Season Overview
While writing up the Summer 2021 Rankings, I mused that the fall could be one of the all-time great seasons of road racing in Hampton Roads, at least in recent memory. Well boy, did we ever come through! This season was far and away the best I’ve seen across the board, for men and women, in all age categories. Some favorable racing weather and fierce competition contributed to this, but most importantly it seemed everyone was bringing their best efforts in training and on race days, including a lot of competitive newcomers to the Rankings. If you see me, you’ll have to let me know whether or not the Rankings get any credit for this uptick in racing quality, but whatever the case, it is great to see so many running so well!
Male Overall
I was able to replicate my summer #1 ranking with a PR 1:09:28 win at the Tidewater Strider Half Marathon, good for an age grade of 83.52% and a 10K equivalent of 31:30, which is coincidentally identical to the 10K equivalent for my best race from last season, a 1:05:40 effort at the New Haven 20K. My season-high and best-ever age grade, however, came on the flat and fast Billsburg Brewery 5K course that was host to the Weighted Angels 5K, where I ran a PR 15:14 for an age grade of 84.35% while taking second to Ryan McGorty, who gave me something to chase on his way to running 14:56. I had a busy season otherwise, including wins at the Bayside Marlin 5K (16:17), All Shades 5K (15:24), Ice-aholics Freedom Run 8K (25:21), FURever Homes 8K (25:51), Logy Bear 8K (25:50), Grove Trotter Chickahominy 10K (32:10), and Governor’s Land 5K (15:34) en route to securing my seventh-consecutive Colonial Road Runners Grand Prix title, my sixth-consecutive Hampton Roads Super Grand Prix title, and my first Tidewater Striders Grand Prix title.
Bayside High Track and XC coach David Kidd returns from a summer off from racing to claim the #2 spot after being ranked 5th in the spring. Kidd won the competitive Norfolk Harbor 5K in a swift 15:36 (82.91%) to go with his comparably less impressive runner-up 33:55 Wicked 10K and winning 17:16 Strider XC Classic 5K a month prior, a testament to his ability to get in killer shape and peak at the right time for that season-best race. Kidd just edges out 3rd-ranked Zachary Helm, who collected a fine pair of wins, first at the Yorktown Battlefield 10 Miler in 54:16 (80.62%), and then two weeks later at the Norfolk Harbor Half Marathon in 1:14:12. #4 John Vogel and #5 Adam Otstot filed in behind me at Governor’s Land, where Vogel rebounded from his 16:37 Milestat XC Invitational 5K to top Otstot 15:48 (81.33%) to 16:04 (83.61%). Otstot, the summer #3 and spring #2, who seems to finally be over the injury issues that plagued him throughout the summer and fall, pairs his 16:04 with a remarkably similar 16:05 (83.52%) runner-up finish at the All Shades 5K two months prior, his only other race of the season.
Sixth-ranked Forest Braden, the spring’s top-ranked runner, was second to Helm at the Yorktown Battlefield 10 Miler in 55:31 (80.40%) and to me at the Logy Bear 8K in 27:26. Like Otstot, Braden is returning from summer injury woes, and it will be great to see him get back in the mix at the top like he was last spring. #7 Luke Henkel, a Princess Anne High ‘21 grad now at William and Mary, ran fast, as many of us did, in the light rain at the Weighted Angels 5K for a time of 16:12, only to improve a month later at Governor’s Land in 16:05, though his kick at that latter race wasn’t quite enough to hold off a late-charging Otstot, who beat Henkel to the finish by one second. Henkel also won the Riverwatch on the Piankatank 5K in 16:53. Eighth-ranked Ryan Carroll replicated his ranking from the summer with a 16:26 (81.74%) win at the Chas Foundation 5K, and continued his penchant for running quality races in Florida with his runner-up 16:32 at the Run Daytona Racing Weekend 5K, where he also won the 10K (35:51) and 15K (54:28). Carroll added to his victory count at the Cause for Paws 5K in 17:04. #10 Peter Ramundo’s 1:16:40 win at the Crawlin’ Crab Half is superior to #9 Brian Primeaux’s 27:19 win at the Neptune Festival 8K in terms of 10K equivalent, however, Primeaux beat Ramundo head-to-head, 34:59-35:36, at the Wicked 10K to earn the higher ranking here. Primeaux added to his superior résumé by winning the Heart of Ghent 10K in 35:30. Just outside the top 10 is 11th-ranked Mike Kapetanakis, who narrowly lost the Neptune Festival 8K to Primeaux in a same-time 27:19. Kapetanakis falls two spots from his summer #9 ranking.
There were some fast one-racers this fall, led by Gabriel Collison, whose 15:43 (81.76%) at the Norfolk Harbor 5K was good for 2nd place behind Kidd’s 15:36. Collison would’ve been #4 with a second race. David “Zion” Gregory did well to PR and win at the Tidewater Strider Marathon in 2:34:51, but he lacked the second race to back up his #5 ranking from last season, a position he would’ve replicated with another effort. Jacob Ellis, another Princess Anne ’21 grad, was 12th in 26:42 at the Allianz Partners 8K in Richmond, and could’ve been ranked 8th with a second race.
Compared to the summer, this season was far more competitive. Sure, both top 5s look similar at around a 10K equivalent of 33:30 and faster to qualify, but expand to the top 10 and the fall is closer to 34:30 while the summer was over 35:00. Then the top 25 as a whole is over two minutes faster, with the cutoff being 38:48 last season and 36:34 this season. This fall is similarly better than the COVID-stunted fall 2020, but even when looking at fall 2019, this season reigns superior. It will be fun to see what the winter looks like after such a great preceding season!
Male Masters
John Lomogda doesn’t race often, but when he does, it is something to behold! The 52-year-old defies his age to top the male masters field with a 34:53 10K equivalent for his stellar 16:45 runner-up effort at the Chas Foundation 5K, which is good for a Rankings-high age grade of 88.66%. His second effort was as a pacer, but regardless of how slow that is, his top race is too impressive to ignore, and earns him the #1 spot. Second-ranked Mark Tompkins, another quick runner who races sparingly, offered two strong efforts this fall to claim his position, highlighted by his 16:57 (83.48%) for 6th at the very competitive Governor’s Land 5K, where he finished 25 seconds ahead of #3 and fledgling master Adam Kenyon. Kenyon nabbed a runner-up finish at the Riverwatch on the Piankatank 5K in 17:39.
Another grand master wonder like Lomogda, at #4, is Thomas Hicks, falling a few spots from his summer #1 ranking, but nonetheless impressing as usual. Hicks was 4th at the Chas Foundation 5K in 17:24, 39 seconds behind Lomogda, for an age grade of 84.00%, and made the podium overall at the Crawlin’ Crab Half Marathon in a 3rd-place 1:21:25. Fifth-ranked Randy Shelton did his best work outside of the 757 this season, but was runner up at the Noland Trail 50K to go with his pair of fast out-of-town 8Ks, led by his 28:50 Allianz Partners 8K. Shelton falls two spots from his summer #3 ranking. Sixth-ranked Andy Riley augmented the tough masters field at the Governor’s Land 5K by placing 11th in 17:58, 15 seconds ahead of 12th place and #8 Steven Kast, whose 18:13 earns the 56-year-old an age grade of 84.17%. Between those two is seventh-ranked Toby Worm, who just missed the podium at the Norfolk Harbor Half in 1:23:13 and drops two spots from last season. #9 goes to Armando Arias on the strength of his 1:03:03 for 6th at the Yorktown Battlefield 10 Miler, while Rich Hayes rounds out the top 10 as the fourth runner aged 50 or older in the group, pairing a 38:11 Wicked 10K with a Norfolk Harbor Half where he was 100 seconds back from Worm and 39 seconds ahead of #11 Matthew Michaels.
Steve Speirs and Chuck Inman lead the way among fast masters men with just one race this season. Speirs, who extended his 17-year sub-3-hour marathon streak in March, ran another great 26.2 miler in 2:53:09 at the Tidewater Strider Marathon, but lacked the second race to claim the #6 spot his marathon time earned. Just a minute back from Hicks at Crawlin’ Crab, Inman also could’ve been ranked 6th had he run a second race. Bryan Hickman could’ve been #8 with a race in addition to his 1:23:32 Richmond Half, where he was over two minutes ahead of 9th-ranked Arias. Shawn Marek rounds out the best of the one-racers with a win at the Bra-ha-ha 5K in 18:12, which also would’ve been good for #8 had he run another race.
Compared to the summer masters men, this season was way more competitive, with the 10K equivalent to make the top 5, 10, and 25 improving by over two minutes in each of those groupings. The same can just about be said when comparing this fall to last, with last fall’s times being slightly faster than this summer’s. When compared to the pre-COVID times of fall 2019, this season is still a significant improvement, with each subset making about a 30-second improvement from two years ago.
Male 60+
It would take a runner as legendary as Pete Gibson to break up the trio of Robert Whitaker, Stephen Chantry, and Rick Samaha’s stranglehold on the top 3 in the 60+ category, wouldn’t it? Those latter three owned this group the past two seasons, but don’t quite this time, with Gibson barely managing to break up the band, claiming #2 and squeaking in just ahead of Chantry and Samaha’s respective 19:24 (86.25%) and 19:26 (83.88%) 5Ks with his own 19:23 (85.55%). Coincidentally, Gibson and Chantry’s best times both came in great conditions on fast courses on the same day, Gibson’s at the Norfolk Harbor 5K and Chantry’s at the Governor’s Land 5K in Williamsburg on the last Saturday of the season, November 20th. Of course, topping them all and reclaiming the #1 spot he held in the spring is Whitaker, who finished well ahead of Chantry’s second-best effort of the season at the All Shades 5K, 19:15-19:33. Whitaker leapfrogs Chantry and Samaha after being ranked 3rd behind them last season, while Chantry and Samaha each fall two spots from their summer rankings.
Closing out the top 5 is Aaron Baranowski, who ran the fastest 60+ 10K of the season, a 41:31 at Wicked, where he finished almost three minutes ahead of #7 Michael O’Hara’s 44:16. O’Hara’s best race of the fall, though, came at the Crawlin’ Crab Half Marathon, where he ran 1:37:58. Baranowski moves up three spots from his #8 ranking last season. Sixth-ranked Vincent Ortiz ran a fantastic Boston Marathon at age 60 in 3:15:58, and is part of a top 6 that are head and shoulders above the rest of the competition by two 10K equivalent minutes. Advancing two places in the Rankings is 8th-ranked Jim Thornton, who was a couple minutes back of Whitaker and Chantry at the All Shades 5K in 21:26. #9 Richard Grant earned his spot with his 1:14:52 at the Yorktown Battlefield 10 Miler, while 10th-ranked Rick Schuff earned his by traveling to run a pair of outstanding marathons for a 63-year-old, first the RDC Marathon in North Carolina in 3:30:07, and then the Richmond Marathon in 3:33:31 two weeks later.
There was only a small handful of notable runners with only one race, and only one, Kelvin Anderson, could’ve made the top 10 with a second race in addition to his 1:40:42 at the Mulberry Island Half Marathon. Much like the masters men, making the top 5, 10, and 25 took a 10K equivalent of about two minutes faster for each of those groups compared to the summer. After a fall of very agreeable weather, I’m curious to see how this stellar senior crowd responds to colder temperatures this winter.
Female Overall
There was little doubt about who the top female of the fall would be, as spring and summer #1 Bethany Spector had another fantastic season with a handful of great races and wins. Her best times came at the half marathon distance, at which the Tidewater Striders Grand Prix and Hampton Roads Super Grand Prix champion first won the Crawlin’ Crab Half Marathon in 1:21:44, and then placed 4th in the much more competitive Rock ‘n’ Roll Washington DC Half in 1:22:01 a month later. Spector also picked up wins at the All Shades 5K (17:55), Logy Bear 8K (30:42), and Tidewater Strider Marathon (2:54:32), and traveled for a strong 2:56:13 Boston Marathon and 16th place 7:52:17 JFK 50 Miler. We’ll see if she can achieve a Rankings Slam by topping them for a fourth straight time this winter; she was ranked #4 last winter.
Second-ranked Jo Reihner was six minutes back from Spector at Boston in 3:02:07, but her best work was during her runner-up 37:35 performance at the Wicked 10K. Reihner was the top one-racer last season, winning the Big Blue 5K in 17:43, and it’s nice to see her actualize her Rankings potential with a second race this fall. It’d be quite the spectacle to see her race Spector head-to-head in a smaller and more local race, as opposed to Boston. #3 Maria Spady lost a fast race to Spector at the summer’s Democracy Dash 10K, but the two didn’t cross paths this season, during which Spady won a pair of local races, the Chas Foundation 5K in 18:19 and the Yorktown Battlefield 10 Miler in 1:03:42, leading up to her season-best race, a stellar 1:24:05 Richmond Half Marathon. Spady replicates her #3 summer ranking after being ranked 2nd in the spring.
Fourth-ranked Stephanie Rice did beat Reihner by a minute-and-a-half at the Boston Marathon, 3:00:36-3:02:07, but Reihner’s swift Wicked 10K time is too fast to overcome. After missing the mark at Boston, Rice got under three hours at her season-best race, a 2:58:01 Tidewater Strider Marathon, a month later. Like Spector and Spady, Rice replicates her summer ranking. #5 Hanna Peterson was the winner at the Governor’s Land 5K in 18:40 after finishing runner-up to Spector at the Logy Bear 8K in 32:24. Peterson, the new William and Mary Director of Operations for cross country and track and field, improved her 5K time from a 19:52 runner-up to 9th-ranked Emily Honeycutt at the Weighted Angels 5K to her 18:40 at Governor’s Land a little over a month later, topping Honeycutt by almost a minute in their latter showdown. Sixth-ranked Alaina Skelley was another runner-up to Spector, this time at the Crawlin’ Crab Half Marathon in 1:26:35, prior to picking up the win at the Tidewater Strider Half Marathon in 1:27:51, just over a minute ahead of #7 Jenny Moran’s runner-up 1:29:08. It would seem there were plenty of wins to go around, as Moran was golden at the Norfolk Harbor Half in 1:27:33, 8th-ranked Tiffany Sloan topped the podium at the Neptune Festival 8K in 31:36, and #9 Honeycutt lead the way with PRs at the Crawlin’ Crab 5K in 19:26 and Grove Trotter Chickahominy 10K in 40:09 en route to her third straight, and fourth overall, Colonial Road Runners Grand Prix title. Moran was the biggest positive mover in this category, improving seven spots from her summer ranking, while Sloan is up two spots and Honeycutt is down one. Also up two spots from the summer is 10th-ranked Renee Merchant, whose best race of the fall was the Richmond Half in 1:30:30.
After a couple of seasons of not racing, Rankings-regular and last winter’s #4 Ekaterina Aaron was the top one-racer by a long shot with her 39:18 for 3rd at Wicked. Aaron would’ve been ranked 7th with another race. Both JoAnna Baird and last season’s #5 Mollie Sweet could’ve just cracked the top 10 with a second race. Making the top 5 and 25 got just over a 10K equivalent minute more difficult this season compared to last, with the time needed to make the top 10 improving by a smaller margin, from 41:13 to 40:51. Each of those three groupings is over three minutes faster than last fall, so needless to say this season was much more competitive than what we’ve seen recently.
Female Masters
Jenny Moran makes it five of six seasons ranked #1, and the only reason she wasn’t the top-ranked female master this past spring is because she only ran one race. A second race last spring and she’d be six for six! Her consistency is remarkable, as is the fact that at age 43 she won the Norfolk Harbor Half Marathon in 1:27:33 for her top race of the fall. Second-ranked Renee Merchant knows a thing or two about consistency – the two-time US Olympic Trials Marathon qualifier is still running fast times at age 40. The newly-minted master, along with Moran, distanced herself from the rest of this female masters field on the strength of her 1:30:30 Richmond Half Marathon; Moran and Merchant are over three-and-a-half 10K equivalent minutes ahead of the rest of the crowd. Perhaps most remarkable at the top of this list, however, is #3 Deelyn Robinson, whose meteoric rise this season makes her the most positively-trending runner in any age category in the Rankings by far. At age 56, she ran a great 1:38:24 Richmond Half for her best race, and backed that up with an age grade of 80.52% for her 21:54 Governor’s Land 5K, resulting in her rising sixteen spots from her summer #19 ranking. Robinson, who is coached by open men #5 Adam Otstot, improved her best 10K equivalent from the summer by over six minutes; it will be fun to see what more she can achieve this winter!
Robinson had some close competition bearing down on her, as 4th-ranked Robyn Roberts achieved the same best 10K equivalent with her 21:21 CXB 5K. Robinson gets the nod thanks to her superior second-best race, although give Roberts credit for having to get over the hills, hay bales, and uneven terrain at the Strider XC Classic 5K – that 22:28 is faster than it looks! #5 Sarah Doyle, the 2nd-ranked female master from the summer, falls three spots this season thanks to the return of Moran, the rise of Robinson, and the arrival of Merchant and Roberts, who were unranked last season, in the top 5. Still, Doyle had a great season, running a consistent pair of half marathons under 1:40, highlighted by her 1:38:40 Strider Half. The next three runners were in a close competition at the Norfolk Harbor Half, where 6th-ranked Angela Messing crossed the finish line first in 1:40:30 to claim her spot. Just six seconds behind was #7 Jahda Hill, and a minute later 8th-ranked Ruthie Kreuzer was finishing in 1:41:48. Hill finished about two minutes ahead of #9 Aimee Gianoukous at the Boston Marathon, 3:44:14-3:46:11, but Gianoukous’ best time was her 45:55 Grove Trotter Chickahominy 10K. Rounding out the top 10 is Eda Kininger and her 3:34:11 Richmond Marathon.
Despite being over eight minutes back from Moran at the Norfolk Harbor Half in 1:35:47, top one-racer Dolores Ware could’ve been ranked third had she paired a race with her 13.1-mile effort. Summer #5 Christine Fernandez ran a fine 45:58 Wicked 10K, and would’ve snuck into the top 10 with a second race. Debbie McLaughlin, 56, 6th-ranked during the summer and long the fastest woman her age until Deelyn Robinson’s recent performances, could’ve been #11 with a second race to go with her 1:44:33 Strider Half.
Exactly like the masters men, making the top 5, 10, and 25 masters women got about two 10K-equivalent-minutes more difficult to qualify for than during the summer. And this fall is lightyears ahead of last, when the top 5 was almost two minutes slower, the top 10 over five minutes slower, and the top 25 almost seven minutes slower! Of course COVID is to blame for a weak fall 2020, but looking back at fall 2019 reveals about a minute improvement on average throughout the Rankings, so like the rest of the categories, the masters women are running better than they have in a while!
Female 60+
Norma Phillips makes it four for four in the top two since this category was created, but Carolyn Harrison makes it two for two ranked #1 since her return to racing this past summer after being absent from the scene since the onset of the pandemic. She’ll be tough for Phillips to catch, as Harrison extended her 10K-equivalent lead from almost three minutes last season to almost four-and-a-half this time. Harrison even has leading one-racer Joey Hallock, the only other woman to top this category, beat by over a 10K-equivalent minute-and-a-half this fall. Harrison ran a strong pair of half marathons under 1:46, both of which earned her an age grade over 83% - her best effort was 1:45:17 at the Norfolk Harbor Half Marathon for an age grade of 84.23%. Phillips was firing on all cylinders for the Yorktown Battlefield 10 Miler, where her 1:26:22 for a 51:55 best 10K equivalent was over a minute-and-a-half better than her second-best 10K equivalent for her 25:42 Riverwatch on the Piankatank 5K.
Making the Rankings for the first time is #3 Sharon Guthrie, who stakes her claim with a great 54:17 Wicked 10K. Fourth-ranked Maria Jacob was a top one-racer the past two seasons – nice to see her finally run that second race and make the cut. Jacob’s pair of half marathons just over two hours got it done, her best being a 2:02:11 at the Tidewater Strider Half. #5 is the inimitable Betty Brothers, who is still going strong at age 74! Brothers drops two spots, but still makes the top 5 with her 43:36 Neptune 8K (83.72%) and 4:35:16 Richmond Marathon, the only 60+ woman to run 26.2 miles for one of her top races of the fall. Sixth-ranked Gloria Freeman ran a solid pair of 5Ks just over 27 minutes, her best a 27:10 at the Poop Matters 5K where she beat #9 Helen Worthington by almost a minute. Worthington’s best race was her much-faster 27:19 Run for the Bulls 5K, but this better effort wasn’t enough to stop her from falling three spots compared to the summer. One of the reasons for Worthington’s fall is #7 Jean Phelan, whose 44:35 Neptune Festival 8K helped her improve a spot from last season. Eighth-ranked Janice Kailos is back from being unranked during the summer after she was the spring #3. Tammi Clarke rounds out the top 10 with her 2:06:41 Mathews Half Marathon.
Joey Hallock is a bright spot among the female 60+ one-racers; her 38:42 Neptune 8K was good for a female-Rankings-high age grade of 86.43%, and would’ve been good for #2 in this category had she run another race. Sharon Nicklas also could’ve been ranked second for her 1:54:48 Harbor Half had she paired it with a second outing. Pamela Eddy’s 1:57:40 Richmond Half Marathon was quite good as well, as she could’ve been #3 with a second effort. Compared to last season, this category made another round of massive improvements, with the top 5 improving by a 10K equivalent of a minute-and-a-half, the top 10 improving by six minutes, and the top 25 by five minutes. It will be interesting to see if this category, as well as the rest, can continue to improve next season, or if this season was a bit of a high-quality anomaly and the winter will regress toward the mean.
Races
In order to be considered for these rankings, a race must have open entry to all, have full results listed on a website, and preferably list age, gender, and city of residence of all runners. Road and cross country races will be considered. Any race that is known to have an actual distance significantly different from its advertised distance will have its actual, or more accurate best-guess, distance displayed in parentheses. Races will fall into the following seasons based on the following boundaries: spring is the first full weekend of March up to but not including Memorial Day weekend, summer includes Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day, fall is from after Labor Day to before Thanksgiving, and winter includes Thanksgiving races up to but not including the first full weekend of March.
