07 Monday Oct 2019
Posted in Race Results
CRR Emma Beisheim finished behind only three men in the annual Delaware Memorial Bridge Run to Acceptance for Special Olympics, held on Sunday, Oct. 6. She clocked in at 21:06, easily winning the prize as the top overall female at this unique 5K on the bridge. She’s obviously in good racing form. Congrats!
29 Sunday Sep 2019
Posted in Kudos, News, Race Results
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:
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.
29 Monday Apr 2019
Posted in Race Results
Tags
champions, Delaware Half Marathon, Delaware Marathon Festival, deshon, farquhar, Marathon Relay, mccooey, nigro, rose, smiljanec, weber
The CRR Delaware Marathon Relay team roster changed from last year. Due to a schedule conflict, CRR Bill Farquhar was not able to run, and CRR Mark Deshon had gone into “relay retirement.” So, team captain CRR Bill Rose injected some “younger blood” into the team, recruiting newbies CRR Luke Nigro and CRR Katarina Smiljanec to join him and CRR Bruce Weber. This strategy paid off smashingly on April 28 in Wilmington, as the team turned in a stellar 2:49:23, winning the team competition by a mile (actually by more than three miles) and defending CRR’s relay championship from last year.
In the Delaware Half-Marathon, though 39-year-old CRR Andrew Weber (no relation to Bruce Weber other than serious speed) was not able to repeat his championship performance of last year, he ran a faster time by 23 seconds and finished second overall (out of 785 finishers) in the Delaware Half-Marathon, in a time of 1:22:11. CRR Kevin McCooey ran a 2:05:11.
2019 relay team—Bruce Weber, Luke Nigro, Katarina Smiljanec, and team captain Bill Rose
The brand new marathon course took advantage of the Jack A. Markell Trail. A bicycle rider accompanied the lead relay runner, and the CRR team led the entire way. Legs were not exactly equal, unlike previous years’ four-lap course, and the 1-2 exchange ended up being 0.3 mile farther than the course map indicated.
Leg 1 (Rose) was net uphill, leg 2 (Nigro) was net downhill, and legs 3 (Weber) and 4 (Smiljanec) were flat, each with a small rise/fall going past the DuPont Environmental Education Center at the south end of the Wilmington Riverfront. Legs 3 and 4 were scenic but rather lonely for Weber and Smiljanec over much of the route, out and back along the Markell Trail.
Here’s how Rose described the race:
CRR relay team with their first-place plaques
By the time I handed off to Luke at about 6.3 miles, there were four (full) marathoner competitors ahead of me. Luke chased down three of them on leg 2, leaving only one runner ahead of Team CRR. Bruce put time between him and all the relay teams and marathoners behind him. Therefore, Bruce was the second runner to arrive at the 19.6-mile point (3-4 exchange), preceded only by the eventual (full) marathon winner, and 2:05 ahead of the next fastest runner.
Kat ran the final 6.6 miles in 40:21, which was 4:37 faster than any other runner on that leg, relay or full! She finished in 2:49:23. Kat’s run was [basically] a solo time trial, since she was out of sight of anyone going her way, ahead or behind. Somehow, the race organizers had not had time or forethought to set up a tape for her to break, so Wayne Kursh asked Kat to re-enact the finish-line crossing, this time breaking a tape.
Split times were as follows: Rose (44:36), Nigro (42:00), Weber (42:26), and Smiljanec (40:21).
The reward for CRR was a nice set of plaques and a free relay-team registration for next year!
29 Monday Apr 2019
Posted in Race Results
Tags
Of the 654 finishers in the third annual Five and Wine 5 Miler in Newark on March 30, two Creek Road Runners imprinted their credentials onto the central-Newark loop course.
CRR Andrew Weber continued his success in local races, finishing third overall and winning the 35-39 age group in 30:03, just a hair above 6-min./mile pace.
CRR Emma Beisheim crossed the line as the second female and 12th finisher overall in 34:25 (6:53/mile) and winning the 25-29 age group.
A fast pair indeed.
25 Monday Mar 2019
Posted in Race Results
Tags
Caesar Rodney, cottrell, deshon, fischer, half marathon, kauffman, mccooey, repetti, scott, taggart, wolfer
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.
It was 31 years ago, during the 25th annual Caesar Rodney, that a team of seven Creek Road Runners took second place in the corporate team competition. That day in 1988 on the old (more hilly) course, CRRs were led by the second-place finish of CRR Martin Wolfer. The other four scoring members on the team were CRR Bob Taggart, CRR Mark Deshon, CRR Jim Fischer, and CRR Steve Cottrell. Each finished in under 80 minutes, which would have placed all five scorers in the top 11 of this year’s race. Yeah, we were all younger and faster back then.
