When most race registration websites encourage runners to sign up their particular event, Riley’s Rumble Half Marathon cautions participants.
“Don’t be seduced by the lush bucolic countryside of rural Montgomery County,” it said. “This race will challenge the best runners. If you want the 3 H’s (hills, heat, and humidity), this is the race for you.”
The Crystal City Twilighter 5k‘s seventh running was a who’s who of the regional running scene.
Area running clubs emptied their stables. The course was new – faster, with fewer turns. And conditions, while not good for racing, exactly, were about as good as they get for late July in downtown Arlington. No 98 degrees (2011) or downpours (2013).
The fastest miler at the DC Road Runners One Mile and 3k Track Championships knew the area well, but a five-hour drive preceded his win.
Sandy Roberts broke the meet record (4:13.67, set in 2013 by David Chorney) with his winning time of 4:09:35 in the men’s elite heat.
Etaferhu Temesgen slashed the Rockville Twilighter 8k record to win in 26:33 over Susanna Sullivan, whose 26:43 nearly matched the prior 26:40 record.
[button-red url=”http://www.zippyraceresults.com/search.php?ID=4116http://” target=”_self” position=”left”] 8k Results [/button-red]”She’s been doing her training in Rock Creek Park the last three months,” said Ayele Bleed, her manager. “She runs twice a day seven times a week and we’re working on her kilometer times.”
The second race of the D.C. Road Runners Club Bunion Derby race series was underway Saturday evening at the Hugh Jascourt Memorial 4-Miler. More than 80 runners turned out on Saturday evening on the C&O Towpath near Fletcher’s Boat House to celebrate its club’s founding president’s birthday, Hugh Jascourt. And with a welcomed break from the humidity, many were pleased to compete on the low-impact, out-and-back course along the canal.
[button-red url=”http://www.zippyraceresults.com/search.php?ID=4076″ target=”_self” position=”left”] Four Mile Results [/button-red]Kate Katz of Arlington, Va. took the lead right off the bat in the women’s division and held it till the finish with a time of 26:32, making it her second win in a row in the Bunion Derby series.
Red, white and blue replaced head-to-toe green. Long sleeves made way for tank tops and sports bras. The hill, however, was the same as everyone remembered it.
The Freedom Four set up shop at the top of Wilson Boulevard in Arlington, with the same out-and-back course as the St. Patrick’s Day-themed Four Courts Four Miler. That meant nearly a mile that runners spent either trying to hold back down a hill or take what the course gave them, and then same distance suffering back up, this time with the added heat and humidity that came with late June in Northern Virginia.
“Do it for Dad” was the motto for a plethora of runners June 15th at the Father’s Day 8k.
Held on the C&O Canal Towpath in Georgetown, the flat course offered an opportunity for the perfect finale to the holiday weekend.
The sounds of laughter, music and families with friendly dogs and moonbounce-loving children filled the start area of the ninth annual Twilight Festival 4 Miler June 21 in Ashburn.
But a subtle somberness permeated the race and paralleled the evening’s overcast skies.
Freedom Plaza was a sea of purple June 14 for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network’s Purple Strides 5k. With little humidity and a light breeze, the weather was perfect for thousands of runners and walkers to make their way down Pennsylvania Avenue.
[button-red url=”http://www.zippyraceresults.com/search.php?ID=4043″ target=”_self” position=”left”] 5k Results [/button-red]Griffin Mackey, 16, of Pittsburgh easily won the race, crossing the finish line in under 17 minutes. Just coming off his track season at Sewickley Academy, Mackey broke away from the field after the first mile and ran unchallenged for the rest of the race. Brian Mahoney of Washington, D.C. finished second.
Colleen Smith showed up at Covington and Burling ready to put her legal studies to work as a summer associate. She found out pretty quickly that the partners were also interested in her background in distance running. She ran track at the College of Idaho.
“Alan Pemberton told me on my first day I’d be running on the Lawyers Have Heart team,” she said. “The firm is pretty serious about it.”