Aaron Church

Early Morning Rain Cannot Dampen Spirits at the Leesburg 20K/10K

Published August 12, 2011 at 4:16PM | Updated September 18, 2013 at 5:17PM

As Michael Wardian was finishing his preparations he had a big grin on his face. He noted that he had just won a 10K but the race was “almost too short.” This year would be his fifth time racing the 20K and he had won the last three years. There were three other submasters in the elite field. Frenchman Philippe Rolly who back in 1999 had won the St. Patrick’s Day 10K in 30:27, well ahead of Wardian’s 30:55 PR. Rolly had dappled in Wardian’s forté winning a fifty miler in 2008 in just over seven hours. Wardian had won the JFK 50 Miler in 2007 in 5:50:34.

Italian Edi Turco loves to run. He told us at the DCRRC Landon Cross Country Saturday night that he looks for a race every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Like Michael he runs fifty plus races a year. Often onlookers wonder if these guys would not be faster with fewer races. Perhaps Wardian might improve on his 14:55 PR, which does seem a little out of touch with his new marathon PR of 2:17:49 set this year. And of course he always maintains, “I love to toe the line.”

News

Let Freedom Run 5K Explodes onto the Racing Scene

By Dickson Mercer

Published July 4, 2011 at 4:40PM | Updated September 18, 2013 at 5:18PM

In the Lea Gallardo photo above, Laura O’Hara powers to the win with top 40-44 winner Matteo Mainetti on her shoulder and racing legend Alisa Harvey a few strides behind.

Runners in this region say the best way to prepare mentally for a summer race is to expect the absolute worst. In that event, more than 1,500 runners who participated in Capital Running Company’s inaugural Let Freedom Run 5K only had to deal with conditions that were roughly par for a rolling course: Independence Day morning offered overcast skies, temperatures below 80 degrees, and a humidity level which – around here, anyway – would only qualify for the not-so-bad category.

News

Ringing in Hope Goes Summer

By James Moreland

Published June 25, 2011 at 4:47PM | Updated September 18, 2013 at 5:18PM

Out of the heat of the late spring furnace, the first weekend of summer grew a rose of a day. Late June is certainly warm and sunny as a summer day but with a cool breeze, making the inaugural 5K and 10K races a charm. The course is flat and fast with nearly all of the final mile a gentle downhill swoop to the finish. Nestled just a few yards from busy Leesburg Pike but well off the beaten path where runners saw next to none of the motor vehicles to compete for the domination of roads.

In today’s running world, women are coming out in greater numbers, usually about 60% of the field. More and more the courses are getting tested by runners who have no plans at a glorious tape breaking at the finish. They want to try their stuff surrounded by hundreds of other similar-minded people in a controlled environment.

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Cascades Firechase 10K Race Report

By James Moreland

Published May 28, 2011 at 5:06PM | Updated September 18, 2013 at 5:20PM

This is the weekend for the unofficial start of summer but it had cooled down greatly from Thursday’s 91 degrees. The gnats sticking on your skin told of the searing humidity that runners would soon be basting in. That does not sound for a recipe for a personal record on a two-loop course with rolling hills, long hills, and stairway hills. Before the race we caught up with consensus favorite Aaron Church, 34, of South Riding, VA. Church (in photo) had not run the course before but was in awe of Philippe Rolly’s 2005 30:40 course record. He knew all about Rolly towing to a split second photo finish C.W. Moran, who at age 19 had owned the course record set in 2004 at 32:34. Rolly, the sub masters record holder from 2008 and Ray Pugsley the masters record holder from 2009 were absent. Church smiled and noted that a course record was unlikely. This from a man coming off a 30:55 at the Kaiser Permanente Pike’s Peek 10K just a month ago and a blazing Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10M in 50:52 with a 10K equivalent of 30:36.

By then the announcer was getting runners set to dart under the traditional ladder arch made by the Sterling Fire Department. And they were underway. Church jack rabbitted around the corner quickly and was soon out of sight of the nearly seven hundred finishers. By the mile, he had a 150 meters lead and the race was for second place.

News

33rd Patriot’s Cup Corporate Challenge 8K Beats the Rain

By James Moreland

Published May 1, 2011 at 1:35PM | Updated September 25, 2013 at 11:51AM

Fairfax is home to a number of races throughout the year. Saturday, the inaugural Fairfax CASA 10K got underway less than a mile from the sprawling George Mason University campus. Sunday morning it was time for the 33^rd showing of the Patriot’s Cup Corporate Challenge 8K. The event is open to all but the main feature is the spirited competition among the corporations for bragging rights. With much construction on the campus only about half of Patriot’s Circle was open to runners. There are a handful of certified courses to choose from. The race is really very fast though runners are treated to three trips up the hill in front of the Center for the Arts. Gladly, the opening 150 meters is downhill to the Circle. Once on the circuit runners head generally uphill to the 1500 point of the race. They leave the campus and take a long, increasingly down hill road to bend back to the starting area. Hitting the Circle the second time is a little like whiplash as the hill rises up to meet the runners. The trick is to keep grinding away because from three to 4.5 miles is a return to the pleasure cruise section of the course. The third trip up the hill is the final two minutes of the race where adrenaline kicks in to help you hold place.

Last year top ranked sub master Aaron Church won it all in an easy 25:06. So, perhaps Hugh Toland was a little surprised that an opening 5:10 separated him from the field. He cruised home in 26:32 and after the race hardly seemed to have broken into a sweat. The cool morning was perfectly aligned to a runner’s needs, though the skies began to weep as the awards were being announced.