5K Run for Mental Health
Eastern State Hospital, Williamsburg, VA
Saturday, May 31, 2003
By Rick Platt
Two Williamsburg runners had very successful debuts in their first Colonial
Road Runners race, each placing second overall in the ninth annual 5K Run for
Mental Health Saturday morning at Eastern State Hospital in Williamsburg. Justin
Mangold, 25, ran a 16:25 as runnerup for the men to Hampton's Michael Mann,
34, who ran a 16:04. Kym DiPaola, 32, also was second, just breaking the 20-minute
barrier with a 19:59, trailing only Jennifer Quarles, 31, of Williamsburg, who
had a 19:42 for the women.
There was a record turnout for the race, with 165 finishers in the 5K run/walk,
and an additional 19 finishers in the one mile fun run/walk. The Colonial Road
Runners Grand Prix event was organized by co-race directors Lynn James Coursen
of the Colonial Services Board, and June Hagee of the Williamsburg Alliance
for the Mentally Ill, and was part of May's National Mental Health Month activities.
WAAMI is a grass roots, family support organization dedicated to improving the
lives of persons with severe neurobiological brain disorders through education
and advocacy. The CSB provides quality mental health, mental retardation, and
substance abuse services, serving the citizens of James City and York Counties,
Williamsburg and Poquoson.
Mangold himself is a substance abouse counselor for Gloucester Convenient Care
in Gloucester, affiliated with the Sentara Williamsburg Community Hospital.
He came to Williamsbug in the summer of 2000 as a William and Mary graduate
student in community counseling, receiving his Masters in education in May,
2002. Although he has lived in Williamsburg for three years, he has raced very
sparingly, only running the Carter's Grove 8 Mile Challenge in April, 2001,
the Anheuser-Busch Colonial Half Marathon (in 1:21:39) in Feburary, 2002, and
the SunTrust Richmond Marathon (a 3:02:18 in his debut marathon) in November,
2002. A knee injury this year kept him from the Colonial and Hampton half marathons,
and this past weekend was the first time he's felt 100% in 2003.
As an undergraduate student at Grove City (Pa.) College (majoring in psychology
and biology), Mangold ran a half season of cross country his freshman year,
but a stress fracture ended his collegiate running career. He had run three
years in high school, starting as a sophomore, with a 1,600-meter best of 4:47,
and a 2:04 PR on the district-winning 4 x 800-meter relay team. He hasn't done
speed work since college, and trains on his own at 40-50 miles per week. "For
some reason, I've been getting faster with less effort," Mangold said.
Perhaps there's some speed benefit from his hobby, riding his Suzuki 650 sport
motorcycle, a passion he shares with his wife Brittany, who works as an engineer
for AES Consulting, and rides a Kawasaki 250.
While Mangold has competed infrequently (four races since 2000), DiPaola's racing
has been almost nonexistent. The Mental Health 5K was her first 5K race in 12
years. That she could break 20 minutes and place second overall is remarkable.
The only other running event in which she had participated since age 20 was
the Indy Half Marathon, a May event in Indianapolis that is a part of the Indy
500 festivities. DiPaola ran that three times in the mid-1990s, while living
and working in Indianapolis, with a best time of 1:34.
At South Dearborn High School in Aurora, Ind., DiPaola was a decent swimmer
(her highlight was being on a relay team that qualified for states), and tried
running one season her freshman year, but she was pushed too hard, leading too
shin splints and plantar fascitis and an end to her high school running. At
Indiana University in Bloomington, she ran occasionally for fitness, with her
5K at age 20 also just under 20 minutes. She also tried one triathlon at age
20. She met husband Dan while both were at the IU law school (they now have
a 10-year-old daughter Abigail and a 2-year-old son Gaelan). Dan is a JAG attorney
for the Army at Fort Eustis, and they came to Williamsburg in February, 2002,
moving this May from Indian Springs Road to the Berkeley's Green neighborhood.
Kym worked for the attorney general in Indiana, then taught history at a community
college in upstate New York, and is now a full-time mom. She started interval
workouts with the Colonial Road Runners last fall, and plans on running the
Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon, Aug. 31 in Virginia Beach, along with additional
CRR races.
Age group records were broken by Blaine O'Reilly (men 14-and-under, 17:52),
Bob Spencer (men 60-64, 19:49), Andrew Polansky (men 75-and-over, 30:03), Ray
Funkhouser (men walk, 25:32) and Joan Coven (women 60-64, 22:57). Coven, 61,
now has a complete collection of CRR age-group records for women 60-64 for CRR
races that are currently being held, having missed last year's Mental Health
5K due to a calf injury.
Mann has two firsts and a second in his three CRR races of 2003, and leads the
overall division of the CRR Grand Prix, 29-26, over Hampton's Jim Bates, with
Williamsburg's Jim Goggin third (19). For the women Quarles has three wins and
one second in her four CRR races this year, leading the Grand Prix with 39 points,
followed by Sherry Volk (26), Valerie Plyer (16) and Carol Talley (16).
The men's and women's 45-49 age groups were both remarkably strong. After the
top three overall men of Mann, Mangold and James Estes, 37, of Yorktown (17:05),
men 45-49 went 4-5-6, with Jim Bates (17:15), Steve Chantry (a PR 17:33) and
Jim Goggin (17:34). John Donahue, 45, was 10th overall for the men (in 18:36),
yet couldn't win an age-group award.
Women 40-and-over went 3-4-5-6-8-9, with Valerie Plyler, 43, of Newport News
(20:01), Sherry Volk, 42, of Williamsburg (20:33), Sharon White, 46, of Langley
AFB (20:41), Carol Talley, 48, of Toano (21:13), Linda Ingleson, 46, of Williamsburg
(21:54) and Linda Kidder, 46, of Williamsburg (21:58). Like Donahue for the
men, Kidder (a former CRR Grand Prix champion) was shut out of the age-group
awards, breaking 22 minutes, yet only placing fourth in her age group.
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Rick Platt, Run Fast Promotions
113 Anthony Wayne Rd.
Williamsburg, VA 23185
757-229-7375
[email protected]