Season Overview
We’ve come a long way. With vaccines widely available and governments, running clubs and race timing companies, and runners largely comfortable with a full return to “normal” racing, it has been fantastic to see the return of some of our favorite races and faces to the running scene this summer, despite the still ongoing COVID situation. The return of so many races that couldn’t be held last summer was fantastic, as especially was the return of the Elizabeth River Run 10K to kick off the summer ranking season in very competitive fashion. 36% of ranked runners had Elizabeth River as one of their best two races, and there were plenty more ranked runners, myself included, who raced Elizabeth River but didn’t have it in their top two. To close out the summer, we were able to give the final edition of the Virginia Beach Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon the great sendoff it deserved. On the whole, this summer was vastly superior to last summer’s quality, and was on par with summer 2019. With plentiful strong competition and racing opportunities, and better racing weather on the horizon, this fall has the potential to be one of the all-time great seasons of road racing in Hampton Roads.
Male Overall
Perspective is everything. Sure, you may be one of the top runners in Hampton Roads, but how do you stack up on the national scene, against truly elite runners? What is it that makes good runners elite? We should all ask ourselves these questions, because the answers can reframe a lot of things, especially our perception of what we’re capable of and our approach to training, not to mention our humility and respect for the sport and those who do it at the highest levels. When I traveled up to Connecticut for Labor Day to take on the pros on the streets of New Haven at the USATF 20K Championships, I learned more than any age grade claiming “80% and up = national class” could tell me. I finished 33rd overall, 14th in my age group, and almost six minutes (28 seconds/mile) off the lead despite running the race of my life, 1:05:40 (age grade = 83.71%, my best yet) for a rankings-high 10K equivalent of 31:30. I was rewarded for seeking answers to the aforementioned questions by preparing like a pro and, on race day, finding myself in a great sub-elite chase pack in which we were all no doubt invaluable to each other as we battled and clicked off mile splits in the 5:10s, some even under 5:10, save for the largely uphill tenth mile where we ran in the 5:30s. Sure, we didn’t make the podium or even the top 10, but we certainly found out what we were made of. My advice to any runner invested enough to read through these rankings is this: challenge yourself with your training and racing as much as you can handle, and sooner or later you’ll find out you’re tougher than you think. Keep at it, and when you find yourself in a race that requires you to dig deeper than you ever have before, you may find you have what it takes to achieve extraordinary things you didn't know you were capable of, even if you don’t always win.
In addition to my New Haven 20K, I had a busy summer of racing that included wins at the Chesty Puller 10K (6.35 miles) in a course record 34:07, the YMCA Independence Day 5K a week later in 15:31 (82.81%), the Night Owl 9K in a course record 33:00, the H-E-A-R-T 5K in a course record 15:37, the CDR SuperHero 5K in 15:40, the Bow Wow and Meow 5K in a course record 15:39, and finally the Democracy Dash 10K in a course record 32:18. I didn’t get to race #2 Chase Osborne, a Western Branch High alum currently running at East Carolina University, in either of his two races, both wins, 15:25 (83.35%) at the Coast Guard 5K in Portsmouth and 15:30 at the Chick-fil-A 5K, but his 32:09 best 10K equivalent is no match for my 31:30. I did race everyone else in the top 11, and despite a few losses my body of work and 20K reign supreme in the rankings, improving my position by two spots from my #3 ranking last season.
Handing me two of my four local summer losses was 3rd-ranked Adam Otstot, who twice got the better of me early on during the season, 25:41 (84.43%) to win the Yorktown Freedom Run 8K to my runner-up 25:46 in amazing late-May racing conditions on Memorial Day, and a 15:42 (85.56%) course record to win the Kingswood Klam 5K over my 2nd place 15:54 five days later. It is worth noting that, as a COVID precaution, there were several separate heats at the Yorktown Freedom Run, and Otstot and I did not directly race each other as we were in separate heats, though I have little doubt the outcome would have been the same had we been in the same heat racing head-to-head. I somewhat redeemed myself against Otstot at the Bow Wow and Meow 5K in August, where my 15:39 topped his injury-hampered 16:47, though victories are always better when they come against full-strength opponenets. Hopefully Otstot will make a strong comeback this fall and we’ll continue to push each other to be the best we can be. Otstot drops just one spot from his spring #2 ranking. Fourth-ranked Wesley Bond also got the better of me, at the Strider Scholarship 5K in 18:27 to my runner-up 19:10, in what may be better referred to, most unaffectionately, as the “Frictionless 5K”, at which pre-race rains made muddy trails almost impossible to traverse without slipping and falling. Bond and I, among many others, proved that slow race a fluke by running much faster at later 5Ks during the summer, Bond winning the Big Blue 5K in his season-best time of 15:57 (80.56%), and my 5K endeavors detailed above. #5 David “Zion” Gregory was runner-up to me in a swift 16:03 (80.06%) at the YMCA Independence Day 5K en route to being the top local finisher at the final edition of the Virginia Beach Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon in a 5th place 1:14:12. Gregory secures a position just one spot lower than his spring #4 ranking.
Western Branch High senior and #7 Lucas Simmons prepped for fall cross country with a solid pair of summer efforts, 16:31 for 2nd at the Big Blue 5K and 27:40 for 6th at the Freedom Run 8K. Sixth-ranked Blaine O’Reilly got the better of Simmons by five seconds at the Freedom Run, and that fact combined with O’Reilly’s summer body of work, which included a trio of strong runner-up finishes to me at the Night Owl 9K (34:46), H-E-A-R-T 5K (16:40), and SuperHero 5K (16:44), gives him the edge over Simmons in the rankings, despite Simmons’ marginally superior best 10K equivalent. O’Reilly is the biggest positive mover in the top 16, improving on his spring #10 ranking by four spots. #8 goes to Simmons’ Western Branch coach and longtime Hampton Roads competitive running staple, Ryan Carroll, who recorded his best time at the Elizabeth River Run 10K, where he was 4th place in 34:56, before running a strong time of his own while pacing Simmons in the Freedom Run 8K. Carroll moves up a spot in the rankings compared to last season. Ninth-ranked Mike Kapetanakis ran a fine 16:45 for 4th at the Big Blue 5K for a best 10K equivalent just superior to Carroll’s after finishing over a minute behind Carroll, 34:56-36:14, at Elizabeth River. Salem High senior Draven Fernandez rounds out the top 10 with his outstanding 35:11, an all-time Colonial Road Runners men’s 15-19 age group record, at the Democracy Dash 10K, where he topped #11 Clark Pederson’s 35:34.
There were some fantastic open men one-racers this summer, the fastest of which was Peter Smith with his 15:32 (82.73%) win at the Allen Stone Braveheart 5K. A second race would’ve seen him in the top 3. For those of you counting, my fourth local defeat of the season came at hands of Joshua Wilks at the Elizabeth River 10K, his 32:34 (81.12%) topping my runner-up 32:52. Wilks and Allen Stone Braveheart runner-up Harrison Martingayle (15:44), a Princess Anne High and LSU alum, would’ve easily made the top 4 with a second race. Baron Freeman and Jeffrey Dover round out the most impressive could’ve-beens with their 3rd place finishes, Freeman to Otstot and me at the Yorktown Freedom Run 8K, and Dover to Wilks and me at Elizabeth River. Dover was ranked #1 in the fall of 2019, but has only offered sporadic, though always excellent, efforts since.
The quality of these male overall summer rankings takes a small step back from the spring, which is reasonable considering often less-favorable summer racing conditions. Making the top 5, 10, and 25 got about 20, 30, and 40 10K-equivalent seconds easier, respectively. We’re light-years ahead of last summer’s COVID-stunted season, however, with the times needed to make the cut in those groups all improving by over two 10K- equivalent minutes each. Some key one-racers and no-racers returning next season, combined with some good fall weather, could make for one of the most competitive open men road racing seasons Hampton Roads has ever seen!
Male Masters
Tidewater Striders President Thomas Hicks leads the way by a long shot, returning to the top of the rankings after he followed his winter #1 with a raceless spring during which he was too busy race directing to offer even just one of his usually superior running performances. His stellar 17:11 for 4th place at the Big Blue 5K earns him his top spot, as well as a hefty age grade of 84.38%. He backed up that performance with a 1:00:52 win at the Strider 10 Miler at Dismal Swamp, and tops this category by over two 10K-equivalent minutes. Second-ranked Jason Miller was rewarded for his Fourth of July trip down to the Beach, where he ran his season-best time 18:11 for 8th at the YMCA Independence Day 5K on that fast course, and despite somewhat warm weather. Miller moves up four spots from his spring #6 ranking. Another big mover is 3rd-ranked Randolph Shelton, who did the Rock ‘n’ Rock double in its last year, running 18:20 for 3rd in the 5K to move up nine spots compared to his #12 spot last season. Shelton ran 1:26:12 in the Half the following day. #4 JP Amonte was next to finish after Miller at the YMCA Independence Day 5K, in 18:21. He also finished just over four minutes back of Shelton at the Rock ‘n’ Roll Half in 1:30:25. Rounding out the top 5 is Toby Worm, who got his summer work in as early as possible with his pair of Memorial Day weekend races, highlighted by his 30:37 for 11th at the Yorktown Freedom Run 8K just two days after running the Elizabeth River 10K in 39:51. Worm topped 6th-ranked Greg Lynn at both of those races, but Lynn’s best times would come at the 5K distance, 19:00 for 5th at the CDR SuperHero 5K and 19:05 for 7th at the H-E-A-R-T 5K, where he beat #7 Chris Laws by almost a minute. Laws’ best effort of the season came at Elizabeth River, where he ran a 40:05 to go with his win at the Trailzilla 5K (3.05 miles). Worm and Lynn dropped two and one spots, respectively, compared to the spring, while Laws was the biggest master improver, moving up ten spots.
It seemed like everyone was at Elizabeth River, where 8th-ranked master Jason Hernandez finished just three seconds behind Laws in 40:08. Hernandez then just missed the podium in 1:07:49 for 4th at the Strider 10 Miler. #9 John Piggott topped #12 Stephen Chantry and #13 Rick Samaha at the Bow Wow and Meow 5K and the H-E-A-R-T 5K, and he is firmly ranked 9th on the strength of his 19:15 at Bow Wow. The rankings get complicated for 10th through 14th. On a more challenging Elizabeth River course, #10 James Barber ran an identical 10K time to 11th-ranked Timothy Suhr’s 40:34 Democracy Dash 10K, plus Barber’s 19:36 Big Blue 5K is quite good, so he takes the higher spot here. Barber, who bested #13 Robert Whitaker (41:59) and Chantry (42:03) at Elizabeth River, improves three spots compared to last season. Suhr, who is down four spots from his spring #7, topped Chantry (DNF), Samaha (41:18), and Whitaker (42:37) at the Democracy Dash, and so he gets the nod in the rankings despite those three’s superior 10K equivalents. Very complicated is the order of Chantry, Samaha, and Whitaker, where Chantry has the edge on the strength of his body of work as well as victories over Whitaker (by a lean, both were credited with a time of 19:26) and Samaha (by six seconds) at the H-E-A-R-T 5K despite losing to Whitaker by four seconds at Elizabeth River and losing to Samaha by 28 seconds at the SuperHero 5K. Chantry redeemed his SuperHero loss to Samaha with a 20:05-20:25 win at the Bow Wow and Meow 5K, and he broke 20 minutes for 5K three times to Samaha and Whitaker’s once each. Between Samaha and Whitaker, Whitaker did triumph 19:26-19:32 at the H-E-A-R-T 5K, but Samaha won by a wide margin, 41:18-42:37, at the Democracy Dash to secure his higher ranking. Chantry’s age grade of 86.11% for his H-E-A-R-T 5K 19:26 is the rankings-high, while Samaha’s 83.45% for 19:32 and Whitaker’s 83.10% for 19:26, both at that same race, are very impressive as well. Chantry also scored a 85.23% for his 19:38 at the Best Brew with a View 5K. Chantry falls one spot from his spring #11 ranking while Samaha is up one spot from #14 and Whitaker is down four from #10.
Like the open men, the male masters rankings were slightly less competitive than last season. Making the top 5 fell from 38:24 to 38:50, and the top 10 fell all the way from 39:01 to 40:34, but then some extra depth resulted in the threshold to make the top 25 improving almost a minute from 43:27 during the spring to 42:34 here. There were 31 races over the summer vs 25 last season, so it would seem the extra racing opportunities helped pad the middle and lower sections of this group. A couple missing big names, including spring #1 Mark Tompkins and #2 Andy Riley, would’ve gone a long way toward making this category more formidable – let’s hope to see more of them in the fall!
Speaking of Tompkins, there were some great master men with only one race this season. Tompkins offered a solid 37:05 at Elizabeth River, though it was John Lomogda impressing most with his 35:22 5th-place finish which was good for the highest age grade of that day, 84.73%. Lomogda could’ve been #1, and Tompkins #3, had they run another race. Michael Leech and Eric Berge did well to defend their Newport News turf at the Chick-fil-A 5K in 18:26 for 3rd and 18:32 for 5th, respectively. Either would’ve made the rankings top 5 with a second race.
Male 60+
There is once again no doubt about the top three here, but what will their order be? As usual, #1 Stephen Chantry, #2 Rick Samaha, and #3 Robert Whitaker dominate this category, and for a full explanation of how they earned their respective spots, see the male masters commentary above. Their order is a shakeup from the spring, with Whitaker falling from #1 to #3 while last season’s 2nd-ranked Chantry and 3rd-ranked Samaha each move up a spot. This “Big Three” is over two 10K equivalent minutes ahead of the rest of the competition in their grouping. #4 is newly-minted senior master Vincent Ortiz, whose 1:34:59 at the Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon made him the top 60+ runner at that race by over four minutes. It is great to have another stud in this competitive group, and Ortiz displaces Richard Grant, 4th-ranked in the spring, to #5 here with his 43:36 at the Elizabeth River 10K, where he was 36 seconds behind Ortiz.
Sixth-ranked Kelvin Anderson is one of just a couple runners in the top 8 who wasn’t at Elizabeth River, but he ran well in some of the best Memorial Day racing weather we’ve ever had to record a 34:34 at the Yorktown Freedom Run 8K, good for the last age 60+ 10K equivalent under 44 minutes. #8 Aaron Baranowski had a fantastic morning running 21:20 at the YMCA Independence Day 5K, good for a 10K equivalent of 44:22, a huge improvement from his Elizabeth River 45:49 a month earlier. Despite Baranowski’s far superior 10K equivalent, 7th-ranked Jim Duffy is superior here based on his 40-second advantage over Baranowski at Elizabeth River. Duffy falls a spot from his spring #6 ranking. #9 Ken Alberg also falls one spot from the spring with his best-race 24:51 Delightfully Different 3.5 Miler. Tenth-ranked Jim Thornton rounds out the top 10, having finished just one second back of Alberg in 22:50 at the Bow Wow and Meow 5K.
Only a couple of one-racers made much of an impression in this age group, both at the Allen Stone Braveheart 5K, where Chuck Talbott ran 21:17 and spring #5 Michael O’Hara ran 21:37. Both would’ve made the top 10 with a second race. Somewhat surprisingly, this category improves significantly compared to the spring, especially when looking at the whole top 25, which went from a cutoff of 54:26 to 51:49! The top 5 and 10 cutoffs are slightly improved, the top 5 from 43:54 to 43:36 and the top 10 from 47:32 to 47:30. The return of big events like Elizabeth River, Yorktown Freedom Run, and the YMCA Independence Day 5K saw a lot of great performances from this category, and the quality of the rankings reflects this.
Female Overall
Bethany Spector repeats as #1, continuing the rapid rate of improvement she established this past winter and spring. The Grafton High alum was victorious at the Strider 10 Miler (1:01:29) and Democracy Dash 10K (course record 37:03, age grade = 80.48%) to claim the top spot, while also notching wins at the Yorktown Freedom Run 8K (30:57), Kingswood Klam 5K (course record 19:02), Trailzilla 5 Miler (4.85 miles) (31:11), and Night Owl 9K (course record 38:39). Spector’s only loss on the roads came at the hands of Ann Mazur of Charlottesville at the Elizabeth River 10K, where Mazur’s 37:44 bested Spector’s 38:50. Spector avenged this defeat by beating Mazur by over two minutes (38:39-40:44) at the Night Owl 9K, on what was an off evening for Mazur, which she attributed to her regrettable choice of footwear for the challenging trail race. Spector also avenged a spring loss to 3rd-ranked Maria Spady, 39:55-40:29 at the Victory at Yorktown 10K, by topping Spady’s 37:55 Democracy Dash effort. Spady’s best race of the summer came at the MWR Navy 8K, where she was first place overall, including men, in 29:45. Spady falls one spot from her #2 ranking last season. Up in the rarified sub-38 10K equivalent air with Spector and Spady is 2nd-ranked Sarah Sanchez, who, after winning the challenging and slow-course Taskinas Creek Marathon, was the top local female at the final edition of the Virginia Beach Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon in a 4th place 1:22:57.
Third and fourth place behind Mazur and Spector at Elizabeth River were 4th-ranked Stephanie Rice (39:17) and 5th-ranked Mollie Sweet (39:51) in their best efforts of the summer. They were also 2nd and 4th, respectively, at the Strider 10 Miler behind Spector’s victory there. #6 Megan Lindstedt, the former #4 in the Best of 2019 rankings who has only raced sparingly since then, got her two races in this summer, a runner-up 19:22 at the competitive YMCA Independence Day 5K and a 20:09 for the win at the Summer’s End 5K in Georgia. Seventh-ranked Thorin Jean was home from school at West Point for long enough this summer to get in a couple of quality races; both were 2nd-place finishes to Spector, at Kingswood (19:33) and Night Owl (39:41). #8 Emily Honeycutt had a busy summer and picked up a few wins, though her best race was the Yorktown Freedom Run where she finished 2nd to Spector in 32:11. Honeycutt picked up wins at the Chick-fil-A 5K (19:39), H-E-A-R-T 5K (19:40), and SuperHero 5K (19:52). Ninth-ranked Katie Latimer ran a fast time for 2nd place at the Big Blue 5K in 19:36, but ranks behind Honeycutt after Honeycutt beat her 41:10 to 42:37 at Elizabeth River. #10 Tiffany Sloan wasn’t far behind Latimer at Elizabeth River in 42:57, though her best time was her 1:31:19 at the Rock ‘n’ Roll Half.
There was a handful of very fast one-racing women this summer, led by Jo Reihner with a female-rankings-high 10K equivalent of 36:53 (83.16%), just a few seconds faster than Spector’s 37:00, for her 17:43 win at the Big Blue 5K. It’d have been great to see Reihner and Spector race for the top spot, perhaps we will be so lucky to see this matchup in the fall. Clarice Lorenzini, a triathlete who road races a few times per year, claimed victory at the YMCA Independence Day 5K in 18:58 after finishing 3rd the last time this race was held in 2019; she would’ve been #5 with a second race. Like Lindstedt, Lorenzini was ranked in the Best of 2019 edition of the rankings (#7), and has only raced sporadically since then. Finally, Marissa Coombs was 6th overall and the second local female at the Rock ‘n’ Roll Half in 1:28:03 – a second race would’ve put her in the top 6.
The overall women took a giant leap forward compared to last season. Making the top 5 and 10 got over a 10K-equivalent-minute more difficult, and making the top 25 improved by three-and-a-half minutes, from sub-49 to sub-45:30. A lot of women unranked last season came forward and ran great times at Elizabeth River and Rock ‘n’ Roll especially, resulting in a much more competitive lineup. Of course, there was massive improvement compared to last summer as well, and overall this season is comparable to summer 2019. It seems like with the return of races lost to COVID last year, female road racing in Hampton Roads is back to its usual caliber.
Female Masters
After three seasons at #1 from summer 2020 to winter 2020-21, Jenny Moran is back in her usual top spot here after going unranked while being the top female master one-racer during the spring. She again ran sparingly, but her two races, highlighted by her 8th place finish in 1:33:46 at the Narrangansett Running Festival Half Marathon in Rhode Island, were enough to get the job done. Moran clears the rest of Hampton Roads’ female master runners by an impressive over two-and-a-half 10K-equivalent minutes. Second-ranked Sarah Doyle was the top local female master at the final running of the Virginia Beach Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon, where she finished 32nd overall in 1:39:41. She was also the top local female master, and 2nd female master overall, at the Elizabeth River 10K, where she finished over a minute ahead of #3 Julie Hicks. Hicks’ best race, like her husband and male master #1 Thomas, came at the Big Blue 5K, where she was top master in 21:52, 33 seconds ahead of 4th-ranked Kerry Johnson, who Hicks also defeated, 46:23-46:53, at Elizabeth River. Hicks is down one spot while Johnson is up four compared to their rankings last season.
#5 goes to another rankings regular who was absent last spring, Christine Fernandez, who was in the top 4 during the three seasons prior to her absence. Fernandez, the mother of male overall #10 Draven Fernandez, recorded her best time on a good day for racing at the YMCA Independence Day 5K, where her 22:26 for 7th place was five seconds ahead of 7th-ranked Jodi Yarnell’s 22:31. Yarnell finished behind #6 and top grand master Debbie McLaughlin, 47:23-48:11, at Elizabeth River. Eighth-ranked Kirsten Kelly finished 15 seconds back of Yarnell in 48:26 at Elizabeth River, while #9 Suzanne Morrow displayed great improvement from the first to last weekends of the racing period, first running 52:39 at Elizabeth River before running 1:47:19, a 10K equivalent of 48:22, at the Rock ‘n’ Roll Half. Morrow was just over three minutes ahead of 10th-ranked Kelly Kraynak in the Half, but perhaps Kraynak was a bit worse for wear after her swift 23:10 for 11th in the Rock ‘n’ Roll 5K the day prior.
Spring #1 Kara Woody leads the top female masters with only one race this summer with a 45:21 at Elizabeth River that would’ve seen her ranked 3rd had she run another race. Spring #4 Karen Sanzo also only ran a single race, the Yorktown Freedom Run 8K in 36:14. A supplementary race would’ve duplicated Sanzo’s #4 ranking from last season. Charlotte Bjuve was just two seconds behind 6th-ranked McLaughlin at Elizabeth River in 47:25, and would’ve been ranked 7th with a second effort.
Like the overall women, the masters women saw a major improvement this season compared to last. Making the top 5, 10, and 25 got about 30 10K-equivalent seconds, a 10K-equivalent minute, and 1.75 10K-equivalent minutes more difficult, respectively. Unlike the male categories, the majority of the top 10 here, as well as in the overall women, is comprised of fast competitors who were unranked last season; the previously-unranked fast runners help explain the significant group improvement. Compared to summer 2019, the top 5 and 25 cutoffs are a minute behind and the top 10 is two minutes slower, so there is still plenty of growing room here. More consistent competition at the top combined with better racing weather this fall could make a big difference.
Female 60+
Finally, this group fields a full top 25! And who else should be atop the first full crop than long-time rankings veteran Carolyn Harrison, who ran a fantastic pair of races age-graded over 80% to clear the field by almost three 10K-equivalent minutes. Harrison’s 1:23:40 at the Strider 10 Miler (80.28%) was good for 6th overall, and her 51:32 at the long-course Coast Guard 10K (6.35 miles) in Portsmouth was even better in terms of place and age grade, with Harrison finishing 2nd and earning an age grade of 80.50%. Harrison has been laying low since COVID kicked off, but it is a pleasure to see her back at it and running strong! Harrison tops another fabulous showing by 2nd-ranked Norma Phillips, last season’s #1, with Phillips' season-best being her 53:17 at Elizabeth River. Phillips also clears the rest of the field by a wide margin. Of course #3 Betty Brothers clears the field in a different way with her female-rankings-best age grade of 84.55% for her 1:30:55 at the Strider 10 Miler, where she was just over seven minutes behind the significantly younger Harrison. Brothers had a great day at Elizabeth River as well, where her 56:38 (81.52%) saw her finish a few minutes back of Phillips but well ahead of 4th-ranked Susan Snead (58:06), 5th-ranked Barbara Mathewson (57:00), and 6th-ranked Helen Worthington (58:14). Despite losing to Mathewson at Elizabeth River, Snead had a great redemption race at the YMCA Independence Day 5K, where she ran 26:44 for a 10K equivalent of 55:40, which is overwhelmingly superior to Mathewson’s 57:00, so Snead gets the nod in the rankings here. Worthington did run much better than her Elizabeth River effort at the Yorktown Freedom Run 8K in 44:41 for a 10K equivalent of 56:47, but with that being so close to Mathewson’s 57:00, and Mathewson beating Worthington head-to-head by over a minute at Elizabeth River, Mathewson snags the higher ranking. Worthington falls four spots from her summer #2 ranking.
Seventh-ranked Kathy Donovan topped #8 Jean Phelan 27:55-28:02 at the Big Blue 5K, but Donovan’s best race was at the Chick-fil-A 5K, where she ran 27:26. Ninth-ranked Patricia Travis ran a very consistent pair of 10Ks, 1:02:11 at the Democracy Dash and 1:02:16 at Elizabeth River, to earn her spot. Phelan is up two spots and Travis down five compared to last season. Sharon Yager rounds out the top 10 with her 2:19:40 Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon. Virginia Beach dominates the top 12 here with eight residents in those spots.
There were some spectacular one-racers in this category, led by last winter’s #1 Joey Hallock and her 50:03 at Elizabeth River, which earned her an age grade of 84.42% that is just short of Brothers’ female-rankings high mark and John Lomogda's age-grade-competition-high 84.73% at that race. Hallock would’ve narrowly topped this category with a second race. Noel Rissmiller ran 25:24 at the Rock ‘n’ Roll 5K and could’ve been ranked 2nd with another offering. Patti Bright also would’ve made the top 4 with a second race to go with her 2:02:11 at the Rock ‘n’ Roll Half.
The entire top 25 would’ve bettered last season’s #12, so needless to say these rankings were much more competitive than the spring’s. Each spot in the top 5 improved by an average of about three 10K-equivalent minutes, and making the top 5 and 10 got over three 10-equivalent minutes harder. It would seem that the faster runners in this group are finally willing to return to racing after a hiatus during the height of COVID. Whatever the case, it is fantastic to see the full extent of competitive runners in this group.
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.
