By Rick Platt
There were as many area roadraces (two) in the first three days of August as
there were in the entire 31 days of July. The summer roadraceseason resumed
with races last Friday (the Super Day 5K at Fort Eustis) and Saturday (the 14th
annual Coast Guard Day 5K in Yorktown) mornings. There were 133 entrants and
128 finishers in the Fort Eustis race and 187 entrants and 170 finishers at
the Coast Guard Training Center race.
There are good reasons why the Peninsula Track Club and Colonial Road Runners have so few races in July, the hottest month of the year. Besides the oppressive heat and humidity, the highest mean temperatures come in the second half of July, with morning lows often in the mid-to-upper 70s. And even with relatively early starting times of 8:30 a.m., the sun has already been up for 2 1/2 hours by race time, pushing temperatures well into the 80s.
In July the two PTC races were the popular Yorktown Freedom Run 5K (766 entrants) July 4 and the women-only RRCA Women's Distance Festival 5K July 20 (79 finishers). As an alternative, many area runners do their long runs early Saturday morning, with Tom Gillman's Carter's Grove Country Road training runs increasingly popular (there were 19 participants recently for the 6 a.m. distance runs that meet at Aroma's Coffee Shop on Prince George Street). Others do the Colonial Road Runners interval sessions Wednesday afternoons at 5:30 p.m. at Barksdale Field (30-40 routinely show up for these). Both sessions are open to all runners (contact Rick Platt of the CRR at 229-7375 for info).
The top three women at the Women's Distance Festival 5K (held at the Sentara Hampton Health and Fitness Center) two weeks ago were Menchville High star Megan Isaacs, 17, of Newport News (20:15), Margarita Doreste, 41, of Newport News (20:38) and former Bruton High runner Joanna McCandlish, 20, of Williamsburg (20:42). The Masters (40-and-over) awards went to Kim Harwig of Yorktown (22:30), Ronda Ford of Williamsburg (22:47) and Carla Isaacs of Newport News (23:02). The walk was won by Linda Walker of Lancaster (40:35). Not surprisingly the top mother-daughter team was Carla and Megan Isaacs (combined 43:17).
Friday's Super Day 5K is held as part of the Fort Eustis base's annual Super Day festivities. Craig Hymes, 39, of Yorktown won in 17:01, followed by Danny Frieden, 31, of Newport News (17:54) and Ryan Kent, 16, of Yorktown (18:12). The women's top three were Jessica Giffon, 13, of Newport News (20:41), Megan Lavoie, 16, of Newport News (21:16) and Sarah Garland, 28, of Hampton (21:21).
Appropriately, the Coast Guard 5K was won by a Coast Guard person, Tim Nichols, 20, of Sears, Mich., who won by seven seconds, 15:46 to 15:53, over Ryan Neuhart, 20, of Newport News. Nichols is a BMA student (boatswain mate) in the Coast Guard, and also is a track scholarship athlete for a Michigan college. Jamie Palmer, 32, of Fort Eustis was third in 16:27.
The women's top three were Julia Smith, 33, of Tappahannock (20:18), Caroline Diehl, 36, of Yorktown (21:36) and Sarah Chapman, 15, of Hampton (21:41). The walk winners were Harry Watson, 61, of Suffolk (29:03) and Linda Kidder, 45, of Williamsburg (30:28).
In another recent race, the Kingsmill Community Services Association had their annual Fourth of July race on the four-mile bike loop. Walsingham Academy's Tony Brickhouse won the four mile in 22:24, followed by Brian Williams (25:17), Peter Williams (26:02), Ricardo Jimenez (26:56) and the first female, Michelle Hogge (27:06). The Kingsmill one mile was won by Olivia Twiddy (6:57) over Marry Wilke (6:59), Megan Orange (7:02), Katie Biernacki (7:40) and Bryan Mullady (7:50).
Another summer neighborhood run was the Queens Lake Day Fun Run. The three mile was won by Matt Curtin in 19 minutes.