Photo: Matthew Lehner
The Plank family spent most of Father’s Day exploring Georgetown, kicking off a two-week vacation in Washington, D.C. Come evening, they were with more than 300 runners charging out and back on the C&O Canal Towpath for the fourth annual Father’s Day 8k.“I just grew up running. We all went on runs together,” said Povi Plank, 13, of Flagstaff, Ariz., who was joined in the race by her father, Gary, and her younger sister, Sayti. [button-red url=”http://www.safetyandhealthfoundation.org/20130616.html” target=”_self” position=”left”] Results [/button-red]
It was Povi and Sayti’s first 8k. And while Povi won her age group in 38:15, Gary, 56, was the top master in 30:05, making the duo the top father-daughter team.
Gary Plank, by the way, owns the second-fastest 1500 meter this year for his age group.
“4:34,” Povi said proudly. “And that was just two weeks ago.”
The top father-son team, Matthew and Dan Wittendorf of Alexandria, Va., started off with Matthew finishing second in his age group.
Meanwhile, another father-daughter team, Jeff Bernstein, 53, of Silver Spring, and
Julie Bernstein, 24, of D.C., typically run together three or four times a year. When it comes to racing, Jeff prefers 5Ks, while Julia has run half marathons.
“She can run further, so I bring her here to do an 8K,” Jeff joked in the finish line area, where families-slash-sweaty runners reunited for cupcakes and checked out the Men’s Health Network stand.
Running her third Father’s Day 8K, Paula Fergusson, 56, of Vienna, Va., won her age group in 53:44. Her daughter, Elena, who runs cross country for Langley High School, finished in 49:07. Dad, though injured, was there to cheer them on, and for family dinner at Chadwicks, which hosted the awards ceremony.
Andrew Morton, 44, and his son Ari, who won the 9-and-under age group in 43:41, ran every step of the way together, just as they always do.
And for the Arya family, the Father’s Day 8k was something of a reunion. Sisters Monisha and Anita and their father Suresh used to run a lot of local races together. But Monisha now lives in Houston, while Anita lives in Las Vegas.
“It’s a nice tradition to run on Father’s Day with our father, so we both flew in,” Monisha said.
Anita added: “We start together, end up separate, then we always go back for everybody.”
Ryan Witters, 24, of D.C. and Claire Hallissey, 30, of Arlington, both defended their titles. Witters clocked 25:47, while Hallissey’s time of 28:15 was good for fourth overall.
Scott Anderson, 39, of D.C. was 2nd in 27:16, with Brian McMahon, 30, of D.C. taking 3rd in 27:37.
GRC’s Avril Ogrodnick, 26, of D.C. was second female in 30:32. Arielle Elyse Davanzo, 23, of D.C. was 3rd in 33:48.
For Witters, one of GRC’s top runners, Father’s Day 8K was, on one hand, the last race of a long spring track season in which he lowered his 5K personal best to 14:31. On the other, it’s his way of remembering his father, who died when Witters was 13.
It was a humid night, and Witters suffered from it. Having his teammate Sebi Devlin–Foltz on the lead bike helped keep him focused, he said. When chills set in, he intentionally slowed down a bit.
“This is a way to really pay tribute,” Witters said. “Even though it is the end of the season and I am ready to take a break, I can always muster something up for this race just because it means so much to me.”
Count on him to return in 2014 and go for a three-peat.
It was a perfect Saturday to skip a workout: temps in the teens, icy wind blasting across the track. To add to that, for Meghan Lockett – a 15-year-old runner who does not compete for a high school and is not allowed to join a club – the day’s scheduled 1K and 2K reps were hardly compulsory.
Yet, there she was, on the track at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, happy to hop in a workout with a group of post- collegiate women who run for Georgetown Running Club – and in general, just happy to be running.
“I don’t think I’ve ever really missed a run or a workout,” said Meghan, who in November ran 18:15 in a 5K road race. “I always get out there. The thing about running is that, even when it is hard getting out there, you always know you are going to feel 10 times better when you’ve got your workout in.”
wore a variety of Boston Marathon shirts for their Saturday morning run, showing their support for the victims of
the bombings and the marathon itself. Photo: Charlie Ban
With some time, confusion and grief following the two explosions along the Boston Marathon sidelines turned to resolve and determination not to let terrorists ruin running. Hordes turned out Friday and Saturday to show that they would not be intimidated.
The bombing that left three dead and almost 200 wounded, including a Springfield woman who broke her leg, and the subsequent chase that claimed the life of a campus police officer only motivated those who turned out to the Crystal City Friday 5k, which took place as the surviving suspect was cornered in Watertown, Mass.
Adam Schans exited the Crystal City metro station Friday night with little time to spare. On the sidewalk, about a quarter mile from the start, the Wilson High School freshman slipped into orange-black running shoes with neon laces, handed his track bag to his father, and took off for the starting line of the third of four Crystal Run 5K Fridays with an easy, feathery stride. Wilson High’s track team was off today; he’d race an evening 5k on the streets of Arlington instead.
Arlington’s Andy Murphy, 40, raced Friday night wearing his long-sleeved 2012 Boston Marathon shirt. He ran that year to raise money for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute while his father, battling cancer, cheered him on.
During this year’s Boston Marathon, Murphy attended his father’s funeral in Arlington National Cemetery. Later that afternoon, after bombs exploded and tragedy struck Boston, his cell phone filled with text messages sent by concerned friends worrying he might be there.
Emily Dorsey, 30, also of Arlington, was racing 5k partly to celebrate her friend’s birthday. Next weekend, she’ll run the Nike Women’s Marathon. But for the two-time marathoner and Boston University graduate, racing last night also just seemed like the right thing to do.
Watching the race last night, and hundreds of runners take to the streets (not long after work let out for many of them), showing no signs of fear or doubt. Few, if any, complained about increased security such as bag searches for those planning to use the gear check.
Nobody loudly expressed worry about the possibility that unsafe weather conditions might delay the 6:30 p.m. start by up to 30 minutes and require runners to take shelter until it all passed, or that if severe weather persisted past 7 p.m. the race would be postponed until May 3.
Bags were checked. The weather was the weather – the big downpour holding off.
Jane Webster, 35, of D.C., said after the race, “I love it when it’s overcast. She” – D.C.’s Rebecca Johnson, who she ran with – “loves it when it rains. Perfect.”
After a moment of silence, the runners were off.
From teens like Schans to 70-something-year-old mega-racers like Robert Gurtler of the Plains, Va., the race was on.
And with less than a mile left, as Michael Roethel, 24, of Herndon made the turn onto Crystal Drive, Arlington’s Claire Hallissey, who represented Britain in the marathon at the London Olympics, appeared to be reeling him in.
Roethel had heard about the Crystal Run 5k Fridays race series from a co-worker and promptly signed up for all four. “But this race was special for me,” he said, “especially the week after Boston.” When news of the bombings struck, he immediately thought of his friends running the race, he explained, adding, “They finished the race but other people weren’t as lucky. My heart goes out to them.”
Roethel was first across the line in 17:06. “I’ve never been first place before,” he said, “so this was a breakthrough.”
About two and a half minutes later, Schans crossed the line, pleased with his own effort.
And even though lightning forced race organizers to shorten the route for some runners, the race’s atmosphere remained upbeat.
Near the three-mile mark, co-workers Chris Stewart, Jacqui Balough, and Andre Dalton, though finished with their own races, cheered for other runners.
“There was a lot of support here – a lot of people wearing Boston attire,” said Stewart, 30, of Manassas, Va.
He added, “Obviously, from the turnout, people weren’t afraid of getting out in a big group. I saw somebody who said it best: ‘If you’re looking to break the American spirit, then marathoners and runners aren’t the people to target.’”
To which Balough, 26, of Arlington said, “It’s almost an incentive to still come out here” in spite of the weather.
To which Dalton, 38, of Springfield, chimed in, “Life goes on; can’t be scared. Keep on going.”
The next morning, hundreds of runners gathered for group runs Saturday morning to show support for the Boston Marathon and recognize the bombing victims. Many wore any variation of the blue and yellow adidas shirts and jackets that are hallmarks of trips from Hopkinton.
The Washington Running Club’s Dojo of Pain met Saturday morning to run and talk about what happened in Boston, but also to celebrate Silver Spring’s Alan Pemberton’s 60-65 men’s age group victory (2:57:52). He was in a post-race stupor in a restaurant a few blocks away, but his celebration was short lived.
“I was deeply into my second chocolate milk when we heard what sounded like thunder,” he said. “My wife was outside to get tickets for the post-race party, she said she thought it was a construction accident, building materials falling.
“Maybe a transformer blew? You’re so slow to assume the worst, that actual evil people are trying injure people. We heard more and more sirens, then the congratulatory messages turned to concern. It became pretty clear something horrible had happened.”
Casper Magacs of Binghamton, N.Y. was in town visiting his girlfriend’s cousin and decided to join a run at noon near the Mall. On Marathon Monday, he noticed bomb sniffing dogs at the starting line. Officials told him they were doing training and to not think anything of it. That caused a little trepidation but he put it behind him when the race started. “I was worried about not hitting the wall,” he said.
Virginia Jurica of Washington joined a DC Capital Striders run in the National Arboretum and brought a different perspective. After spending some time running in Baghdad’s Green Zone while in Iraq for work, she grew accustomed to the threat of danger in the form of mortar shells. The difference, she said, was that she expected them, being close to an insurgent guerrilla campaign.
“None of those people in Boston expected there’d be any danger, and why should they?” she said. It was a celebration.”
Photo: Swim Bike Run Photography
Back on Monday, James Davis was walking towards the finish line after completing his first Boston Marathon in 3:08:32. A block away, he heard the blast.
[button-red url=”http://www.zippyreg.com/rwt/results/2013/0421gwpc/” target=”_self” position=”left”] Results[/button-red]
Before that moment, a Boston Marathon shirt expressed personal pride and achievement. It still does. But now, more than ever, the Boston Marathon shirt Davis and many others wore during the George Washington Parkway Classic expressed solidarity. It expressed love – for the race, for the city, for the people.
“I felt good to be out there with everyone,” Davis said.
In the week leading up to the event, the race’s organizers, Pacers Events, sent an email to runners letting them know that safety was their “number one concern.”
Runners checked gear in clear plastic bags, and noticed more of a security presence near the starting line. The finish area was blocked off and closed to non-runners, with no re-entry allowed. Once runners exited the finish area, however, they entered a post-race party in Oronoco Bay Park that was as lively as ever.
Seth Hutchinson, who broke the tape in 50:56, appreciated the extra security measures, he said. But Hutchinson, 29, also appreciated the focus placed on remembering what had happened in Boston.
“I think they did a great job,” he said.
The Charlottesville, Va., resident pinned a yellow ribbon, distributed before the race, to his Ragged Mountain Running racing team jersey, and went on to separate himself from Will Christian and Jordan McDougal by running the second half of the race in 25:00.
Christian, 29, of Norfolk, Va. was 2nd in 51:22, with McDougal 3rd in 52:18. The top master, Eric Makovsky, 40, clocked 59:53.
Shannon Miller, 28, of Arlington won the women’s race in 1:01:04.
“Runners have that spirit,” she said. “Definitely that spirit is here, which is really good.”
Miller was followed by Laura O’Hara, 33, of Alexandria in 1:02:33. Kristen Henehan, 33, of Kensington, Md., was third in 1:03:41. Kristi Markowicz, 42, of Arlington, was the top master in 1:05:29.In addition to honoring Boston, runners bought back bibs to raise money for the recovery of Peter Laboy, an Alexandria police officer who was shot while on duty.
O’Hara was one of them. “I’m so grateful for the people who keep us safe here,” she said.
O’Hara had to stop between the first and second miles to tie her shoe. From there, she struggled to find a good rhythm. Grinding along, she thought about Boston and people like Laboy whose jobs often put them in harm’s way, and “tried to be tough,” she said.
Ami Camardo, 42, also ran in honor of Laboy. She finished in 1:20:14, easily beating her pre-race goal of breaking 1:25, and was pleased to see what happened in Boston had not scared away spectators.
“They give you so much energy and adrenaline,” she said. “So it was really nice to see everyone out there and see them supporting us.”
Andrew Ellis, 54, of Falls Church, who finished in 1:24:42, raced with “Boston Strong” temporarily tattooed on both of his calves and also sported his 2011 Boston Marathon shirt.
The Boston area native used to live along the Boston course, and described running the race in 2011 with his daughter, then a senior at Boston College, as “the experience of a lifetime.”
“It was personal,” he said of the attacks. “Everybody knows somebody who ran, or was close to it, or was caught up in it, so it’s been an awful week.”
The race, on the other hand, was a highlight.
“This was a lot of fun,” he said. “I wouldn’t have missed it.”
“Maybe I’m actually getting a little smarter,” said Tom Cowley, describing his training habits over coffee on a late Sunday afternoon.
The Gaithersburg runner was referring to a decision made the day prior. He had met his usual Montgomery County Road Runners Club (MCRRC) training partners for their weekly long run in preparation for the Boston Marathon. But a couple minutes before the run, Cowley felt his calf tighten up and chose to back off.
Some runners call this listening to your body. It’s not at all that easy to do -even for Cowley, who has been running for 40 years. At 75, he’s this region’s oldest Boston Marathon qualifier. Monday’s race marks his third start in Hopkinton. Cowley qualified for the 2012 race but got injured. By now, he figures to have had every injury in the book.But each injury heals. And as soon as it does, Cowley’s back to it.
“I miss the running,” he admits.
Cowley’s Saturday training runs typically start in Bethesda. In the thick of marathon training, he goes about 22 miles – a distance considerably farther than his jogs back in the 1970s.
He had been married for two years, he recalled, and had gained some weight. He and his wife lived in a small town in western New York. And somewhere out there, he remembers, there was a runner who went by the name of Jim Fixx. “He was a distance runner but I had no idea what that meant,” he said.
Cowley liked to jog six or seven miles a day. “Back then,” he said, “I didn’t know I should take at least a day off.” Nor did Cowley know that casual jogging was not the best preparation for running a marathon.
In the 1980s, after he and his wife moved to Washington, D.C., and he started a decades-long career on Capitol Hill, Cowley got in the habit of doing easy runs in the morning before work, hopping in a couple longish area races, then running a marathon. In other words, he said, “I did my jogging, did my 10 miler, did 25K, then I did a 26.2 miler.”
He is not sure when he joined MCRRC or when he ran his first marathon. Cowley, frankly, is not one for stats, or to stress about times. He ran for many years, in fact, before starting to overhear folks talking about this “thing called AG.” And it was many years after that, even, before he would catch wind of “BQ,” and that someone would tell him after one marathon that he had attained one.
Cowley had never realized that the Boston Marathon breaks down qualifying times according to age groups. So he ran his first one in 2006. Ran it again in 2011.
So why does Cowley run?
“It’s the sense,” he says, “that you are really trying to do the best you can do. Now, I don’t mean that in the sense of being the fastest runner. For me, it’s been a mixture of health and sort of mental energy. Running a marathon, my view is that it really is more than physical. It really is mentally challenging.”
Cowley relishes that challenge, and also his friends made through MCRRC. “Without that,” he says, “I might have checked off the bucket list after one marathon and moved on.”
Instead, Cowley trains on – six times per week, plus three gym workouts. He does track work on Tuesday, takes the next day off, does a quicker run on Thursday, goes long on Saturday, and on the other days covers six to 12 miles. And while Cowley does not consider himself “fast,” his BQ of 4:15:04, run in September at the Wineglass Marathon, is 25 minutes below the qualifying standard for his age group, and would also qualify him in the 70-74 division as well.
Cowley credits his marathon education to MCRRC’s pace groups, and fondly remembers the advice he received from the late Mike Broderick, a club member and coach.
Cowley, meanwhile, has no interest in racing short.
“I just need to get more back,” he says, “and I don’t get that out of a 10K, or even a 10 miler.”
Cowley, in fact, is now considering November’s JFK 50 Mile Run.
By Dickson Mercer
For July, the weather was perfect. But at the fifth annual Crystal City Twilighter, held last night in Arlington, VA, there was something else in the air – in addition to a pleasant mist.
Teamwork.
Regional USATF clubs – each able to enter multiple teams of three runners – competed for a top prize of $1,000 over a fast course. (The course records are 14:03 for men and 16:21 for women.)
[button-red url=”http://results.bazumedia.com/event/results/event/event-619″ target=”_self” position=”left”] Results [/button-red]Additionally, more than 100 prep runners – and roughly a dozen area high school club teams – participated in the High School Club Team Challenge. The top club team was Washington, DC’s Gonzaga College High School Club, while Nick Bussian of Nokesville, VA was the top prep runner, finishing in 16:53.
And for more than 20 police officers from Washington, DC and Northern Virginia, the Crystal City Twilighter was the capstone to seven weeks of training through a new program called Fit For Duty.
One of Fit For Duty’s volunteer coaches, Ty Heaton, said that all of the program’s participants finished and enjoyed the experience.
“They are looking to spread the word for next year, make it a bigger program … some want to do 5Ks in the fall to see how they can do,” he said.
In the men’s race, with less than a mile to go, Frank DeVar, Sean Graham, and Steve Hallinan – all in the lead pack – were focused on the same prize. As DeVar put it, the goal was to have their Pacers club go “one, two, three.”
“We all run with Pacers,” Graham said, who won in 15:03, two seconds ahead of DeVar. “We run together, train together – it’s hard not to race together, too.”
But Richmond’s Piotr Dybas sure made it interesting. With less than a quarter-mile to go, the 25-year-old made a bold move to the front. And while Graham and DeVar managed to reel him in, Dybas, 25, succeeded in splitting up the group. He took third in 15:08, holding off Pacers’ Steve Hallinan in 15:11 and Jeff Brannigan in 15:23.
The top team, officially, was DeVar, Hallinan, and Brannigan. Dybas led the second-place squad, RVATC, with fellow Richmond residents Jon Molz (7th, 15:43) and Guy Alton (8th, 15:45). In third was another Pacers squad – this one comprised of Graham, Tripp Southerland (12th, 16:12), and Chris Boyd (22nd, 16:43).
For the women, Maggie Infeld, who competes for the New York Athletic Club, won in 16:52.
Infeld, 26, of DC recently competed in the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials in both the 800 and the 1500, in which she placed 7th in 4:08.32. After the trials, Infeld, currently in her third year of medical school, started a surgery rotation, she said. As of late, she has had little time to run, let alone train.
“I love D.C. area road races because it forces you to get in a hard effort that’s hard to get in otherwise,” she said.
After Infeld, the next three spots belonged to Pacers’ Lauren Centrowitz (17:20), Kerri Gallagher (17:28) and Erin Koch (17:30) – all members of the winning club.
The 2nd place female team, Georgetown Running Company, was led by Laura O’Hara, who was 9th in 18:50, with teammates Teal Connor and Kyra Rathbun both just a second behind her.
Pacers’ 3rd place female team included Lindsay Ritchings (6th, 18:07), Ashley Campbell (14th, 19:15), and Veronica Tinney (22nd in 20:08).
In the master’s division, Edmund Burke (left) of Burtonsville, MD was top male in 16:35, good for 18th overall. Alisa Harvey of Manassas, VA was top female in 18:42, good for 8th overall.
For all runners, the cool temperatures were a relief. (At last year’s race, the temperature was right around 100 degrees.)
“Given the last couple weeks,” Willis McCloud, 53, of Woodbridge, VA, said, “a lot of us were really apprehensive about what the conditions were going to be like today – so this was perfect.”
McCloud ran last year’s Marine Corps Marathon and now is training for a Tough Mudder competition, he said. And after finishing the race in 24:36, he cheered on other runners entering the final stretch – his way of returning the favor.
“There was a lot of fan participation during the race,” he said, “which for me always helps. I like when there are a lot of people on the sides, cheering, holding signs up.”
Fellow Marine Corps Marathon finisher Crystal Douglas, 47, who ran the race with her husband, Lewis Douglas, 45, also enjoyed the atmosphere, she said.
“It was very lively,” she said. “Plus, we’ve never done a night race – so that was cool.”
Cool, indeed.
“Compared to last year,” DeVar said of the weather, “this was perfection.”
By Dickson Mercer
If Bethany Sachtleben tries out for cross country at George Mason University this fall, she will lack the high school running experiences other rising freshman will surely have. On the other hand, Sachtleben, 20, who won this morning’s second annual Let Freedom Run 5K in Fairfax, VA in 18:26, has already run a marathon, which is uncommon for a runner her age.
[button-red url=”http://www.swimbikerunphoto.com/category/clients/pacers-racing/” target=”_self” position=”left”] Photos [/button-red]Sachtleben, by the way, didn’t just finish a marathon. In March, at the inaugural SunTrust Rock ‘n’ Roll USA Marathon, the tennis and soccer player from Manassas, VA was 2nd in 3:08:43. (Sachtleben was home-schooled, she said, and starting running “casually” a few years ago.)
As for this Independence Day 5K, Sachtleben, who entered the race with a goal of breaking 20 minutes, said, “I think it was a lot more exhausting than the marathon because you just have to be all out the entire time. And it was nerve-wracking because I wanted to win, and there’s such a short time.
She won by more than a minute, and her time of 18:26 – on a sunny and humid morning – was well under her goal.
Meghan Blackstone, 18, of Bristow, VA (shown right) was 2nd in 19:27. Kristi Markowicz, 42, of Arlington, VA took third overall and the master’s title in 19:36.
In the men’s race, Philippe Rolly, 39, of McLean, VA set the pace through the opening mile in around 5:10. Around halfway, though, Rolly was caught by last year’s winner, Jordan McDougal, who cruised to repeat victory in 16:06. Rolly held on for 2nd in 16:42.
Heading into the race, Rolly had hoped to run about a minute faster, he said, but the heat and rolling course proved to be too much.
Rolly, meanwhile, has bests of 2:19 in the marathon and 29:40 for 10K, and for years ranked among this region’s best. In his mid-30s, with three children and a busy job, he lost interest, he said. As of late, though, Rolly, native to France, has been on something of a comeback. At the beginning of this year, he returned to training with a simple goal: to return to solid form before Aug. 24, when he will officially become a master.
As for McDougal, it was amazing he was racing at all. On Saturday, the 25-year-old national 50K champion and North Face-sponsored ultra runner was in Ecuador for a 50K race in which he got lost, got sick, and failed to finish.
This morning, he came out to support the racing team he has helped to organized for The Running Store in Gainesville, VA, he said. As it happened, three of his teammates were not far behind 3rd place finisher Eric Makovsky, 39, of Washington, D.C., who ran 17:18. Rob Bell, Keith Freeburn, and Joe Blackstone – all from Gainesville – were 4th through 6th, respectively.
“I was coming out to run with them today,” McDougal said. “If it wasn’t for them, I probably wouldn’t have been out there.”
The Let Freedom Run 5K is staged on a loop course that starts and finishes at Fairfax Corner Shopping Center. And as runners warmed up this morning in the parking lots or on a coned-off stretch of the course, it seemed for a time that they might at least benefit from overcast skies and a bit of a breeze. About 15 minutes before the 9 a.m. start, though, out came the sun, and with it the expected heat.
It hardly deterred “Team Scotland,” a family team of six that featured Bob Johnson, 51, of Oakton, VA, his wife Carrol Anderson, 53, and Carrol’s sister, Gillian Anderson, 49, visiting from Edinburgh, Scotland.
Johnson noted that their Oakton home lost power for two days after Saturday’s storm. “But it didn’t keep us from training on Sunday,” he said.
Andrew and Martina Crichton of Woodbridge, VA turned Let Freedom Run 5K into a family outing as well. Their youngest daughter, Alex, 1, was along for the run in a jogging stroller. Their older daughter, Melissa, 4, ran the Kid’s Dash, which started an hour after the 5K.
The family’s jogging stroller has gone up to a half marathon so far, Crichton said, who added that he hopes bringing his children to road races will set a positive example of healthy living.
Incidentally, the Let Freedom Run 5K’s course also hosts the Halloween-themed Goblin Gallop, in which many participants race wearing costumes. For Let Freedom Run, the costumes stay at home, but participants in this young race have nonetheless started a tradition of celebrating Fourth of July by, for example, sporting the red, white and blue race t-shirt, carrying small flags, or wearing Uncle Sam top hats.
Debbie Whitfield, 39, of Potomac Falls, VA ran the race with her son, Tyler, 7. Tyler’s older brother ran as well, she said.
“My husband and I will run our races” – including marathons – “on our own,” she said. “Then we like to come and run with [our sons].”
Whitfield’s parents were there to cheer them on.
“So it’s a big family outing,” she said. “We’ll probably get together later and have a picnic, watch the fireworks. This is a great kickoff to Independence Day.”
By Dickson Mercer
Washington, DC
June 9, 2012
For the Washington Running Report
Four miles into this morning’s Lawyers Have Heart 10K, Barb Fallon Wallace started falling behind.
“Just a few steps,” she said. “I was getting tired.”
But with a little encouragement from her Pacers racing team teammate, Lisa Thomas, Fallon Wallace – a 38-year-old physical therapist who gave birth to twins just 18 months ago – summoned some reserve strength. Inside the final mile, the Alexandria, VA resident pulled away to claim the win and a new personal best of 36:10.
Thomas, 36, also of Alexandria, finished second in 36:18. Lisa Goldstein, 25, of Washington, DC was third in 37:54.
Thomas said she was pleased with how the race turned out and happy to make Fallon Wallace “earn it.”
She was also pleased with the conditions that featured a cooler-than-usual starting time temperature hovering in the mid-70s. (Last year’s race, which Thomas won, was shortened to 5K to spare runners from temperatures that soared well above 90 degrees.)
As for the men, this year’s Lawyers Have Heart 10K was Gurmessa Megerssa’s from the start.
“He took off right away,” said Pacers’ Jordan Zwick, 26, who placed 2nd in 31:36, ahead of 21-year-old Mark Allen, an American University runner who ran 31:44 in his first road 10K.
“Around 4 miles, [Megerssa] kind of slowed down a little and I tried to catch him,” Zwick added.
No such luck.
The Lawyers Have Heart 10K’s out-and-back courses starts and finishes in Washington, DC’s Georgetown neighborhood under the Whitehurst Freeway. And as Megerssa came into view on the downhill that returns runners to the finish, he unleashed a wild kick that carried him through the tape in 31:17.
In 2006, shortly after Megerssa moved to DC from his native Ethiopia, where he competed for the East African country’s national team, he ran 29:51 to set the event record.
Megerssa’s win today makes him the race’s third repeat victor in its now 22nd running. Philippe Rolly, 39, of McLean, VA, who ran 32:50 today, won three years in a row starting in 1999 and added a fourth title in 2004. Jim Hage won in 1993 and 1996.
But the Lawyers Have Heart 10K has its own story. Since 1991, the race has raised more than $8 million to benefit the American Heart Association.
And as Ted Boling, the Deputy Solicitor for Land Resources at the U.S. Department of the Interior, put it after the race, surrounding Lawyers Have Heart is a “whole subculture that trades around times.”
Teams are created as well. In the finishing area today, one saw an array of made-for-the-event shirts bearing the names of firms like Hogan Lovells and Sutherland and of course the U.S. Department of Justice. An Alexandria patent office team’s shirt read, “Landon IP Has Heart.”
Avid local runner Hanna Chouest, 29, of DC and Lisa Jones, 43, of Arlington, who both work at the law firm Sidley Austin, said that one of their co-worker’s office spaces is decorated with years worth of Lawyers Have Heart 10K memorabilia.
“That’s how I learned about it,” Jones said.
The support from the region’s legal community has helped draw thousands of runners annually to this race, making it the biggest 10K in Washington, D.C.
To lawyers like Ted Bennett, 47, who works for Williams & Connolly in DC, the race, he said, was about being with colleagues and friends while supporting a good cause.
Williams & Connolly’s team was 15 strong, Bennett said.
But for Bennett, who said he “used to be a runner,” this was his first time participating.
“I’ve been always been doing kid’s stuff,” he said. “I’ll do that later today.”
After the race, participants gathered in Washington Harbour for post-race snow cones, drinks, and music. Dogs, though not welcome on the course, were more than welcome here. Several restaurants were open for brunch.
Shannon Franks, 35, of College Park, MD was the top wheelchair athlete, covering the course in 31:07.
In the masters division, Stephanie Evans, 41, of Washington, DC posted a time of 40:16 to take the title by close to four minutes. Derik Thomas, 46, of Alexandria, was the top male master in 34:52.
At the post-race ceremony, awards were offered for age groups as well as special categories, including lawyers, legal assistants, law librarians, administrators, summer associates, law students, and survivors of cardiovascular disease.
FEMALE OVERALL RESULTS
Place No. Name Age City St Gun Time Net Time
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 3075 Barbara Fallon Wallace 38 ALEXANDRIA VA 36:09.4 36:08.7
2 30 Lisa Thomas 36 Alexandria VA 36:17.8 36:17.0
3 3105 Lisa Goldstein 25 WASHINGTON DC 37:53.1 37:53.1
4 3005 Kerry Allen 23 WASHINGTON DC 39:14.5 39:14.1
5 3272 Sarah Spalding 31 WASHINGTON DC 39:28.1 39:27.0
MALE OVERALL RESULTS
Place No. Name Age City St Gun Time Net Time
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 2388 Gurmessa Megerssa 32 WASHINGTON DC 31:16.4 31:16.4
2 3985 Jordan Zwick 26 ARLINGTON VA 31:35.4 31:35.4
3 3006 Mark Allen 21 WASHINGTON DC 31:43.4 31:43.4
4 3480 Andrew McCann 23 Washington DC 31:44.4 31:44.4
5 3511 Wilson Komen 34 WASHINGTON DC 32:10.1 32:09.8
FEMALE MASTERS RESULTS
Place No. Name Ag City St Gun Time Net Time
===== ===== ===================== == ================== == ========= =========
1 2468 Stephanie Evans 41 WASHINGTON DC 40:16.0 40:11.6
2 670 Julia Taylor 40 ARLINGTON VA 44:08.0 43:57.9
3 2528 Lynnette Simpson 40 WASHINGTON DC 45:17.0 44:36.0
4 1561 Carol Hobson 45 SPRINGFIELD VA 45:38.7 40:00.6
5 3599 Kristin McCann 40 ALEXANDRIA VA 45:49.1 45:45.5
MALE MASTERS RESULTS
Place No. Name Ag City St Gun Time Net Time
===== ===== ===================== == ================== == ========= =========
1 29 Derik Thomas 46 Alexandria VA 34:51.3 34:50.7
2 1808 Henry Wigglesworth 54 WASHINGTON DC 35:38.2 35:37.9
3 3160 Max Lockwood 42 WASHINGTON DC 38:04.2 38:04.2
4 2365 Reynolds Wilson 40 ARLINGTON VA 38:16.7 38:06.8
5 43 Peter Sloan 49 Silver Spring MD 38:45.3 38:44.0
ADAPTIVE ATHLETE RESULTS
Place No. Name Ag City St Gun Time Net Time
===== ===== ===================== == ================== == ========= =========
1 2831 SHANNON FRANKS 35 COLLEGE PARK MD 31:06:3 31:06.3
AGE-GROUP RESULTS
Lawyers Have Heart 10K
Benefiting The American Heart Association
Saturday, June 09, 2012
Washington, DC (Georgetown Waterfront) 7:30AM
raceDC Timing (www.racedctiming.com), Questions? [email protected]
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 1 - 19
Place No. Name Age City St Gun Time Net Time
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 3379 Anna Stone 17 Vienna VA 41:26.8 41:17.0
2 3380 Amanda Swaak 15 Vienna VA 44:39.1 44:29.2
3 3798 Katherine Salamido 15 MCLEAN VA 46:17.4 45:27.8
MALE AGE GROUP: 1 - 19
Place No. Name Age City St Gun Time Net Time
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 813 Connor Ryan 18 WASHINGTON DC 33:27.0 33:27.0
2 3162 Ian Lutz 19 WASHINGTON DC 33:51.2 33:51.2
3 722 Mitch Clements 17 ASHBURN VA 38:34.1 38:12.0
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 20 - 24
Place No. Name Age City St Gun Time Net Time
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 3811 Danielle Schaub 24 WASHINGTON DC 40:43.0 40:11.0
2 123 Angell Garrigan 24 ALEXANDRIA VA 46:31.5 41:12.6
3 2682 Kathleen Cave 23 BETHESDA MD 43:15.5 42:37.2
MALE AGE GROUP: 20 - 24
Place No. Name Age City St Gun Time Net Time
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 3154 Mark Leininger 21 WASHINGTON DC 32:27.8 32:27.8
2 1483 Kyle Stanton 21 COLUMBIA MD 33:19.4 33:18.8
3 1049 Andrew Koehlinger 23 MIDLAND MI 34:40.3 34:39.7
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 25 - 29
Place No. Name Age City St Gun Time Net Time
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 3281 Kelly Swain 27 ARLINGTON VA 39:49.8 39:48.7
2 3134 Melody Jones 28 ARLINGTON VA 40:24.5 40:20.8
3 2435 Julia Pudlin 27 WASHINGTON DC 40:33.0 40:30.8
MALE AGE GROUP: 25 - 29
Place No. Name Age City St Gun Time Net Time
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 2382 Kumssa Ethicha Wodajo 27 WASHINGTON DC 34:58.4 34:58.4
2 3375 Tim Kogge 28 Arlington VA 35:43.4 35:42.0
3 1011 William Rawson 29 WASHINGTON DC 35:43.2 35:43.2
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 30 - 34
Place No. Name Age City St Gun Time Net Time
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 571 Jillian Holmes 34 STAFFORD VA 45:12.7 40:38.9
2 2612 Robyn Bernardy 30 WASHINGTON DC 41:56.9 41:50.9
3 1294 Elizabeth Oyer 33 WASHINGTON DC 42:31.7 42:20.4
MALE AGE GROUP: 30 - 34
Place No. Name Age City St Gun Time Net Time
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 2821 Colin Fishwick 34 WASHINGTON DC DC 32:56.8 32:56.8
2 671 Daniel Yi 32 ALEXANDRIA VA 34:53.5 34:53.1
3 3953 Clete Willems 32 WASHINGTON DC 34:57.3 34:56.8
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 35 - 39
Place No. Name Age City St Gun Time Net Time
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 3061 Mary Davison 39 BRISTOW VA 40:05.1 40:03.3
2 815 Laura Zeilinger 39 WASHINGTON DC 40:29.0 40:26.7
3 1807 Julie Sapper 39 ROCKVILLE MD 42:06.6 42:00.0
MALE AGE GROUP: 35 - 39
Place No. Name Age City St Gun Time Net Time
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 3784 Philippe Rolly 39 MCLEAN VA 32:49.9 32:49.7
2 3285 Matthew Thomas 37 ALEXANDRIA VA 34:05.4 34:05.4
3 3441 Scott Anderson 38 Washington DC 34:32.8 34:32.6
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 40 - 44
Place No. Name Age City St Gun Time Net Time
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 2628 Colette Boulin 42 WASHINGTON DC 48:58.4 46:25.1
2 2160 Lisa Jones Foose 43 ARLINGTON VA 47:04.4 46:32.8
3 1989 Esther Lander 43 VIENNA VA 49:25.9 48:19.6
MALE AGE GROUP: 40 - 44
Place No. Name Age City St Gun Time Net Time
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 3157 Malcolm Lester 44 WASHINGTON DC 39:25.1 39:24.1
2 2558 Andrew Goldfarb 43 CHEVY CHASE MD 39:29.4 39:27.6
3 710 Norman Wong 40 WASHINGTON DC 40:25.8 40:10.8
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 45 - 49
Place No. Name Age City St Gun Time Net Time
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 3056 Patricia Cuff Donahue 47 ALEXANDRIA VA 46:14.7 45:56.3
2 2557 Janet Braunstein 46 WASHINGTON DC 46:18.1 46:04.6
3 3572 Brenda MacKintosh 46 SPRINGFIELD VA 47:24.9 47:06.4
MALE AGE GROUP: 45 - 49
Place No. Name Age City St Gun Time Net Time
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 2124 Eugene Holmes 47 ARLINGTON VA 39:30.6 39:27.6
2 429 Jamey Burden 46 ALEXANDRIA VA 39:55.7 39:51.7
3 49 Alan Thatcher 48 Manassas VA 40:27.9 40:26.8
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 50 - 54
Place No. Name Age City St Gun Time Net Time
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 1062 Maureen Mitchell 51 CURTIS BAY MD 51:23.7 47:51.6
2 366 Susan Hyre 53 ALEXANDRIA VA 49:57.4 49:51.8
3 3803 Isabela Sardas 50 MEQUON WI 50:43.2 50:05.3
MALE AGE GROUP: 50 - 54
Place No. Name Age City St Gun Time Net Time
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 3679 Sean Oatmeyer 50 WILLIAMSBURG VA 41:17.8 41:06.5
2 2467 Robert Dunne 53 OAK HILL VA 41:31.2 41:26.6
3 3074 Stefan Falk 53 WASHINGTON DC 42:14.0 42:10.6
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 55 - 59
Place No. Name Age City St Gun Time Net Time
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 2675 Manuela Carvalho 57 WASHINGTON DC 52:18.8 51:33.5
2 448 Mary Lopatto 57 WASHINGTON DC 54:51.5 54:32.3
3 2047 Nancy Kuhn 56 BETHESDA MD 56:05.2 54:51.2
MALE AGE GROUP: 55 - 59
Place No. Name Age City St Gun Time Net Time
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 1528 Hugh Hilliard 55 WASHINGTON DC 41:43.9 41:18.2
2 1836 Gary Morgans 59 ARLINGTON VA 43:13.6 43:10.6
3 3973 William Xu 58 SPRINFIELD VA 43:34.7 43:20.0
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 60 - 64
Place No. Name Age City St Gun Time Net Time
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 3088 Alice Franks 64 ROCKVILLE MD 47:35.7 47:27.6
2 3188 Linda Mills 62 SALISBURY MD 49:07.4 48:53.2
3 3434 Jane Serues 64 Cherry Grove Beach SC 49:07.3 48:54.1
MALE AGE GROUP: 60 - 64
Place No. Name Age City St Gun Time Net Time
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 1722 Joe Hollingsworth 64 WASHINGTON DC 41:04.7 35:57.6
2 3968 Jim Wright 62 GAITHERSBURG MD 40:18.2 40:17.0
3 3942 Michael Wesbecher 64 OAKTON VA 43:50.6 43:29.0
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 65 - 69
Place No. Name Age City St Gun Time Net Time
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 3870 Dianne Stoddard 66 VIENNA VA 1:05:31.7 1:02:38.2
2 497 Susan Crosson 66 HERNDON VA 1:09:13.7 1:04:10.2
3 2973 Wendy Jordan 65 WASHINGTON DC 1:07:10.6 1:05:48.5
MALE AGE GROUP: 65 - 69
Place No. Name Age City St Gun Time Net Time
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 3350 James Daly 68 Alexandria VA 50:08.0 50:06.3
2 2696 John Churchman 69 ARLINGTON VA 51:09.2 50:39.6
3 2269 John Brittain 68 ALEXANDRIA VA 54:06.0 53:18.2
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 70 - 74
Place No. Name Age City St Gun Time Net Time
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 3821 Rosemary Schwartzbard 70 ARLINGTON VA 1:03:36.2 1:01:16.1
2 1712 Martha Witebsky 70 SILVER SPRING MD 1:05:50.7 1:03:40.6
MALE AGE GROUP: 70 - 74
Place No. Name Age City St Gun Time Net Time
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 2774 Mike Driskel 71 WASHINGTON DC 58:34.1 58:27.1
2 3647 Alan Morrison 74 WASHINGTON DC 1:03:31.8 1:01:48.4
3 1137 Skip Hartquist 70 WASHINGTON DC 1:05:16.7 1:04:55.6
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 75 - 79
Place No. Name Age City St Gun Time Net Time
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 3055 Pat Cuff 75 MONTGOMERY VILLAGE AA 1:11:15.5 1:09:18.2
MALE AGE GROUP: 75 - 79
Place No. Name Age City St Gun Time Net Time
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 3779 Alan Rider 76 RESTON VA 58:32.6 58:30.9
2 3586 Joe Marhoefer 76 RESTON VA 1:02:19.8 59:36.6
3 2891 Robert Gurtler 77 THE PLAINS VA 1:05:26.1 1:04:08.7
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 80 - 99
Place No. Name Age City St Gun Time Net Time
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
MALE AGE GROUP: 80 - 99
Place No. Name Age City St Gun Time Net Time
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 63 George Yannakakis 80 Sparks Glencoe MD 1:00:26.8 1:00:23.1
2012 Lawyers Have Heart 10K
CATEGORY AWARDS LIST
CVD-SURVIVOR FEMALE AWARDS
Place No. Name Age City St Gun Time Net Time
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 1702 Elizabeth Westbrook 28 WASHINGTON DC 1:01:48.5 59:08.6
2 2796 Simone Elliott 40 WASHINGTON DC 1:01:10.2 1:00:45.7
3 3655 Deborah Muller 27 WASHINGTON DC 1:03:06.3 1:01:10.7
CVD-SURVIVOR MALE AWARDS
Place No. Name Age City St Gun Time Net Time
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 1274 Rod Vieira 44 CHEVY CHASE MD 48:20.5 46:26.8
2 2729 Darrell Darnell 53 WASHINGTON DC 51:55.5 51:09.9
3 1632 John Gifft 40 WASHINGTON DC 55:28.3 54:23.2
LAWYER FEMALE AWARDS
Place No. Name Age City St Gun Time Net Time
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 2468 Stephanie Evans 41 WASHINGTON DC 40:16.0 40:11.6
2 815 Laura Zeilinger 39 WASHINGTON DC 40:29.0 40:26.7
3 2435 Julia Pudlin 27 WASHINGTON DC 40:33.0 40:30.8
LAWYER MALE AWARDS
Place No. Name Age City St Gun Time Net Time
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 671 Daniel Yi 32 ALEXANDRIA VA 34:53.5 34:53.1
2 3953 Clete Willems 32 WASHINGTON DC 34:57.3 34:56.8
3 535 P.J. Martinez 31 WASHINGTON DC 35:32.9 35:32.9
LEGAL-ASSISTANT FEMALE AWARDS
Place No. Name Age City St Gun Time Net Time
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 571 Jillian Holmes 34 STAFFORD VA 45:12.7 40:38.9
2 556 Tracy Buro 25 ARLINGTON VA 43:15.5 43:04.1
3 945 Natalie Stoll 23 WASHINGTON DC 46:44.9 45:37.4
LEGAL-ASSISTANT MALE AWARDS
Place No. Name Age City St Gun Time Net Time
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 1787 Sam Araia 32 ALEXANDRIA VA 42:51.9 42:41.6
2 1564 Mike O'Donnell 24 WASHINGTON DC 42:55.4 42:42.0
3 1169 Jeffrey Nelson 24 WASHINGTON DC 46:17.2 45:25.6
LEGAL-SECRETARY FEMALE AWARDS
Place No. Name Age City St Gun Time Net Time
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 2628 Colette Boulin 42 WASHINGTON DC 48:58.4 46:25.1
2 1062 Maureen Mitchell 51 CURTIS BAY MD 51:23.7 47:51.6
3 2444 Bettina Myers 42 WASHINGTON DC 50:42.3 49:13.9
LEGAL-SECRETARY MALE AWARDS
Place No. Name Age City St Gun Time Net Time
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 1131 Todd Robinson 33 WASHINGTON DC DC 46:12.6 46:04.1
LAW-LIBRARIAN FEMALE AWARDS
Place No. Name Age City St Gun Time Net Time
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 670 Julia Taylor 40 ARLINGTON VA 44:08.0 43:57.9
2 583 Allison Rainey 32 ARLINGTON VA 49:45.2 48:44.0
3 1322 Carol Gruenburg 58 ALEXANDRIA VA 58:46.5 55:28.3
LAW-LIBRARIAN MALE AWARDS
Place No. Name Age City St Gun Time Net Time
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
ADMINISTRATOR FEMALE AWARDS
Place No. Name Age City St Gun Time Net Time
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 123 Angell Garrigan 24 ALEXANDRIA VA 46:31.5 41:12.6
2 1398 Alyona Richey 33 ARLINGTON VA 44:06.7 44:04.2
3 199 Monica Phillips 38 WASHINGTON DC 46:37.9 46:12.9
ADMINISTRATOR MALE AWARDS
Place No. Name Age City St Gun Time Net Time
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 1297 Steven Claremon 27 WASHINGTON DC 40:26.5 40:15.6
2 2467 Robert Dunne 53 OAK HILL VA 41:31.2 41:26.6
3 148 Jeremy Phelps 36 CENTREVILLE VA 43:05.0 42:39.2
SUMMER-ASSOCIATE FEMALE AWARDS
Place No. Name Age City St Gun Time Net Time
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 3105 Lisa Goldstein 25 WASHINGTON DC 37:53.1 37:53.1
2 934 Tiffiney Carney 32 WASHINGTON DC 48:10.7 45:58.2
3 2174 Kelly Rosencrans 25 STANFORD CA 49:37.9 46:56.7
SUMMER-ASSOCIATE MALE AWARDS
Place No. Name Age City St Gun Time Net Time
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 2377 Daniel Riegel 28 WASHINGTON DC 39:14.7 39:10.4
2 2296 Gabriel Tabak 28 ANN ARBOR MI 40:12.5 40:10.1
3 2374 Stephen Bosco 30 ARLINGTON VA 41:54.8 40:34.1
LAW-STUDENT FEMALE AWARDS
Place No. Name Age City St Gun Time Net Time
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 890 Allison Federoff 25 BETHESDA MD 42:15.9 42:04.9
2 2272 Erin Herrero 28 WASHINGTON DC 48:45.1 45:59.4
3 600 Jessica Parisi 23 STATE COLLEGE PA 48:54.3 48:12.8
LAW-STUDENT MALE AWARDS
Place No. Name Age City St Gun Time Net Time
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 57 Terence Baptiste 28 Akron OH 36:33.3 36:32.7
2 892 Eric Johnson 24 HALF MOON BAY CA 37:27.6 37:14.8
3 2783 Peter Dysart 24 BURLINGTON VT 38:19.6 38:14.2
By Dickson Mercer
Alexandria, VA
April 22, 2012
For the Washington Running Report
Sean Graham almost backed out. In the week leading up to today’s George Washington Parkway Classic, the 32-year-old Pacers athlete missed three days of training due to illness. By Friday, Graham was feeling better. By Saturday, elite athlete coordinator Jordan Zwick was urging him to give it a shot.
[button-red url=”http://www.swimbikerunphoto.com” target=”_self” position=”left”] Photos [/button-red]Good thing Graham took Zwick’s advice. Near the 7-mile mark, Graham took the lead and proceeded to put 61 seconds on runner-up Eddie Jones, 35, of Boise, ID. He won Pacers Event’s annual 10-mile race in 51:03.
Running his first race in the DC area, Jones was impressed. “I started pulling away and he just came out of nowhere,” he said of Graham at the finish in Old Town Alexandria.
Graham moved to Arlington from Oregon three years ago. Both he and Jones have sub 14-minute 5K speed and are relatively new to the 10-mile race distance.
Runners were greeted at the start in Mount Vernon with overcast skies, a cool temperature, and an off-and-on drizzle. For the first hour or so, rain was not much of a factor. And even though the rolling point-to-point course on the George Washington Parkway featured a fairly steady headwind, runners mostly praised the conditions.
“It was not too hot, not too cold, pretty much perfect for 10 miles,” Graham said.
Matthew Barresi, 29, of Falls Church was third in 52:18. Jordan McDougal, 24, and Charlie Ban, 29, of McLean ran 52:52 and 53:24, respectively, rounding out the race’s contest for top Americans. Ethiopia’s Seife Geletu broke up the contingent with a time of 52:41, good for 4th overall.
Geletu lives in Washington, DC with fellow Ethiopian and course record-holder Demesse Tefera, who in 2007 posted 47:30. (The women’s course record-holder is Tatiana Chulakh of Russia, who the same year clocked 55:39.)
Derik Thomas, 46, of Alexandria was top master in 57:33.
“There was a headwind,” Thomas said. “It was steady. Once you got to mile 8, you were exposed to it. It hit hard.”
Thomas, however, had the benefit of a pack to work with – five guys working together, running in a line – that carried him through a negative-split effort, he said.
Thomas’s wife, Lisa Thomas, was second in 1:00:25, bested only by Ethiopia’s Tiringo Getachew Shiferaw.
“The weather was hard,” said Shiferaw, who was pleased to get the win in 58:50.
Thomas, 36, competed in the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials in January but has nonetheless maintained a steady spring racing schedule. This was her best finish at the GW Parkway Classic yet.
“It usually takes something like this … to get me concentrated for the summer and fall,” said Thomas.
Laura O’Hara, 32, of Alexandria was third in 1:01:04. Michaela Courtney of Arlington (1:02:24), Kerry Allen of DC (1:02:39), and Jenny FitzGerald (1:02:55) of Woodbridge, VA rounded out the top 5 Americans. Samantha Kirby Cole, 43, of Arlington was top master and 9th overall in 1:04:48.
With more than 8,000 runners registered, the 10-miler had nearly 5,000 finishers and the 5K had more than 800.
For Andrea Ricketts, 28, of Alexandria, who wore a Boston Marathon shirt, today’s 10-mile race gave her confidence that recent injury troubles are behind her, she said. Ricketts finished in 1:12:33 and is plotting a return to Hopkinton.
From the finish chute, runners had just a short walk to the post-race celebration in Oronoco Bay Park.
Before heading there, Greg Gonzalez, 41, sporting the T-shirt from his first race –
October’s Woodrow Wilson Bridge Half Marathon – took a second or two to catch his breath.
Gonzalez’ friend and coach, Noah Simon, 36, of Arlington, a runner of 15 years, was congratulating him for running a huge “PR,” except Gonzalez had no idea what the term meant.
“I don’t know what that means … Oh, personal best,” he said.
As it happens, Gonzalez had entered the GW Parkway Classic, his second race, with the simple goal of averaging faster than the 8:28 pace he had averaged in October. But, pushed by Simon, Gonzalez gutted out 1:16:44, nearly a minute-per-mile faster than that.
Just a year ago, the lawyer discovered that running helped him solve problems he was having with his back.
10 Mile
FEMALE OVERALL RESULTS
Place No. Name Age City St Guntime Nettime
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ======= =======
1 52 Shiferaw Tiringo-Geta 27 Alexandria VA 58:49.2 58:49.2
2 32 Lisa Thomas 36 Alexandria VA 60:24.2 60:23.9
3 8 Laura O'Hara 32 Alexandria VA 61:03.6 61:03.6
4 5 Michaela Courtney 28 Arlington VA 62:23.9 62:23.9
5 4092 Kerry Allen 23 Washington DC 62:38.9 62:38.2
6 4449 Jenny Fitzgerald 32 Woodbridge VA 62:55.6 62:54.9
MALE OVERALL RESULTS
Place No. Name Age City St Guntime Nettime
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ======= =======
1 4 Sean Graham 32 Alexandria VA 51:02.6 51:02.6
2 2 Eddie Ernest-Jones 35 Boise ID 52:03.1 52:03.1
3 3144 Matthew Barresi 29 Falls Church VA 52:17.9 52:17.9
4 49 Seife Geletu 30 Washington DC 52:41.0 52:41.0
5 38 Jordan McDougal 24 Warrenton VA 52:51.8 52:51.8
6 18 Charlie Ban 29 McLean VA 53:23.1 53:22.9
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 10 - 19
Place No. Name Age City St Guntime Nettime
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 3222 Katie Necochea 17 Springfield VA 1:12:25.5 1:11:57.8
2 4379 Mary Johnson 18 Alexandria VA 1:30:01.4 1:27:46.2
3 925 Lyssa Bantleon 19 Sewickley PA 1:29:08.8 1:27:59.8
4 4984 Tate-Louisa Mikkelsen 14 Alexandria VA 1:33:33.3 1:32:07.0
5 3518 Kayla Stamey 17 Herndon VA 1:34:36.0 1:34:02.2
MALE AGE GROUP: 10 - 19
Place No. Name Age City St Guntime Nettime
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 1300 Lewis Millholland 16 Falls Church VA 1:04:38.4 1:04:35.7
2 3970 Murray Iv Johnston 14 Alexandria VA 1:17:51.2 1:17:12.6
3 5265 James Culcasi 16 Merchantville NJ 1:19:49.3 1:17:36.3
4 2412 John Green 16 Arlington VA 1:19:19.5 1:18:55.0
5 1793 Eric Esposito 14 Sterling VA 1:20:07.7 1:19:52.2
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 20 - 29
Place No. Name Age City St Guntime Nettime
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 2063 Kyra Rathbun 25 Alexandria VA 1:03:02.6 1:03:01.2
2 5201 Lauren Woodall 26 Washington DC 1:03:10.6 1:03:10.2
3 1839 Phoebe Markle 28 Alexandria VA 1:04:52.7 1:04:50.3
4 6091 Sarah Brown 25 Washington DC 1:05:32.0 1:05:30.9
5 4469 Katie Schettig 29 Washington DC 1:05:39.0 1:05:34.1
MALE AGE GROUP: 20 - 29
Place No. Name Age City St Guntime Nettime
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 51 Chalie Bitew 24 Washington DC 54:00.1 54:00.1
2 19 Garret Martucci 23 Arlington VA 55:06.0 55:06.0
3 1066 Gregory Mariano 26 Arlington VA 55:41.3 55:41.3
4 4089 Brian McCabe 26 Washington DC 56:22.2 56:22.2
5 1119 Tripp Southerland 27 Washington DC 57:08.4 57:08.4
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 30 - 39
Place No. Name Age City St Guntime Nettime
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 4209 Stephanie George 30 Chevy Chase MD 1:06:59.0 1:06:55.6
2 2726 Georgeanne Fayrweathe 33 Annandale VA 1:07:10.4 1:07:05.7
3 4353 Amanda Juratovic 33 Alexandria VA 1:08:47.1 1:08:34.8
4 5712 Abigail Stiles 32 Norfolk VA 1:09:09.8 1:09:03.8
5 57 Kimberly Gayton 37 Wellington VA 1:10:49.1 1:10:34.5
MALE AGE GROUP: 30 - 39
Place No. Name Age City St Guntime Nettime
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 1495 Hugh Toland 31 Fairfax VA 55:31.4 55:31.4
2 1643 Jose I Gonzalez 33 Arlington VA 55:34.3 55:34.3
3 5747 Keith Levasseur 33 Columbia MD 57:31.9 57:31.9
4 4676 Jeremiah Doyle 31 Arlington VA 58:42.8 58:42.8
5 179 Richard Rapine 39 Alexandria VA 59:12.8 59:12.4
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 40 - 44
Place No. Name Age City St Guntime Nettime
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 9 Samantha Cole 43 Arlington VA 1:04:47.5 1:04:47.2
2 5710 Suzanne Himes 42 Alexandria VA 1:05:48.3 1:05:42.6
3 7 Bridget Bowers 41 Alexandria VA 1:07:08.2 1:07:06.8
4 2086 Lori Wallace 41 Alexandria VA 1:12:15.9 1:07:27.5
5 3541 Amy Smith 41 Fairfax VA 1:09:58.1 1:09:48.7
MALE AGE GROUP: 40 - 44
Place No. Name Age City St Guntime Nettime
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 4423 David Kent 40 Arlington VA 59:59.5 59:59.5
2 4323 Evan Weisel 40 Alexandria VA 1:00:13.9 1:00:13.9
3 4063 Andrew Pugh 42 Washington DC 1:00:47.6 1:00:43.1
4 116 Dave Cahill 40 Arlington VA 1:01:27.7 1:01:26.4
5 4036 Reynolds Wilson 40 Arlington VA 1:01:48.8 1:01:47.1
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 45 - 49
Place No. Name Age City St Guntime Nettime
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 770 Mary Gellerup Bolich 49 Plymouth WI 1:10:24.1 1:10:19.7
2 2659 Elizabeth Dann 45 Arlington VA 1:14:58.5 1:14:41.1
3 5064 Barbara Noe 47 Alexandria VA 1:16:10.8 1:16:10.8
4 5838 Nancy Lopez 46 Alexandria VA 1:21:11.5 1:16:34.8
5 5755 Patricia Cuff 47 Alexandria VA 1:18:13.4 1:17:48.0
MALE AGE GROUP: 45 - 49
Place No. Name Age City St Guntime Nettime
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 35 Derik Thomas 46 Alexandria VA 57:33.0 57:33.0
2 5987 Chris Rotunno 49 Washington DC 1:02:46.3 1:02:44.2
3 629 John Rhodes 46 Herndon VA 1:03:25.1 1:03:23.0
4 4132 Shawn Buettner 45 Washington DC 1:05:18.6 1:04:01.4
5 2518 Kenneth Springer 45 Alexandria VA 1:04:18.4 1:04:05.6
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 50 - 54
Place No. Name Age City St Guntime Nettime
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 2657 Lorraine Ross 51 Arlington VA 1:12:20.3 1:12:11.1
2 952 Teresa Lent 50 Arlington VA 1:14:22.7 1:14:04.4
3 4891 Blake Rushin 50 Vienna VA 1:17:09.9 1:17:00.3
4 2941 Linda Kennedy 51 Alexandria VA 1:19:42.3 1:19:06.3
5 409 Darcy Gruttadaro 51 Arlington VA 1:20:30.3 1:19:13.0
MALE AGE GROUP: 50 - 54
Place No. Name Age City St Guntime Nettime
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 48 Greg Cauller 52 York PA 59:33.2 59:33.2
2 5986 William Clem 52 Bethesda MD 1:06:26.5 1:06:23.8
3 5988 Philip Bender 50 Washington DC 1:10:16.8 1:10:10.2
4 1682 Gregg Brinegar 51 Alexandria VA 1:10:19.9 1:10:15.6
5 2336 Gerald Bruce 51 Alexandria VA 1:11:40.8 1:11:31.9
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 55 - 59
Place No. Name Age City St Guntime Nettime
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 4972 Carole Jones 55 Ashburn VA 1:13:35.5 1:13:20.4
2 2817 Julie Lee 55 Arlington VA 1:23:53.5 1:23:38.7
3 3521 Joanne Hampton 55 Purcellville VA 1:24:15.9 1:23:42.2
4 1619 Tobin Gatto 56 Alexandria VA 1:26:48.2 1:25:28.0
5 3575 Martha Martin 55 Burke VA 1:26:36.0 1:25:58.7
MALE AGE GROUP: 55 - 59
Place No. Name Age City St Guntime Nettime
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 1873 Bruce Halpin 55 Ashburn VA 1:04:55.1 1:04:53.1
2 4278 Dan Mendelson 55 Washington DC 1:08:36.6 1:08:35.7
3 2553 Peter Blair 56 Alexandria VA 1:10:49.8 1:10:31.8
4 5084 Ken Krehbiel 58 Washington DC 1:12:57.5 1:12:54.9
5 586 Steve Thienel 59 Columbia MD 1:13:08.8 1:12:58.0
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 60 - 64
Place No. Name Age City St Guntime Nettime
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 793 Lynne Kidder 61 Frederick MD 1:31:21.4 1:30:57.7
2 2425 Leslie Stanfield 62 Reston VA 1:32:32.7 1:30:58.5
3 2465 Shirley Compton 63 New Middletown OH 1:36:57.1 1:33:30.2
4 1951 Tom Montgomery 62 Woodbridge VA 1:36:18.9 1:34:20.0
5 888 Mariam Morad 62 San Diego CA 1:40:19.9 1:39:03.7
MALE AGE GROUP: 60 - 64
Place No. Name Age City St Guntime Nettime
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 6356 Chris Arey 61 Stafford VA 1:11:13.0 1:11:00.6
2 2798 Donald Kearns Jr 60 Falling Waters WV 1:13:22.6 1:13:08.3
3 1833 Harry O'Hara 63 Fredonia NY 1:13:15.4 1:13:11.7
4 3120 Frank Spicer Jr 60 Clifton VA 1:16:32.9 1:16:27.0
5 4798 Norm Seip 60 Alexandria VA 1:17:29.2 1:17:08.4
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 65 - 69
Place No. Name Age City St Guntime Nettime
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 1780 Mary Napoleon 66 Batesville VA 1:33:53.6 1:32:24.1
2 1192 Lucia Davidson 66 Arlington VA 1:34:46.2 1:33:07.6
3 3852 Shelley Prince 65 Mc Lean VA 1:39:57.7 1:39:57.7
4 2881 Donna Casey 65 Annandale VA 1:51:10.5 1:47:01.8
5 135 Maryellen Cameron 68 Falls Church VA 2:01:28.3 1:59:06.4
MALE AGE GROUP: 65 - 69
Place No. Name Age City St Guntime Nettime
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 4678 Bob Chase 66 Falls Church VA 1:15:02.6 1:14:55.7
2 4351 Alan Ryder 65 Big Flats NY 1:22:13.9 1:21:43.0
3 4350 Stephen Banks 66 Springfield VA 1:22:23.7 1:21:45.5
4 2776 Gary Chase 67 Lorton VA 1:23:55.7 1:23:00.2
5 4390 Krupakar Revanna 68 Falls Church VA 1:25:25.3 1:24:37.7
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 70 - 74
Place No. Name Age City St Guntime Nettime
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 4907 Nancy Linck 70 Alexandria VA 1:45:56.1 1:43:44.1
2 4661 John Finney Jr. 72 Arlington VA 1:54:12.1 1:52:06.2
MALE AGE GROUP: 70 - 74
Place No. Name Age City St Guntime Nettime
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 3663 Leon Sample 72 Alexandria VA 1:27:44.4 1:27:23.2
2 609 Bill Earner 70 Crownsville MD 1:42:16.4 1:40:15.4
3 633 Gene Simaitis 74 Bowie MD 1:56:45.2 1:52:47.2
4 1360 Eric Thompson 70 Chevy Chase MD 2:08:47.8 2:03:43.4
5 2808 Robert Mulholland 73 Accokeek MD 2:16:23.8 2:13:38.5
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 75 - 79
Place No. Name Age City St Guntime Nettime
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
MALE AGE GROUP: 75 - 79
Place No. Name Age City St Guntime Nettime
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 80 - 84
Place No. Name Age City St Guntime Nettime
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
MALE AGE GROUP: 80 - 84
Place No. Name Age City St Guntime Nettime
===== ===== ===================== === ================== == ========= =========
1 1 Don Trilling 84 Alexandria VA 3:18:12.4 3:18:12.4
5K
FEMALE OVERALL RESULTS
Place No. Name Race Age City St Guntime Nettime
===== ===== ===================== ==== === ================== == ======= =======
1 8936 Jackie Gruendel 5K 37 Clifton VA 18:03.9 18:03.9
2 8682 Alexandra Smargiassi 5K 20 Washington DC 20:21.3 20:20.9
3 9008 Helen Knudsen 5K 31 Washington DC 22:11.6 22:08.9
MALE OVERALL RESULTS
Place No. Name Race Age City St Guntime Nettime
===== ===== ===================== ==== === ================== == ======= =======
1 8613 Keith Freeburn 5K 38 Centreville VA 17:49.1 17:49.1
2 8436 Brad Byrnes 5K 32 Alexandria VA 18:07.9 18:07.9
3 8367 Connor Pearson 5K 17 Alexandria VA 18:37.1 18:37.0
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 1 - 09
Place No. Name Race Age City St Guntime Nettime
===== ===== ===================== ==== === ================== == ========= =========
1 8931 Eva Haddock 5K 9 Alexandria VA 36:12.7 34:53.8
2 8483 Khalean Honesty 5K 9 44:21.3 42:53.8
3 8754 Samantha Uhrin 5K 8 Alexandria VA 43:59.3 43:24.0
MALE AGE GROUP: 1 - 09
Place No. Name Race Age City St Guntime Nettime
===== ===== ===================== ==== === ================== == ========= =========
1 9182 George Pacious 5K 8 Alexandria VA 27:22.5 26:31.3
2 8296 Charlie McCoy 5K 8 Arlington VA 27:30.5 27:30.5
3 8692 Ian Magnell 5K 9 Woodbridge VA 30:55.7 30:00.5
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 10 - 19
Place No. Name Race Age City St Guntime Nettime
===== ===== ===================== ==== === ================== == ========= =========
1 8435 Elley Donnelly 5K 16 Fort Belvoir VA 25:55.9 25:25.2
2 8060 Kassie Smith 5K 16 Virginia Beach VA 26:55.6 26:23.9
3 8438 Catherine Logrande 5K 13 Alexandria VA 26:36.8 26:28.7
MALE AGE GROUP: 10 - 19
Place No. Name Race Age City St Guntime Nettime
===== ===== ===================== ==== === ================== == ========= =========
1 8439 Michael Logrande 5K 15 Alexandria VA 18:51.9 18:51.8
2 9052 Tucker Burnett 5K 15 Alexandria VA 22:33.8 22:06.7
3 8596 Andrew Wright 5K 11 Indian Head MD 22:24.8 22:24.8
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 20 - 29
Place No. Name Race Age City St Guntime Nettime
===== ===== ===================== ==== === ================== == ========= =========
1 8154 Aliza Caplan 5K 25 Philadelphia PA 22:18.0 22:08.9
2 9035 Lauren Groth 5K 28 Washington DC 24:01.7 23:59.8
3 1543 Emily Godenschwager 5K 27 Reston VA 24:04.1 24:03.2
MALE AGE GROUP: 20 - 29
Place No. Name Race Age City St Guntime Nettime
===== ===== ===================== ==== === ================== == ========= =========
1 8111 Miguel Matta 5K 27 Arlington VA 19:24.2 19:24.0
2 8187 Thomas Johnson 5K 28 Alexandria VA 20:40.5 20:39.5
3 8169 Wade Meyers 5K 23 Raleigh NC 22:14.3 21:30.0
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 30 - 39
Place No. Name Race Age City St Guntime Nettime
===== ===== ===================== ==== === ================== == ========= =========
1 8179 Laura Scott 5K 35 Arlington VA 24:33.6 24:14.9
2 8878 Laura Bryan 5K 32 Springfield VA 25:30.3 25:26.4
3 8723 Sara Olsen 5k 33 Gaithersburg MD 25:50.8 25:36.1
MALE AGE GROUP: 30 - 39
Place No. Name Race Age City St Guntime Nettime
===== ===== ===================== ==== === ================== == ========= =========
1 8775 Ellins Thomas 5K 31 Gainesville VA 18:46.2 18:46.2
2 8901 Jason Bryan 5K 32 Springfield VA 19:27.9 19:27.9
3 9009 Brian Knudsen 5K 33 Washington DC 20:36.2 20:35.6
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 40 - 44
Place No. Name Race Age City St Guntime Nettime
===== ===== ===================== ==== === ================== == ========= =========
1 8186 Rebecca Cranna 5K 43 Annandale VA 26:57.9 26:49.5
2 8651 Stephanie Ruiz 5K 43 Arlington VA 27:34.4 27:29.6
3 8328 Liz Brinson 5K 41 Silver Spring MD 28:42.6 27:33.2
MALE AGE GROUP: 40 - 44
Place No. Name Race Age City St Guntime Nettime
===== ===== ===================== ==== === ================== == ========= =========
1 8678 Matt Erskine 5K 42 Arlington VA 22:29.2 22:28.0
2 8581 Alex Garrett 5K 43 Fairfax VA 23:17.7 23:04.9
3 9188 Daniel Twomey 5K 43 Alexandria VA 23:24.5 23:20.0
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 45 - 49
Place No. Name Race Age City St Guntime Nettime
===== ===== ===================== ==== === ================== == ========= =========
1 9059 Lorraine Wilson 5K 46 Great Falls VA 25:08.2 25:04.8
2 8180 Cheryl Logan 5K 46 Arlington VA 26:29.1 26:05.9
3 9115 Sharon Hancock 5K 46 Ashburn VA 27:52.5 27:26.0
MALE AGE GROUP: 45 - 49
Place No. Name Race Age City St Guntime Nettime
===== ===== ===================== ==== === ================== == ========= =========
1 8607 Robert Martin 5K 48 Fairfax Station VA 20:05.0 20:05.0
2 8635 Jack Tade 5K 47 Falls Church VA 20:45.6 20:45.5
3 8948 Mark Harris 5K 49 Alexandria VA 21:28.7 21:10.6
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 50 - 54
Place No. Name Race Age City St Guntime Nettime
===== ===== ===================== ==== === ================== == ========= =========
1 8380 Sandy Thurston 5K 54 Arlington VA 27:06.8 27:00.2
2 8057 Victoria Nguyen 5K 52 Arlington VA 27:02.8 27:02.8
3 8056 Paige Jones 5K 50 Alexandria VA 28:12.3 27:54.7
MALE AGE GROUP: 50 - 54
Place No. Name Race Age City St Guntime Nettime
===== ===== ===================== ==== === ================== == ========= =========
1 9053 Wally Burnett 5K 53 Alexandria VA 27:48.9 27:21.2
2 6066 Chuck Tyrpak 5K 51 Reston VA 28:25.1 27:48.7
3 8015 Scott Smith 5K 50 Dumfries VA 28:23.6 27:51.4
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 55 - 59
Place No. Name Race Age City St Guntime Nettime
===== ===== ===================== ==== === ================== == ========= =========
1 8560 Merrilee Seidman 5K 57 Alexandria VA 25:25.2 25:25.2
2 8817 Grace Rascati 5K 55 Alexandria VA 28:01.0 27:58.0
3 8206 Rita Cook 5K 57 Bethesda MD 28:58.4 28:54.9
MALE AGE GROUP: 55 - 59
Place No. Name Race Age City St Guntime Nettime
===== ===== ===================== ==== === ================== == ========= =========
1 8542 Gary Presuhn 5K 57 Burke VA 20:22.6 20:22.6
2 8559 Paul Bousel 5K 58 Alexandria VA 20:50.6 20:50.6
3 8529 Kenyon Erickson 5K 58 Vienna VA 21:00.0 20:59.6
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 60 - 64
Place No. Name Race Age City St Guntime Nettime
===== ===== ===================== ==== === ================== == ========= =========
1 8401 Shannon Burcroff 5K 61 Alexandria VA 32:18.3 32:00.0
2 8053 Margaret Stancampiano 5K 62 Vienna VA 34:30.7 33:41.2
3 8309 Lynn Amende 5K 61 Edgewater MD 34:27.4 34:10.4
MALE AGE GROUP: 60 - 64
Place No. Name Race Age City St Guntime Nettime
===== ===== ===================== ==== === ================== == ========= =========
1 9012 Fred Protopappas 5K 63 Silver Spring MD 22:44.3 22:41.7
2 9016 Edwin Patout 5K 63 Washington DC 26:31.8 26:26.3
3 9011 Curt Demars-Johnson 5K 61 Okemos MI 28:29.9 28:03.5
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 65 - 69
Place No. Name Race Age City St Guntime Nettime
===== ===== ===================== ==== === ================== == ========= =========
1 79 Linda Kornett 5K 65 Annandale VA 37:50.9 36:57.6
2 8355 Teresa Revanna 5K 65 Falls Church VA 46:09.8 45:30.2
3 8386 Susan Scott 5K 66 Spotsylvania VA 51:17.7 50:27.9
MALE AGE GROUP: 65 - 69
Place No. Name Race Age City St Guntime Nettime
===== ===== ===================== ==== === ================== == ========= =========
1 8881 Keith Padgett 5K 65 Alexandria VA 26:28.0 26:25.8
2 8297 Ernesto Reyes 5K 66 Arlington VA 30:49.8 30:40.4
3 9017 Warren Snaider 5K 65 Washington DC 33:00.4 32:30.4
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 70 - 74
Place No. Name Race Age City St Guntime Nettime
===== ===== ===================== ==== === ================== == ========= =========
MALE AGE GROUP: 70 - 74
Place No. Name Race Age City St Guntime Nettime
===== ===== ===================== ==== === ================== == ========= =========
1 8908 John Gluck 5K 74 Alexandria VA 25:53.2 25:49.0
2 8141 Jim Verdier 5K 70 Alexandria VA 30:13.9 30:13.8
3 9176 Carl Magnell 5K 71 Woodbridge VA 42:21.2 41:25.9
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 75 - 79
Place No. Name Race Age City St Guntime Nettime
===== ===== ===================== ==== === ================== == ========= =========
MALE AGE GROUP: 75 - 79
Place No. Name Race Age City St Guntime Nettime
===== ===== ===================== ==== === ================== == ========= =========
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 80 - 84
Place No. Name Race Age City St Guntime Nettime
===== ===== ===================== ==== === ================== == ========= =========
1 8359 Marilyn Karoly 5K 82 Alexandria VA 1:08:47.0 1:08:09.0
MALE AGE GROUP: 80 - 84
Place No. Name Race Age City St Guntime Nettime
===== ===== ===================== ==== === ================== == ========= =========
1 8612 Larry Dickerson 5K 80 Burke VA 28:29.8 28:28.3
“At this time last year,” Gonzalez admitted, “there was no way I could envision ever running a 10-mile race.”
By Dickson Mercer
Washington, DC
April 1, 2012
For the Washington Running Report
Main field gets underway.
A year after Frank Shorter took gold at the 1972 Munich Olympics and ignited the first running boom, fewer than 200 people showed up on a muggy day for the inaugural Cherry Blossom Invitational Run. Billed as a final tune-up for the Boston Marathon, the founders believed 10 miles was the perfect distance. Ten miles. It was long enough to provide an adequate test. It was not, however, long enough to [button-red url=”http://www.cherryblossom.org/aboutus/results.php” target=”_self” position=”left”] Results [/button-red]leave runners feeling “too pooped out,” according to the Credit Union Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run’s 40th anniversary race program.
One runner tearing up the local scene back then was Phil Stewart. Stewart, in fact, was this region’s top finisher at the 1975 Boston Marathon.
Stewart is now race director of the Credit Union Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run, a race that now attracts tens of thousands in celebration of “the Runner’s Rite of Spring” and over the years has showcased the best of the best – be it in the world, in America, or within the local scene.
Bethesda’s Ben Beach today finished his 40th Credit Union Cherry Blossom, a feat he shares with no one else.
This year’s event celebrated that history and more. Past champions who spoke at the expo Friday and Saturday and raced today included Bill Rodgers, who, in addition to winning the New York City and Boston marathons four times apiece between 1975 and 1980, won four Cherry Blossoms in a row starting in 1978.
There was Greg Meyer, who set the American record (46:13) here in 1983 before becoming the last American to win Boston.
There was Carl Hatfield, who won the race in 1974 and 1975.
There was Credit Union Cherry Blossom course recorder Colleen De Reuck and 1984 Olympic Marathon gold medalist Joan Benoit Samuelson (left).
Samuelson was 28th today in 1:02:27. At 54, her time was almost 10 minutes faster than the inaugural winning time set by women’s running pioneer Kathrine Switzer.
Today, 174 women ran faster than Switzer’s time from 1973. Today, Dave Burnham’s time of 51:23 would have put him right on the heels of Sam Bair, the inaugural men’s winner.
Burnham, who lives in Arlington and races for Georgetown Running Company, was 17th.
Men’s race: Training partners set the pace
Last year it was nine miles of back-and-forth battling with Ethiopia’s Lelisa Desisa, a battle that Kenya’s Allan Kiprono (photo below of Kiprono winning in 2012) ultimately lost.
At this year’s Credit Union Cherry Blossom, it was Kiprono’s turn to take the lead, and the win. By the time he and his training partner Lani Kiplagat passed the one-mile mark, they already held a decent-sized lead on the rest of the field. But as that lead on Kenya’s John Korir – a three-time Credit Union Cherry Blossom winner – increased, Kiplagat turned to his teammate and offered a suggestion.
“I told him, ‘Allen, let’s maintain the pace. Don’t reduce the pace. Let’s push,” Kiplagat said.
Push they did – but the day ultimately proved to be Kiprono’s. Taking advantage of perfect racing conditions, the 22-year-old soared to the lead shortly after 5K and lowered the event record to 45:15, this year’s fastest time in the world for 10 miles. Kiplagat, meantime, came through in 46:28.
Korir, who at 36 has more than a decade of racing in his legs than Kiprono and Kiplagat, was third in 47:33. Still, he was unfazed. “Now I know these guys are so tough,” he said. “I’ll catch up in other races.”
After falling off the pace set by Kiprono and Kiplagat, Korir fell back to the chase pack, then managed to hold off Ian Burrell, 27, of Tucson, AZ by just a second. This was Burrell’s first race since January’s U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials, where he was 15th in 2:14:04.
Burrell said he struggled with allergies. In other words, as he settled into a pack with Korir and Jesse Cherry, 24, of Blowing Rock, NC, the best he could do was hang on while Cherry did most of the leading. Then, at the 800 meters to go sign, Burrell dug up some leg speed. “I was just kind of gritting my teeth and thinking about all the diapers I could buy with the prize money,” he said.
As top American, he earned an extra $1,000 in prize money.
Cherry, who finished fifth in 47:40, was also running his first race since the Trials, where he was 16th in 2:16:31.
Top American runners Josh Moen, 29, of Minneapolis, MN and Patrick Rizzo of Boulder, CO finished 7th and 8th in 48:38 and 49:14, respectively. They were followed by two runners from Washington, DC, Pacers’ Stephen Hallinan (left), ninth in 50:18 and Paolo Natali, 10th in 50:44.
A top local runner and Olympic Trials qualifier, Hallinan’s 10-mile best is more than a minute faster than what he ran today. As with Burrell though, Hallinan cited allergy difficulties.
“I knew kind of a mile in, it was going to have to be one of those days where I tough it out, so I was trying to hang on to five-minute pace the best I could,” said Hallinan, who ran alone starting a quarter mile into the race.
Women’s race: Tinega repeats
In the elite women’s race, which started 10 minutes before the rest of the field, Kenya’s Jelliah Tinega dismissed her competitors even earlier in the race than Kiprono to win in 54:02.
It was her second straight title. Tinega said she will return next year to go for a three-peat.
Places two through five were separated by just 13 seconds with Malika Mejdoub, 29, of Ethiopia coming out ahead in 54:24.
Mejdoub was followed by Yihunlish Delelecha, 30, of Ethiopia in 54:33 and Agnieszka, 26, of Poland in 54:36.
The top local finisher, Claire Hallissey, 29, of Arlington, who was fifth, was just a second behind Agnieszka. The next race for the England native is the Virgin London Marathon on April 22. There, Hallissey, who has a marathon best of 2:29:27, is hoping to put up a performance that establishes a solid case for claiming a spot on England’s Olympic marathon team.
Still, this race holds special meaning for her, Hallissey said. Credit Union Cherry Blossom was her first race in the District after she moved here a couple of years back and she would like to return one day with fresher legs.
“I want to come back and finish in the top three,” she said.
Top American honors went to Stephanie Pezzullo, 29, of Charlotte, NC, who finished sixth in 55:16. Pezzulo was followed by Kristen Zaitz of Boulder, CO, who ran 55:24, and Emily Harrison, formerly of Front Royal, VA, who ran 56:04. Harrison now trains in Flagstaff, AZ.
After Hallissey, the next local was Georgetown Running Company’s Andrea Garvue. The 27-year-old Chevy Chase resident caught a side stitch early in the race. In the second half, feeling stronger, she hooked up with a pack that pulled her along to a time of 58:50, good for 12th overall.
Meanwhile, in the master’s division, competition was stiff. Fourteen years ago, DeReuck (below) set a world record time here of 51:16. Today, at 47, the Boulder, CO was top master – and 10th overall – in 58:14.
