It was a good morning for racing—two lanes all to the runners in Newark in the 10th Annual Main Street Mile. There were many Creek Road Runners who participated, and a few of them turned in performances well worth mentioning (all chip times*).
The fastest of the CRRs was CRR Andrew Weber, who just edged out CRR Clark Ridge for both 6th place overall and 2nd among the 30-39 men. Weber ran a 5:06.2, just ahead of Ridge’s 5:07.0, in the field of hundreds of runners and walkers.
Two CRRs won their respective age groups. In 13th place overall was CRR Bruce Weber, who ran a solid 5:22.2 to win the 50-59 age group. CRR Diane Kukich won her age group (60-69) in 7:12.6. These two winners posted wonderful age-graded scores in so doing. Weber’s 91.9 was the second highest among all competitors, and Kukich scored an impressive 87.0, fourth highest overall. (Scores from 90-100 are considered world class; 80-100 is considered national class.) By comparison, Andrew Weber’s score was 84.1, and Ridge’s was 83.9.
CRR Shawn Alexander had the fourth best time among CRRs, finishing in 6:12.6.
Lawson Schultz, teenage daughter of CRR Dave Schultz and CRR Christine Schultz, won the 14-19 age group.
*In all other events, gun times are used in reporting on CreekRoadRunners.org.
Footnotes: Spectators CRR Bruce Hubbard, who wore the original race T-shirt from the inaugural Main Street Mile contested 30 years ago, and CRR Mark Deshon reminisced about that race and their respective recent physical ailments. Fusion Fitness Center picked up this unique event in 2007 and has been its organizer for the past ten years.
For the second time in less than a week, the two Dougs (Repetti and Ridge) won their respective age groups. CRR Doug Repetti (60-64) won in 22:56, and CRR Doug Ridge, father of Clark and CRR Claron Ridge (who also ran), posted a 24:34 on the day.
On the distaff side, it’s part of their family holiday tradition to run this race, and each year CRR Ann Jornlin seems to be on the podium. This year was no exception, as Ann took second in the 60-64s in 25:03.
In the 5K, CRR Mark Deshon posted the fastest time of the day among the Creek Road Runners while winning the 55-59 age group in 20:50. This was a strong time for Deshon, who weathered having a shoelace come untied at the mile-and-a-half point and being dusted in the final straightaway by age-group compatriot Epi Camacho. (Deshon later found out that Camacho had won their age group in the 10K in a blazing 41:20 and was running the 5K as a cool down, more or less.) Deshon placed 16th overall out of 529 finishers.
