Overview
As usual, Turkey Trots, the Tidewater Striders Distance Series, and the Christmas-themed ~5 milers (Christmas Town Dash 8K and Surf-n-Santa 5 Miler) dominate the winter Rankings. Right up there alongside these races in performance quality are a handful of other Colonial Road Runners races (in addition to Christmas Town) appearing highly-ranked and often, most notably including the Sleighbell 5K, Jingle Jog 5K, and Colonial Half Marathon. On the whole, the quality of times is similar, if not a bit improved in some places, compared to last winter, and is unsurprisingly much better than the COVID-stunted winter of two years ago. Similar to comparing to last year, comparing to last season reveals small improvements across the board, with a couple of big jumps here and there, which is perhaps somewhat surprising considering the fall typically has some of the most ideal racing weather. With the exception of a couple bitterly cold race days, though, the weather was generally quite favorable throughout the winter, yielding lots of good opportunities for fast times, and we delivered on that potential!
Editorial Commentary from Rick Platt
So nice that Roger again has the time for the commentary section within each category. I enjoy the comparisons. Also no need for me to write as much commentary, as Roger’s already done that. Here’s a few items I’ve come across.
At the Tidewater Striders Turkey Trot 10K both Joey Hallock (47:58, F65-69, before turning age 70) and the remarkable Betty Brothers (54:50, F75-79) broke Virginia state 10K records. For Brothers, this was the third time she has broken the 10K record in 2022 (first at Victory at Yorktown 10K, then Elizabeth River Run 10K, and finally the Turkey Trot). Hallock broke the 10K record twice in 2022 (ERR and Turkey Trot). Now she can go for some F70-74 records, but will have to contend with Betty’s previous marks in that age group.
Runner rankers Sika Henry and Steve Kast were inducted into the Virginia Peninsula Road Racing Hall of Fame at both the Peninsula Track Club and Colonial Road Runners Awards Banquets in January. Pete Gibson won the CRR Age Graded Competition (based on the top 10 age graded races among CRR Grand Prix races in 2022) by a narrow margin over Adam Otstot, 85.35% to 84.98%, considered the Runner of the Year award for the CRR. Not surprisingly, Gibson was the best 60+ runner and Otstot the best 40+ runner in Roger’s Annual Runner Rankings for 2022.
Lots to look forward to in the coming months. Jonathan Grimm, age 13, of Williamsburg (ranked #15 in the overall category) has until September to improve on his age 13 times (with a goal of sub-17:00) and one additional year to run fast age 14 times (with his goal of sub-16:00, which would break the Virginia state record for men ages 10-14). Similarly, Isabella Strumke, age 9, of Toano was ranked 22nd for overall women, and as Roger noted, was the youngest runner to ever make the overall rankings. Like Grimm, she has until September to improve on her age 9 times.
Lots to look forward to for the Spring Runner Rankings, including major races like the Newport News One City, Shamrock, Victory at Yorktown, and Run the DOG Street, etc., including a notable marathon for the men. I’ve been covering Hampton Roads road racing for literally a half century (since 1973), and the spring rankings will feature what I consider the most impressive one-month period ever run by a runner from the Hampton Roads. Stay tuned to find out in Roger’s next Runner Rankings.
Male Overall
The competition for the top spot was over early as I started the season with an unassailable 2:24:24 Tidewater Striders Dismal Swamp Marathon the first weekend of December, which clinched a seven-minute PR and a 10K equivalent that would hold up to clear the field by over a minute. I also notched wins at the Roanoke Drumstick Dash 5K (15:56), Jingle Jog 5K (15:48), Resolution 5K (15:36), Strider Distance Series 15 Miler (1:25:53), No Frills 8K (25:19), Run for the Heart 10 Miler (55:49), and Colonial Half Marathon (1:09:40). This makes seven seasons in a row during which I’ve earned the #1 spot, let’s see how long I can keep that going! But enough about me
Four of the next six ranked runners duked it out at Christmas Town, with second-ranked Forest Braden outlasting #3 Zachary Helm for the win and the higher ranking. Both had superior other performances to bolster their resumes, with Braden taking the runner-up spot at the Colonial Half in a swift 1:12:03, while Helm ran 15:44 for fourth place at a turkey trot in New Jersey. William and Mary Track and XC coach Braden replicates his #2 ranking from the fall, while Helm is back in the Rankings after a one-race fall that followed top-four rankings during the spring and summer. Helm also turned in a strong runner-up 15:55 at the Resolution 5K.
Chris Free continues his steady progress to the top, sliding in at #4 after being ranked #9, #6, and #5 during the past three seasons. Free outdueled the ever-improving Cox High grad Erik Spencer at Surf-n-Santa to take the runner-up spot in 26:50 over fifth-ranked Spencer’s third-place 27:17. Both had better performances elsewhere to secure their rankings, with Free making the podium at the always-competitive Tidewater Striders Turkey Trot in 33:42, and Spencer keeping me honest at the Distance Series 15 Miler in a runner-up 1:26:29. Spencer also scored the win at the Striders Distance Series 20 Miler in 1:59:22, almost ten minutes ahead of the nearest challenger. Spencer moves up four spots from the fall – I suspect we’ll frequently see him in the top ten, if not the top five, for seasons to come.
Following behind Braden and Helm at Christmas Town were sixth-ranked Rylan Flint in 6th in 26:52 and #7 Sean Bush in 8th in 27:38. This would hold up as Flint’s best effort, but Bush had loftier aspirations, eventually offering a sparkling PR 16:29 at the Jingle Jog 5K. Ryan Carroll made his annual winter trek to run a high-quality half marathon in Florida, for at least the fifth year in a row since I started these rankings in 2018, this time, for the first time, as a master, and took runner-up honors in the humidity in 1:16:27. He also picked up wins at the Tacky Sweater 5K, Reindeer Trot 7K, and Reindeer Rally 5K. Ninth-ranked Clark Pederson and #10 Mark Tompkins turned in a pair of fine 10 Milers at historic venues, Pederson at Fort Monroe as part of the Striders Distance Series in a 57:17 win, and Tompkins at the Yorktown Battlefields in a runner-up 58:07 as part of the Run for the Heart.
One-racers Wesley Bond and Isaac Lamprecht would’ve been right in the mix for the #2 spot had they run a second race. Fall #3 Adam Otstot and #4 Will Jeter also came up a race short of being ranked, and likely would have made the top four yet again with a second effort. In addition to Bond (George Mason University) and Lamprecht (New Kent High), a significant handful of other high school and college athletes with local roots were unable to record the requisite two races in order to get ranked, with most of them running either just a turkey trot or the USATF Cross Country U20 8K in Richmond.
Compared to last year, this year’s winter rankings required nearly-identical qualifications in order to make the top five (10K equivalent in the low 34s or faster) and top ten (low 35s or faster). In fact, Mark Tompkins set the bar at #10 both seasons at the same race, 58:15 last year and 58:07 this year, at the Run for the Heart 10 Miler. Making the top 25 did get a bit more difficult this year, though, with the cutoff improving from 38:07 last year to 37:33. There is a pretty even split among Peninsula vs Southside residents, with no one city dominating, though when you adjust for population, Williamsburg certainly seems to be punching above its weight with seven ranked runners compared to Virginia Beach’s city-high eight. Only ten ranked runners return from the fall, but that is about par for the course, considering only ten to fifteen ranked runners tend to return in this category from season to season.
Male Masters
Seasons like this winter’s male masters had are why I do the Rankings! Ryan Carroll and John Lomogda established themselves early with fast 5Ks in the low 17s, Lomogda with a 17:05 Blue Talon Bistro Turkey Trot and then a 17:03 (10K eq = 35:30) Santa Claus Shuffle win, and Carroll with a pair of wins, 17:07 (35:38) at Tacky Sweater, and then 17:15 at Reindeer Rally to go with his 26:31 Reindeer Trot 7K win that same morning. Then, in early January, Tidewater Striders President and Performer of the Year Thomas Hicks staked his claim to #1 with a 16:59 (10K eq = 35:22) Resolution 5K followed by a 58:35 (35:23) Distance Series 10 Miler win a week later. Mark Tompkins ran well in 29:02 at the USATF Cross Country Masters 8K in mid-January, but was much better in early February at the Run for the Heart 10 Miler in 58:07 (10K eq = 35:06) to make a compelling argument for the pole position at that time, even despite falling short to Carroll’s 28:01 (35:32) and Lomogda’s 28:45 (36:29) at USATF. Carroll came back around in mid-February, though, turning in the top masters performance of the season among ranked runners with his strong runner-up 1:16:27 (34:35) at the Publix Florida Half Marathon to settle any debate. These four stellar masters distinguished themselves from the field by almost two whole 10K-equivalent-minutes, although of course with a second race Adam Otstot would’ve been an easy #1 after his 26:34 (33:42) at USATF. Carroll fills into Otstot’s vacancy after Otstot was the top master during each of the past three seasons since he turned 40, with Carroll improving on his runner-up rankings from the summer and fall. Hicks is #3 for the third season in a row, while Lomogda, a one-racer in the fall, replicates his #4 ranking from the summer. Lomogda’s 87.78% age grade for his Santa Claus Shuffle 17:03 is the Rankings-high for men, while Hicks’ 86.75% for his 16:59 Resolution 5K is second-highest.
Moving outside the top four now, sixth-ranked Toby Worm won Distance Series 12 Miler in 1:14:43, but despite having the superior 10K equivalent as a result of this effort, he slots in behind #5 Wilson Reuter Melo, who finished 45 seconds ahead of Worm in 1:02:01 at the Distance Series 10 Miler #2. Jim Highsmith makes good on his first season as a master to earn his #7 ranking on the strength of his runner up 17:43 at the short-course Menchville Winter Chill 5K. Highsmith won the Ugly Sweater 5K in 18:53. Eric Makovsky and Steve Speirs mirrored each other about as closely as you can for their top two races, with Makovsky topping Speirs by two seconds at the Striders Turkey Trot 10K, and by fourteen seconds at the Distance Series 20 miler. Speirs does have significantly more impressive age grades, though, and a most impressive 3:38:30 Tidewater Strider Dismal Swamp 50K win to his name. Rounding out the top ten is Josh Whitehead, falling one spot from his fall ranking after finishing just outside the top ten at Surf-n-Santa in 30:25.
There weren’t many notable one-racers in this category, but after the mighty Otstot there were a few others who would’ve cracked the top ten had they run another race. Fourteen return from last season’s Rankings, with seven speedy runners unranked in the fall making the top twelve, bumping many down from their previous ranks, or off the list altogether. Compared to the fall, you had to be over 30 10K-equivalent-seconds faster to make the top ten and top 25 this time. Cutoff times for those groupings were remarkably consistent with last winter’s #10 at 38:16 and #25 at 40:52, compared to this year’s respective 38:22 and 40:53.
Male 60+
For the majority of 2022, Pete Gibson was the top male 60+ runner in Hampton Roads, despite being significantly older than most of his competition for that title. Robert Whitaker was just able to wrest control of this group in the fall, relegating Gibson to second-ranked at that time. Whitaker replicated this feat this winter, earning himself another #1 on the strength of a pair of great 5Ks in the mid 19s, including a 19:22 Jingle Jog worth an age grade of 84.85%, the third-highest age grade among males this season. Gibson settles for bronze, as the newly-minted 60-year-old Jon Leiding snags the #2 ranking after only racing once in the fall. After a decade as a formidable masters runner in his 50s competing with many in their 40s, Leiding will surely be a force to be reckoned with now that he’s aged up to this category.
Fourth-ranked Ken Alberg continues his positive trajectory from the past few seasons, ascending to his current position from #9 in the summer and #7 in the fall. With Alberg, fifth-ranked Richard Grant makes for a rare two Suffolk natives in a top five, and continues the pattern, along with the next two, of runners trending upwards in ranking. Sixth-ranked Jim Thornton was five seconds ahead of #7 Anthony Kowalski at the Jingle Jog 5K in 21:26, while Kowalski was consistent and a bit faster, but not better than Thornton, in his best-race 21:27 at the New Year’s Day 5K. Eighth-ranked Dennis Cruff has a slightly better 10K equivalent than Kowalski, 44:36 for his 1:38:47 Colonial Half to Kowalski’s 44:35, but Kowalski came out 35 seconds ahead of Cruff at the New Year’s Day 5K, giving Kowalski the advantage here. Bill Downing paired a couple of solid Distance Series races to earn #9, and tenth-ranked Orlando “Tony” Perez dropped significantly from his #5 ranking in the fall despite only running 22 10K-equivalent-seconds slower than last season.
As foretold by Perez’s drop despite not running much slower, the male 60+ category was much more competitive this season than last, with the cutoff to make the top five and top 25 both getting over a 10K-equivalent-minute faster, from 44:39 to 43:27 and 50:27 to 49:05, respectively. This large improvement is similar to that seen when comparing this winter to last year’s, when the top five cutoff was 44:59 and the top 25 cutoff was 49:15, although notably the top ten cutoff improved by a massive three minutes, from 48:01 to 45:01. With a whopping seventeen returning ranked runners from the fall, it would seem that making the male 60+ Rankings got harder not because of an influx of fast, previously-unranked runners like the open and masters men had, but because a number of the returning ranked runners ran significantly faster than last season. There were only three runners who could’ve made the top twelve with a second race, most notably Stephen Chantry, who seems to always be fighting injuries, and was a DNF at USATF XC – had he finished, he would’ve been ranked #4 over Alberg despite Alberg’s slightly superior road 5K time, as Chantry beat Alberg 20:44-20:48 at Jingle Jog.
Female Overall
Although she’s from Charlottesville, 2020 US Olympic Trials Marathon qualifier and Colonial Road Runners member Ann Mazur has made enough trips down I-64 to race with us that she deserves her spot in these Rankings. Always a contender, she makes it two top-ranked seasons in a row with her runner-up Colonial Half 1:24:11 and her Jingle Jog 5K course record 18:36. Mazur leads a group of nine returning ranked runners in the top twelve, and is followed by second-ranked Ida Oesteraas, improving on her #3 ranking from the fall thanks to her Tacky Sweater 5K win in 18:25. Emily Honeycutt also improved on her fall ranking, by three spots, kicking the season off right with a stellar PR 18:38 at the Dallas YMCA Turkey Trot 5K. Honeycutt has been the most consistent female runner in Hampton Roads in recent years, with this being her twelfth season in a row ranked in the top twelve, save for winter 2020-2021 when she only ran one race. She collected her fourth-straight Colonial Road Runners Grand Prix title in 2022, also her fifth in six years, to go with her first Hampton Roads Super Grand Prix title.
Fourth-ranked Sika Henry continues to prove that she is the queen of longer distances, earning her spot in the rankings with a Virginia state record 8:34:23 Tidewater Striders Dismal Swamp 100K overall win, where she beat all of the men as well as women, followed by a 2:59:52 Houston Marathon a mere six weeks later, which just doesn’t seem like a lot of turnaround time from a state record 100K. Another member of ultra-running royalty joins Henry near the top, as former American record holder for 200K and 24 hours, Sabrina Little, recently moved to the area and has been dabbling in some local 5Ks, including wins at Fast Before the Feast in 19:15 and Ugly Sweater in 19:34, to earn #7 here – it will be fun to see what more she has to offer in seasons to come!
Fifth-ranked Bethany Spector and ninth-ranked Jessica Smith prove you can have it all, as these two speedsters bounced back from their recent pregnancies to crack the top ten and pick up a pair of 10-mile wins as their best races, Spector at Run for the Heart in 1:05:06, and Smith at Distance Series #2 in 1:07:08. This winter was Spector’s first season back in action in a while, while Smith is the biggest improver in this category, moving up nine spots from her fall #18 ranking. Unlike her many fellow high school and college cohorts, female and male, who mostly tended to be one-racers this season, eighth-ranked Lauren Pegher of Tabb High found time amidst her scholastic competition schedule to record a pair of strong race efforts, including a Christmas Town Dash 8K win in 31:20, to improve upon her #12 ranking from the fall. Ekaterina Aaron rounds out the top ten with a pair of solid runner-up performances, improving on her #15 fall ranking. I would be remiss to not mention 22nd-ranked Isabella Strumke, who, at age nine, is the youngest runner to ever make the Rankings, and whose 84.92% age grade for her 20:53 Colonial 5K is the third-highest among females this season, and the highest among females under age 70.
College-age runners abounded among the female overall one-racers, including three, Ocean Lakes High and Notre Dame alum Madeleine King, Maury High alum and current Penn runner Maeve Stiles, and Jamestown High alum and current Florida runner Caroline Bauer, who would’ve taken the top spot had they run a second race. Alas, many of these youngsters seem to only be interested in Turkey Trots as far as local road racing is concerned. Compared to both the fall and last winter, it got almost a 10K-equivalent-minute harder to make the top ten and top 25, improving from 41:45 to 40:59 and 44:59 to 44:03, respectively. It would appear that a large contingent of runners unranked last season, including the entire bottom seven and ten of the bottom thirteen, bumped a handful of slower ranked runners from the fall, resulting in a much-stronger winter batch.
Female Masters
It comes as little surprise that two-time US Olympic Marathon Trials qualifier Renee Merchant is still killing it as a masters runner, and after a couple of quiet seasons she is back to racing and claims the #1 spot here. It was close between her and second-ranked Christine Fernandez, who had three races superior to Merchant’s second-best effort, including a 43:00 Tidewater Striders Turkey Trot 10K to go with her top two races, but Merchant’s 20:20 runner-up finish at the Tacky Sweater 5K reigns supreme, and Fernandez relinquishes the top spot that she had held onto for the past two seasons. In her second season as a master, Megan Schulze replicates her #3 ranking from the fall on the strength of a unique Thanksgiving 5K double: Glowing Gobbler Thanksgiving Eve and Fast Before the Feast Thanksgiving morning. Fourth-ranked Kari Tallent was next in behind Fernandez at the Striders Turkey Trot, and improves upon her fall #6 ranking after being ranked second during the summer, bumping down Deelyn Robinson to fifth after her own runner-up ranking in the fall. Robinson makes it six seasons in a row in the masters top ten, quite the feat for the 57-year-old competing with many women ten to fifteen years her junior!
Moving outside the top five now, #6 Eda Kininger trumps seventh-ranked Aimee Gianoukos despite her inferior best 10K equivalent because she beat Gianoukos by a compelling 40 seconds, 22:05-22:45, at the Blue Talon Bistro Turkey Trot 5K. Jessica Anderson replicates her #8 ranking from the fall, making it four seasons in a row during which she has improved or equaled her previous season’s ranking. Ninth-ranked Jenny Keller bested #10 Marcy Politte 22:57 to 24:20 at the Glowing Gobbler 5K, and thus is awarded the superior ranking here despite Politte’s slightly better 10K equivalent for her 37:45 Surf-n-Santa 5 Miler. Just outside the top ten is ageless wonder Joey Hallock at #12, who has the distinctions of owning the Rankings-best age grade this season, 89.36% for her 47:57 Strider Turkey Trot 10K, and being the biggest positive mover compared to the fall across all categories, improving on her previous ranking by an extensive eleven spots.
Nine runners could’ve made the top ten had they run a second race, led by Lania Herman’s impressive Distance Series 15 Miler podium finish in 1:52:37 which, paired with another offering, would’ve netted her #5. With fourteen ranked masters women, the Peninsula dominates this category, particularly Williamsburg with eight of those fourteen, especially when you adjust for population size. Compared to last season and last winter, you had to be about 30 10K equivalent seconds to make the top five or top 25. Eight of the bottom eleven being newly-ranked runners and contributing best 10K equivalents well under 50:00 made for a lot of depth.
Female 60+
The inimitable Joey Hallock owns this group, and even at age 70 claims the top spot by an astounding five 10K-equivalent-minutes. Her age grade for her 47:57 Striders Turkey Trot 10K, 89.36%, is the Rankings-high this season, and this is her fifth season in a row ranked #1. At this level, if she keeps this up, it will take a truly special 60+ runner to take her down any time soon. She is the only runner in this category with a 10K equivalent under 51:00 over the past year, let alone under 48:00!
Down to the mere mortals with 10K equivalents in the 53s and slower, we first have runner-up Melanie Hennis, who has no race results prior to this season that I can find, but is a welcome high-quality addition to the scene. Hennis ran excellent times all throughout the season, most notably her 25:43 Resolution 5K, to edge out third-ranked Mary Jo Blackmore, despite Blackmore’s slightly superior best time, as Hennis’ second-best time, plus her 43:18 Surf-n-Santa 5 Miler, 1:30:54 Run for the Heart 10 Mile, and 2:02:51 Colonial Half, are all much better than Blackmore’s second-best effort. Blackmore was ranked #2 over the summer prior to going unranked last season.
The fourth- through sixth-ranked runners are very close in quality, but #4 Pamela Eddy easily gets the nod as not only does she have the best time, but she also did it on the toughest course, at the hilly Colonial Half in 1:58:49. Maria Jacob turned in a pair of consistent Distance Series 10 Milers to earn fifth, while Betty Brothers recorded an age grade that only Joey Hallock can top, 87.91% for her Distance Series 20 Miler 3:06:36, on her way to replicating her #6 ranking from the fall. Tammi Clarke falls four spots from last season to seventh despite only running a bit slower than her fall time (10K eq = 54:40 this season vs 54:19 last) thanks to four previously-unranked runners topping her 2:20:08 Distance Series 15 Miler, and #8 Genevieve Barnett turned in a pair of solid holiday-themed races for her spot, highlighted by her 43:44 Christmas Town Dash that was good for second in her age group at that competitive race, losing only to one-racer Mary Jo Bailey’s 42:38. Ninth-ranked Carol Hansen-Vessa and #10 Jean Phelan made my job easy, with Phelan filing in closely behind Hansen-Vessa at both of their top races. Phelan is certainly trending in the right direction, up ten spots from her fall #20 ranking.
Like Phelan, this whole category is trending positively. Compared to last season, the top five (53:42 vs 57:13), ten (56:30 vs 59:08), and 25 (1:03:15 vs 1:06:35) are all two to three-and-a-half 10K-equivalent-minutes faster! Curiously, this season’s cutoffs are similar to what they were last winter, so perhaps the conclusion is that 60+ women prefer to race fast during the winter rather than the fall. Similar to the masters women, Williamsburg has another strong showing with seven ranked runners in this category, but, unlike the masters women, it is Virginia Beach coming out with the most ranked runners at ten, including four of the top six. There were seven one-racers who could’ve broken into the top ten with a second race, including three from Williamsburg, who would’ve extended that city’s impressive performance throughout the Rankings.
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.
