At the finish line in quaint Leesburg under clear blue skies, recent-graduate and former George Mason University runner Jimmy Luehrs threw a jubilant fist-pump in the air after taking first place overall in the 27th annual Leesburg 20k in 1:07:20.
Winning the women’s division of the race in 1:15:32 was Bethany Sachtleben, another recent George Mason graduate, former George Mason runner, and friend of Luehrs’.
Emerging from the Metro station felt different this year to the 1,700 runners who turned out for the Crystal City Twilighter 5k Saturday. Even before the sun went down, cooler, drier air prevailed over a course that once boasted 98 degree temperatures during the 2011 race.
The favorable conditions were lost on many of the top-tier runners who didn’t return, which affected the race’s depth. The 28 men who finished faster than 16 minutes in 2014 was cut to 10 in 2015. The 10 sub-19 minute women from 2014 held steady.
Despite the reliable mercury-busting temperatures, Don Bowman insists that the Rosaryville Trail races are aimed at beginner ultra runners. This year’s running of the 10k, 10 mile, 25k and 50k runs around Rosaryville State Park took place on the hottest day of the year, with dew points bottoming out in the low 70s and temperatures reaching the mid 90s five hours into the race.
[button-red url=”http://www.bluepointtiming.com/files/results/2015/Rosaryville%20overall.htm” target=”_self” position=”left”] Results [/button-red]”We designed it for the novice runners,” Bowman, the race director, said. “They get to run next to the runners who are experienced and they can say they ran with these great trail runners, they don’t have three legs or anything special. They learn that they could be like the people in the front if the race agrees with them and they want to improve.”
[button-red url=”http://s3.amazonaws.com/media.racebx.com/transfer/gen/5/5/9/5597e27f-9054-456c-9455-52afc0a86526/2015-Firecracker-Overall.htm” target=”_self” position=”left”] Results [/button-red]The crowd erupted as Abu Kebede Diriba and Gregory Mariano rounded the corner onto Market Street in the final 200 meters of the Firecracker 5k, Saturday at Reston Town Center. The men had pounded the wet pavement neck and neck for most of the race, and now cut through the rain in a fight to the finish. But after a quick glance over his right shoulder, Diriba, an Ethiopian marathoner living in New York, gave one final kick to cross the finish line in 15:30 — just one second ahead of Alexandria’s Mariano.
Ben Dickshinski, a senior at North Central College in Naperville, Ill., and an All-American in the 5000m this spring, placed third in the men’s race in 15:53.
When it comes to the Freedom Four, there’s only one rule: you must respect the hill. You have two miles to contemplate it on the way down, and a moment of reckoning when you turn back to face it. Did you burn yourself out on the downhill? Were you so cautious that you can’t make up the difference in the climb? The hill can make or break a race.
Now in its second year, the Freedom Four takes the out-and-back, down-and-up course of the Four Courts Four Miler and drops it in the middle of summer. Now they’ve combined a demanding course with unpredictable weather. The race could be unforgiving–this year, the weeks preceding it were unusually hot for June, and severe storms pummeled the region through Saturday. Fortunately, race day dawned clear and mild, with temperatures about 10 degrees cooler than they had been. A breeze blew often enough to be welcome as it provided relief from the baking sun.
Ryan Witters was a little rusty, but muscle memory took over and powered him to his fourth consecutive Father’s Day 8k title on the C&O Canal Towpath in Georgetown.
He captured the title in 26:20 — smoking his nearest competitor, Matthew Deters of Arlington, by a full 50 seconds. Although slower than last year’s first-place finish of 25:38, Witters was happy with his performance.
For an overzealous runner, the Capitol Hill Classic can seem like an episode of Behind the Music. Early on, everything is going great and the gravy train seems like it will never stop. But then reality hits and they have to run back uphill.
[button-red url=“http://www.zippyraceresults.com/search.php?ID=4920” target=”_self” position=”left”] Results [/button-red]Springfield’s Shauneen Werlinger didn’t know what she was getting into when she took the lead among women in this year’s 10k. She wanted to make sure that if her pursuer, Selameawit Lemma, was going to stay behind her and make a move late, she would have to work for it.
Two frequent out-of-town visitors clashed on the new Pikes Peek 10k course in Rockville, with a Montgomery County native grabbing the win.
[button-red url=”http://www.mcrrc.org/pikes-peek-10k-9″ target=”_self” position=”left”] Results [/button-red]It came down to the final, downhill stretch on Marinelli Road between Brian Flynn and Thomas Adam at the Pike’s Peek 10k on Sunday morning. Neck and neck, the two Virginians pounded to the finish line, but it was Flynn, a resident of Bridgewater who attended Damascus High School, who had enough of a kick left in him to narrowly beat Adam by a mere two seconds, clocking 30:27. Third place Luke Meyer, from Washington, was close behind in 30:33.
From their starting line perch at Mount Vernon, the next hour was hazy for Kevin McNab and Sheree Shea.
[button-red url=”http://www.zippyraceresults.com/search.php?ID-4829″ target=”_self” position=”left”] Results [/button-red]Despite clear skies and cool air that brushed their faces with the promise of a fast George Washington Parkway Classic, they could only guess what was in store. Both had run only one race longer than 10k, and those races were non-competitive half marathons. That didn’t stop them from both gamely handling the 10 mile race to Old Town Alexandria.
The final re-measurement of the Cherry Blossom race course determined that the rerouting caused the race distance to total 9.39 miles.
A traffic accident that was treated as a crime scene near the Kutz Bridge, less than 90 minutes before the elite women’s advanced start, forced the course to reroute from its path around the Tidal Basin, instead diverting near the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial on West Basin Drive and onto Ohio Drive. The alteration affected miles five and six.