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Recently, the University of Delaware held its annual Homecoming 5K, though the competition itself was an individual thing due to the coronavirus pandemic and its associated local restrictions on large gatherings.
Two Creek Road Runners continue to put together good 5K efforts. Placing second and third overall, respectively, were CRR Bruce Weber and CRR Bill Rose. Though socially distant, their times were separated by only a minute, Weber notching a 19:53 and Rose coming in at 20:53.
Out of the 109 runners, two other CRRs ran as well. CRR Diane Kukich posted a 26:42, finishing 15th overall and 4th among the women. CRR Julie Brewer was 26th overall with a 28:50.
Weber, running at the Wilmington Friends School track, came in at 20:42, while Rose, running at the McKean High School track, was just 17 seconds back in 20:59. Each had no real competition within his own age category, so it is only fitting that their times should be so close.
4:02:21 is now the official outdoor mile record in Delaware. This mark was set on the track at St. Mark’s High School this past Saturday by recent Harvard grad and Charter School of Wilmington alum Kieran Tuntivate in a special event meant to help eclipse four-minute mile barrier for the first time on Delaware soil. Unfortunately, Tuntivate fell just short of the intended goal.
Coming on the heels of a stellar college career and early professional racing success by Newark’s CRR Sam Parsons (read about 
The fastest mile time run in Delaware (4:01.1, by a West Virginia runner) occurred way back in 1971 at an indoor meet at the University of Delaware Fieldhouse. Notably, CRR Jim Bray, who ran for Newark High School, once held the Delaware scholastic mile record for an astonishing 28 years before it was broken in 1999.
CRR Bruce Weber and CRR Diane Kukich placed first and second overall (out of 609 runners), respectively, in terms of age grading (scoring based on one’s time relative to the world record at that distance for one’s age). Weber scored an 82.5, and Kukich was close behind with 82.3. That, folks, is what is considered “National Class” (anything in the 80s). The two have been racing consistently with results like this for several years. There was only one other racer at this event who had an age-grading score in this range.