Proceeds from this event will benefit the Sterling Volunteer Fire Company. Funds raised will help purchase firefighter's gear and rescue equipment that require constant repair and replacement.

Memorial Day weekend and suddenly the weather turned warm and mugged runners at the fourth annual race. After the race, runners were comparing the sudden heat to the Leesburg 20K/10K. The course loops around the Lowes Island Community Center twice. The rolling hills are not bad but the second time through saw many runners slowing. The first lap has a dogleg in it that makes it about 3.2 miles, even still most runners were even slower the second time around. At the base of the toughest hills (mile 2.5 & 5.3), the Sterling Fire Department again positioned a truck to send a forty foot spray of cooling water over the runners.

The top three men from last year were absent. This year's champion, Ray Pugsley [photo left] of Potomac River Running, was an easy winner in the sixth fastest time of the four year race. Pugsley's time of 33:39 was exactly a minute ahead of second place Brian Schmidt of Leesburg, VA. Albert Han of Washington, DC just broke 36:00 in 35:58 for third place. More than once Cathy Pugsley has joined her husband in the winner's circle. Last year she was second overall in a sub masters record 39:22. This year she slowed a mere four seconds and ended up back one place in third.

The race started promptly at 8:00 AM under its signature fire truck ladder arch. Before the first surge of adrenaline was gone on the short hill, runners were treated to a half-mile of downhill to begin the journey. There were plenty of water stops and even with all the runners, there was plenty of water to be had.

With great prizes and awards three deep in five-year age groups, this race continues to add 100 new runners every year. This year there were 741 finishers in the 10K and hundreds more in the fun run/walk. There really is plenty of room for this great race to grow even more. The course is rolling with no killer hills and very spectator friendly. Sterling, VA is very accessible to everyone in the metro area.

For the women, this year's winner, Mary Jo Saunders of Harrisonburg, VA, had some fine credentials. In March, she won the Young Life 5K in 17:26. In the cooler April, she dashed down the Rockville Pike at Pike's Peek 10K for seventh overall in 36:27. Eighth place in that race was captured by Erin Swain of Clifton, VA in 36:51. Today, Swain made the journey even more a challenge, holding close the entire way. Saunders finished in 38:35, about fifty meters ahead of Swain's 38:46. Fourth place Jacqueline Gruendel of Burke, VA would normally have been the favorite. She is recovering from the long miles of marathon training. Last fall at Twin Cities, she ran 2:54:36. She has tested the waters with a couple of 6:00 pace 5Ks and is just getting her wheels back. She finished in 39:43. Jessica Storm of Reston, VA [photo left] was third last year. She slowed three seconds from 39:55 and was sent back to fifth.

For the masters division champions, Jean Christophe Arcaz (45) of Rockville, MD was fourth overall in a very credible 37:08. Sushila Nanda (45) of Arlington, VA in 44:42 was the ninth woman. Other notables included mega mile racer Karsten Brown, perennial age group champion Patrick Griffith, and Richard Adams Jr., of Herndon, VA. Brown ran last year in 37:42 for second in the 30-34 division. This year he repeated that award while slowing to 37:55. Sure, it was hot but maybe last Sunday's Palo Verde Marathon in 3:16:13 in the San Pedro Mountains of California may have affected the lad as well. For Griffith (61) he was fine with beating anyone his age or older by at least six minutes. When the race was starting, Adams told us he wanted to catch Griffith. He did and held off Griffith's furious late charge to prevail 39:54 to 39:56. Griffith owns the 60-64 record, 38:44, set last year as well as the 55-59 record set in the first year at 38:36.

For the fifties, nobody even looked in the neighborhood of Chuck Moeser's 34:04 third place overall finish in 2003. Indeed, James Moreland's 41:13 in 2004 is still the second fastest time. Still, three runners beat last year's 50-54 wining time and eight of them beat the second place time. Lainey Bernstein of Potomac, MD still has the women's record in 50:19, set in 2004. Before today she was at least six minutes ahead of any other year. Today, Suanne Shocket of Manassas, VA closed the gap, winning in 50:46.

Besides bagels and bananas, Outback Steakhouse provided steak and eggs for breakfast, while Turkey Hill provided chilled lemonade and iced tea. WMZQ 98.7 kept us entertained with "Today's Best Country."

Awards

OVERALL MALE  (GUN TIME)
Place Num   Name                Age City                  Time    
===== ===== =================== === ===================== ======= 
    1     9 Ray Pugsley          37 Potomac Falls VA        33:29 
    2    50 Brian Schmidt        38 Leesburg VA             34:29 
    3    69 Albert Han           32 Washington DC           35:58 
OVERALL FEMALE  (GUN TIME)
Place Num   Name                Age City                  Time    
===== ===== =================== === ===================== ======= 
    1     3 Mary Jo Saunders     31 Harrisonburg VA         38:35 
    2     4 Erin Swain           24 Clifton VA              38:46 
    3    10 Cathy Pugsley        37 Potomac Falls VA        39:26 
MALE AGE GROUP:  1 - 19   (NET TIME)
    1   413 Jim Rion            15 Sterling VA             38:51 
    2   456 Scott Dean          17 Sterling VA             40:56 
    3   872 Andrea Clark        17 Sterling VA             41:43 
FEMALE AGE GROUP:  1 - 19   (NET TIME)
    1   433 Carissa Edens       18 Sterling VA             47:42 
    2    19 Kathryn Stephens    17 Leesburg VA             48:29 
    3   649 Kelly Jones         16 Sterling VA             50:21 
MALE AGE GROUP:  20 - 24   (NET TIME)
    1   693 Brian Luhman        24 Sterling VA             42:30 
    2   730 Dallas Hansen       24 Bethesda MD             43:47 
    3   186 Stephen Langone     21 Alexandria VA           44:26 
FEMALE AGE GROUP:  20 - 24   (NET TIME)
    1   245 Amanda Gould        23 Arlington VA            45:39 
    2   262 Jaime Clampitt      22 Sterling VA             47:37 
    3   254 Cathy Larkin        23 Arlington VA            48:53 
MALE AGE GROUP:  25 - 29   (NET TIME)
    1   139 Willie MacK         26 Ashburn VA              39:41 
    2   779 Shawn Stegmaier     29 Vienna VA               44:15 
    3   566 Giovanni Cordova    29 McLean VA               44:44 
FEMALE AGE GROUP:  25 - 29   (NET TIME)
    1   128 Jessica Storm       29 Reston VA               39:55 
    2   805 Lou Hohnka Oswald   29 Herndon VA              41:33 
    3   613 Jen Oblas           27 Leesburg VA             42:16 
MALE AGE GROUP:  30 - 34   (NET TIME)
    1   711 Tim Stahler         31 Reston VA               37:44 
    2    84 Karsten Brown       32 Front Royal VA          37:53 
    3   422 Robert Osterried    33 Sterling VA             38:13 
FEMALE AGE GROUP:  30 - 34   (NET TIME)
    1     2 Jacqueline Gruendel 31 Burke VA                39:42 
    2   700 Sonia Beckner       33 Reston VA               45:14 
    3   307 Erin Tunkel         33 Mount Airy MD           47:21 
MALE AGE GROUP:  35 - 39   (NET TIME)
    1   749 Theo Haast          39 Leesburg VA             39:18 
    2   105 James Kotwicki      36 Stafford VA             40:26 
    3   562 Brian Johnson       35 Ashburn VA              43:48 
FEMALE AGE GROUP:  35 - 39   (NET TIME)
    1   663 Kristin Sisler      39 Sterling VA             41:51 
    2   632 Kathleen McFarlane  36 Ashburn VA              46:16 
    3   346 Julie Hertel        39 Leesburg VA             46:27 
MALE AGE GROUP:  40 - 44   (NET TIME)
    1   229 Kevin Midkiff       43 Clifton VA              39:36 
    2   543 Robert Sichau       42 Dumfries VA             40:28 
    3   708 George Lane         40 Ashburn VA              40:37 
FEMALE AGE GROUP:  40 - 44   (NET TIME)
    1   454 Tracy Kelleher      44 Potomac Falls VA        47:34 
    2   320 Alison Hess         42 Ashburn VA              47:43 
    3   829 Kari Stoever        40 Bethesda MD             48:17 
MALE AGE GROUP:  45 - 49   (NET TIME)
    1    85 Jean Christophe Arc 45 Rockville MD            37:08 
    2   292 Tom Cook            47 Chantilly VA            39:22 
    3   426 Stephen Lewia       46 Chantilly VA            40:36 
FEMALE AGE GROUP:  45 - 49   (NET TIME)
    1    76 Sushila Nanda       45 Arlington VA            44:40 
    2   735 Carole Roeder       49 Ashburn VA              47:48 
    3    58 Nina Van Winkle     46 Vienna VA               50:10 
MALE AGE GROUP:  50 - 54   (NET TIME)
    1   620 Matt Rea            50 Sterling VA             41:26 
    2   356 Matt Reckmeyer      50 Lincoln NE              41:49 
    3    89 Kenyon Erickson     52 Vienna VA               42:21 
FEMALE AGE GROUP:  50 - 54   (NET TIME)
    1    83 Suanne Shocet       52 Manassas VA             50:46 
    2   119 Elizabeth Roberts   50 Leesburg VA           1:00:24 
    3   302 Gail Baird          51 Fairfax Station VA    1:08:13 
MALE AGE GROUP:  55 - 59   (NET TIME)
    1   462 Richard Adams Jr    55 Herndon VA              39:53 
    2    59 Richard Carlisle    55 Springfield VA          43:10 
    3   705 John Weldin         57 Herndon VA              46:26 
FEMALE AGE GROUP:  55 - 59   (NET TIME)
    1   428 Sony Rosegrant      58 Herndon VA            1:07:52 
MALE AGE GROUP:  60 - 64   (NET TIME)
    1    27 Patrick Griffith    61 Alexandria VA           39:55 
    2   240 Carnell Bowman      60 Leesburg VA             48:18 
    3    54 Glenn Luttrell      63 Gore VA                 57:59 
FEMALE AGE GROUP:  60 - 64   (NET TIME)
    1    74 Pat Welch           61 Vienna VA               56:52 
    2    49 Martha McJunkin     63 Bethesda MD           1:15:40 
MALE AGE GROUP:  65 - 69   (NET TIME)
    1   336 Lloyd Blackwell     65 Warrenton VA            47:32 
    2   317 Philip Hager        69 Falls Church VA         48:54 
    3   360 Henry Hamburger     65 Bethesda MD             50:39 
FEMALE AGE GROUP:  65 - 69   (NET TIME)
    1   675 Bunny Runyan        65 Sterling VA           1:15:16 
MALE AGE GROUP:  70 - 99   (NET TIME)
    1   482 William Hoss        71 Reston VA               57:44 
    2   679 Robert Gurtler      71 The Plains VA         1:01:29 
    3   818 Charles Day         75 Sterling VA           1:05:20 
FEMALE AGE GROUP:  70 - 99   (NET TIME)

Full Race Day Results

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