By Rick Platt
Ned Berg has become the "Avis" of the annual Lake Matoaka Trail
Challenge, finishing second Wednesday evening for the fifth consecutive year.
Jamestown High grad Bryce Ruiz won easily this year in 23:42 for the 4.3-mile
race, with Berg, 43, over 2 1/2 minutes back with a 26:18, two seconds ahead
of Ross Halleland, 17, a visiting high school runner from San Diego.
The Lake Matoaka run is the oldest continuously-held race on the Peninsula,
dating back to the mid-1970s. Berg loves to run the challenging footing and
hills of the trails around Lake Matoaka, and has run very consistent times while
finishing second every year since 1998 (25:43, 26:29, 26:44, 27:04 and this
year's 26:18). The winners the past five years have been Daniel Shaye (24:36
in '98, 26:02 in '99), T.J. Ciccone (25:23 in '00), John Piggott (24:43 in '01)
and N.C. State-bound Ruiz.
Berg's streak could easily have been six years, since in 1997 he won the race
(in 26:31) only because the lead runner (from Chicago) made a wrong turn less
than 200 meters from the finish, just out of sight of the Zable Stadium finish
line. Twelve runners broke the 30-minute barrier this year, including Ruiz,
Berg, Halleland, Ciccone (26:51), John Hopke (26:54), Chad Simpson (27:39),
Craig Wortman (27:55), Josh Chapman (28:19), Jim Bates (28:27), Bill Alto (28:37),
Tim Roberts (29:01) and Ryan Gaul (29:28).
For the women Margarita Doreste of Newport News won in 32:07, well ahead of
Jen Quarles, 30, of Williamsburg (33:27). However Quarles had just completed
four miles of Colonial Road Runners' intervals (ten "singles") at
Barksdale Field 15 minutes before the Lake Matoaka start, so had good reason
to be tired. Completing the women's top five were Kim Harwig (33:46), Rhonda
Venable (33:57) and Ronda Ford (34:12).
The Lake Matoaka run was the third of five consecutive Wednesday evening Peninsula
Track Club Summer Fun Run Series events. At the Moonlight 5K July 24, there
were 23 finishers at Sandy Bottom Nature Park in Hampton. The top five men were
Bill Alto (20:40), Scott Bartram (20:51), Marco Pargas (22:37), Dave Venable
(23:06) and Daniel Brewer (23:28). Three women were under 30 minutes--Irene
Bierie (23:59), Jean Troutman (24:13) and Allison Engel (25:46).
The next Wednesday (July 31) was the Predict Your Time 5 Miler at Newport News
Park, where a remarkable seven runners (of the 45 finishers) were within four
seconds of their predicted times, despite not being allowed to wear watches.
Margarita Doreste was near perfect, predicting 37:30 and running 37:30.01, an
amazing one hundredth of a second off.
The other accurate predictors were Chris Dowling (68:15 predicted, 68:14 run),
Cindy Slominski (45:00, 45:01), Jan Spangler (46:30, 46:32), Rick Hartung (37:00,
37:02), Don Brown (46:30, 46:32) and Keith McCaffrey (37:30, 37:33). In contrast
the farthest off was Jahmil Edwards, who predicted 47:17, but ran 41:50.
The final two PTC Summer Fun Run Series races are the Swamp Bridge 5K (Aug.
14 at Newport News Park) and the Harvest Lake 5K (Aug. 21 at Coventry), both
at 6:30 p.m. The PTC Couples Run 5K, usually the final Wednesday of August,
has been cancelled (Fort Monroe was not available).
Saturday evening, Aug. 10 is the CRR's Vineyards of Williamsburg/RRCA Women's
Distance Festival 5K, with the one mile starting at 6:30 p.m. and the 5K at
7 p.m. The race is open to men and women. For info contact Ken and Brenda Mitchell
(565-3340).
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.
At the Yorktown Freedom Run 5K, several runners turned down prize money due
to college eligibility, including winner Bryce Ruiz (15:35) and fifth-place
Ryan Neuhart (15:57). Neuhart, 20, of Newport News, was second in last Saturday's
Coast Guard 5K (in 15:53), just seven seconds behind winner Tim Nichols, 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 at
Coast Guard in 16:27.
One runner who did accept prize money at the July 4th Yorktown Freedom Run was
women's runnerup Chelliey Corder, 17, of Billings, Mont. Corder's 19:21 was
only four seconds slower than the Yorktown 13-19 age group record of Rebecca
Cline from 1991. She did not compete in high school (the school's coach said
she ran too much mileage), and she does not plan to compete in college. Corder
was in town as part of a 4H interstate exchange program, heard about the race,
and decided to race in another state.
There was also Masters (40+) and Senior Masters (50+) prize money. For the Masters
men, Dai Roberts, 41, of Virginia Beach (16:04, sixth overall) won over Mark
Mullady, 45, of Williamsburg (16:49, two seconds faster than the 16:51 he ran
last year to win the Masters title) and Bill Bustin, 44, of Yorktown (16:55).
For the Masters women, Williamsburg's Sherry Volk, 41, ran a 20:32 to edge Sharon
White, 45, of Langley AFB (20:36), with Margarita Doreste, 41, of Newport News
third (20:58). White set a race age group record for women 45-49 with her 20:36,
with Carol Talley, 47, of Toano (the fourth Master) also under the old record
of 21:30 with her 21:22.
Another race record (for women 50-54) was broken by the Senior Masters winner
Donna Harper, 50, of Virginia Beach (23:04). Following Harper were Joan Coven,
61, of Williamsburg (23:21, also her first prize money) and Carol Rudesill-Brantley,
50, of Williamsburg (24:03).
For the men 50-and-over, the top three were Bill Alto, 51, of Newport News (19:32),
Steve Tyndall, 54, of Yorktown (19:51) and Dennis Manske, 56, of Hampton (20:02).
There were 693 finishers this year, the second highest ever (trailing only the
719 from 2001), with the weather oppressive (hot, hazy, humid, little breeze,
and temperatures rising through the 80's during race time). The race started
at the National Park Service Visitors Center, and passed the Yorktown Victory
Center, before finishing at the Victory Monument.
Besides White and Harper, three other race records were set this year, with
the first runners ever in those categories--Jim Johnson, 77, of Hampton (men
75-and-over, 46:48, he was given race No. 1), Ryan Myers, 21, of Smithfield
(wheelchair, 38:23), and Miriam Tuovila, 77, of Yorktown (women 75-and-over,
45:16).