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.
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.
In Newark’s inaugural Lederhosen Half Marathon last Saturday, 38-year-old CRR Andrew Weber blitzed the course that covered most of the city, having to follow only a motorcycle and/or cyclist marshal, in 1:22:22. The younger Weber (no relation) won the race outright among 352 finishers.
On the women’s side, CRR Julie Brewer was 90th out of 226 women finishers and the 30th masters woman out of 110, clocking in at 2:19:23.
On a sad note, one of the original Creek Road Runners, CRR Tom Brill, died on July 23 of complications from Parkinson’s Disease. Having retired from the University of Delaware in 2006 because of Parkinson’s, Brill also had to stop running, but he walked as much as he could in the ensuing years.
Brill wrote his own obituary, a portion of which says, “He enjoyed hiking, running, canoeing and mountain climbing. He and his wife [Pat] won the Gore-Tex triathlon mixed pairs in 1985.”