The long-running Delaware Open Cross-Country Championships event has over the years been a challenging 5K, one of the most difficult 5K races, if not the most difficult, in Delaware.

Creek Road Runners have had some success at this race, particularly in the over-50 master’s categories. In fact, several years ago, Creek Road Runners took wins in the “golden masters” group in three consecutive years.

This event always brings out the toughest XC runners from the region, so much so that this year the runners in the 50-59 and 60-69 age groups ran better than the younger (40-49) masters runners.

Out of the top 40 finishers, CRR Bill Rose finished this grueling race in 31st place overall in 22:47. Not too far behind Rose was CRR Bruce Weber in 37th, with a time of 23:35. It’s hard to compare times with, say, a 5K flat road race, but experience tells us that one can easily subtract two minutes off of these Brandywine Creek State Park course times to get a feel for how well these two ran.

Rose placed 7th and Weber 9th, respectively, in the 60-69 men’s division, which tells you something about how stacked the field was with older guys who are still able to handle sprinting up and down trails.