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Tag Archives: Tinman Elite

Parsons conquers Mile Challenge

10 Sunday Apr 2022

Posted by deshon in Kudos, News, Race Results, Stories

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Tags

bray, Delaware, fischer, mile, parsons, state record, Tinman Elite, track and field

The Delaware Mile Challenge was a unique event, to be sure, on the recently renovated track at The Tatnall School. On Saturday evening, April 9, runners of all ages took to the track to challenge the mile distance. Well after dark, the excitement had built to a crescendo, as the elite men and women took to the oval to compete.

photo of a victorious Sam Parsons
A victorious Sam Parsons is all smiles after clocking the first sub-4 mile in Delaware.

“Homefield” advantage theoretically should have meant nothing, as among the field of 13 elite men there were four runners who had already broken the 4-minute-mile barrier at least once. One of those competitors, however, was CRR Sam Parsons (son of CRR George Parsons and CRR Christina Parsons), who grew up in Newark and ran track and cross country for Tatnall during his high school years.

It appeared early on in the men’s elite feature race that Parsons, who trains with Colorado-based Tinman Elite, was ready for the challenge. Through the initial lap, he was in good position in fourth. Moving up, he took over third during the second lap, staying close to a 60-seconds-per-lap pace while battling with three professional runners from Baltimore’s Under Armour club—two in front of him and one right behind him.

By the back stretch of the final lap, Parsons had moved up and positioned himself right behind the race leader, Casey Comber. With just a half lap to go, both were right around 3:30, setting up what would be a frenetic sprint finish.

With the volume increasing to a roar from the hundreds who lined the track to cheer him on, Parsons out-sprinted Comber on the final straightaway and, in doing so, eclipsed the 4-minute mark—the first time this had been done on Delaware soil. Parsons clocked in at 3:58.17; Comber finished just 0.27 seconds behind, also going sub-4. The previous best mile run in Delaware had been run 50 years ago, indoors, at 4:01.1.

photo of Sam Parson addressing the crowd
Sam Parsons addresses the crowd after his historic win.

While not taking a victory lap, Parsons did take the mic to thank the crowd for helping to make The Delaware Mile Challenge such an energy-filled and memorable event. He also thanked his high school coach, Pat Castagno, who is Tatnall’s track-and-field and cross-country coach and whose own coach while at the University of Delaware was Delaware’s legendary CRR Jim Fischer, who presented the master’s mile race during the event.

By winning the elite race, Parsons bagged $2,500 in prize money. By breaking the 4-minute mark, he also walked (or maybe ran?) away with a $500 bonus, making it a very satisfying (and profitable) trip home!

The elite women’s winner, Molly Sughroue, of the Colorado Springs Track Club, ran away with the race, a new in-Delaware women’s record, and the same prize money.

Collectively, Creek Road Runners congratulate one of our own. Way to go, Sam!

Of local note is the fact that CRR Jim Bray, a Newark High School alum, once held the Delaware high school mile record for 28 years before it was broken in 1999.

The world record in the mile is still a mind-boggling 3:43.13, set by Morocco’s Hicham El Guerrouj in 1999.

Delaware Crimson?

15 Friday Oct 2021

Posted by deshon in Stories

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Tags

avila, Bowerman Track Club, Charter School of Wilmington, Harvard, NC State, parsons, Tatnall School, Tinman Elite, tuntivate, weber

photo of Sam Parsons with Harvard runners

Last month, CRR Sam Parsons ventured to Cambridge, Mass., and hooked up with the Harvard University men’s running team. So, why was the Newark native and Tatnall School and NC State grad with the Crimson? Well, it probably had something to do with Harvard’s recent (and not-so-recent) Delaware connection.

In the above photo (submitted by CRR George Parsons, Sam’s dad), Parsons is kneeling, front and center in the gray hat and bright red shirt. Behind him and to his left, sans shirt, is Andrew Avila, a Harvard sophomore from Newark, who ran for the Charter School of Wilmington.

Parsons, a professional runner with Boulder, Colo.–based Tinman Elite, knows former Harvard runner and Charter School of Wilmington standout Kieran Tuntivate (not in the photo), who now runs for the Bowerman Track Club in Portland, Ore. No doubt Parsons and Tuntivate had kept in touch while Tuntivate was running for the Crimson.

photo of Bruce Weber
1984 photo of Harvard runners

CRR Bruce Weber, a Harvard alumnus and local ambassador for the school, helped Tuntivate familiarlize himself with Harvard and its running program several years ago as he was making up his mind where to do his college running. Weber submitted his own archival tribute to the Crimson runners of yore, of whom he was a key player when he was an undergrad. In this photo from 1984, Weber, who is Dean of the Lerner School of Business at the University of Delaware, is second from the right.

Nice Blue Hen synergy, eh?

Parsons heats up in Olympic quest

20 Thursday May 2021

Posted by deshon in News, Race Results

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Tags

5K, olympics, parsons, Tinman Elite

photo of Sam Parsons in CRR sweatshirt

CRR Sam Parsons, son of CRR George Parsons and CRR Christina Parsons, is ramping up his training in an attempt to make the German national team for the 2021 Summer Olympics. His mom is German, so Sam, who also speaks fluent German, can compete for her home country. The key, however, is qualifying, which gets tougher every four years.

Recently, Parsons clocked in at 13:23.3 in the 5,000m race at the American Track League/Sound Running track meet in California, just a second off of his PR, set in 2019. Qualifying for the Olympics is based on the best of either a qualifying standard—at this distance, 13:13.5—or on a points basis (performances gain “points”). In the case of this latest meet, Parsons earned 1156 points—1126 “performance points” based on his finishing time and an additional 30 “place points” for his 4th place finish in the race. As a result, his average increased to 1138 points, ranking him 40th in the world at the 5K distance.

Parsons, who trains and runs for Boulder, Colo.–based Tinman Elite, will compete at the German Nationals on June 5. Creek Road Runners is proud of its international running superstar, a Newark native, and wishes him sehr Glück.

NYT article on running quotes a CRR

15 Wednesday Jul 2020

Posted by deshon in News, Stories

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Tags

New York Times, parsons, Tinman Elite

photo of Sam Parsons in CRR sweatshirtI guess you know you’ve hit “the big time” when you’re quoted in the New York Times in an article related to running. Well, that just happened recently to one of our own in the NYT’s July 10 issue. Even though the article was about an elite runner named Kyle Merber, CRR Sam Parsons, a fellow running professional, weighed in on how Merber has helped many running communities, like the Boulder, Colo.–based Tinman Elite club for which Parsons runs.

> Read NYT article
> More about Parsons

Our own elite runner

02 Monday Mar 2020

Posted by deshon in News, Stories

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Tags

parsons, professional, Tinman Elite, world class

With this post, our very own world-class runner, who grew up in Newark, Del., is officially recognized as a Creek Road Runner.

photo of Sam Parsons in CRR sweatshirtCRR Sam Parsons, shown here giving his genuine thumbs-up to our association while wearing the classic CRR sweatshirt, is a professional runner with Colorado-based Tinman Elite who has been a force to be reckoned with on the track since his high school days at The Tatnall School. In 2018, he became the first Delaware native to break the coveted 4-minute mark in the mile run.

Past posts have highlighted his rise to the international stage.

  • May 22, 2012
  • Nov. 3, 2014
  • June 6, 2016
  • June 21, 2018
  • Oct. 4, 2018
  • Feb. 18, 2019
  • Sept. 29, 2019

Parsons is the son of Newark residents CRR George Parsons and CRR Christina Parsons.

Creek Road Runners is an informal association of runners/joggers who frequent the only quiet scenic road out of Newark, Delaware.

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You’re a real runner if…

acronyms like PR and DNF are verbs.

the thought of signing up for a 401K is scary.

your blood pressure is 92 over 56 and you are conscious.

you drive 100 miles to a 5K race.

you can convert kilometers to miles in your head.

your iPod has a “running” playlist.

you check out road races while on vacation.

you’ve converted your marathon medals into a wind chime.

you consider running 3 miles to be a warm up.

you know the shoe store guy better than some relatives.

you drive down the freeway and think to yourself, “Hey, my car is doing 1-minute miles.”

you know that PR stands for something other than Puerto Rico.

you use your bib numbers to wallpaper your garage.

your resting heart rate is too low to give blood.

you look forward to birthdays when your age changes to a number ending with a 0 or 5.

you consider your latest race shirt “formal wear.”

you mentally measure junk food in miles rather than calories.

you have your own name for all the local public trails.

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