You’ve heard of the song, “The Wind Beneath My Wings.” Well, this isn’t what we’re talking about here. Let’s just call it “the soil beneath his shoes.”
CRR Vic Kaliakin, a civil engineering professor at the University of Delaware, was recently honored with an award for the best technical paper in 2018 by the journal Transportation Infrastructure Geotechnology for his contributions to the research of soil modeling.
No doubt, having put in thousands of miles on Creek Road, Kaliakin has seen lots of soil on the road after storms. He’s also picked up a lot on the soles of his shoes over the years of running at Fair Hill on Dec. 31 and portions of the Pen-Del trail north of Creek Road in neighboring Pennsylvania, where he lives. Of course, this has little to do with his geotechnical expertise… or does it?
Kudos to you, Vic.
Of the 661 finishers in this year’s running of the Caesar Rodney Half Marathon, the oldest of all road races in Delaware, four senior Creek Road Runners competed in this, the 56th edition, contested on March 24 in Wilmington.
In order of finish, 68-year-old CRR Doug Repetti clocked a 1:56:18 (1:55:52 chip), finishing 7th among the 65-59s; 58-year-old CRR Holly Scott turned in a 1:56:24 (1:55:06 chip), finishing 6th in her five-year age group; 56-year-old CRR Theresa Kauffman finished in 2:02:47 (2:02:12 chip); and 61-year-old CRR Kevin McCooey crossed the line in 2:08:51 (2:08:04 chip). Congratulations to each.
In his first race in the 60-69 age group, CRR Bill Rose didn’t need much luck, as he easily won the group in the Luck of the Irish 10 Miler in Phoenixville, Pa., on St. Patrick’s Day. Rose finished 17th overall in 1:12:14.
Times were fast, really fast. So fast, in fact, that 50-year-old CRR Bill Farquhar finished in 68th place overall. His time was a super 17:45 (17:42 chip), which gave him a well-deserved age-group (50-54) win in a major race.
CRR Diane Kukich, a certified running coach through the Road Runners Club of America, will again be getting UD employees “up and running” this spring through a Couch to 5K running program, a nine-week training program for beginner runners, offered by the University of Delaware Employee Health and Wellbeing.