Friendly competition among teammates helped make the Have a Heart for Boston-Hoffman Elementary School 5k a fast race, despite chilly temperatures and a light drizzle.
[button-red url=”http://www.safetyandhealthfoundation.org/20130223.html” target=”_self” position=”left”] Results [/button-red]The Georgetown Running Club came out en force for the second straight year, sweeping the top five men’s spots and five of the six top women’s spots, including the top three. They showed up to support teammate and race director Samantha “Kirby” Cole, a teacher at the school. Cole credited Suzanne Paul with bringing the race together.
[button-red url=”http://youngrunner.smugmug.com/Race-Photo-Galleries/Have-a-Heart-for-Hoffman/i-v7c92fh” target=”_self” position=”left”] Photos [/button-red]Alex Benway, of Reston, led the blue-clad harriers out in a pack that split close to five minutes for the first mile of the out-and-back course on the Four Mile Run and W&OD trails, starting and ending in Arlington’s
Bluemont Park. The group slowed in the rolling middle mile, and Benway (15:47) took his leave of defending champion Arlingtonian Dave Wertz (16:00) with a mile to go. Third-place finisher Matt Hassett (16:11), of Washington, predicted as much before the race, “It will wind up being a two-mile warmup and one mile race,” he said.
“It is rare to find a person that enjoys racing when it is cold and raining,” Benway said. “But when your team comes out and does it with you, it makes it a lot more manageable.”
Centreville’s Keith Freeburn, off a two-week respite with a back injury, came to the race with a pair of buddies from The Running Store’s racing team. He was familiar with the course after having run the Kinhaven 5k and gave it high marks.
“It’s a straightforward course and you can run pretty fast on it if you do it right,” he said after finishing.
Fourth place finisher Natalie Young(18:15), of Dumfries, led the five-woman GRC pack through the first half beforeCatherine Campbell (18:01) of Bethesda moved ahead on the way back and and Lindsey O’Brien (18:08) and Maura Carroll (18:12) of Washington caught her in the stretch.
“It was a great opportunity for us to test out racing shape and gague what work needs to be done come spring,” Campbell said. “I particularly enjoyed having a great group of girls to run with for over half of the race.”
Boston-Hoffman teacher’s aid Liz Houston, who lives close enough to the park to run there regularly, finished her first 5k race that morning. She volunteered in 2012 and decided to run as part of her effort in the school’s “biggest loser” fitness challenge.
“It was very exciting to finish,” she said. “They put down mile markers, so I knew where I was in the race and it let me know I was pacing myself well.”
She ran by herself, tagging along with other runners at times but focusing on her music to motivate her. Nerves before the race forced her to forgo breakfast, so she appreciated the heart-shaped bagels awaiting finishers.
The experience has her sold on racing again.
“It made the rest of the day more cheerful,” she said. “All those endorphins…”
The race raised money for physical education equipment and to help fund Can You Imagine Me, an after school program which encourages children to make healthy choices and help them train toward running a 5k.
By James Moreland
Burke, VA
November 26, 2011
For the Washington Running Report
No times for brakes as the race starts at the top of the hill.
The glorious weather continues to reign (not rain) throughout the busiest weekend of the year. Many runners took a break from the busiest racing day of the year to eat dinner and go out shopping. Friday seemed like Sunday. Then Saturday was almost perfect. Locals even thought it was almost too warm, while a few slender Caribbean transplants announced that anything colder than 70 degrees was too cold.
The sun was already warming up the day as runners lined up just above Burke Lake and released by the magic ‘G’ word plunged down the fast first half mile. From there the course circled around the lake like a necklace with only a few gentle hills. The weather had been dry but not enough to make the gentle layer of leaves crackle. Some of the lead runners played traffic cop and warned unsuspecting hikers that an avalanche of runners would soon be heading their way. Everyone wanted to be out on this day.
Many of the Thanksgiving weekend races are called fun runs as nearly 10% of all the racers for the year come out to play. Still, lots of the top racers are eager to try out their stuff. Early in the race Keith Freeburn, 37, took over the lead duties. Freeburn has been coming on strong for the last year though rarely at the very front of the pack. He knew Rob Bell, 22, was right there with him and that helped propel both of them to very solid times, especially for a course that is half cross country. Right at four miles the runners headed up a steady incline and Bell made his move. The final half mile is mostly a quick downhill but the final 100 meters is the steepest hill on the course. Bell held on to win in 28:42; Freeburn was next in 28:48.
Usually youngsters do best on cross country and, being generally lighter, fly up hills better. Today six of the top 13 men were masters. Fifth place Kevin Lynch, 44, (right)was earliest the top master in 30:06. David Pinnick, 55, commanded the grandmaster field, finishing 20th overall in a swift 33:47.
Looking around the field Laura Ramos, 32, (left) must have felt like the favorite. However, this is a traveling weekend and you never know when a ringer is going to come into town. Olivia Poblacion, 25 of Corvallis, OR came in from the west coast to set the new standard for the event in an excellent 30:59 that made her the eight finisher overall. Ramos followed her in with a very nice 32:42. Before the race Sushila Nanda, 50, smiled and said yes her leg was still bothering her but she had a few more races that she wanted to do before she would fix it. She blasted out with the lead women covering the first mile in about 6:30. After that she settled in some but still had a very nifty 37:14 to finish as the second master and the first runner older than fifty, Cathy Ross was the first master at fourth overall in 34:26. The grandmaster and 20th overall was Janet Janas. Janas is coming off her first WRR Runner Ranking in the fall season.
After the race there were bagels and bananas to go with gallons and gallons of hot coffee with real cream and bottled water. One runner said as he offered his young daughter a cinnamon raisin bagel, “I ran in the race; you eat the food.”
OVERALL MALE (GUN TIME)
Place Num Name Age City Time
===== ===== =================== === ===================== =======
1 212 Rob Bell 22 Gainesville VA 28:42
2 211 Keith Freeburn 37 Centreville VA 28:48
3 232 Adam Roggia 26 Stafford VA 29:47
OVERALL FEMALE (GUN TIME)
Place Num Name Age City Time
===== ===== =================== === ===================== =======
1 109 Olivia Poblacion 25 Corvallis OR 30:59
2 265 Laura Ramos 32 Silver Spring MD 32:42
3 206 Leah Stiegler 21 Vienna VA 33:32
MALE AGE GROUP: 1 - 19 (NET TIME)
1 297 Steven Kool 17 Vienna VA 31:11
2 267 Joe Brough 16 McLean VA 31:25
3 328 Steven Harokopus 15 Vienna VA 36:30
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 1 - 19 (NET TIME)
1 319 Tara Landy 18 Burke VA 35:06
2 89 Kayla Grimmett 18 Burke VA 37:02
3 249 Mary Pollin 15 Burke VA 37:16
MALE AGE GROUP: 20 - 29 (NET TIME)
1 207 Jason Dods 22 Vienna VA 33:05
2 55 Alec Rosenman 23 Fairfax Station VA 34:25
3 54 Mark Brier 26 Wilmington DE 35:33
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 20 - 29 (NET TIME)
1 170 Emily Williams 29 Arlington VA 38:47
2 53 Lauren Rosenman 25 Fairfax Station VA 38:49
3 163 Heather Hunter 25 Fairfax VA 40:47
MALE AGE GROUP: 30 - 39 (NET TIME)
1 85 Michael Feeney 34 Burke VA 29:59
2 359 Frank Gold 34 Warrenton VA 30:28
3 345 Oscar Tiglao 34 Lorton VA 31:48
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 30 - 39 (NET TIME)
1 397 Laura Barringer 35 Fairfax VA 38:41
2 269 Mary Blair 32 Springfield VA 39:08
3 281 Romana Johnson 37 Dumfries VA 39:22
MALE AGE GROUP: 40 - 49 (NET TIME)
1 331 Kevin Lynch 44 Chantilly VA 30:04
2 30 Dennis Billings 42 Woodbridge VA 30:54
3 322 Matt Anderson 45 Fairfax VA 31:04
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 40 - 49 (NET TIME)
1 73 Cathy Ross 40 Burke VA 34:25
2 136 Barbara Murillo 46 Fairfax VA 39:20
3 338 Mary Maver 46 Springfield VA 39:57
MALE AGE GROUP: 50 - 59 (NET TIME)
1 370 David Pinnick 55 Manassas VA 33:44
2 233 Myron Kremer 54 Winchester VA 36:09
3 80 Malcolm Carlyle 54 Leesburg VA 36:17
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 50 - 59 (NET TIME)
1 324 Sushila Nanda 50 Arlington VA 37:13
2 155 Janet Janas 50 Clifton VA 41:04
3 61 Cynthia Martin 54 Springfield VA 41:13
MALE AGE GROUP: 60 - 69 (NET TIME)
1 35 Robert Taylor 61 Alexandria VA 38:11
2 364 Jim Avila 63 Arlington VA 42:12
3 246 Rick Rice 65 Burke VA 43:56
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 60 - 69 (NET TIME)
1 263 Carolyn Rice 66 Burke VA 45:18
2 259 Kathryn Fanelli 62 Annandale VA 1:00:39
3 4 Nancie Becker 61 Rockville MD 1:16:59
MALE AGE GROUP: 70 - 99 (NET TIME)
1 10 Chan Robbins 74 Arlington VA 40:58
2 111 Robert Gurtler 76 The Plains VA 53:01
3 226 Dick Nanto 70 Clifton VA 1:01:11
The final climb to the finish was no “walk in the park.”
By James Moreland
Kensington, MD
September 24, 2011
For the Washington Running Report
Julie Sapper finishes fourth overall.
Walking down Fawcett Avenue in old town Kensington towards the start of the race, two young kids were talking about the race. One said, “There must be a thousand runners here today,” “No way,” replied the older one. She was wrong and the little boy was right. The event has three parts and three different starts off the circular Carroll Place. At 7:45 a.m. close to five hundred 2 mile walkers and runners headed south around the circle. At 8:30 a.m., the main event 8K bolted from the south side of the Noyes Library toward Connecticut Avenue. They would cross the finish line for the first time at just less than a half mile. Three minutes after they got under way, the 1K fun run charged after them from the north side of the library.
Nearly everyone was in a good mood on the cool but humid morning for the first racing weekend of the fall. There were a couple of the hundreds of young runners that got overwhelmed by the pressure but all the fun runners collected a beaded necklace at the finish. Dry your eyes and keep on running. The rain rumored to be done around ten, missed the event entirely.
Many of the runners had run the Run! Geek! Run! 8K last week in West Potomac Park. All of them found the 4th mile hill on East Bexhill that climbed parallel to the Mormon Temple Hill shut out any possibly of matching last week’s time. The race in its 18th year also had many returning runners. Perhaps the most often seen face is women’s winner Cindy Conant, 50, of Kensington, MD. She admitted to knowing the course very well. After all she had run the race every year since at least 2002. She moved up to fifth in 2004 and after that never finished lower than second overall, winning in 2006 as well. This year when she won it all again was her fastest time of any of those years as she dipped under 32 to finish in 31:59. That was 17thrunner overall.
Edi Turco had run the Geek race, finishing solidly in fifth place in 26:55. Today in his 25th race since Memorial Day he battled Gareth Alberto and Steven Moore through most of the flat first three miles. By the time he charged past the starting line at 4.5 miles he knew he had the win. The final 100 meters up Armory Drive he weaved back and forth waving to the crowd. Alberto had a closer battle and charged through in 27:56 just ahead of Moore’s 28:04. Keith Freeburn has not been racing a long time so he did not know that he was supposed to slow down on a hilly course and nearly matched his Geek time with a very solid 28:53.
After Conant finished there was a bit of a wait by the next three women rushed in like a fast conga line, behind each other but weaving up and back in an effort to change places. Trish Stone, 36, held the runner-up spot and ahead of Sandra Bonilla, 35, by three seconds 32:47 to 32:50. Fourth place Julie Sapper, 39, of Rockville was tops in her division.
While eight of the top nine women were from Kensington or Rockville, many runners came from as far away as Richmond (70-74 age group winner Mary Kate Berglund confessed that she has family in Kensington) and Fayetteville, PA, home of 79-year-old Bob Archibald. The oldest finisher in the race was Eileen Hobsongarcia, 81, who was joined by a contingency also from San Pedro, CA.
There race awards go three deep in ten year age groups but first there was a top master. Jean Christophe Arcaz had been at the race for the last six years. Often he finished just close enough to touch the shoulder of Ted Poulos just ahead of him. Always both of them finished faster than 29:00. This year Arcaz, now 50, gutted out the final yards to hold off Dan‘imal’ Murphy (left) 29:43 to 29:58 to win fifth overall and the top master award. Last year he had been fifth in 28:54 with Poulos tops in 28:51 and Murphy winning second age group in 29:26.
The top women master after Conant’s overall victory was Kris Barner, 46 of Rockville in 36:44. After that there were some amazing age group times. The grandmaster women were all just 50, led by Sushila Nanda. Nanda has 14 age group victories since Memorial Day. For the men Roland Rust, 59, is taking his last few races in the fifties very serious, putting all the younger grandmasters away with a marvelous 31:09. Alice Franks put away the 60-69 women by more than a mile in 40:43. She gave us a pretty smile and said humbly something like, ‘The times aren’t very fast but after all we are just running for fun.’
Fourth place Keith Freeburn proudly noted that his mother Susan finished third in her division. Skip Grant, 76 of Washington, DC ran an amazing 40:53 to top his division.
Before, during, and after the races Poison Ivy was the band playing music in the adjoining park.
Awards Listing (No Duplicate Prizes)
FEMALE
Place Num Name Ag City Time
===== ===== =================== == ===================== =======
1 114 Cindy Conant 50 Kensington MD 31:59
2 487 Trish Stone 36 Kensington MD 32:47
3 61 Sandra Bonilla 35 Kensington MD 32:50
MALE
Place Num Name Ag City Time
===== ===== =================== == ===================== =======
1 517 Edi Turco 38 Arlington VA 27:41
2 13 Gareth Alberto 32 Annandale VA 27:56
3 348 Steven Moore 33 Kensington MD 28:04
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 40 - 99
1 42 Kris Barner 46 Rockville MD 36:44
MALE AGE GROUP: 40 - 99
1 24 Jean-Christophe Arc 50 Rockville MD 29:43
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 1 - 12
1 757 Adriana Rosas 11 Silver Spring MD 38:33
2 253 London Kazor 2 Kensington MD 44:52
3 80 Jordan Bryon 12 Alexandria VA 49:44
4 133 Maddie Deye 12 Kensington MD 53:50
MALE AGE GROUP: 1 - 12
1 134 Brian Diamond 12 Bethesda MD 43:07
2 83 Andrew Burklow 12 Kensington MD 45:35
3 476 Kemper Stearns 11 Kensington MD 46:50
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 13 - 19
1 496 Taylor Swift 17 Rockville MD 33:33
2 92 Sarah Caggiano 13 Bethesda MD 36:58
3 265 Charlotte Kirwan 17 Bethesda MD 38:25
MALE AGE GROUP: 13 - 19
1 236 Mark Jacobson 15 Rockville MD 31:32
2 266 Lewis Kirwan 13 Bethesda MD 33:29
3 100 Kasey Carroll 13 Bethesda MD 34:41
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 20 - 29
1 169 Miranda Forte 26 Gaithersburg MD 35:54
2 567 Chelsea Gibson 22 Bethesda MD 37:04
3 37 Briana Balsam 27 Gaithersburg MD 38:02
MALE AGE GROUP: 20 - 29
1 637 Micheal Fizdale 23 Bowie MD 31:44
2 151 Alex Emery 23 Rockville MD 32:11
3 331 Chris McGrath 23 Burtonsville MD 32:21
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 30 - 39
1 739 Julie Sapper 39 Rockville MD 32:53
2 127 Anne Delp 36 Kensington MD 35:36
3 257 Ellen Kennedy 39 Kensington MD 36:40
MALE AGE GROUP: 30 - 39
1 173 Keith Freeburn 37 Centreville VA 28:53
2 754 Marco Rosas Galicia 36 Silver Spring MD 30:01
3 610 Daniel Shanley 37 Chevy Chase MD 31:45
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 40 - 49
1 170 Lisa Fox 41 Bethesda MD 37:25
2 11 Ann Adkinson 42 Chevy Chase MD 39:20
3 582 Beth Krupinski 44 Kensington MD 40:47
MALE AGE GROUP: 40 - 49
1 352 Dan Murphy 47 Bethesda MD 29:57
2 22 Matt Anderson 45 Fairfax VA 31:06
3 21 Mark Anderson 45 Burtonsville MD 31:11
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 50 - 59
1 359 Sushila Nanda 50 Arlington VA 37:07
2 628 Patty Tschideser 50 Chevy Chase MD 39:02
3 627 Babby Landon 50 Chevy Chase MD 40:55
MALE AGE GROUP: 50 - 59
1 431 Roland Rust 59 Bethesda MD 31:09
2 737 Peter Cini 53 Fairfax VA 31:28
3 393 David Pinnick 54 Manassas VA 33:14
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 60 - 69
1 171 Alice Franks 63 Rockville MD 40:33
2 111 Vallerie Codrington 60 Lanham MD 48:43
3 174 Susan Freeburn 60 Kensington MD 1:00:13
MALE AGE GROUP: 60 - 69
1 110 Joe Coblentz 61 Silver Spring MD 42:19
2 74 Pim Brouwers 63 Silver Spring MD 45:51
3 303 Alan Madison 62 Gaithersburg MD 46:35
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 70 - 79
1 49 Mary Kate Berglund 70 Richmond VA 57:19
2 765 Jamie Wollard 73 Rockville MD 1:11:53
MALE AGE GROUP: 70 - 79
1 619 Skip Grant 76 Chevy Chase MD 40:51
2 498 Nils Borje Tallroth 70 Bethesda MD 48:12
3 25 Bob Archibald 79 Fayetteville PA 48:51
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 80 - 99
1 223 Eileen Hobsongarcia 81 San Pedro CA 1:30:57
MALE AGE GROUP: 80 - 99
1 333 Jack McMahon 80 Silver Spring MD 49:27
