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Maryland RRCA Challenge 10 Mile
Maryland RRCA Ten Mile Challenge
First Race of the Grand Prix Series
By James Moreland
February 22, 2009
Columbia, MD
For the Washington Running Report
This year's race filled the overflow parking lot with more than 600 finishers. The winds held off until after the race was over and the light snow fall had no impact on the runners. The course is going to be certified soon. Unlike most of the weekly series races held all year long in Howard County, this course is a tiny bit short. Those other courses (uncertified) race around schools and only promise to be at least as long as the stated distances.
Today's race is special because it gathers most of the Maryland Running Clubs for a chance to match up. Most years the home club, Howard County Striders, has an edge despite the bigger clubs bringing in the top guns. This year the little dynamo of Westminster Road Runners had a breakthrough win for the women to earn a trophy. In the past, the top teams were just announced. With each club having four runners in the showdown, Westminster had the overall winner with Laura O'Hara in 1:01:16. Traditional rivals for the Westminster top spot, Sherry Stick (3rd overall in 1:03:43) bested Diana Pool (4th overall in 1:03:50) . . . this time. Kelly Gruber rounded out the team in 11th place with 1:07:26.
In photo above, Westminster's head honcho Beth Weisenborn (l) and Sherry Stick surround Kelly Gruber as they happily accept their team's winning trophy.
Falls Road Running was the only team close. They were led by Mary Betram (2nd overall in 1:02:35). Former winner on more than one occasion, Denise Knickman was the second masters woman and fifth overall in 1:04:57. (Kelly Dworak, formerly of Burke, VA and now living in Carlisle, PA, topped her by a mere 2.04 seconds for that honor.) Eileen Fleck was third for Falls Road in 1:05:55. The last scorer was young Brittney Rooks. Rooks, just 15, had finished an 18-mile training run earlier in the week as she gears up for the B&A Marathon in early March.
For the men, Kyle Smits of Falls Road led all runners with a nifty 53:26, a second ahead of Steve Crane's winning time from 2008. From the home team, Carlos Renjifo moved up four places to the runner-up spot in 54:42. The only other runner to return from the top ten was Pekka Stenholm, who also moved up four spots to sixth overall. He missed fifth place by less than a half second. The Striders had six of the top ten men to dominate the team scoring with Falls Road and its three men in the top ten coming in second.
Doug Mock of Howard County repeated as the top master. Last year he won by six second in 57:28. This year he left no doubt, finishing eighth overall in 56:13 That was two minutes ahead of Rodney Timpson and Dave Berardi, the former who won their photo finish in 58:13.
For the coed or overall title, Falls Road edged Howard County.
After the race runners met indoors for refreshments, with all runners getting RRCA signature gloves. The top three men/women and team winners received trophies.
The race is the first race of the RRCA Grand Prix Series which consists of 11 races throughout the state hosted by the different running clubs. Runners vie for individual awards in five year age group as well as helping the team clubs triumph. In past years the teams were men and women in three categories (open, master, and grandmaster) matching the five best from each team. This year the teams will no longer be one sex. All of the three categories will be coed. Each club will compete with their best five open runners (two minimum from each sex), five master (40-99) runners (two minimum from each sex), and three grandmaster (50-99) runners. Runners can qualify and place for all three teams as age permits.
The award for the runners who qualified with four of the 11 races and the top two scores in each division was a nice sweat jacket. The top three men/women also got an honorary chunk of cash.
The races are set for the same as last year with the exception of the Celtic Soltice exiting the schedule to be replaced by the Dreaded Druid Hills 5M on Memorial Day weekend.
Photo above: Dee Nelson roars into the paking lot for the final 100 meters and a top ranked time for 65-69 women of 1:22:57.
Photo below: At the final turn on the course, see the clock and know that ten miles of hills is soon to be over.
The 2009 race schedule and series results (first race) will be posted at the RRCA Web site as soon as results are finalized. Full and final results for 2008 as well as past years are posted there now.