By Jim Carbary
Linganore Wine Cellars
Mount Airy, MD
November 6, 2011
For the Washington Running Report
For 17 years, the Run Through the Grapevine 8K course at Linganore Winery was actually a little short, so this year an extra hill was added around another grapevine to satisfy a more exact measurement. The unofficial story for the route change, though, was that Mark Buschman vowed to beat the best time of Pekka Stenholm, a former racing team member who had moved back to his native Finland. Buschman and Stenholm had met at the Berlin Marathon earlier in the year and must have had a discussion about the Grapevine. Race director Jason Tripp decided the course should be as accurate as possible, so a course extension occurred, and Buschman failed by 20 seconds to beat the time (about 30:30). Everyone else reported slower times at the Grapevine 8K this year, too.
Race winner Carlos Renjifo far in front of the field.
The extra 0.2-mile did not bother Carlos Renjifo, who won the race by more than 1:30, the largest margin by which anyone had ever won the race (29:07). Carlos led the field for essentially the entire race; although he inexplicably went off course twice. Once, he took second place Andrew Revelle off course with him and third-place Mike Colaiacovo shouted to them to turn left rather than right. They quickly corrected themselves and resumed the competition. “I thought I could run in 27 or 28 [minutes] but I couldn’t,” Carlos said, not realizing the extra mileage had its effect. Still, he was the only runner in the field to break half an hour on the treacherously hilly course.
The women’s race was a much closer affair than the men’s. Initially, Howard County’s Rian Landers-Ramos assumed the lead, but then Jill Krebs took the lead after emerging from the second set of grapevines. Jill and her teammate Sherry Stick battled “back and forth through the woods.” Jill then took “a weird step” at four miles and Sherry was on her. “I could see she had her game face on,” Jill said. “I knew it was all over.” A perennial winner, Sherry hung on to win by 12 seconds (35:03).
Showing her game face, Sherry Stick leads Jill Krebs out of the woods.
Elkridge’s Donna Wecker out sprinted Jane Wickman of Germantown to claim the award as top master-woman (41:25). Although Donna regularly runs trails, she had never run Grapevine before and was not prepared for the steep hills and ankle-twisting grass. “The hills were brutal,” she said, “and there were so many of them.” Donna turns 50 in a few weeks and will then begin to terrorize the grandmaster women.
The top master man was Mike Colaiacovo, who finished third overall (30:53) and earned an overall award. The next fastest master was grandmaster Keith McIntyre (34:03). Keith’s stunning performance was blunted only by his son Conner’s beating him.
The Run Through the Grapevine featured a plethora of team competitions. The Howard County Strider Men’s team, with Renjifo, Revelle, Buschman, and Colaiacovo crushed the opposition to win the overall men’s team competition with a perfect score of 10 points. The Baltimore-Washington Athletic Club consisted of Stick and Krebs with their old pal Diana Pool and new-comer Joan Namasinga had a nearly perfect score of 13 in winning the women’s team competition. Put together by Steve Anderson, the OMG men’s masters team won a prize for the seventh year in a row (although it was only men’s masters team). There was no prize for the best team name, but some of the outstanding samples were “Mac Attack” (the McIntyre family) and “Merlot is how we roll” (Ken Miller, Jeanine Rogers, and Laura and Ryan Guenin).
The 18th Annual and Newly-Recalibrated Run Through the Grapevine took place at the Linganore Winery in Carroll County on November 11. The race is staged each year by the Howard County Striders, who wish to thank the winery owner Anthony Aellen for the use of his grapevines and hills. Jason Tripp directed. Award winners received gift certificates for bottles of wine, which they could redeem immediately after the race. The weather was so nice this year that many stayed after the race to enjoy wine and lunch under pleasant autumn skies.
The race sold out two weeks before with a total of 650 registrants. Of these, 573 actually showed up and ran the race. “Not a record, but close,” said official scorer Jim DiSciullo.
Name Hometown Age Time Overall Overall Male 1 Renjifo, Carlos Columbia, MD 28 29:07.34 1 2 Revelle, Andrew Clarksville, MD 22 30:41.08 2 3 Colaiacovo, Mike Baltimore, MD 42 30:53.16 3 4 Buschman, Mark Ellicott City, MD 27 30:56.88 4 5 Korbelak, Nik Odenton, MD 19 31:18.81 5 Overall Female 1 Stick, Sherry Sykesville, MD 33 35:03.58 16 2 Krebs, Jill New Windsor, MD 30 35:14.99 17 3 Landers-Ramos, Rian Columbia, MD 30 36:26.53 19 4 Pool, Diana Gainesville, VA 31 39:32.93 40 5 Farrar, Karyn Mt. Airy, MD 25 39:58.18 43 1-19 Male 1 McIntyre, Conner Ellicott City, MD 18 33:46.48 12 2 Evans, Samuel Woodbine, MD 16 34:27.03 14 3 Basham, Bryan Mt. Airy, MD 18 37:15.61 24 1-19 Female 1 Miller, Madeleine Glenwood, MD 13 41:13.17 54 2 Keyes, Emily Timonium, MD 18 48:08.96 158 3 Sheffrin, Hanna Laurel, MD 17 50:41.32 202 20-24 Male 1 Allen, Brian Laurel, MD 22 31:59.04 7 2 Thomas, Ben Columbia, MD 23 32:47.43 9 3 Harvan-Matosich Nikol Ellicott City, MD 22 36:34.80 20 20-24 Female 1 Kaisler, Rebecca Laurel, MD 23 42:06.46 66 2 An, Amanda Ellicott City, MD 24 48:56.88 171 3 Wilson, Casey Columbia, MD 21 52:56.91 251 25-29 Male 1 Blackwood, James Ellicott City, MD 27 34:36.32 15 2 Marshall, James Unknown, NA 25 39:30.95 39 3 Worley, Mark Columbia, MD 26 39:40.06 41 25-29 Female 1 Buriak, Kelly Frederick, MD 27 40:41.47 49 2 Nagy, Julia Washington, DC 28 41:50.33 60 3 Knapp, Emily Baltimore, MD 28 43:00.96 73 30-34 Male 1 Wytko, Adam Columbia, MD 30 32:17.37 8 2 Geoghegan, Seth Columbia, MD 31 33:15.87 10 3 Tabasko, Michael Cabin John, MD 34 33:32.70 11 30-34 Female 1 Ritter, Amy Baltimore, MD 34 42:28.95 67 2 Lewis, Monica University Park, MD 34 43:40.70 85 3 tran, grace Columbia, MD 33 45:23.45 108 35-39 Male 1 McDermott, Randy Gambrills, MD 39 31:55.60 6 2 MacPhee, Greg Columbia, MD 39 36:58.04 23 3 Neumann, Steve Unknown, NA 35 37:34.43 29 35-39 Female 1 Galeazzi, Julia Baltimore, MD 39 41:56.99 63 2 Hansen, Diane Frederick, MD 36 44:40.94 93 3 Martin, Lisa Baltimore, MD 37 44:46.56 96 40-44 Male 1 Cretella, Victor New Market, MD 41 36:48.90 21 2 Decker, Joseph Columbia, MD 43 37:24.43 26 3 Clarke, Jason Baltimore, MD 40 37:46.19 31 40-44 Female 1 Grace, Stephanie Unknown, NA 41 41:39.21 58 2 Johnson, Janice Cooksville, MD 40 45:30.68 113 3 Rainey, Lisa Sykesville, MD 40 47:00.60 144 45-49 Male 1 Phipps, David Severna Park, MD 47 37:28.10 28 2 Bailey, Curtis Baltimore, MD 48 37:38.81 30 3 Bingaman, Todd Mt. Airy, MD 48 38:38.61 36 45-49 Female 1 Wecker, Donna Elkridge, MD 49 41:25.01 55 2 Wikman, Jane Germantown, MD 48 41:27.54 56 3 Hickman, Lisa Jefferson, MD 45 43:19.05 80 50-54 Male 1 McIntyre, Keith Ellicott City, MD 53 34:03.03 13 2 Hamilton, Elliott University Park, MD 51 41:33.96 57 3 Houk, George Washington, DC 54 42:05.78 65 50-54 Female 1 Smink, Jean Hampstead, MD 51 50:18.12 195 2 Hurley, Lisa Westminster, MD 52 51:34.97 225 3 Pearce, Hope Butler, MD 51 52:40.48 242 55-59 Male 1 Mornini, John Germantown, MD 57 39:59.25 44 2 McDonald, Denis Woodbine, MD 57 42:00.39 64 3 Robson, Alan Columbia, MD 55 43:12.06 76 55-59 Female 1 Schneider, Laura Sykesville, MD 55 49:36.08 182 2 Hoffberg, Esther Reisterstown, MD 57 49:48.15 189 3 Lather, Rosemary Columbia, MD 55 54:05.47 271 60-64 Female 1 Forsha, Anne Rockville, MD 60 48:38.48 164 2 Lennon, LaRue Westminster, MD 63 49:31.54 180 3 Brooks, Patricia Ellicott City, MD 61 53:07.40 256 60-64 Male 1 Carbary, James Columbia, MD 60 40:54.72 52 2 Franken, Mark Germantown, MD 60 48:41.22 166 3 Young, Wayne Frederick, MD 61 50:19.29 196 65-69 Female 1 Imholtz, Clare Beltsville, MD 65 1:03:30.77 443 2 Hostetler, Fran Frederick, MD 66 1:06:17.34 482 3 Young, Allie Monrovia, MD 65 1:29:28.80 569 65-69 Male 1 Hawkland, Douglas Dayton, MD 65 44:10.00 89 2 Raab, Steven Silver Spring, MD 66 59:17.31 371 3 Holley, Paul Ashburn, VA 65 1:00:07.11 389 70-99 Male 1 Walker, Kent Baltimore, MD 70 54:42.55 283 2 Horst, Bob Lancaster, PA 81 1:02:55.14 432
