Seasonal Overview
Rick Platt Commentary – For the spring Hampton Roads Runner Rankings, the definitive race was the Run the DOG Street 5K in Williamsburg, a race with the all-time Colonial Road Runners 5K overall men’s record of 14:13. For the summer runner rankings, the definitive race was the Elizabeth River Run 10K, race directed by Tidewater Striders president Thomas Hicks, and on a fast and flat course in Norfolk, starting at Old Dominion University. Both are well known, offer prize money and have been staples of the Hampton Roads Super Grand Prix for years.
The definitive race for the fall runner rankings was a surprise, though, the Weighted Angels 5K on the flat, fast and newly USATF certified Billsburg/Landfall at Jamestown course. Thanks to an influx of cross country runners from the William & Mary cross country team, the race had an unprecedented (for CRR races) 13 runners under 16 minutes, including the Virginia state men’s 15-19 record of 15:03 by W&M freshman Peyton Golden (age grading 85.38%), the all-time CRR men’s 35-39 record of 15:11 by W&M distance coach Forest Braden (breaking Adam Otstot’s former record by six seconds and age grading 88.47%), and the all-time CRR men’s 40-44 record of 15:24 by Otstot (breaking his own record of 15:41 and age grading 87.88%). There were additional age grades over 85% by 60+ runners Pete Gibson and Robert Whitaker.
There were also two women (Ann Mazur and W&M women’s coach Hanna Peterson) under 18 minutes, and a third (Emily Honeycutt) running her first ever 5K under 19 minutes. All told, there were a remarkable 20 runners over the 80% national-class level, age graded. Rankings leader Roger Hopper ran 15:17, only three seconds over his 5K PR of 15:14 (set at the previous year’s Weighted Angels race, where he was second overall to W&M grad Ryan McGorty’s 14:56), but was only fifth overall for the men, an unusual place for Roger, as he usually dominates most CRR Grand Prix races. The Weighted Angels race did again offer prize money, which helped with attracting fast runners. Based on these results, the Weighted Angels 5K has been added to the 2023 Hampton Roads Super Grand Prix race schedule.
The top four in the men’s overall rankings were all at Weighted Angels, including fourth overall Will Jeter. Although Hopper lost by six seconds to Braden at Weighted Angels, he was far ahead of him at the Yorktown Battlefield 10 Miler two weeks later. Hopper also lost to Otstot at the Run for the Hills 5K, two weeks before Weighted Angels, but was in the middle of 140 mile weeks preparing for his December marathon. Based on his totality of races for the fall, and despite a few losses, Hopper was still the clear number one for the men, having the best 10K equivalent of 31:26. Braden was next at 31:40. Five of the six category leaders in the fall rankings ran Weighted Angels. The only exception was Joey Hallock for women 60+.
Male Overall
Male Masters
Male 60+
Female Overall
Female Masters
Female 60+
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.
