By: Roger Hopper
Season Overview
Road racing in Hampton Roads continued the COVID-recovery trend that was established last season, as despite having just one more race than the fall, the winter's races yielded significantly better times across most ranking categories. The lone exception to this is the open men, where a lot of youthful quality was lost compared to last season as high school harriers who took to the roads due to a lack of a cross country season in the fall, thanks to COVID, were apparently not as keen on running winter road races; presumably they took to indoor track instead. While Virginia Beach was the only district in the 757 competing interscholastically, there were also many club and AAU indoor track opportunities that I know several of last season's ranked youngsters took part in. The fall had almost exclusively fantastic weather at most races, and the same can be said for the winter, though perhaps a few races were a little colder than some might like. These mostly-ideal conditions yielded great times all season long, from Thanksgiving through to the end of February. All local races had limited- sized fields and wave starts to comply with COVID guidelines, but once again our race directors gave us the opportunity to compete!
New for 2021, these rankings will now include a senior grand master (60+) category. Like the other categories, the 60+ men will have a top 25, but the pool of 60+ women was much smaller this winter, so this category will only feature the top 15. I imagine these numbers will be similar in the future, but there are certainly some superb 60+ female runners who have been AWOL since COVID started - I look forward to their return to the racing scene and seeing if they can fill out a full top 25. Regardless of how many get ranked, there are some supremely talented 60+ runners in the 757 whose efforts warrant celebration, and it's a bit unfair for their only option to be to compete against all the great locals in their 40s and 50s in the masters category. With their age grades in the 80s and sometimes over 85%, the likes of Betty Brothers, Joey Hallock, Pete Gibson, Steve Chantry, Robert Whitaker, and Rick Samaha, among others, will get the acknowledgment they deserve, though their age hasn't stopped them from making the masters and even open rankings before.
Male Overall
In a curious happening, other than #1, the rest of the top 14 from the fall dropped from the rankings this season. Half of those were, as mentioned in the Overview, high schoolers who were probably too busy running indoor track to hit the roads after the absence of a high school cross country season, cancelled due to COVID, opened up their schedule for road racing in the fall. The other half I can't speak for - perhaps the fact that there were only 6 races on the Peninsula to the Southside's 16 meant Peninsula runners didn't have enough opportunities to run. Whatever the case, I defended my #1 ranking from the fall, making it three top-ranked seasons in a row. Despite my recent consistency, it was far from easy! In fact, #2 Seth Kolosso and I had the fastest 10K equivalents (in addition to Jeffrey Dover's 31:41 Turkey Trot 10K this season) since I started these rankings in fall 2019, save for Kolosso's 31:49 10K equivalent 2:27:00 One City Marathon on the last day of the winter rankings period last year to claim #1 and relegate me to #2. We had three opportunities to decide #1 this winter, and each were about as high-quality as road racing gets in the 757.
Our first showdown was at the Strider Distance Series 10 Miler on January 9th, where Kolosso and I gave our best Duel in the Sun impression, running side-by-side and maintaining sub-5:20 mile pace wire-to-wire to finish in 52:56 (82.65% age-graded) and 53:07 (82.37%), a massive PR effort for both of us. Kolosso responded to the big move I made with 2 miles to go, but after I poured it on again with 1.5 miles left, I had just the bit more I needed to seal the 11-second victory. Conditions were perfect for such an epic race, sunny with temps in the low- to mid-30s and little wind, not to mention the pancake-flat and mostly-shaded 5 miles out and back on the Dismal Swamp Canal Trail. Kolosso was dealing with an ankle injury at the Strider Distance Series 15 Miler 3 weeks later, where he still ran valiantly for 2nd in 1:22:39 to my 1:20:51 (82.83%); we ran together at 5:20 pace until I dropped a 5:14 7th mile that created the separation that assured my victory as I ground my way to averaging 5:26 pace to the finish and 5:23 pace overall. Finally, at the Distance Series 20 Miler on February 27th, Kolosso and I ran together for 15 miles in 5:33 pace before I broke away over a grueling last 5 miles to win again, 1:50:39-1:51:10. I had a busy season, also picking up wins at the Yorktown Battlefield 10 Miler (53:37), Resolution 5K (15:36 PR), and Run for the Heart 10 Miler (56:41), as well as 2nd-place finishes at the Tidewater Striders Turkey Trot 10K - Event 1 (32:25 PR), Sleighbell 5K (3.17 miles in 16:03), and the Colonial Half Marathon (13 miles) (1:11:19 PR).
Enough about me though, there are plenty of other fantastic runners on this list! 3rd-ranked William and Mary and Team Blitz man Jacob Warner had a banner day on the long-course Sleighbell 5K (3.17 miles), where a mistakenly far turnaround point cost everyone about 20 seconds or more. Warner's 16:22 (80.14%) converts to about a 16:02 5K. One can't help but wonder if Warner would've dug deep to break 16 had the course been accurate and had he known exactly what he had to do based on precise mile splits. Warner also picked up the win at the less competitive and somewhat icy-coursed Colonial 5K in 16:43, which preceeded the Colonial Half Marathon, another inaccurate-length course, on a very cold morning. Anyone who doubts the Colonial Half being short should check their 13th mile split - mine was inexplicably over 0.1 short, far beyond the typical margin of error for GPS watches on a day when my and many others' watches were otherwise accurate with respect to the other mile markers. For the purposes of these rankings, the Colonial Half distance will be considered to have been 13 miles flat. #4 Ethan Corrigan, a Great Bridge High grad now running for East Carolina University, ran well to win the Tidewater Striders Turkey Trot 10K - Event 2 in 33:40 to go with his runner-up 16:31 at the Resolution Run 5K. Striders Turkey Trot 10K Event 2, the Saturday after Thanksgiving, had much more favorable temps in the low 50s than the Thanksgiving morning edition, where it was unseasonably humid and warm in the low 60s. 5th-ranked Ryan Carroll nabbed a pair of wins in Florida, taking the Sanford, FL Turkey Day 5K in 16:47 and the brutally humid Florida Half Marathon in 1:15:38. #6 Daniel Shean wasn't too far behind Kolosso and me at the Striders Distance Series races, just missing the hour barrier at the 10 Miler to finish 4th in 1:00:01 for his best race of the series. Shean was 3rd at the 15 Miler in 1:33:42 and 4th at the 20 in 2:09:46. 7th-ranked Evan Clary's best 10K equivalent of 36:51 is three seconds slower than that of top master and overall #8 Thomas Hicks, but Clary beat Hicks head-to-head by over 1.5 minutes at the Yorktown Battlefield 10 Miler to earn the edge here. Clary moves up 8 spots from his fall #15 ranking. 9th-ranked Toby Worm also beat Hicks at the Yorktown 10 Miler, but Hicks' 36:48 10K equivalent 17:41 Resolution 5K conclusively bests Worms' 37:18 for his 18:18 effort at the Sleighbell 3.17 Miler. Rounding out the top 10 is Jonathan Torres, who improved massively throughout the season, made most directly obvious by his 6-minute improvement from the Yorktown Battlefield 10 Miler in early December (1:08:29) to the Run for the Heart 10 Miler on the same course and in similar conditions 2 months later (1:02:29), where he finished 2nd. Torres also made the prestigious Colonial Half Marathon podium by finishing 3rd in 1:23:43. Torres improves from his #17 ranking last season.
One-racers Jeffrey Dover and Adam Otstot won at my expense at the Tidewater Striders Turkey Trot 10K and Sleighbell 3.17 Miler, respectively. Depending on Dover's second race, had he run one, he would've had a strong case for #1 having beaten me head-to-head, given the small margin by which my 31:36 10K equivalent bests his 31:41 Turkey Trot effort. With a second race, Otstot would've been a convincing #3, and as I write this in late February it would appear that we will see a lot more racing from Otstot this coming spring season, so any question of his ranking vs mine moving forward will be satisfactorily settled soon enough. Otstot's 85.37% age grade at Sleighbell is the male-rankings high, a noteworthy accomplishment considering some of the outstanding 60+ male runners in the area who regularly age grade in the mid-80s. Another runner with only one race who would've been an easy #3 with a second is David ""Zion"" Gregory, whose 1:05:00 Strider Distance Series 12 Miler came close to rivaling in quality Kolosso and my efforts in the 20 Miler that same morning. The final potential #3 is John Vogel, who finished 2 seconds ahead of actual #3 Warner at the Sleighbell 3.17 Miler in 16:20, which roughly converts to a 16:00 5K.
As mentioned above, the absence of many of the high school runners who made last season's rankings resulted in this season's rankings being significantly less competitive. The 10K equivalents needed to make the top 25 (39:12 vs 37:29) and top 10 (37:37 vs 34:14) were much slower. The top 5 were of similar caliber, but the quality in the middle of the pack wasn't nearly as strong as the fall. Furthermore, of the mere seven returning ranked runners from last season, I was the only one to improve his best 10K equivalent. Like I said in the Overview, the fall had almost-exclusively ideal racing weather, and there were many great opportunities for good times on fast courses that the winter seemed to lack, especially on the Peninsula. While there was some good weather for races on fast courses this winter, the majority of those races were 10 miles or longer, and it seems to be harder for the average locally-competitive runner to turn in a strong 10K equivalent at those longer distances. Quality across all categories was way down compared to last winter as well, with some key fast runners running only one or no races. The entirety of last winter's top 25 would've made it into this winter's top 10. Despite these current shortcomings, it will be fun to see how road racing continues to rebound in the spring as we pass the one-year anniversary of the onset of the pandemic.
Male Masters
The competition for the top masters spot is much closer than the 10K equivalents suggest. While Tidewater Striders president Thomas Hicks' 17:41 (82.00% age-graded) Resolution 5K significantly outdoes Toby Worm's 18:18 at the long-course Sleighbell 3.17 miler, Worm did beat Hicks handily, 1:02:37 to 1:04:09, at the Yorktown Battlefield 10 Miler. In the end, despite Worm's significant head-to-head victory, Hicks' fantastic New Year's Day 5K time is too much for Worm's best effort to overcome, and thus Hicks is the winter's #1 master, a return to form after not racing enough to get ranked the past 2 seasons. 3rd-ranked Steven Kast also had an outstanding Resolution 5K, hitting 18:10 for the stellar age grade of 83.76% on a morning with nearly perfect racing weather. Kast replicates his #3 ranking from the fall, an exceptional feat by the top grand master competing against a bunch of guys in their 40s. Rankings-regular Timothy Suhr is back in business after not racing locally last season, scoring the #4 spot on the strength of his 38:13 runner-up effort at the Saturday edition (Event 2) of the Tidewater Striders Turkey Trot 10K. 5th-ranked Keith Schumann and 6th-ranked Greg Lynn traded effort quality, with Schumann's 18:54 Sleighbell 3.17 miles obviously better than Lynn's 19:07 at that same race, but Lynn's 1:05:04 at the Run for the Heart 10 Miler narrowly topping Schumann's 1:05:10 on the same course in similar favorable conditions at the Yorktown Battlefield 10 Miler. Schumann won the head-to-head matchup by the wider margin, and also defeated Lynn 1:28:03-1:29:34 at the Colonial Half Marathon (13 miles), so Schumann takes the higher ranking here. Lynn falls 2 spots from his fall #4 ranking. Brian Walker ran all three Striders Distance Series races, with his best time of 1:05:02 for 7th place coming at the Distance Series 10 Miler #1. Peculiarly, Walker finished 7th at the Distance Series 15 and 20 Milers as well, and winds up with the #7 ranking here. 8th-ranked Carter Ficklen and 9th-ranked Steve Speirs have identical best 10K equivalents of 39:12, but Ficklen's time came on the hilly and challenging Colonial Half course, while Speirs' came on the flat Dismal Swamp Canal Trail, so Ficklen gets the edge and repeats his #8 ranking from last season. Speirs remarkably impressed by winning the Seashore 50K in 3:53:46 just a week after taking 2nd in the Dismal Swamp 100K in 9:28:02. Peter Pommerenk closes out the top 10 after he finished 3rd at both the Striders Turkey Trot 10K Event 2 in 39:18 and the Seashore 50K in 4:04:09. Worth noting just outside the top 10, #13 Randy Shelton beat #12 Jason Miller by over 3 minutes head-to-head at the Run for the Heart 10 Miler. However, Miller responded by running a 39:27 10K equivalent 1:26:28 Colonial Half while Randy Shelton's 39:29 10K equivalent for his 18:57 on the flat-course Colonial 5K fell just short of Miller's. The fact that Miller's superior best time came on the much more challenging course secures him the higher ranking here.
Just like the past 2 seasons, last winter's top-ranked master Mark Tompkins is again the top notable runner with only one race, and he would've been #1 with a second race. His 17:26 (82.31%) at Sleighbell was good for a 10K equivalent over a minute faster than Hicks' best. Andy Riley, the top-ranked master from last season, was also a one-racer this winter; his 18:09 at Sleighbell would've been good for 2nd on this list had he run another race. Andrew Crookston and Ed Rietscha would've both made the top 6 with a second race after their strong Yorktown Battlefield efforts, Crookston 1:04:03 at the Yorktown Battlefield 10 Miler and Rietscha 1:04:15 at the Run for the Heart 10 Miler.
Unlike the overall male rankings, which was much weaker this season after losing its population of speedy high schoolers from the fall, this season's masters rankings are much stronger than the fall. Making the top 6 was identically-diffcult at a 10K equivalent of sub-39, but making the top 10 improved from sub-40 to sub-39:20, and making the top 25 improved by over 2 minutes, from 44 minutes or faster to sub-42. We're still lagging behind last winter, the last pre-COVID rankings period, when the top 10 were well under 39 and the top 25 were all under 40, but the forward progress is appreciable. Perhaps some of the missing big names will be back next season and next year to continue to make the collective stronger.
Male 60+
Introducing for the first time, the male 60+ rankings! At first I was hesitant, but it turns out there are more than enough competitive senior grand masters in Hampton Roads to make this rankings group plenty worth the effort, particularly since Colonial Road Runners President and editor of these rankings Rick Platt earned his #23 ranking here while also being the 3rd-ranked septuagenarian. While I prefer doing my style of rankings over Moreland's 5-year age groups, this age grouping was definitely an expansion to my format I needed to make.
It's a long way from the top if you're not Robert Whitaker or Pete Gibson. The two local legends are head and shoulders above the rest at #1 and #2, respectively, with Whitaker's 19:45 (83.54% age grade) at the Sleighbell 3.17 miler being the slightly better time while Gibson's 84.64% for his swift 19:25 Resolution 5K is the senior-grand-master-high age grade. One-racers Rick Samaha and Stephen Chantry would've been up in this rare ranked 60+ sub-41 10K equivalent air as well, had they run a second race. Outside of those four, the next best 10K equivalents are in the 44s. Nothing wrong with that, though, as we can all only hope to do so well as 3rd- ranked Richard Grant's 1:13:29 Yorktown Battlefield 10 Miler as we approach 70. #4 Jim Duffy brought the holiday heat with his 45:04 10K equivalent for his 21:40 Resolution 5K effort almost identically matching his 45:05 Strider Turkey Trot 10K Event 2. 5th-ranked Gary Searcy recovered from a disappointing 54:43 Strider Turkey Trot 10K to run a 10K equivalent of over 9 minutes faster with his 43:44 for 8th at the Strider Distance Series 6 Miler. #6 Keith Alston got his 60s off to a strong start with his sub-47 10K equivalent 1:17:54 Strider Distance Series 10 Miler #1. 7th, 8th, and 9th were all very close, and #7 Chris Holcomb's 2:03:19 Distance Series 15 Miler backs up his 1:19:35 Distance Series 10 Miler better than #8 Dale Abrahamson's 1:22:14 Yorktown Battlefield 10 Miler backs up his 1:19:40 Run for the Heart 10 Miler. 9th-ranked Thomas Murphy is just a bit behind with his top 10 Strider Distance Series finishes. Williamsburg native Tom Robinson rounds out the top 10 with the pair of Williamsburg 5Ks.
In addition to Samaha and Chantry mentioned above, Jim Thornton also would've had a claim to a top 4 spot with a second race after his 21:55 at the loaded Sleighbell 3.17 miler. Of course there are no previous rankings for comparison in this category, but we can look forward to seeing how this grouping progresses over seasons and years to come.
Female Overall
Much like the way Seth Kolosso stole the #1 overall male spot away from me on the last day of the rankings period last winter, so too did Stephanie Rice steal #1 away from Jenny Moran this winter. After an admirable 10:45:06 for 2nd at the Dismal Swamp 100K in December, Rice was back on the scene at the Striders Distance Series 20 Miler, where she crushed it for the win in 2:15:21, over 6 minutes clear of 2nd-place Moran's 2:21:59. This is Rice's first time back in the rankings since last winter when she was ranked 10th after being ranked 4th in fall 2019 - with that talent let's hope hope she races more moving forward! Moran replicates her #2 ranking from the fall and improves significantly from her #14 ranking last winter with a fantastic pair of 10-mile wins in great racing conditions, 1:05:47 at Distance Series 10 Miler #1 and 1:06:26 at the Yorktown Battlefield 10 Miler. 3rd-ranked Renee Merchant picked up a 10 mile win of her own at Striders Distance Series 10 Miler #2 in 1:06:33, where she got revenge for her 1-second defeat at the hands of #4 Ekaterina Aaron's 40:31 win at the Striders Turkey Trot 10K, beating Aaron by 26 seconds. Merchant also won the Distance Series 6 Miler, while Aaron had a busy winter adding wins to her Turkey Trot triumph at the Seashore 50K and the Run for the Animals Half Marathon. 5th-ranked Bethany Spector makes a strong return to the rankings after being absent since her #7 ranking last winter. Spector picked up the win at the Strider Distance Series 12 Miler in 1:21:37 and was the top local at the Colonial Half (13 miles) in 1:33:18. She also won the Run for the Heart 10 Miler after finishing 2nd last year. Emma Quinn is ranked 6th after her pair of Distance Series runner-up finishes, 1:07:42 at 10 Miler #1 and 1:22:09, just 27 seconds behind Spector, at the Distance Series 12 Miler. Unlike the rest of the Distance-Series-heavy top 7, #7 Gwen Riley ran a pair shorter races to earn her spot, highlighted by a fantastic 19:53 runner-up finish at the Resolution 5K. Rankings mainstay Sorenna Jean returns at #8 after going unranked last season; her best race was the Sleighbell 3.17 miler in 20:28, which is worth about a 20:04 5K. Despite a pair of wins, 42:18 at Strider Turkey Trot 10K Event 2 and 4:29:07 at the Dismal Swamp 50K, 9th-ranked Ashley Diette drops 3 spots from her fall #6 ranking. Sally Doyle rounds out the top 10 by beating #11 Julie Hicks by 9 seconds, 20:33-20:42, at the Resolution 5K. Just outside the top 10, 13th-ranked Svetlana Goncharova tops #14 Megan Schulze despite Goncharova's inferior 10K equivalent as she beat Schulze by just over 6 minutes (1:40:03-1:46:04) at the Colonial Half, a great performance from Goncharova for her best time to come from the season's hilliest course. Goncharova also had the superior Yorktown Battlefield time, with her 1:18:23 at the Run for the Heart 10 Miler topping Schulze's 1:18:34 Yorktown Battlefield 10 Miler on the same course in similar favorable conditions. 12th-ranked Jessie Japzon topped both of those Battlefield times to earn her spot, running over 4 minutes faster in 1:14:03 for 3rd at the Run for the Heart.
One-racers Jo Baird and Kacie Voeller had by far the fastest female times at the 2-day event that was the Virginia is for Runners 14K. In fact, Baird was 5 seconds away from 1st overall, and the pair had the 2nd- and 3rd- fastest times of the entire weekend, including men. A second race would've seen them both in the top 7. 2019 rankings-regular Jessica Smith also only raced once, but she made it a good one, a 19:49 win at the Resolution 5K. After being ranked 3rd in the fall, Emily Honeycutt also only raced once, 20:36 (5K equivalent = 20:12) for 3rd at the Sleighbell 3.17 miler. A second race would've earned her the #9 ranking.
There was a lot more depth in the top 10 this winter compared to the fall, as the 10K equivalent to make it there improved from sub-44:30 to sub-42:45. The middle of the pack lagged a bit, though, and the fall and winter had nearly-identical sub-47:50s to make the top 25. Times are way down from last winter, when breaking 41 might not get you into the top 10, and this winter's 12th-25th wouldn't have been fast enough to make it. However, these are the highest-quality female overall rankings since the start of COVID, and it is encouraging to see improvement each season.
Female Masters
Had it not been for #3 Karen Lindauer crashing the party, the top 3 here would've been the same for the third season in a row. Good for her though, Lindauer ran a fast pair of Distance Series races to secure her spot, the 12 Miler in 1:33:09 and the 6 Miler in 46:25. Jenny Moran defends her top masters ranking for the third consecutive season, and fourth of five after being relegated to second at the hands of the speedy Teresa Allman last winter. Her two strong 10 mile wins, 1:05:47 at the flat Dismal Swamp Strider Distance Series 10 Miler #1 and 1:06:26 on the somewhat more challenging course at the Yorktown Battlefield 10 Miler, both in fantastic racing conditions, clear the field by over three 10K equivalent minutes. 2nd-ranked Julie Hicks also displays consistency, equalling her #2 ranking from last season and improving her 10K equivalent by 38 seconds with her pair of top 5 holiday race finishes, 20:42 for 5th at the New Year's Day Resolution 5K and 43:17 for 3rd at the Tidewater Striders Turkey Trot 10K - Event 2. #4 Christine Fernandez had a great morning at the Turkey Trot 10K, running 46:36 for 6th. Her 14K wasn't quite as good, but the 10K holds her up. 5th-ranked Kirsten Kelly also did the holiday double, 22:45 for 11th at the Resolution 5K and 48:21 at Striders Turkey Trot Event 2, and narrowly edges out #6 Kerry Johnson's pair of solid Distance Series races. Johnson replicates her #6 ranking from the fall. 7th-ranked Joey Hallock ran an awe-inspiring 1:18:53 at the Yorktown Battlefield 10 Miler for a rankings-high age grade of 87.62% and a massive Virginia state record, topping the previous record of 1:29:43 by almost 11 minutes! The senior grand master also had a spectacular age grade of 86.19% for her 1:37:15 at the Distance Series 12 Miler. Julie Vaughn was ahead of Hallock at that 12 Miler, but Hallock's Yorktown time is by far superior. Vaughn's pair of Distance Series efforts earn her #8. 9th-ranked Meredith Robertson is the only non-Virginia Beach native in the top 10. She ran two races in her hometown Williamsburg to earn her spot, highlighted by her 23:42 Sleighbell 3.17 miler, which is worth about a 23:14 5K. Jennifer Gildea closes out the top 10 with her holiday double, topped by a 48:52 for 7th at the Strider Turkey Trot 10K Event 2.
Stephanie Postma and Debbie McLaughlin could've helped Meredith Robertson break up the Virginia Beach block in the top 10 had they run a second race to go with their fine Colonial Half Marathon 13-mile efforts. Postma could've been #3, and McLaughlin could've been #9. The fall's 5th-ranked female master, Deborah Simpson, did well to break 45 for 4th place at the Strider Turkey Trot 10K; a second race would've earned her the #3 spot and further cemented the Virginia Beach dominance of this list.
Like the male masters, the women achieved great amount of improvement compared to the fall. Last season's #10 at 51:28 would barely make the top 20 here, and the 10K equivalent to make the top 25 improved by about 4 minutes from the mid-56s to the mid-52s. Like all of the other categories, this year doesn't come close to last winter, when you had to be well under 46 to make the top 10 and under 49 to make the top 25. All of last year's top 12 would beat out this year's #3, and almost the entire top 25 from last year would be top-10 worthy this year. Once again, considering COVID, it is good just to see times improving from season to season. Hopefully we'll have the full lineup of Hampton Roads masters women back racing well soon enough and see these rankings return to the high quality of a year ago.
Female 60+
Joey Hallock makes picking #1 in the first edition of the female 60+ category very easy for me as she bests the field by over 5 minutes! Her historic 1:18:53 at the Yorktown Battlefield 10 Miler was good for a rankings-high age grade of 87.62%, and her 86.19% for 1:37:15 at the Strider Distance Series 12 Miler was the #2 age grade this season. I didn't recognize her name when I first realized how amazing her 10 Miler performance was, but no one will forget it now. This category was made for runners like Hallock, though despite not even being a young senior grand master at age 67, she still managed to make the top 10 female masters and top 25 female overall. 2nd-ranked Norma Phillips recently turned 60 and actualized her potential in this age group, turning in a stellar 1:27:45 at the Run for the Heart 10 Miler on the same course and in similar great racing conditions as Hallock's top run. Phillips topped #5 Helen Worthington by over 16 minutes at Run for the Heart, but Worthington had a much better day at the Yorktown Battlefield 10 Miler, where she ran 1:31:36 to earn her spot. Phillips was also the top senior grand master at the Colonial Half Marathon (13 miles) in 1:56:10. 3rd-ranked Mary Lynch beat #8 Kathy Donovan by almost 5 minutes at the Strider Distance Series 6 Miler, running 51:07 for a 10K equivalent of 53:07, which is just slightly stronger than her Strider Turkey Trot 10K Event 2 time of 53:10. The ever-impressive Betty Brothers showed she still has what it takes to run great times in long races even at age 73, submitting Strider Distance Series 10 Miler #1 and the 20 Miler as her top 2 times to earn her spot at #4. Brothers' 1:29:53 10 Miler age grades to a fantastic 84.18%, and her 3:12:15 20 Miler is worth 82.42%. 6th-ranked Sharon Currant and 7th-ranked Jean Phelan both ran strong times at the Resolution 5K, 26:48 and 27:37, respectively, to take their spots in the rankings. Phelan was just under 5 minutes behind Worthington at the Yorktown Battlefield 10 Miler. #9 Janice Kailos and #10 Patricia Travis both ran an intended 5K, but got a bit more than they bargained for at the Sleighbell 3.17 Miler, where Kailos' time of 28:36 is worth about a 28:02 5K while Travis' 29:52 is worth about a 29:17.
With a second race, Tammi Clarke and Chris Hamlin would've just slipped into the top 7. Clarke was the 2nd senior grand master behind Phillips at the Colonial 13 Mile in 2:05:45, while Hamlin finished 1 spot and 3 seconds ahead of Phelan at the Resolution 5K in 27:34. Other one-racers Ann Stern and Jan Barry make it thirteen 60+ women under a one hour 10K equivalent for the season, a fine standard to start from as we see what the future holds for this age grouping.
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.
