CRRs Paul Amer, Mark Deshon, Bill Rose, and Stan Sandler

It’s certainly the rare day, even at age 56, when CRR Mark Deshon gets beaten by eight other Creek Road Runners in a 5K. That’s what happened today, though, at the Blue Hen 5K.  We’ll get to the extenuating circumstances in a bit.

What was great about this race is how well we old-timers did as a collective, beginning with the ever-impressive CRR Jay Coughenour, who is nursing an injury but was still able to run a comfortable (for him anyway) 18:35, coming in 4th overall. He won the 40-49 age group.  CRR Bill Rose left Mark by the wayside somewhere along the Hall Trail on his way to a 50-59 age group win and a 10th-place overall finish, in a super 19:23.  Taking third in that same category was CRR Tripp Shenton in 22:53.  Still going, just like the Eveready Energizer Bunny, CRR Bob Taggart won the 70-and-over group in 24:11.

On the female side, last year’s woman’s winner CRR Jeanine Radice successfully defended her crown in this year’s race with a 19:47, even without having done any speedwork.  Jeanine finished 12th overall.  CRR Ann Jornlin won the 50-59 age group with an impressive 25:07.  Good job, both of you!

Mark Deshon hobbles across the line.

Oh, yeah.  Back to Mark.  Well, let’s just say that the 19:29 he turned in on May 6 came back to bite him, the result of which was that he had strained an achilles tendon.  This day he could only go at that pace for just less than two miles before the pain came back (and Bill Rose passed him).  This would explain the rather unusual finishing time in the photo.  Hey, at least he beat Delaware marathon legend Doug White (at right in photo), though Doug is over 70.

Congratulations to the winners and every Creek Road Runner who came out.

Delaware Marathon weekend provided great weather for participants in May 13 running festival, whether doing the full marathon, half, or participating on a relay team.  CRR David Brond completed the half marathon in 1:48:26. Congratulations, David!

Several Creek Road Runners participated as part of a four-person relay team.

Team 1033, also known as the Creek Road Runners, included Shannon, Dave, Chris, and Bill.

The Creek Road Runners team placed 9th overall out of 186 teams.  The team of CRR Bill Rose (42:52), CRR Shannon Lennon-Edwards (48:39), CRR Dave Edwards (51:25), and Chris Martens (49:08 and no doubt subbing for CRR Bill Farquhar, who’s been on the DL) turned in a respectable 3:12:05.

CRR Jay Coughenour, running with the New Balance Masters team, which finished 3rd (2:46:59), ran an opening leg 41:05.  CRR Keith Crispin, running for Red Lion Christian Academy (3:23:39), ran a 44:55 leg.  CRR Holly Scott, running for the all-female Downstate Delaware Striders & Riders F team (3:31:24), turned in a 53:02.  Former Delaware mile-record-holder CRR Jim Bray, part of the 4 Rebels 4 Ever relay (4:03:15), ran a 57:27.

The annual Broad Street Run ten-miler in Philadelphia saw two of our older members participate and run well. CRR Dan Simmons finished the one-way trip down Broad Street in 1:15:22 officially (1:14:29 chip time), good for 14th among his 60-64 peers. Delaware record-holder CRR Deborah Compton finished 4th in the same age division with a 1:25:58. Dan and Deborah keep putting in the miles. Congratulations to them.

CRR Bob Bennett claimed the honor of the top 70+ runner in the recent Triple Crown Races 5K, held on April 30 at White Clay Creek State Park. His time was 31:12 for the difficult cross-country course laid out by Trail Dawg and CRR John Mackenzie. Bob finished 40th overall out of 146 finishers, proving he’s still at it.

Three Creek Road Runners shone particularly brightly during the 49th running of the Caesar Rodney Half Marathon on Sunday.

CRR Natalie Rosenberg and CRR Holly Scott each took second place in their respective age group. Rosenberg ran a stellar 1:29:22 and missed winning the 19-24 age group outright by 10 seconds. She finished 106th overall. Scott, our Dover Creek Road Runner, ran a very good 1:42:01, placing her second among the 50-54s.

CRR Jay Coughenour was the top Creek Road Runner on the day with a 1:19:02, giving him a third-place finish in the 45-49 age group and 20th overall.

This was a great showing for these three, especially considering the fact that this race attracts so many quality runners from Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Congratulations to all other Creek Road Runners who ran the race. It’s quite an accomplishment.  See complete race results.