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27th George Washington Parkway Classic 10 Mile & 5K
By James Moreland
Alexandria, VA
April 10, 2011
For the Washington Running Report
Charging the first hill, the pack would soon split in half.
With about an hour to spare the averted government shutdown allowed the 27th George Washington Parkway Classic 10 Mile to get underway as scheduled. The race field in the headliner 10M and 5K was nearly 1,000 finishers more than last year with a combined 5,500 finishers. Getting to this event offers a special challenge not unlike a more widely known point-to-point race to be decided in Boston later in the month. Dozens of massive tour buses lined the waterfront ready to take the reverse tour to revered Mount Vernon at the end of the Parkway.
First off, the thousands of cars had to be parked and the slow moving conga line that took about a hour from the main drag at Washington Street to the parking at the Canal Centre had many runners worried that they would miss the mandatory last call at 7:00 AM. Fortunately the event relented and buses took off until about 7:20 to get the runners to the starting line. At Mount Vernon, the masses de-bussed and quickly grabbed space blankets. Who would have thought it would have been that cool in April, especially when the weather reporters had promised an 86 degree day? Chalk up another misfire by those tea leaf readers. For the runners the weather was near perfect. There was a slight mist and the air was humid but even those most scantily dressed would be warm long before they got back to town.
At the start, wearing bib number four was mega racer Michael Wardian. After running a slew of marathons to start the year, he switched over to the ten mile last Sunday, racing the Credit Union Cherry Blossom in 51:16. He noted that another mega racer, Karsten Brown, had run a PR there (54:39). When he found out that, “never get enough Brown” had followed that race with a 57:18 win at the 15K in Columbia that same afternoon, he admitted that he too often planned to race twice in the same day. When asked he thought he was going to win, he answered, “I am going to try.” When told to be more positive and respond as Chuck Moeser used to say: “Why not? I am the best runner here,” his response was a joking, “and he still thinks that.”
The race was started with a measured ten second countdown and the runners were off. Wardian, true to his word, was the early leader, racing tall with his cap on backward before disappearing from sight from all but a few runners. None of the 21 runners that had bested him last week came back for a rematch and he moved up here to fifth place overall in 51:01 as he tried to close on fourth place Seife Nida Geletii of Ethiopia, aware that Matt Barresi was not far behind in 51:12.
Third place Jordan McDougal of Culpeper had finished 3rd last month at the St. Patrick’s Day 8K in 24:44. Amazingly he set an even faster pace here cutting through the slightly longer 5 mile split in 24:48. At this point he was a mere thirty meters off the pace of the leaders but soon lost ground, running home in 50:26. Runner-up Demesse Tefera of Ethiopia, who races so often here, had won it all against McDougal in March with 24:22. He paced off Fasil Bizuneth, down from Concord, MA with a one step lead at the halfway point in 24:40. Bizuneth had more this day and won it all in 49:10 with Tefera cruising in easily for second with 49:25.
No surprise, the masters favorite Edmund Burke shellacked the masters field by almost a mile for eighth overall in 53:23. When asked who would be the area masters leader with Andrew Duncan moving to the west coast, Burke seemed a solid choice. Let us not forget, often on the top, Ray Pugsley from the Potomac River Running empire. He may not have been expected to race on this side of town where the Pacers shirts were in such great abundance but it would not be wise to count him out.
The second master was a grandmaster from York, PA who loves to race the big ones. Greg Cauller, 51, was top at the Shamrock 5K to start March and then again did the double in Virginia Beach a week later. That was a victory in the TownBank 8K in 28:32 followed the next day by a nifty 1:19:44 at the Yeungling Shamrock Festival Half Marathon. Cauller’s plan in these races is to match up with the top runners in his division. As often happens, nobody can stay with him. So, often he latches on to one of the top women racers. By mile five he had already left behind three of the top six women, Erin Swain and Kristi Markowicz running in tandem with 30:24, and most recently Lisa Thomas 30:02 as he hustled through in 29:14. Feeling as if he were racing alone, he set after third place Kenei Chala 28:57. He caught with his final stride 58:55 to 58:56 as he tried to hold off a blazing Pacer, Chris Farley. Farley, was still working his way up to the fifth woman with his 30:03 split. He made up massive with a fierce negative split 28:49 to finish ahead of them both in 58:51. The third master Derik Thomas 29:51 also made up a lot of ground with his 45-49 age group win in 59:06.
Look for Cauller at the fast, compettive Kaiser Permante Pike's Peek 10K next Sunday.
Markowicz, at 40, is one of the top masters. She did not back down from her winning pace at the Four Court 4M in 24:30. Though this course is very fast, there are definitely a few rolls that can kill some of a runner’s resolve. She maintained well finishing comfortably in sixth place with 1:01:27. That would have given her a thirty second masters victory at the vaunted Credit Union Cherry Blossom, giving her a leg up on the Spring Runner Rankings title. As withe most elite women racers Swain also barely slowed by a second per mile to finish strongly in fifth with 1:01:01. Even more even paced Lisa Thomas, a sub master at 35, was fourth in 60:07. Third place Keneni Chala of Ethiopia had no chance for the top two spots and was not going to be caught by Thomas. She shut down a bit with a 29:59 to graciously allow Cauller to caught her finishing in 58:56.
Runner-up Samia Akbar was coming off a solid runner-up season opener at the Scope it Out 5K in 17:56, followed by an impressive sixth overall at the massive Ukrops Monument Avenue 10K in 34:45. For anyone else that would be fantastic. Last year she had run seventh at Credit Union Cherry Blossom in 54:46 and followed it up to win the Parkway Classic in 57:01 to top off her Ukrops Monument Avenue 10K in 33:19. She wanted a second victory and lit after Yihunlish Delecha (up left). They ran through the split in 28 and a half minutes still close enough to shake hands. Delecha would not have any of that and steadily pulled away to take this year’s crown in 56:57 and 13th overall. Akbar finished four places back and in the runner-up spot in 57:22.
As with the men the second master was nearly a mile behind the leader. Anita Freres had a very nice 1:06:55 running unchallenged. Elizabeth Cooper, 43, was next in 1:11:35. Linda Kennedy, 50, was the top grandmaster in 1:16:24.
In the shorter race Keith Freeburn, 37 of Centreville, VA held off Brad Byrnes, 31, of Alexandria, VA to win 17:37 to 17:40. Peter Cini, 52, of Fairfax was to top master in 19:15 for seventh overall. For the women Shauna Hanley, 30 of Washington, DC won easily in 21:03 ahead of 15-year-old teenager Sydney Schaedel (21:33). The top master was her mom Carol Schaedel, 45, finishing right behind her in 22:08 setting up an early favorite for the upcoming mother-daughter races on Mother’s Day.
After the tired runner’s crossed the finish line they were met first by water and refreshing Gatorade. Soon after they found the food tent with fresh bagels and rip bananas. Farther on Bud Light had a tent as well. Instead of a printed results list, this event had mini computers set up so runners could see their times.
Men Place Name Age S City St Race 5mile Guntime Nettime Pace
===== ===================== === = ================== == ==== ========= ========= ========= =====
1 Fasil Bizuneth 30 M Concord MA 10M 24:39.8 49:09.2 49:09.2 4:55
2 Demesse Tefera 29 M Ethiopia 10M 24:39.3 49:24.9 49:24.5 4:57
3 Jordan McDougal 23 M Culpepper VA 10M 24:47.7 50:26.0 50:26.0 5:03
4 Seife Nida Geletii 29 M Ethiopia 10M 25:12.6 50:55.0 50:54.4 5:06
5 Michael Wardian 36 M ARLINGTON VA 10M 25:38.4 51:00.8 51:00.7 5:07
6 Matt Barresi 28 M Falls Church VA 10M 25:45.9 51:11.4 51:11.4 5:08
7 Allen Carr 27 M Washington VA 10M 26:14.1 52:40.7 52:40.7 5:17
8 Edmund Burke 41 M Burtonsville MD 10M 26:32.1 53:23.0 53:23.0 5:21
9 Ethan Kearns 29 M Arlington VA 10M 27:15.3 54:55.9 54:55.1 5:30
10 Peter Forester 32 M New York NY 10M 27:25.3 55:24.0 55:23.3 5:33
Women
Place Name Age S City St Race 5mile Guntime Nettime Pace
===== ===================== === = ================== == ==== ========= ========= ========= =====
1 Yihunlish Delecha 29 F Alexandria VA 10M 28:28.7 56:56.2 56:55.4 5:42
2 Samia Akbar 29 F Herndon VA 10M 28:30.2 57:21.7 57:21.2 5:45
3 Keneni Chala 29 F Ethiopia 10M 28:56.3 58:55.9 58:55.5 5:54
4 Lisa Thomas 35 F Alexandria VA 10M 30:01.1 1:00:06.2 1:00:04.5 6:01
5 Erin Swain 29 F Arlington VA 10M 30:23.3 1:01:00.8 1:00:59.7 6:06
6 Kristi Markowicz 40 F Arlington VA 10M 30:23.3 1:01:26.9 1:01:25.9 6:09
7 Laura Garrow 22 F Fairfax VA 10M 31:27.1 1:02:45.0 1:02:39.2 6:16
8 Rebecca Hellman 27 F Washington DC 10M 32:22.5 1:03:41.9 1:03:34.5 6:22
9 Jenny Fitzgerald 31 F Woodbridge VA 10M 31:17.5 1:03:46.8 1:03:44.9 6:23
10 Liz Elko 23 F Arlington VA 10M 32:00.2 1:04:26.8 1:04:24.3 6:27
Photos by George Banker