02 November 2003

The Old Dog himself, Joe Abernethy, not only lead his Montgomery County "Old Dogs" Team to victory at the 10th Annual Run Through the Grapevine, but he also wound up winning the entire 8k cross country race himself. From the start whistle, Joe moved with such authority to the front that those behind wonder if he were the second coming of Steve Prefontaine. "Yeah, I saw him up front," said Trey Cassidy, who, because of the twists and turns of the course, could watch Abernethy's progress from far behind. "I do this race every year to recover from any pride I may have accumulated during the rest of the year."

Denise Knickman won the women's race, which really was a race- at least until the women entered the first grapevine at about 3/4 mile. " Sherry [Stick] ran with me until we got into the grapvine," Denise recalled. After that, Knickman was pretty much on her own, although she didn't look back to see if anyone was close. The women started in a second wave 15 minutes later than the men, and Denise started picking off the males after only 2 1/2 miles. She went on to beat her competition by a margin of over one minute.

"I don't know how [Race Director Gerry Clapper] manages to find an extra hill every year," said Dickie George. Dickie should know. Along with his wife, Lissa, and Robert Berger, he has run the Grapevine 8k every year in its 10 year history. To commemorate their continuity, the three " iron grapes" received special hooded sweatshirts that read, among other things, "I came, I ran, I conquered." For most runners, however, the heat presented at least as much of a problem as the well-known Linganore hills over which the race was waged. The field of 422 labored in the unseasonably warm November morning made even hotter by relentless sunshine. The one water stop at 2 3/4 miles did a brisk business, and some veteran runners even had to sit down after finishing on account of the heat. On top of the hills and the heat, recent rains had made some sections of the course muddy and treacherous. "At least we didn't fall into the stream," one runner said. Everyone familiar with the Grapevine series thought the 2003 course, which was changed from previous years, was the toughest yet.

In addition to the usual overall and age group awards, the Grapevine featured six categories of team awards. Spearheaded by Abernethy, the Montgomery County Old Dogs easily won the overall men's team competition, although the best team name may have belonged to "The Winers" (2nd, Open Coed) or "The Vintage Winers" (1st, Coed Masters), or the ever-present "Aged to Perfection" (2nd, Coed Masters). Age group and team winners received bottles of wine from the Linganore Winery from which the race draws its title. In addition to maliciously changing the course, race director Gerry Clapper baked several dozen home-made nut breads for the post-race refreshments and also offered home-made canned goods for those who did not want wine. The Howard County Striders stage the race every fall within the confines of the 230 acre Wineberry Plantation.

-- by Jim Carbary