By Rick Platt
Williamsburg, VA
May 12, 2012
For the Washington Running Report

Bruton High School track and cross country coach and former Queens Lake 5K Run race director Mark Tompkins, 36, of Williamsburg was the overall winner of the 18th annual Queens Lake 5K Run, Saturday morning at New Quarter Park in Williamsburg, under ideal weather conditions (cool, race-time temperatures in the 50s, sunny, and little wind). Tompkins ran a winning time of 16:35, 16 seconds faster than his runner-up time from 2011.

Women’s winner Jennifer Quarles, 40, of Williamsburg, a 6-time Colonial Road Runners Grand Prix champion, ran her fastest time as a Masters runner, winning in 18:59.

But the race of the day, age-graded, was by Mercedes Castillo-D’Amico, 54, of Newport News, who was second overall for the women in a time of 19:50, a Queens Lake 5K age 50-54 record (bettering her own mark of 20:29 from 2009). On an age-graded basis, Castillo-D’Amico, age graded an impressive 89.7%, just under the 90% level considered world-class. An 80% age grade is considered national class. It was a lifetime best for Castillo-D’Amico on a certified course. The Queens Lake 5K Run is certified (VA-08008-RT) an exact 5K distance according to USATF course certification standards. The course starts and finishes in New Quarter Park of York County, but includes a loop within the Queens Lake neighborhood.

Two other Queens Lake 5K Run age-group records were set, both in the 80-and-older category, and both by 81-year-old race walkers–Tom Mills, who lives in Queens Lake (43:04 for the men’s 80-and-older record) and Pat Eden (49:26 for the women’s 80-and-older record).

The race was organized by and benefited both the St. Baldrick’s Foundation and the Colonial Road Runners Scholarship Fun, with race directors Soosan Hall and Jennifer Gardner of the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, the world’s largest volunteer-driven fundraising organization benefiting childhood cancer research.