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.
CRR Bill Farquhar, who finished 10th overall in 57:44 (crushing the hour mark) and winning the 50-54 age group.
CRR Robert Hesketh of the South Jersey Athletic Club, who finished 33rd in 1:08:42 (7th among the 55-59s).
CRR Teresa Kauffman, who finished in 1:27:54 (4th among the 55-59s).
CRR Julie Brewer, who completed the 15K distance in 1:36:10 (8th among the 55-59s).
Placing 19th overall out of 233 finishers was CRR Bruce Weber, who won the 55-59 age group and turned in a 41:00 10K time, remarkable given the super-cold temperatures. Placing third in that same age group was CRR Steve Tague, who ran a 46:42. Also noteworthy is that CRR Ryan German ran a 49:38.
Fifty-year-old CRR Bill Farquhar led the way, finishing 7th overall out of 1,049 participants and winning the Masters category in a sparkling 17:35. Let’s just call him CRR’s “Rudolph.” Finishing 33rd overall and winning the 55-59 age group was CRR Bill Rose in 20:15.
Coming off a long running layoff due to a foot injury, CRR Diane Kukich got back in the groove by easily winning her age group (65-69) in 25:22.
In the 5K, CRR Mark Deshon ran his best 5K time of the year, winning the 60-64s and placing 12th overall out of 444 finishers, with a 21:02. This race completed a “run” of 4-for-4 age-group wins in local races for Deshon in 2017. CRR Mary Braun finished 3rd among the 55-59s in 27:58. Multiple-state-record-holder CRR Bob Taggart placed 2nd in the 75-and-over age group in 31:10.
The fourth and final win on the day was CRR April Anderson’s, as she took the 5K’s 70-74 age group in 37:52.