Anna Pichrtova Wins Third Consecutive Women's Title
It was a European sweep at the 25th annual Anheuser-Busch Colonial Half Marathon Sunday afternoon (February 23, 2004) at William and Mary Hall. Russian twins (photo left by Kristin Eddy) Dmitry (#11) and Aleksander (#12) Kapitonov, 35, based out of Gaithersburg, MD, had an easy time in the men's race, running together the entire way and crossing the finish line in 1:08:07.

Anna Pichrtova, 30, of the Czech Republic, but based out of Wayneboro, won her third consecutive title in the women's division with an impressive 1:16:08, equaling the second-fastest time in race history. Pichrtova has both the race and course records with her 1:15:02 from the 2002 Colonial Half. The 1:16:08 was the same time that Inge Schuurmans of Boulder, CO ran in the 1994 Colonial Half. That time is the record for the previous Colonial Parkway/Route 199 course. Due to traffic concerns on Route 199, the course was changed to the considerably hillier and slower Carter's Grove Country Road/Kingsmill course in 1998. The half marathon, as well as the accompanying 3-mile run, finishes inside William and Mary Hall. There were 1,171 finishers in the half marathon and 235 finishers in the 3 mile, with a total of 1,809 entrants.

Pichrtova became the first three-time Colonial winner for the women. Schuurmans was the only other multiple female winner (1987 and 1994). For the men Steve Taylor (the race record holder at 1:04:39 from 1991) is a three-time winner (1991, 1993, 1996), while Gordon Christie (1987-88) and Kibet Cherop (2000, 2003) were two-time champions. Mark Andrews retains the record (1:05:46 from 1998) for the current course.

Ultramarathoner Michael Wardian, 29, of Arlington, VA who had run the U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon in Birmingham, AL two weeks earlier in 2:22:40 (33rd place), then had a 23-mile Saturday long run the day before Colonial, understandably did not have fresh legs, yet was still third overall in 1:09:22. Two other Northern Virginia runners completed the top five--Christopher Dean, 29, of Alexandria (1:11:46) and Thomas McCarney, 28, of Arlington (1:12:28).

Chuck Moeser, 52, of Sterling, VA was ninth overall in 1:15:39, and was the masters division (ages 40-and-over) male winner for the third time (1994, 2003 and 2004), while Cecilia Lutz, 43, of Reston was the masters division female winner with her 10th- place overall 1:29:36.

The battle for local honors went to Williamsburg's John Piggott, 38, the Lafayette High track coach, who pulled away from Hampton's Michael Mann, 35, for a sixth-place 1:12:54 to Mann's seventh (1:13:27). The top four (Kapitonov twins, Wardian, and Dean) were in the early lead pack, with the next group including Piggott, Mann, McCarney, and Moeser. Moeser fell off around two miles, then Mann couldn't handle a surge by McCarney around six miles. Piggott hung on for two more miles, before McCarney pulled away. Mann, a two-time Colonial Road Runners Grand Prix champion, said, "The course is tough and I have never been able to get a consistent rhythm any year. My mile splits are always all over the place." He has only been training for seven weeks after hernia surgery in December, and didn't wear racing flats.

For the women, Jane Maxwell, 23, of Charlottesville came from behind to catch Casey Smith, 24, of Arlington for second place (1:18:46 to 1:18:52). Maxwell was the Atlantic Coast Conference 10,000-meter champion in 2003, and recently completed her collegiate eligibility with the fall 2003 cross country season for the University of Virginia. Prize money went three deep for the men and women--$500-300-200.

Pichrtova, Maxwell, and Williamsburg's Kathy Newberry were in the women's lead pack through two miles, before Pichrtova pulled away. Maxwell and Newberry continued together until six miles, when Newberry (who was only using the race as a training run for the World Cross Country Championship in March) slowed to her intended pace. Smith caught Maxwell at eight miles, but Maxwell stayed close and passed her back at 12 miles. Newberry said, "I was supposed to do it as a long run and I think I got a little too caught up in the competition, and didn't realize how fast I went out until the first mile (5:45). Then I thought that I felt good, why not keep going. At around six miles I started to feel the mile repeats we did on Friday and had to slow down to my regular maintenence/long run pace (6:40's)." Newberry (who finished fifth in 1:22:08) is the fiancee of W&M men's coach Alex Gibby. The race is organized by the W&M track team, along with the W&M Special Events office, with finish line and results by the Peninsula Track Club.

Alison Holinka, 25, of Chapel Hill, NC, one of the pre-race favorites, and the last runner to beat Pichrtova at Colonial (Holinka won the 2001 race in 1:17:34), had breathing problems throughout due to bronchitis, and had to drop out at 10 miles. Pichrtova will be running the Los Angeles Marathon in two weeks, with the goal of breaking 2:37 and qualifying for the Czech team to the Athens Olympics. Dmitry Kapitonov will also be running the Los Angeles Marathon, while older brother (by 10 minutes) Aleksander will go to the Boston Marathon in April.

Moeser broke the race age group record for men 50-54 (1:15:39, bettering his previous mark of 1:16:09 from last year), and Sharon Giese, 61, of Richmond, VA set a new record for women 60- 64 (1:45:09, smashing by almost 12 minutes the previous mark of 1:57:02 by Tami Graf in 1997). Pichrtova tied the race record for women 30-34 with her 1:16:08 (equaling the record of Schuurmans).

The Colonial Half attracts runners from throughout the Middle Atlantic states and around the U.S. (helping to fill Williamsburg hotel rooms during the off-peak season), yet local runners win a disproportionate share of the age-group awards. Besides Piggott, Mann, and Newberry in the overall top ten, there were ten local age-group first places in the half marathon- -W&M sophomore Bert Jacoby (men 20-24, 1:16:54), Rob Hinkle (men 35-39, 1:17:00), Jim Bates (men 45-49, 1:19:23), Rick Platt (men 50-54, 1:23:14), Bob Spencer (men 60-64, 1:36:10), W&M freshman Mary Litton (women 19-and-under, 1:43:47), W&M senior Meredith Faulkner (women 20-24, 1:34:22), former Tabb runner Marie Knight (women 25-29), Linda Peters (women 55-59, 1:46:57) and Patsy Ewell (women 70-and-over, 2:26:35).

In the three-mile, Michael Porter, 19, of Hyattsville, MD won in 15:26 over Adam Canning, 18, of Williamsburg (15:51). Williamsburg's Jim Goggin ran his first race as a 50-year-old and was second master in 18:41. For the women, Emily Ward, 22, of Richmond won in 17:56 over W&M sophomore Laura Buchanan (18:08), with Linda Sawvell of Newport News third (19:12). Linda Ingleson, 46, of Williamsburg was first master (21:19).

See complete results of the Anheuser-Busch Colonial Half Marathon and 3-Mile Run.