Though he’s only half German, CRR Sam Parsons, son of CRR George Parsons and CRR Christina Parsons of Newark, was Germany’s gem in the 5000m race at the European Championships in Münich on August 16.
Finishing 6th out of the 25 competitors from all over Europe, Parsons, who clocked in at 13:30:38, bested his last month’s World Championship finishing time by 15 seconds. Unfortunately, as in the 5000m at the Worlds in Eugene, Ore., he couldn’t hang late with Jakob Ingebrigsten of Norway, who took the European title as well.
Parsons finishing 6th
In the stands and cheering on his son during the evening’s race was German-born and -raised Christina, a good local runner in her own right.
Parsons’ mom Christina (in white hat) cheering on her son
This race capped a successful running season for Parsons, who trains professionally with Boulder, Colo.–based Tinman Elite. In high school he had run for The Tatnall School in Wilmington prior to a stellar collegiate running career at North Carolina State.
> Check out the video of the race with Parsons sightings as indicated below (times approximate). 5:00 – Sam looking around mid-race, taking it all in, enjoying himself 9:58 – more Sam 12:40 – Sam moving up on the outside 12:55-13:01 – Sam and Jakob Ingebrigsten running together 15:20 – Sam hitting the bell lap in 6th place 16:17 – Sam finishing 18:09 – Christina cheering
The Delaware Mile Challenge was a unique event, to be sure, on the recently renovated track at The Tatnall School. On Saturday evening, April 9, runners of all ages took to the track to challenge the mile distance. Well after dark, the excitement had built to a crescendo, as the elite men and women took to the oval to compete.
A victorious Sam Parsons is all smiles after clocking the first sub-4 mile in Delaware.
“Homefield” advantage theoretically should have meant nothing, as among the field of 13 elite men there were four runners who had already broken the 4-minute-mile barrier at least once. One of those competitors, however, was CRR Sam Parsons (son of CRR George Parsons and CRR Christina Parsons), who grew up in Newark and ran track and cross country for Tatnall during his high school years.
It appeared early on in the men’s elite feature race that Parsons, who trains with Colorado-based Tinman Elite, was ready for the challenge. Through the initial lap, he was in good position in fourth. Moving up, he took over third during the second lap, staying close to a 60-seconds-per-lap pace while battling with three professional runners from Baltimore’s Under Armour club—two in front of him and one right behind him.
By the back stretch of the final lap, Parsons had moved up and positioned himself right behind the race leader, Casey Comber. With just a half lap to go, both were right around 3:30, setting up what would be a frenetic sprint finish.
With the volume increasing to a roar from the hundreds who lined the track to cheer him on, Parsons out-sprinted Comber on the final straightaway and, in doing so, eclipsed the 4-minute mark—the first time this had been done on Delaware soil. Parsons clocked in at 3:58.17; Comber finished just 0.27 seconds behind, also going sub-4. The previous best mile run in Delaware had been run 50 years ago, indoors, at 4:01.1.
Sam Parsons addresses the crowd after his historic win.
While not taking a victory lap, Parsons did take the mic to thank the crowd for helping to make The Delaware Mile Challenge such an energy-filled and memorable event. He also thanked his high school coach, Pat Castagno, who is Tatnall’s track-and-field and cross-country coach and whose own coach while at the University of Delaware was Delaware’s legendary CRR Jim Fischer, who presented the master’s mile race during the event.
By winning the elite race, Parsons bagged $2,500 in prize money. By breaking the 4-minute mark, he also walked (or maybe ran?) away with a $500 bonus, making it a very satisfying (and profitable) trip home!
The elite women’s winner, Molly Sughroue, of the Colorado Springs Track Club, ran away with the race, a new in-Delaware women’s record, and the same prize money.
Collectively, Creek Road Runners congratulate one of our own. Way to go, Sam!
Of local note is the fact that CRR Jim Bray, a Newark High School alum, once held the Delaware high school mile record for 28 years before it was broken in 1999.
The world record in the mile is still a mind-boggling 3:43.13, set by Morocco’s Hicham El Guerrouj in 1999.
About every five years, CRR Diane Kukich hears opportunity knocking at her door—specifically, looking at the age-group state records that may be within her grasp. Well, it didn’t take long for Kukich, who turned 70 in February, to take aim at and break a couple state age-group records.
Record breaker CRR Diane Kukich with running daughter Christine in Philadelphia
On March 5 at the Attack Addiction 5K in New Castle, Kukich placed first among the 70-and-overs, finishing as the 25th female and 103rd overall out of the massive local field of 1,567, with a 25:08. Her time eclipsed the old 70-74 state record by 47 seconds.
Perhaps even more impressive was the most recent record she broke, which had stood for 31 years. At the Hot Chocolate 15K in Philadelphia on April 2, amid 1,779 runners from all over the East Coast as well as a few other parts of the country, Kukich smashed the Delaware 70-74 age group record for the 15K (9.3-mile) distance—a long race for her—by a whopping 6:05! She crossed the line in 1:28:13, finishing as the top 70-and-over female and placing 305th among all women and 549th overall.
Five years ago, Kukich broke and still holds Delaware’s 65-69 age-group record for the five-mile distance as well. For a time, she held the 10-mile record in the 50-54 age group, and, until last year, also held the 20K record in that same age group.
As of July 1, 2022, CRR Charlie Riordan will assume his new position at Hofstra University, in Hempstead, N.Y., as Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs.
Riordan, UD’s Vice President of Research, Scholarship and Innovation, came to the University of Delaware faculty in 1997 and quickly came onto the Creek Road running scene. CRR Mark Deshon still remembers his introduction to Riordan back then while running on Creek Road. “I was curious about who this guy was in the basketball shirt running ahead of me, so I caught up and introduced myself [and him to Creek Road Runners], and we became friends and running companions.”
In 1999, Riordan was one of five “Millennium Men” who ran the initial “Wring Out the Old, Ring in the New” trail run—Creek Road Runners’ annual holiday season run at Fair Hill Natural Resources Management Area.
Dean of UD’s Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics and CRR Bruce Weber says of Riordan, whose primary role in recent years at UD has been administrative, “Charlie is one of the most principled colleagues with whom I’ve ever worked.” Weber added that Charlie has always had the best interest of the University in mind when it came to making critical decisions for the institution. That’s truly high praise from one of our fastest runners.
As a scientist, Riordan has been elected to both the Royal Society of Chemistry and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Though we’ll be sad to see him move out of the area, we hope Riordan will make it one of his first priorities to initiate a Creek Road Runners outpost on Long Island.
CRR Dave Edwards, professor of kinesiology and applied physiology at the University of Delaware, has been inducted into the National Academy of Kinesiology. His area of expertise deals with the effects disease and other factors, such as diet and exercise, have on vascular physiology. He is currently the principal investigator on a National Institutes of Health grant and is consistently published in leading physiology and clinical journals. He also started a Renal Rehabilitation Program to serve patients with kidney disease.
His department chair says, “Dave Edwards is an outstanding scientist who has contributed seminal research to understanding the physiology of exercise…. It is a well-deserved honor to be inducted into the National Academy.”
Creek Road Runners add our collective congratulations too!
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