Navigation
News Archive
Scope it Out 5K
By James Moreland
March 29, 2009
Washington, DC
For the Washington Running Report
In photo above Gurmessa Megressa (l) finishes second behind Abiyot Endale.
West Potomac Park is a flat, lightning fast course unless the wind is blowing off the Potomac. For the fifth year the race moved out of the park to a start at Freedom Plaza, where the famous St. Patrick's Day 8K was held just two weeks ago. Many of the nearly two thousand finishers were the same as had raced that weekend. Still, many scores of the runners were running their very first race. Starting at 12th and Pennsylvania Avenue, the runners can almost make out the White House behind them as they head down the road straight toward the Capitol. Just as with Saturday, there was a light mist in the air but the temperature was a little warmer and, with no wind, it was near perfect for fast times.
When the race began, Bert Rodriguez jetted out like a funny car, sort of swerving as his powerful legs sought out the lead. His main challengers looked to be Abiyot Abebe and Gurmessa Megressa who had both been top dog in at least one Runner Ranking period. Yesterday Megressa had run a sparkling 24:55 at the Van Metre 5M, though settling for third overall as the record was bested by runner-up Stephen Crane (23:52) and Abraham Ng'etich (23:43). It was going to take a fast race to beat any of these runners.
This out and back course circles a city block between 2K and 3K of the race. As most of the racers were just heading past mile one, Abiyot Endale was already taking an insurmountable lead at 3K. He blasted back up Pennsylvania Avenue for the long final straightaway all alone. With maybe a little pressure, he might have gunned down the year's best 5K at 14:33. He celebrated his win just two seconds shy in 14:35. Megressa, who has a similar build to the great Gebresalaisse, motored after him but had to settle for the runner-up spot in 15:03, and that by the skin of his teeth. At the 3K mark he was twenty seconds behind Abiyot Endale. He had a small ten second cushion but both Abebe and Rodriguez were neck and neck for a title spot. They pushed each other hard and nearly caught Megressa. Both finished with an identical 15:04. These guys move so fast that even with ties in time, onlookers could see that Abebe finished third.
The crowd had less than a minute to get over the excitement when fifth place Jimmy Daly (22) won his division just inches ahead of Billy Askey (26) in identical 15:58s. Eighth place Edi Turco of Arlington, VA hosed a solid submaster field with a brilliant 16:27. He explained his unusual first name with a smile, "I'm Italian. That's the way we say it." The battle for masters supremacy had a French touch as Jean-Christophe Arcaz (48) of Rockville, MD meted out his usual solid performance winning in 17:28. Christopher Hamley (44) well known for his monster marathons was next in 17:34. Bill Bray of Fairfax gave him nearly everything he could handle in 17:37.
More than three times his age, Alan Pemberton (56) of Silver Spring, MD stalked Matthew Galewski (18) of Washington, DC, falling just short by a second in 17:54. Pemberton is the clear heir to the throne if Chuck Moeser ever fully retires. The next grandmaster, Curtis Davis (51), won the junior division in 18:52. Still, you could not tell from his frown at the awards. As with most good runners he critiqued his race as less than desirable. We thought it was very good.
Darrell General, the legend who won the Marine Corps Marathon twice, and was the only three time overall male winner at Army and a four time Olympic qualifier at the marathon distance, was on scene but as a coach for his young daughter. He promises to get his running in gear for later in the year, which spells serious competition for masters.
Krupakar Revanna (65) continues to mount a challenge for the top spot in his division. One of the many racers returning from yesterday's Van Metre with a win gave him the confidence to bolt to any early lead. Michael Golash (65) saw him go and took chase but he never had a chance. He finished with a very respectable 21:27. Revanna steamrolled the division in 20:54. He is now a solid second for the Spring Runner Rankings. Chan Robbins (71) had another solid race for the fastest time of the year in 22:55. Yesterday, he brought two left shoes and had to run with a training shoe (right). Bob Gurtler (74) of The Plains, VA (in blue in photo) has already finished fifteen 5K races this year. Today's was the third of the weekend.
Top ranked Hirut Mandefro (below in blue receiving her award) did just what you would expect her to do. She toasted a solid field by more than a minute in 16:38 for the fastest 5K of 2009. Nana Sang-Bender is a new face, racing a swift 17:40 for runner-up. Muluye Gurma (approaching the awards stand) ran second yesterday and easily cruised home third today in 18:07. Fourth place Sarah Spalding was all alone, finishing right at a six minute pace. After that, top teen Jessica Miles, at just thirteen, stunned the crowd with a superlative 19:32. Just missing the top ten, diminutive Page Lester (9), daughter of racing elites Hilary Cairns and Malcolm Lester, made her parents proud with a special 20:30.
Master runner Anita Freres (44) stood about two rows back at the start but she soon made up ground. She earned her top billing with a solid finish in 20:21.
Before the race, the next two masters, both age group winners, had talked with Chan Robbins about breaking 23:00. After the first mile, which was deceiving as it was about seventy meters short, all three appeared on pace. Near the halfway mark Myra Washington (52, in photo below on left) was the first to go for it. Sarah Buckheit (48) took off after her, dragging Robbins with her.
Robbins looked up briefly as he circled back onto Pennsylvania Avenue and pressed past Buckheit (in photo below on right). Washington looked to be gone but the finish line already in sight was still a long way off. Washington held them off to finish tops in 22:49. Robbins was next in 22:55. Buckheit came up just short of her goal in 23:05.
The elder set included Jacqueline O'Neil (77), who is a regular at Freedom Plaza events. She had the fastest time of 2009 in 37:51. Lillian Wolf of Silver Spring, MD joined the group. Finally, Mary Zenchoff (77) joined husband Philip (81) as the second oldest racing couple in the region.
The race shirt was a deep blue. In the race a group of runners, Team Z polyps, were wearing the red "catch a polyp" T-shirt.
Awards Listing
MALE OVERALL
Place Num Name Age City Gun T Net T Pace
===== ===== ====================== === ===================== ===== ===== =====
1 2240 Abiyot Endale 22 Bronx NY 14:35 14:34 4:42
2 2249 Gurmessa Megerssa 28 Washington DC 15:04 15:03 4:51
3 19 Abiyot Abebe 22 Washington DC 15:05 15:04 4:51FEMALE OVERALL
Place Num Name Age City Gun T Net T Pace
===== ===== ====================== === ===================== ===== ===== =====
1 2277 Hirut Mandefro 29 Silver Spring MD 16:38 16:37 5:21
2 1558 Nana Sang-Bender 22 Washington DC 17:40 17:40 5:41
3 2252 Muliye Gurmy 25 Silver Spring MD 18:07 18:06 5:50MALE AGE GROUP: 1 - 19 (NET TIME)
1 1839 Matthew Galewski 18 Washington DC 17:53 17:53 5:46
2 1953 Adam Mickley 19 Washington DC 18:01 18:01 5:48
3 914 Travis Chigi 14 Flemington NJ 19:27 19:18 6:13FEMALE AGE GROUP: 1 - 19 (NET TIME)
1 1522 Jessica Miles 13 McLean VA 19:32 19:31 6:17
2 1697 Page Lester 9 Washington DC 20:30 20:30 6:36
3 1943 Lindsay A Smith 9 Washington DC 24:18 24:18 7:49MALE AGE GROUP: 20 - 24 (NET TIME)
1 2293 Jimmy Daly 22 Washington DC 15:58 15:57 5:08
2 1865 Brian Copley 21 Washington DC 16:01 16:01 5:10
3 2004 Elijah Green 24 SILVER SPRING MD 17:16 17:16 5:34FEMALE AGE GROUP: 20 - 24 (NET TIME)
1 1611 Elyse Braner 24 Washington DC 19:57 19:57 6:26
2 18 Woineshet Gebessa 24 Washington DC 20:15 20:15 6:31
3 394 Jennifer Will 22 Washington DC 22:02 21:13 6:50MALE AGE GROUP: 25 - 29 (NET TIME)
1 3 Bert Rodriguez 29 ARLINGTON VA 15:05 15:04 4:51
2 2233 Billy Askey 26 Arlington VA 15:58 15:57 5:08
3 1277 Thomas Devlin 27 Jenkintown PA 18:56 18:56 6:06FEMALE AGE GROUP: 25 - 29 (NET TIME)
1 2229 Sarah Spalding 27 Washington DC 18:40 18:39 6:01
2 2226 Athena Miller 29 Bethesda MD 20:21 20:20 6:33
3 1166 Bethany Huber 29 Arlington VA 20:30 20:29 6:36MALE AGE GROUP: 30 - 34 (NET TIME)
1 950 Christopher Bain 31 N Bethesda MD 16:32 16:31 5:19
2 1815 Sean Hennessy 30 Arlington VA 18:16 18:15 5:53
3 716 Gregory Richards 32 Arlington VA 19:17 18:44 6:02FEMALE AGE GROUP: 30 - 34 (NET TIME)
1 837 Kari Richmond 33 Owings Mills MD 20:52 20:52 6:43
2 1109 Kimberley Thomas 34 Washington DC 22:17 22:15 7:10
3 156 Melody Westmeyer 32 Alexandria VA 22:38 22:36 7:17MALE AGE GROUP: 35 - 39 (NET TIME)
1 1559 Edi Turco 36 Arlington VA 16:27 16:26 5:18
2 1582 Henry Grossman 37 Annandale VA 18:03 18:03 5:49
3 877 Mike Sanders 36 Washington DC 18:55 18:54 6:05FEMALE AGE GROUP: 35 - 39 (NET TIME)
1 2182 Adrienne Wichard-Edds 35 Arlington VA 21:42 21:36 6:57
2 1571 Megan Mancuso 37 Potomac Falls VA 21:59 21:56 7:04
3 628 Stephanie Baldwin 37 Washington DC 24:15 23:50 7:41MALE AGE GROUP: 40 - 44 (NET TIME)
1 1828 Christopher Hamley 44 Hyattsville MD 17:34 17:34 5:40
2 1038 Bill Bray 44 Fairfax VA 17:37 17:36 5:40
3 2054 Dan Wallace 43 Alexandria VA 18:05 18:04 5:49FEMALE AGE GROUP: 40 - 44 (NET TIME)
1 1071 Anita Freres 44 Reston VA 20:21 20:21 6:33
2 1539 Margaret Davis 42 Gaithersburg MD 25:16 24:52 8:01
3 1322 Michele Tucker 41 Woodbridge VA 25:57 25:48 8:18MALE AGE GROUP: 45 - 49 (NET TIME)
1 2251 Jean-Christ Arcaz 48 Rockville MD 17:28 17:27 5:37
2 909 Bert Klein 48 Arlington VA 18:59 18:59 6:07
3 904 Mark Drosky 48 Alexandria VA 19:21 19:21 6:14FEMALE AGE GROUP: 45 - 49 (NET TIME)
1 2224 Sarah Buckheit 48 Reston VA 23:05 23:05 7:26
2 818 Charmaine Davis 46 Silver Spring MD 24:30 24:20 7:50
3 967 Elaine Davis 46 Silver Spring MD 24:31 24:21 7:51MALE AGE GROUP: 50 - 54 (NET TIME)
1 1371 Curtis Davis 51 Gaithersburg MD 18:52 18:51 6:04
2 600 Mike Cannon 51 Springfield VA 19:32 19:32 6:17
3 371 Michael Singerman 50 Rockville MD 21:15 21:08 6:48FEMALE AGE GROUP: 50 - 54 (NET TIME)
1 1305 Myra Washington 52 Montgomery Vill MD 22:49 22:48 7:21
2 210 Merrilee Seidman 54 Alexandria VA 24:14 24:13 7:48
3 829 Susan Burket 51 Potomac MD 28:44 27:59 9:01MALE AGE GROUP: 55 - 59 (NET TIME)
1 1801 Alan Pemberton 56 Silver Spring MD 17:54 17:54 5:46
2 2155 Dan Eddy 57 Alexandria VA 19:01 18:59 6:07
3 211 Paul Bousel 55 Alexandria VA 19:18 19:18 6:13FEMALE AGE GROUP: 55 - 59 (NET TIME)
1 435 Deborah Schnabel 59 Fairfax VA 32:55 31:42 10:12
2 197 Pam Thomas 55 Vienna VA 34:54 33:22 10:45
3 1268 Ann Rodriguez 57 Springfield VA 35:01 34:14 11:01MALE AGE GROUP: 60 - 64 (NET TIME)
1 2236 William Scott 61 Lanham MD 23:16 23:09 7:27
2 2241 Nicolas Nouvel 63 Springfield VA 23:41 23:32 7:35
3 1683 Phil Galipo 61 Rockville MD 26:22 26:18 8:28FEMALE AGE GROUP: 60 - 64 (NET TIME)
1 842 Paul Nast 60 Madison WI 27:19 25:21 8:10
2 429 Pat Solan 62 Vienna VA 35:05 34:10 11:00
3 97 Janice Cooper 62 Annandale VA 37:59 37:06 11:57MALE AGE GROUP: 65 - 69 (NET TIME)
1 1282 Krupakar Revanna 65 Falls Church VA 20:54 20:54 6:44
2 1094 Michael Golash 65 Washington DC 21:27 21:26 6:54
3 2309 Jim Verdier 67 Alexandria VA 28:01 27:58 9:00FEMALE AGE GROUP: 65 - 69 (NET TIME)
1 2336 Stephanie Dalton 65 Washington DC 42:07 40:58 13:12
2 1705 Roberta McConnell 67 Beltsville MD 51:08 49:04 15:48
3 1548 Phyllis Crum 66 Alexandria VA 55:00 52:14 16:49MALE AGE GROUP: 70 - 74 (NET TIME)
1 11 Chan Robbins 71 Arlington VA 22:55 22:55 7:23
2 1818 Philip Hager 72 Falls Church VA 25:20 25:18 8:09
3 1236 Robert Gurtler 74 The Plains VA 30:45 30:38 9:52FEMALE AGE GROUP: 70 - 74 (NET TIME)
1 1826 Irene Kimelblatt 70 N Potomac MD 59:11 57:20 18:27
2 1850 B J Harrick 71 Arlington VA 59:30 58:42 18:54MALE AGE GROUP: 75 - 79 (NET TIME)
1 2112 William Lie 76 Methuen MA 60:58 60:26 19:28FEMALE AGE GROUP: 75 - 79 (NET TIME)
1 2177 Jacqueline O'Neil 77 Washington DC 37:51 37:23 12:02
2 626 Lillian Wolf 75 Silver Spring MD 65:45 64:22 20:43
3 652 Mary Zenchoff 77 Silver Spring MD 70:07 68:43 22:07MALE AGE GROUP: 80 - 99 (NET TIME)
1 651 Philip Zenchoff 81 Silver Spring MD 50:11 49:18 15:53MALE FIRST TIME RACER: NET TIME - NET PACE 1 - 99
1 716 Gregory Richards 32 M Arlington VA 19:17 18:44 6:02FEMALE FIRST TIME RACER: NET TIME - NET PACE 1 - 99
1 106 Leanne King 33 F Falls Church VA 24:53 24:31 7:54
Woineshet Gebessa (24) of Washington, DC finished second in her age group in 20:15. She is already making a name for herself with her finishing second yesterday at the Van Metre 5M in 34:32.
Check out some Race Day Photos