The Army Ten-Miler has opened general registration.
Broad Run alumna Stephanie Garcia was a guest on the For the Long Run podcast.
Georgetown alumna Emily Infeld was a guest on the Ali on the Run podcast.
- Washington, D.C. native Taylor Knibb finished 16th out of 34 in the Olympic triathlon Monday, finishing in 2:00:59.
- Georgetown alumna Rachel Schneider (WCP) will race the Olympic 5,000 meter preliminary tomorrow morning (July 30) 6 a.m. Watch the race on Peacock
- Georgetown alumnus Amos Bartelsmeyer, representing Germany, will race the Olympic 1,500 meter preliminary Monday, Aug. 2 at 8:05 p.m. Watch the race on CNBC
- University of Maryland Associate Head Track Coach Danielle Siebert is serving as event manager with USATF during the Olympics.
- The Association of Road Racing Statisticians ratified Oakton and American University alumna Keira D’Amato’s women’s only 10-mile (51:23) as a world record. She ran the time Nov. 24, 2020 in Anacostia Park in Washington, D.C.
- The Potomac Valley Track Club, fielded many by D.C.-area residents, finished second overall at the USATF Masters Track and Field Championships, scoring a combined 433 points in men’s and women’s events to the So Cal Track Club’s 666. The men finished second with 227 points to So Cal’s 445 and the women finished third (206 points) behind So Cal (221) and SC Striders (217).
- The Virginia Sports Information Directors awarded all-state honors to several local distance runners:
- Division III: First Team – Sam Llaneza, University of Lynchburg (Brentsville District); Second Team Ryan Henderson, Christopher Newport (George Mason High School); Emily Miller, Shenandoah (Patriot); Second Team Sam Koltisko, Christopher Newport (Freedom)
- Division I: First team – Annabelle Eastman, George Mason University; First team Diego Zarate, Virginia Tech (Northwest); First team Derek Johnson, Virginia (Tusacora); First team Fitsum Seyoum, Virginia Tech (Tusacora); Second Team Lauren Berman, Virginia Tech (Robinson); Second Team Kyra Holland, William and Mary (Loudoun Valley)
- Potomac River Running plans to open a store in South Riding, Va.
- VDOT and the Commonwealth Transportation Board selected the Mt. Vernon Trail North Enhancement Trail Project for SMART Scale Funding. This award is for $28.2 million and preliminary engineering will start in 2026. This project will repair and widen approximately 6.5 miles of the Mount Vernon Trail in Arlington and Alexandria, from Roosevelt Island to Jones Point Park
- The Alexandria’s Department of Recreation, Parks & Cultural Activities and the Department of Project Implementation will hold a 6:30 p.m. meeting on Wednesday, July 28 to provide an update on the Holmes Run Bike & Pedestrian Trail Restoration Project at the Patrick Henry Recreation Center at 4653 Taney Ave.
Five years after Loudoun Valley’s Drew Hunter kicked off his professional running career right out of high school, his mother Joan is making the same jump.
She will oversee training for the Boulder-based Timman Elite, an all-male collection of distance runners, including her son, who mostly represent the United States. She brings with her 18 years of high school school coaching at three different Northern Virginia high schools — with two Nike Cross Nationals titles in the last four seasons — and several intervening years coaching a youth team. Hunter served as a remote interim coach since March, before she and husband Marc retired as Loudoun Valley’s track and cross country coaches.
The National Park Service is accepting public comment through Aug. 22 regarding the ongoing closure of Beach Drive to through traffic.
The 4.25-mile stretch of Beach Drive between Broad Branch Road and the Maryland border has been closed since April 2020 to allow more room for physical distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic, with portions open for cars to reach picnic areas.
The agency offered possible scenerios, including extending the current closure indefinitely, reopening the road — which was rebuilt over the past several years, or exploring the possibility of a hybrid approach, including extending weekend closures to include Mondays and Fridays or opening the road during rush hour on weekdays.
Public comment will be accepted until 11:59 p.m. Aug. 22. To provide comments online or get additional information on the project, visit https://parkplanning.nps.gov/beachdrive. Mailed comments should be postmarked by Aug. 22, 2021, to receive consideration:
Superintendent
ATTN: Beach Drive
Rock Creek Park
3545 Williamsburg Lane, NW
Washington, DC 20008
- The Credit Union Cherry Blossom Ten Mile entry lottery closes at 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, June 30.
- The Army Ten-Miler will be held in person Oct. 10.
- The National Park Service will hold a virtual meeting July 8, from 6 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. to present a range of alternatives for the future of the 4.25-mile stretch of Beach Drive between Broad Branch Road and the Maryland border. That strech has been closed to through traffic for more than a year to allow pedestrian use during the pandemic. Public comment will be accepted July 8 – Aug. 22. To provide comments online or get additional information on the project, visit https://parkplanning.nps.gov/beachdrive.
- Doubles by Rachel Schneider and Robert Brandt led the way for local distance runners at the Olympic Trials. On the shorter distance side, T.C. Williams alumnus Noah Lyles made the Olympic team, winning the 200 meters.
Real estate developers may have their eye on Calvert County, Md. land, but at least 3,000 acres is safe.
What’s there?
The American Chestnut Land Trust protects hardwood forest, wetland and farmland. In the process, those lands offer 19 miles of trails that make it the ideal running spot in the county.
It’s off the beaten path, about an hour’s drive from D.C., but it’s not hidden. Signs on U.S. Route 4 point it out to anyone who passes, a turn onto Dares Beach Road, past Calvert High and Double Oak Road.
Georgetown alumna Rachel Schneider made the U.S. Olympic team Monday after finishing third in the 5,000 meters at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials. Chantilly alumnus Sean McGorty, who has the Olympic standard in the 3,000 meter steeplechase, had to stop to twice try to put his shoe back on Monday during the first of two preliminary heats. He caught back up to finish ninth and advanced on time.
Local results and upcoming races
800 meter first round
14 Joe White (Georgetown alumnus) 1:48.57
22 Vincent Crisp (District Track Club) 1:49.36
29 Matthew Payamps (Georgetown) 1:52.83
10,000 meter final
12 Robert Brandt (Georgetown) 28:09.92
3,000 meter steeplechase first round
13 Katy Kunc (Lake Braddock alumna) 9:37.85 (races final June 24, 11:47 p.m.)
3,000 meter steeplechase first round
9 Sean McGorty (Chantilly alumnus) 8:25.95 (races final June 25, 7:42 p.m.)
10 Fitsum Seyoum (Tuscarora alumnus) 8:28.72
15 Derek Johnson (Tuscarora alumnus) 8:32.97
5,000 meter final
3 Rachel Schneider (Georgetown alumna) 15:29.56
8 Josette Norris (Georgetown alumna) 15:48.70
1,500 meter first round June 24, 9:04 p.m.
Jack Salisbury (Georgetown)
800 meter first round June 24, 7 p.m.
Sabrina Southerland (former Georgetown runner)
Juliette Whittaker (Laurel resident)
Julia Rizk (District Track Club)
Michelle Howell (District Track Club)
5,000 meter first round June 24, 10:04 p.m.
Robert Brandt (Georgetown)
10,000 meter final June 26, 6:44 p.m.
Emily Infeld (Georgetown alumna)
Rachel Schneider (Georgetown alumna)
Katrina Coogan (Georgetown alumna)
- A number of local track and cross country coaches are retiring, including Loudoun Valley’s Marc and Joan Hunter, Bethesda-Chevy Chase’s Chad and Emily Young and Thomas Edison’s Berni Flynn. Lake Braddock’s Mike Mangan has been hired as head cross country coach and assistant track coach at Webber International University in Babson Park, Fla.
- Local distance runners scored six double wins at the Virginia and Maryland state track championships. The following are distance winners:
The family she babysat for didn’t need her. The cost of living, with no job, in Westchester, N.Y. was crushing. Her team’s funding was gone. So Katy Kunc came home.
With the pandemic squeezing her out of everything else, she ran the same roads and trails where she discovered her talent for running while at Lake Braddock.
“I started running more than I ever had before,” she said. “I figured I might as well take some kind of risk to get better.”
The 12 weeks of at least 80 miles added up to a whole new level of fitness that Kunc hadn’t reached in two years running for the New Jersey New York Track Club after graduating from the University of Kentucky, and she will be racing the finals of the Olympic Trials in the 3,000 meter steeplechase Thursday at 11:47 eastern. She qualfied for the finals with a 9:37.85 finish, a PR, in the first round.
