, MD   27   34:36.32       15
 2   Marshall, James       Unknown, NA         25   39:30.95       39
 3   Worley, Mark          Columbia, MD        26   39:40.06       41
25-29 Female     
 1   Buriak, Kelly         Frederick, MD       27   40:41.47       49
 2   Nagy, Julia           Washington, DC      28   41:50.33       60
 3   Knapp, Emily          Baltimore, MD       28   43:00.96       73
30-34 Male     
 1   Wytko, Adam           Columbia, MD        30   32:17.37        8
 2   Geoghegan, Seth       Columbia, MD        31   33:15.87       10
 3   Tabasko, Michael      Cabin John, MD      34   33:32.70       11
30-34 Female     
 1   Ritter, Amy           Baltimore, MD       34   42:28.95       67
 2   Lewis, Monica         University Park, MD 34   43:40.70       85
 3   tran, grace           Columbia, MD        33   45:23.45      108
35-39 Male     
 1   McDermott, Randy      Gambrills, MD       39   31:55.60        6
 2   MacPhee, Greg         Columbia, MD        39   36:58.04       23
 3   Neumann, Steve        Unknown, NA         35   37:34.43       29
35-39 Female     
 1   Galeazzi, Julia       Baltimore, MD       39   41:56.99       63
 2   Hansen, Diane         Frederick, MD       36   44:40.94       93
 3   Martin, Lisa          Baltimore, MD       37   44:46.56       96
40-44 Male     
 1   Cretella, Victor      New Market, MD      41   36:48.90       21
 2   Decker, Joseph        Columbia, MD        43   37:24.43       26
 3   Clarke, Jason         Baltimore, MD       40   37:46.19       31
40-44 Female     
 1   Grace, Stephanie      Unknown, NA         41   41:39.21       58
 2   Johnson, Janice       Cooksville, MD      40   45:30.68      113
 3   Rainey, Lisa          Sykesville, MD      40   47:00.60      144
45-49 Male     
 1   Phipps, David         Severna Park, MD    47   37:28.10       28
 2   Bailey, Curtis        Baltimore, MD       48   37:38.81       30
 3   Bingaman, Todd        Mt. Airy, MD        48   38:38.61       36
45-49 Female     
 1   Wecker, Donna         Elkridge, MD        49   41:25.01       55
 2   Wikman, Jane          Germantown, MD      48   41:27.54       56
 3   Hickman, Lisa         Jefferson, MD       45   43:19.05       80
50-54 Male     
 1   McIntyre, Keith       Ellicott City, MD   53   34:03.03       13
 2   Hamilton, Elliott     University Park, MD 51   41:33.96       57
 3   Houk, George          Washington, DC      54   42:05.78       65
50-54 Female     
 1   Smink, Jean           Hampstead, MD       51   50:18.12      195
 2   Hurley, Lisa          Westminster, MD     52   51:34.97      225
 3   Pearce, Hope          Butler, MD          51   52:40.48      242
55-59 Male     
 1   Mornini, John         Germantown, MD      57   39:59.25       44
 2   McDonald, Denis       Woodbine, MD        57   42:00.39       64
 3   Robson, Alan          Columbia, MD        55   43:12.06       76
55-59 Female     
 1   Schneider, Laura      Sykesville, MD      55   49:36.08      182
 2   Hoffberg, Esther      Reisterstown, MD    57   49:48.15      189
 3   Lather, Rosemary      Columbia, MD        55   54:05.47      271
60-64 Female     
 1   Forsha, Anne          Rockville, MD       60   48:38.48      164
 2   Lennon, LaRue         Westminster, MD     63   49:31.54      180
 3   Brooks, Patricia      Ellicott City, MD   61   53:07.40      256
60-64 Male     
 1   Carbary, James        Columbia, MD        60   40:54.72       52
 2   Franken, Mark         Germantown, MD      60   48:41.22      166
 3   Young, Wayne          Frederick, MD       61   50:19.29      196
65-69 Female     
 1   Imholtz, Clare        Beltsville, MD      65 1:03:30.77      443
 2   Hostetler, Fran       Frederick, MD       66 1:06:17.34      482
 3   Young, Allie          Monrovia, MD        65 1:29:28.80      569
65-69 Male     
 1   Hawkland, Douglas     Dayton, MD          65   44:10.00       89
 2   Raab, Steven          Silver Spring, MD   66   59:17.31      371
 3   Holley, Paul          Ashburn, VA         65 1:00:07.11      389
70-99 Male     
 1   Walker, Kent          Baltimore, MD       70   54:42.55      283
 2   Horst, Bob            Lancaster, PA       81 1:02:55.14      432