Time of His Life
By Rick Platt
The Virginia Gazette
Published
March 23, 2005
Colonial Road Runners and Team Blitz
runners came back from the 33rd annual Shamrock Sportsfest
Marathon and 8K runs over $1,000 richer, and loaded down with numerous overall,
Masters and age-group awards, along with four team titles. Trevor Cable, Rob Hinkle, Mark Tompkins and Steve Chantry were the
prize-money winners.
The Shamrock races attracted more than 7,000 entrants to the marathon, marathon
walk, two-person marathon relay, 8K run, and two children's events, all at the
new
William & Mary senior Trevor Cable
was perhaps the biggest surprise, placing third overall in the marathon, his
debut at the demanding 26.2-mile distance (2:32:57).
The unexpected winner was unknown Matt Bozung
(2:31:37), a minute ahead of Dai Roberts (2:32:34). Only three weeks earlier,
Cable had run his first half marathon, placing fifth overall in the
Anheuser-Busch Colonial Half Marathon in 1:11:35.
Another surprise was the third-place finish by Rob Hinkle, placing third in the
Masters (ages 40-and-over) division of the 8K with his
26:33, behind only two national-class Masters runners, John Tuttle (25:39) and
Mike Egle, (25:55). Tuttle, a 1984 Olympian, set the
American Masters 8K record of 23:24 in 1999.
A third surprisingly high finish came from Mark Tompkins, who was sixth overall
in the 8K in 25:19. Four Kenyans sprinted together to the finish, all running
between 23:37 and 23:40, with Dave Berdan (24:10) the
first American.
The final local prize money winner was Steve Chantry, who earned a $100 time
bonus as the first 50+ runner, while breaking 28 minutes. Chantry ran a personal
record 27:57 for the 4.97-mile distance.
The CRR won three team titles. The men's Masters 8K team of Hinkle (26:33),
Steve Menzies (27:23), Chantry (27:57), Rick Platt
(29:37) and Bill Alto (29:39) ran a combined 1:51:30 to beat the Tidewater
Striders (2:00:51) and the CRR "B" team (2:18:32, led by Wyatt Cutchins in 30:59).
Not only did the CRR Masters win that team title, but their total time was
eight seconds faster than the winning open men's team, the Tidewater Striders
(1:51:38). The CRR open men's team of Tompkins (25:19), Brian Heidt (28:56), Hussein Easmeil
(29:36), David Witte (30:55) and Rob Vance (32:29) were second in the open
men's competition (combined 1:54:46).
The CRR Masters women's also won an 8K team title, with Valerie Plyler (33:14), Carol Bartram
(35:08), Joan Coven (38:50), Diana Fugate (46:29) and Jean Barto
(64:29). The CRR Masters women also won the team title in the marathon with
Michelle Lybarger (3:55:07), Grace Cunningham
(3:56:58), Gina Bohlmann (4:08:50) and Thea Ganoe (4:35:45).
The runaway winner of the men's marathon
team title was Team Blitz, a group of W&M students, who were formerly on
the W&M track teams, but now train and socialize together as a group. The
Team Blitz foursome included Cable (3rd, 2:32:57), Bert Jacoby (8th, 2:40:37),
Ryan Stevens (11th, 2:47:12) and Christopher Healey (17th, 2:50:39).
Second for the men was the CRR team of John Piggott (10th, 2:46:45), Michael
Mann (12th, 2:47:37), John Price (3:26:05) and Joe Barrow (3:30:03). Neither
Piggott (who has run 2:30 previously at Shamrock, but ran another marathon just
two weeks ago) nor Mann (a PR 2:28 at the 2003 Shamrock, but sick the past
three weeks) ran their expected races. The CRR men's Masters team
of Bob Eno (3:21:02), Lewis Jones (3:28:18), William
Murray (3:30:03) and Rex Hoover (3:43:42) was third.
First-place age-group finishes at Shamrock were turned in by Plyler (33:14), Chantry (27:57), and Joan Coven (38:50) in
the 8K, and by Ryan Stevens (2:47:12),
Mann (2:47:37), Jim Bates (2:56:34), and Lewis Jones (3:28:18) in the marathon.