Photo by Jim Kelly: Alexander Hetherington on his way to victory at the 2004 Annapolis Ten Miler

The Men
It was the second stop in the Ten-Mile Triple series, and the weather was the usual for the 29th Annapolis 10 Mile Run on Sunday, August 29, 2004, the heat, hills and humidity. A record number of registrants, 5,700 filled the race within three weeks. On August 22, 1976 there were only seven runners. The race has grown to the pride of Annapolis. The race is a major attraction without prize money but it offers the community atmosphere and the U.S. Naval Academy has been a strong supporter along with others.

This year it was a gutsy race as Chuck Moeser, age 52 of Team New Balance/Pacers took the race out hard followed by Jim Hage, age 46, of Kensington, Md. Moeser has frequently been an age group qualifier while Hage was going for a third consecutive master's title (2002- 54:30, 2003- 54:14) and he was the overall winner in 1987 (50:01) and 1990 (51:21). The two did battle for four miles until Moeser began to fall off the pace.

Going into the seventh mile the tables started to turn as Joe Racine of the D.C. Road Runners Club started an assault to take control. Hage started to fall back as Major Alexander Hetherington of Team Marine joined the hunt. Hetherington is a solid 2:35 marathon and will be heading up Team Marine at the 29th Marine Corps Marathon, as the battle with the Royal Navy/Marines for the annual Challenge Cup competition will take place.

A race is not over until it's over, Racine was going into the ninth mile (50:43) with Hetherington close (50:48) and with about a half-mile remaining Hetherington dug deep and staged an upset and took control. It was over as Hetherington took the win with 56:16. Racine was second in 56:27 while Hage captured his third title in 56:32.

The Women
Racing in fine fashion for nine miles was defending champion (1:00:36), Susannah Kvasnicka of Team Potomac River Running. Kvasnicka was trying to shake Captain Mary Kate Bailey (photo) of Team Marine and a 1998 graduate of the Naval Academy where she played soccer. In July, the two raced in the Cure Autism 5K where it was Kvasnicka 18:19 to 18:26. The Annapolis race makes you did deep and it's about strategy and determination. At mile five Kvasnicka held a slight lead (30:06 to 30:09). It was not until the ninth mile which Bailey made a successful move to take control and won in 1:00:42 to 1:00:56. Bailey was awarded the second Commander Willie McCool Award for being the first Naval Academy alumni finisher.

The first master was Monica Grillo of the Nova Running club as she finished in ninth place in 1:08:27. Grillo ran her first Annapolis in 1979 when the race started at Severna Park High School and finished Navy-Marine Corps Stadium. This was her first master's title.

The Ten-Mile Triple recognizes the performances of the top local finishers by awarding complimentary entries into the Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Run, Annapolis 10 Mile Run and the Army Ten-Miler. The races have a tradition within the running community and the local runners continue to make a valuable contribution. The winners from the Annapolis 10 Mile Run will receive entries into the 20th Army Ten-Miler and the Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Run:

Annapolis Ten Miler "Triple" Winners

Open Division
Major Alexander Hetherington	37	  56:15    Stafford, VA    1st Overall
Captain Mary Kate Bailey	29	1:00:56    Arlington, VA   1st Overall

Masters Division
Jim Hage			46	  56:32    Kensington, MD  3rd Overall
Monica Grillo			40	1:08:27    Arlington, VA   9th Overall

The Ten Mile "Triple" Races
Find a searchable Result for the Annapolis Ten Miler.

Race details for the 2005 race will be posted on http://annapolisstriders.org later this year.

The 20th Army Ten-Miler will be held on Sunday, October 24, 2004. The race closed out on August 19, 2004 at 20,000 runners. The race date will be earlier next year, Sunday, October 2, 2005. The race registration will open during the first week of April with information being posted later this year. Visit www.armytenmiler.com for this year's race details.

The 33rd Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Run will be held on Sunday, April 3, 2005. Registration details will be available during November 2004 at the race website www.cherryblossom.org.

See the Photo Gallery for the 2004 Annapolis Ten Miler.