Sam Parsons competes in Doha, Qatar, among the world’s best in one of the 5,000m semifinals.
Newark, Del., native Sam Parsons, son of CRR George Parsons and CRR Christina Parsons, has had quite a running year in 2019, capped off by his competing (for Germany) in the World Track & Field Championships this past weekend in Doha, Qatar.
Competing in the 5,000m race as the German national 3,000m champion (he has dual citizenship), Parsons did not qualify for the final, but he managed to run the 24th best time (13:38.53) at this distance in the semifinals among the world’s elite middle-distance runners, finishing 13th in the second semi, just 13 seconds off of a qualifying time.
With regard to the younger Parsons’ experience at the World Championships, his father noted, “He was [just] happy to be here.” About his son’s finishing 24th overall in an attempt to qualify for the finals, the proud elder Parsons said, “I’ll take it!”
Sam Parsons makes eye contact with a rather surprised Ethiopian competitor at the World Championships in Doha.
On Sept. 8, as a run-up to his trip to Doha, Parsons ran a personal best road mile in the prestigious and nationally televised Fifth Avenue Mile in New York City. He led the professional field at the half-mile post (by a wide margin) and collected a $1,000 bonus for having done so, as he had done in 2018 in the same race. Though other runners caught and passed him later in the race, placing him 10th overall, he ran a 3:55.0, smashing his previous best by nearly three seconds and trailing the winner by less than four seconds.
Parsons’ other notable personal bests this calendar year include:
- 1,500m: 3:37.46 (Portland, Ore., Track Festival, June 9, 2019)
- 3,000m: 7:44 (IAAF Diamond League, Lucern, July 9, 2019)
- 5,000m: 13:22 (Payton Jordan Invitational, Palo Alto, May 2, 2019)
Parsons runs for the Boulder, Colo.–based Tinman Elite professional running team. Prior to a successful collegiate running career at North Carolina State, he ran cross country and track in high school locally for The Tatnall School.
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.”
Sam Parsons, a professional runner from Newark, Del., and son of CRR Christina Parsons and CRR George Parsons, won the 3,000m indoor German National Championship in Leipzig on Saturday. Parsons, who has dual citizenship because of his German-born mother, made the decision last year to compete for her homeland.
On the track, it’s about time—typically all about time. But this is not so true when it comes to CRR Jim Fischer, who has put more time (and love) into the sport of running and racing—as competitor, coach, and community mentor—than anyone else in Delaware. For his latest honor, all we can say here at 
In CRR lore, Fischer was one of the five scoring members on the second-place-finishing Creek Road Runners team in the 1988 Caesar Rodney Half Marathon’s corporate team competition, clocking a 1:19:05. Other scorers that day were CRR Martin Wolfer, CRR Bob Taggart, CRR Mark Deshon, and CRR Steve Cottrell.
Speedster CRR Andrew Weber, who will turn 40 next year, had been chipping away at the goal of running a marathon in under three hours. This past weekend, he accomplished that feat in the City of Brotherly Love, completing the Philadelphia Marathon in 2:59:15. He placed 337th overall out of the 9,509 finishers and 36th in the 35-39 age group.
CreekRoadRunners.org 