Photo below: Marissa Shirron (#400) and Beth Pryor (#383) of the Seton Field Hockey team flank their friend as the three approach the finish of the 12th Annual Outback Steakhouse 8K.

Three weeks into November and the weather is still great for running. The weekend started with cool rain and Sunday morning was overcast. Still, fifty-three degrees with no wind makes for near perfect racing. This race could be even larger considering that it is widely known for a large cash purse and Outback Steakhouse food. In fact, with $7500 in cash up for grabs, which, included $50.00 for ten year age group winners-- a nearly unique, beloved phenomenon--did bring out many stars. Included in the local champions were some Olympic-class runners from the race training mills of Chapel Hill, NC and West Chester, PA.

Event records were due to be challenged. Never mind that in its 12th year the course was tweaked a little. On the runwashington@yahoogroups.com list there was discussion about the rolling hills. Rolling hills are flat when you are in shape. There was a quarter-mile hill just before the finish of the third mile and a couple of hundred-meter challenges leaving the high school parking lot. Each had a corresponding down hill. With the cooler weather, this course was much easier then the Rockville Twilighter, another race that pulls in the speedsters. It is so wonderful when a race has an indoor setup. The 9:00 AM race that starts and finishes at The Mall at Prince George's (formerly Prince George's Plaza) has just that. Parking was abundant and packet pick-up was Capital Running Company's usual smooth stuff. Runners milled around inside the mall. There were even long enough straight-aways to warm up for nearly a hundred meters inside. Many runners were unaware but this race is the seventh race of the Maryland RRCA Series, giving runners another chance to dip their hands into the till. This did not matter much to the top ten men, two of whom were from this area. Only two of the top ten were as old as thirty. For the women, it was mostly the same. Some of the top ten had local addresses but were part of a foreign training camp, such as the Russian powerhouse based near Rockville. The exceptions in age were former nine-time All American Alisa Harvey (39) of Manassas, VA and Lee DiPietro (46) of Ruxton, MD, the master's course record holder in 29:27 (2002) and an Olympic qualifier in the marathon.

The out and back (like the sponsor) course had enough turns to allow us speed-challenged runners to see the pros glide by. The parking lot start was downhill to get you rolling for about two hundred meters. Then the course turned around the mall as we settled in on the first gentle hill. Down around the back corner of the mall we pulled away up toward Adelphi Road and the first clock to tell us how we were doing. The second mile dipped into the schoolyard and then was mostly flat, leading to the momentum- gaining downhill that finished at the turnaround. Now we knew the way. Climbing up the hill, back through the school, to the easiest mile of them all. Of course the last mile of an 8K is about 55 meters short. It was the downhill leading up to the final surge that made that mile the fastest.

At three miles into the race, it was clear that the race was far from over. These guys were in a tight pack of seven runners. Their faces had not even turned grim. It looked like a training run. Peter Sherry of Great Falls, VA, last year's Marine Corps Marathon winner, was out of the running and not very happy. Sherry (36) is an Olympic qualifier in the 5K and runner-up in the famous $20,000 winner-take-all 1999 Pike's Peak 10K in 28:36. Today would go to the younger runners as he settled for an age group win in 24:55.

Just as some of the runners were reaching the halfway point, Nicholas Kurgat of Chapel Hill, NC out leaned Edwin Maranga of Marietta, GA both running a near record 23:40. Sammy Ngeno, (2001) course record holder in 23:34, could breath a sigh of relief and $100 of bonus money stayed put. That would not be true for last year's winner and now former course record holder Olga Romanova (26:52). Atalelech Ketema (21), living in New York, continues her winning ways, stuffing all but twenty of the men and breaking the record with a swift 26:44. She did not have an easy time coming from behind to catch Tatyana Chulakh (22) of Gaithersburg, MD by just one second. At mile three Chulakh and Lucinda Hull (23) of Raleigh, NC seemed to be dueling for the bonus money. Hull's time of 26:55 was just off the former record. Ann McGranahan (25) of Newport, VA pushed her with a super 27:00. The money went six deep in the overall category. The masters money (five deep) was nearly as good as the open. Top ten-year grandmaster winners earned $50, while top three overall in mostly five-year age groups earned coveted Outback Steakhouse dinners. There were twenty-one coed teams and the top four teams earned cash prizes. The ESMI team set the team event record with an average time of 26:31 for Reuben Chebii (23:44), Geoffrey Letting (23:59), Tatiana Belovol (28:13), and Kim Saddic (30:04). It helps when the men finish in third and fifth place overall and thank heaven the women were seven and eleven.

Thirteen seconds separated the top seven runners with the first five dipping under 24:00. Michael Wardian of Arlington, VA, perhaps fatigued from his Marathon in the Parks win last week in 2:32 (photo), settled for 13th place in 25:32. The Stickman, Mark Stickley of Winchester, VA (25:58), made the Shenandoah Road Runners proud winning the boodle of masters cash ahead of a former masters runner of the year, Olympian John Tuttle (26:12) of Douglassville, GA. Greg Cauller traveled south form York, PA to test the waters and outlasted newly-minted masters runner Mark Hoon of Bethesda, MD for third.

The venerable Chuck Moeser (53) of Herndon, VA coming off a sweet 2:37 at last month's Steamtown Marathon, could not quite catch four-time Olympic marathon Qualifier Darrell General (38) of Ardmore, MD. Moeser earned fifth in the masters division in 26:57. General, a 2:14 Boston marathoner and two-time Marine Corps Marathon winner, finished out of the money for perhaps the first time in his life. General lost third place to Rodney Timpson of Rosedale, MD by two seconds in 26:53. Mike Colaiacovo of Ellicott City, MD was second in the tough 35-39 division.

With all this extra attention given to masters division money, one could forget that the 40-44 division winners all broke 28:00. Dave Berardi of Baltimore, MD led the charge in 27:10. As always, Moeser gets tossed out of age group consideration. This gave David Webster of Stevensville, MD a check for $50.00 as he easily out dueled Paul Peterson of Bethesda, MD 28:45 to 29:45. The 60-69 cash division would normally have been granted to Patrick Griffith, who hoped to improve on last year's 30:13. Griffith, who was nearly ready for his assault on the 3:00:00 barrier at the Disney Marathon in January, had a spill running last week and cracked two ribs. This left the door open for Jim Noone of Fairfax, VA. Noone chip-timed home just a second under 33:00 to stave off John Elliott (66) of Columbia, MD. John finished nearly six minutes ahead of his 65-69 foes and almost four minutes ahead of second place in the 60-64 division. Alas, he was ten seconds back of Noone and earned dinner at Outback instead of the $50.

Outgoing Frederick Steeplechasers Club President George Waxter (73) nearly always has a shot at an age group award. (The new President is Paul Spurrier (26) of Frederick, MD who ran 28:13 today.) Indeed his 43:44 was minutes ahead of the next place. Not so fast George. Jerry Lewis of Reston, VA is back in town and he creamed the division in a superb 37:53. Walt Washburn (82) of Vienna, VA continued his victory tour, winning in 48:23. Nearly sixty runners broke the six-minute mile barrier. Last year's runner-up Ben Cooke (23:58) struggled home in 62nd place.

Next year's masters favorite, thirty-nine year old Alisa Harvey, ran 29:14 for second place in her age group. Right behind her, Lee DiPietro (29:34) will be planning to defend her turf. Laura Friex of Centreville, VA ran 30:22 for second master, beating former Marine Corps Marathon champ Donna Moore (30:57) of Silver Spring, MD (photo left). Julie Thienel of Columbia, MD continues her upward curve with a fine 31:54 for fourth with Julie Hayden of Ashburn, VA taking fifth in 32:46.

Alice Franks (56) of Rockville, MD claimed the top spot for the $50 prize in the 50-59 division with a PR 35:48. Last year 50 Plus Club member Tami Graf (68) does what she does best, take home the cash. This year 50 Pluser Janet Newburgh (62) of Rockville, MD, who has run a marathon in all fifty states, decided to give Tami a run for her money. She succeeded 44:21 to 45:13. By the way, the 50 Plus Club is a free club for members aspiring to run fifty races in a year. Fifteen club members were entered in today's race. Last year the sixty-three members ran 16,500 race miles and more than 3,300 races.

Coach Kirt West and his wife Rene were racing today. Kirt smiled and said he planed for a modest one-minute per mile slower PR levels. I told him I would kill for that. Tennis pro Bill Stahr of the The Plains, VA decided that PRs begin again at forty. Now forty-four, he assures me that today's 31:31 is a PR. Bob Gurtler (68) is Bill's hometown mayor but weekends he is always out racing. Today was his 56th race of the year. Lainey Bernstein of Potomac, MD has been resting a sore ITB, not having raced since winning her age group at the Run for Kathy 5K the first week of October. Today she thought she would try it out, while helping win in the RRCA series. Sprinting near the finish trying to earn some Outback dinner, she missed her 8K PR by two seconds in 39:50 to finish third in the age group. Liza Recto (48) of Lexington Park, MD wins the humanitarian award for carrying around a large box of chocolate chip cookies. Her 37:01 third place age group finish was not too shabby either.

The course was well marshaled and well marked. Lost in the hustle of happy awards winners climbing the stage was the announcement by Capital's Rick Freedman that the results were already posted on the Web site. Already proud to post race day results, now runners have results posted before they finish eating or getting awards. That is well done.

With the holidays fast approaching, don't forget to put the Rotary Resolution 10K race in Leesburg on New Year's Day on your calendar. It is a fun race with lots of prizes and good food. Come tell me your racing story and maybe you will see your name in the next Washington Running Report.

Male Award Winners

Place Name                    Ag City               Time    
===== ======================= == ================== ======= 
    1 Nicholas Kurgat         25 Chapel Hill NC       23:41 
    2 Edwin Maranga           33 Marietta GA          23:42 
    3 Reuben Chebii           22 West Chester PA      23:45 
    4 Sammy Nyamongo          29 Marietta GA          23:56 
    5 Geoffrey Letting        29 West Chester PA      24:00 
    6 Francis Kirwa           30 Durham NC            24:01 


MALE AGE GROUP:  40 - 99
    1 Mark Stickley           42 Winchester VA        25:58   26:00 
    2 John Tuttle             46 Douglassville GA     26:12   26:12 
    3 Greg Cauller            45 York PA              26:35   26:35 
    4 Mark Hoon               40 Kensington MD        26:39   26:41 
    5 Chuck Moeser            53 Sterling VA          26:57   26:58 


MALE AGE GROUP:  50 - 59
    1 David Webster           51 Stevensville MD      28:45   28:47 


MALE AGE GROUP:  60 - 69
    1 Jim Noone               60 Fairfax VA           32:59   33:03 


MALE AGE GROUP:  70 - 79
    1 Jerry Lewis             71 Reston VA            37:53   37:56 


MALE AGE GROUP:  80 - 99
    1 Walt Washburn           82 Vienna VA            48:23   48:31 


MALE AGE GROUP:  01 - 19
    1 William Jose Santos     17 Falls Church VA      29:23   29:26 
    2 James Komen             15 Springfield VA       30:00   30:02 
    3 Harold Moore            19 Washington DC        32:30   32:30 


MALE AGE GROUP:  20 - 24
    1 Timon Biwott            24 Chapel Hill NC       24:03   24:05 
    2 Matt Hooley             22 Washington DC        24:17   24:18 
    3 Alex Lheureux           23 Raleigh NC           24:23   24:23 


MALE AGE GROUP:  25 - 29
    1 Ryan Mamman             28 Dale City VA         25:16   25:17 
    2 Rick Rountree           26 Reston VA            26:30   26:32 
    3 Christopher Bain        27 Bethesda MD          26:29   26:32 


MALE AGE GROUP:  30 - 34
    1 Michael Wardian         30 Arlington VA         25:32   25:34 
    2 Ovidiu Olteanu          34 Wixom MI             27:53   27:53 
    3 Henry Grossmann         33 Annandale VA         28:30   28:34 


MALE AGE GROUP:  35 - 39
    1 Peter Sherry            36 Great Falls VA       24:55   24:56 
    2 Mike Colaiacovo         35 Ellicott City MD     26:32   26:33 
    3 Rodney Timpson          39 Rosedale MD          26:51   26:51 


MALE AGE GROUP:  40 - 44
    1 Dave Berardi            44 Baltimore MD         27:10   27:11 
    2 Christopher Hamley      40 Silver Spring MD     27:22   27:25 
    3 Jean-Christophe Arcaz   43 Rockville MD         27:54   27:54 


MALE AGE GROUP:  45 - 49
    1 Michael Fitzgerald      49 Hagerstown MD        28:59   29:02 
    2 John Hagan              46 Lusby MD             30:51   30:57 
    3 Larry Goldfarb          45 Great Falls VA       31:06   31:08 


MALE AGE GROUP:  50 - 54
    1 Paul Peterson           50 Bethesda MD          29:45   29:48 
    2 Bob Burns               52 Columbia MD          30:44   30:44 
    3 Larry Parkinson         50 Alexandria VA        32:02   32:05 


MALE AGE GROUP:  55 - 59
    1 Marc Wolfson            55 Olney MD             32:36   32:39 
    2 Ken Fox                 55 Columbia MD          32:59   33:02 
    3 Mike Chovonec           55 Baltimore MD         33:50   33:57 


MALE AGE GROUP:  60 - 64
    1 Terry Derk              63 Dauphin PA           36:56   37:01 
    2 Pete Waters             63 Lusby MD             40:40   40:50 
    3 Lee Young               62 Chillum MD           43:38   43:44 


MALE AGE GROUP:  65 - 69
    1 John Elliott            66 Columbia MD          33:09   33:11 
    2 Bill Sollers            65 Silver Spring MD     38:52   38:57 
    3 Richard Williams        69 Alexandria VA        39:13   39:18 


MALE AGE GROUP:  70 - 74
    1 George Waxter           74 Frederick MD         43:44   43:51 
    2 Edward Green            73 Washington DC        48:09   48:20 
    3 William Radcliffe       73 Mitchellville MD     56:42   57:02 


MALE AGE GROUP:  75 - 79
    1 Philip Zenchoff         77 Silver Spring MD   1:04:47 1:05:09 


MALE AGE GROUP:  80 - 99
    1 Bill Osburn             81 Bethesda MD        1:11:46 1:12:10

Female Award Winners

Place Name                    Ag City               Time    
===== ======================= == ================== ======= 
    1 Atalelech Ketema        21                      26:44 
    2 Tatyana Chulakh         22 Gaithersburg MD      26:47 
    3 Lucinda Hull            23 Raleigh NC           26:56 
    4 Ann McGranahan          25 Newport VA           27:01 
    5 Samia Akbar             22 Herndon VA           27:39 
    6 Denisa Costescu         28 Wixom MI             27:53 


FEMALE AGE GROUP:  40 - 99
    1 Lee DiPietro            46 Ruxton MD            29:34   29:35 
    2 Laura Freix             43 Centreville VA       30:22   30:24 
    3 Donna Moore             44 Silver Spring MD     30:57   30:59 
    4 Julie Thienel           41 Columbia MD          31:54   31:56 
    5 Julie Hayden            44 Ashburn VA           32:46   32:51 


FEMALE AGE GROUP:  50 - 59
    1 Alice Franks            56 Rockville MD         35:48   35:52 


FEMALE AGE GROUP:  60 - 69
    1 Janet Newburgh          62 Rockville MD         44:21   44:31 


FEMALE AGE GROUP:  01 - 19
    1 Karen Dickerson         18 Springfield VA       33:18   33:25 
    2 Lauren Swiston          19 Eldersburg MD        35:26   35:31 
    3 Shannon Ready           15 Mclean VA            36:56   37:00 


FEMALE AGE GROUP:  20 - 24
    1 Kelly Behan             22 Washington DC        30:38   30:43 
    2 Erin Conroy             21 Hawthorne NY         31:33   31:36 
    3 Tara Conroy             21 Hawthorne NY         32:54   32:58 


FEMALE AGE GROUP:  25 - 29
    1 Marina Bychkova         28 Germantown MD        28:23   28:23 
    2 Michele Scherer         26 Stafford VA          32:39   32:44 
    3 Elizabeth Jones         27 Fairfax VA           34:47   34:53 


FEMALE AGE GROUP:  30 - 34
    1 Kimberly Saddic         34 West Chester PA      30:01   30:04 
    2 Irina Suvorova          33 Washington DC        30:31   30:32 
    3 Jodie Pozo-Olano        33 Stafford VA          34:30   34:35 


FEMALE AGE GROUP:  35 - 39
    1 Tatiana Belovol         35 West Chester PA      28:11   28:13 
    2 Alisa Harvey            39 Manassas VA          29:14   29:15 
    3 Helen Beven             39 Kensington MD        32:18   32:18 


FEMALE AGE GROUP:  40 - 44
    1 Gloria Santarpia        43 Odenton MD           33:05   33:09 
    2 Terri Rath              40 Ashburn VA           33:11   33:14 
    3 Ellen O'Neill           41 College Park MD      33:38   33:45 


FEMALE AGE GROUP:  45 - 49
    1 Alison Suckling         49 Arnold MD            33:36   33:38 
    2 Robin Goodwin           46 Timonium MD          34:57   35:02 
    3 Liza Recto              48 Lexington Park MD    37:01   37:05 


FEMALE AGE GROUP:  50 - 54
    1 Jenny Rexrode           50 Alexandria VA        36:05   36:08 
    2 Renata Carvalho         50 Washington DC        37:28   37:40 
    3 Lainey Bernstein        51 Potomac MD           39:46   39:52 


FEMALE AGE GROUP:  55 - 59
    1 Jane Godfrey            55 Silver Spring MD     38:02   38:06 
    2 Jane Poole              57 Falls Church VA      41:25   41:34 
    3 Elizabeth Sadoff        55 Washington DC        43:52   43:58 


FEMALE AGE GROUP:  60 - 64
    1 Jeanette Novak          60 Damascus MD          55:43   55:50 


FEMALE AGE GROUP:  65 - 69
    1 Tami Graf               68 Lusby MD             45:13   45:19 
    2 Jamie Wollard           66 N Bethesda MD        52:35   52:46 


FEMALE AGE GROUP:  70 - 74


FEMALE AGE GROUP:  75 - 79


FEMALE AGE GROUP:  80 - 99

See complete results of the Outback Steakhouse 8K.

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