Left: Finishers gather after the Fall into St. Michaels Sports Boosters 5K Run. Right: A photo of a few of the top male finishers after the race (from left to right): Mike Bickford (2nd overall), Mike Keene (3rd overall), and James Woodring (16-29 male age division winner).
Saturday, October 25, 2008
The rains cleared and the temperatures rose to present a warmer and sunny Saturday for the Fall in St. Michaels festival. One of the events at this festival was the 7th Annual Fall into St. Michaels Sports Boosters 5K Run/Walk at St. Michaels Elementary School.
The 5-kilometer (approximately 3.1-mile course) was flat and it wound through many different streets through the neighborhoods, by the water, and it even went by a marina a couple of times. A majority of the course was out and back, and runners got to enjoy running by the water, boat docks, churches, houses, and boats and they ran through the streets of St. Michaels.
Kate Rogers won the race for the females with atime of 24:22 One of the youngest female finshers was Molly Pittman, who won the under 15 age divsion for females. Nancy Toby, a very avid runner and triathlete, won the fifty-and-over age division for females with a time of 29:05; her second-fastest 5K she ever ran. Despite some injuries and illnesses, Toby has really improved her 5K and 10K, along with running longer distances and competing in longer distance events, and you can read about her resilient and strong approach to her training and races at: http://nancytoby.blogspot.com
Noah Wood was the first male and the overall winner of the race with a time of 18:54. Wood may have been about 15-20 seconds faster had he not gone the wrong way towards the end by accident, but fortunately one of the race staff driving a cart saw him go the wrong way and quickly redirected him. Wood did not mind too much, as this race marked his personal record-breaking completion of his quixotic goal to run in a running event in every county of Maryland (including Baltimore City) within half-a-year between May 3 and November 3; a six-month time frame that also saw him run a race in every county of Delaware within a week as well as a race in Fairfax, Virginia and one in Washington D.C. Mike Bickford finished second overall with a time of 20:07, winning the 30-49 age group division. Not too far behind was third place finisher, Michael Keene, with a time of 20:28, which I believe was quite a bit better than he was expecting. Keene is an avid runner and is a member of the Rise Up Runners (http://riseuprunners.blogspot.com) around the Mid-Shore area of Maryland's Eastern Shore. He helped put on the Bridge-to-Bridge Half-Marathon from Tilghman Island to St. Michaels, Maryland on Saturday, April 21, 2007; a race that seemed to be a big hit and it even included a 5K as well. Keene also placed third in this past March's Talbot Kids Fun Run (which was a bit less than three miles) in Easton.
Also worth noting is James Woodring, who ran his first 5K race and finished with a time somewhere between 22 and 23 minutes (probably closer to 22 minutes), and he won the 16-29 age group division. Woodring went on to compete at the Inaugural Rehoboth Beach Marathon on a relay team about a month later in Sussex County, Delaware. Al Kubeluis won the men's fifty-and-over age division, and Peggy Draughis was the eldest finisher of the event. Awesome work everyone!
Here are the results below, and right now I only have the overall and age group division winners by gender. I have not been able to get everyone's time (yet). I apologize this is over two months past the event's actual occurrence and I hope to have some photos up from it in the near future! Please let me know of any corrections or improvements that can be made! Happy holidays :)
Female:
Overall Winner: Kate Rogers - 24:22
15 and Under: Molly Pittman
16-29: Zoe Loca
30-49: Allison Jones
50 and Over: Nancy Toby - 29:05
Eldest Finisher: Peggy Draughis
Male
Overall Winner: Noah Wood - 18:5416-29: James Woodring
30-49: Mike Bickford
50 and Over: Al Kubeluis
