5Mi Two Person Relay
15 teams, who dodged a fast moving torrential downpour just before the start; which threatened to turn the event into a steeplechase, came out to run the five mile two person relay at River Hill High School Wednesday night. In this event teams of two alternate running 1/4 mile laps 10 times each to reach the 5 mile distance. It is good chance to get in some speedwork. Carlos Renjifo and Andrew Madison were the first team across the finish line.
Volunteers: John Bratiotis, Marc Burger, George Kroeker, Jess Stern
5 mile
Male Team Results
1. Carlos Renjifo / Andrew Madison 22:33
2. Mark Eagles / Artem Tovanov 25:06
3. James Blackwood / Luis Diaz 26:16
4. David Horrocks Jr. / Mark Loeffler 27:26
5. Joe Tailabji / Adam Wytko 27:29
6. Dennis Albright / Marty Rochlin 35:41
7. Mike Fleming / Leonard Guralnick 36:34
Co-Ed Team Results
1. Caroline Bauer / Greg Lepore 28:14
2. Keith Levassuer / Grace Tran 28:29
3. Linda Lu O'Connor / Greg Orlofsky 29:49
4. Abdollah Abtahi / Kimia Abtahi 34:05
5. Michael Miles / Kendra Smith 34:55
6. Erin Blackwood / Nathan Capelle 40:27
7. Joey Beck / Monica Beck 43:21
Female Team Results
1. Amanda An / Marsha Demaree 33:39
Friday Night XC Series Race #2
Centennial High School
Friday Night XC Series Race #1
Wilde Lake High School
Summer Sizzler Series #1
37 runners came out on a hot, humid Wednesday evening to run the 1st weekly race of the summer put on by the Howard County Striders. David Toller and Marquel Bowler were the winners of the 5k race at the Elkhorn/Savage trail. David’s time of 17:14 is a new course record in spite of the heat.
Race lead: John Bratiotis
Volunteers: Amanda An, George Kroeker, Kendra Smith, Julie Trapp.
5k 1. David Toller 17:14 2. Karsten Brown 17:23 3. Elisha Peterson 18:46 4. Tim McGee 18:51 5. Majid Waheed 18:58 6. Mark Eagles 20:26 7. Chad Burger 22:04 8. Dennis Albright 22:46 9. Robert Blanco 23:07 10. Marc Burger 23:23 11. Stephen Mang 23:55 12. Marquel Bowler 24:02 13. Bill Stahr 24:08 14. Ron Knight 24:19 15. John Sammis 24:49 16. Bill Farrell 25:04 17. Marsha Demaree 26:43 18. Mike Fleming 26:57 19. Terri Wytko 27:05.4 20. Bethany McGee 27:05.7 21. Vladi Basch 27:13 22. Cris Eck 27:26 23. Mikail Ocasio 29:02 24. Roger Calvert 29:16 25. Larry Pike 29:27 26. Bob Lande 29:39 27. Dave Matthews 29:46 28. Nathan Capelle 29:49 29. Erin Blackwood 30:41 30. Len Guralnick 31:33 31. Glenn Scimonelli 31:40 32. Amanda Idstein 32:08 33. Bruce Shaffer 33:36 34. Faye Weaver 34:16 35. Michelle Weaver 34:26 36. Phil Heiliger 37:00 37. Steve Reading 38:40
Damien’s Run for Recovery 5K
Damien’s Run…June 9th 2013
A time, a place, a memory, a cause, good music, great food, old friends, new friends – all the things that bring people together to share an experience. These things are what makes Damien’s Run a great success every year. The simple act of giving and receiving underscore all the hard prep work of our volunteers and the joy it brings to the participants in this – the 15th annual running of Damien’s Run.
Damien’s Run has raised tens of thousands of dollars over the years to help teens in and around Howard County.
We had a robust field of over 300 runners and a gang of walkers to round out the participants enjoying a slightly cool Sunday morning, just keeping ahead of the arriving humidity.
Takele Gebreljul 15:16.15 burned a ring around Gateway to take first place but didn’t break the course record. Jess Ivy 18:39.65 took women’s overall with an excellent time.
Special thanks to our Master winners Chris Chattin and Robyn Humphrey. Robin has run in every Damien’s Run from 1999. This year like every other year Robin gave back her winnings to Damien’s Recovery to help raise awareness for teens who suffer from substance abuse. Arleen Dinneen is a local legend for community service and running, who – year after year – runs Damien’s, and one more time won her age group…
Special recognition to Betsy Blom, a teacher at a Bellows Spring Elementary School, who started a running program for her students called the Chasing Cheetahs. Betsy showed up with 25 Cheetahs and parents to steal the hearts of the participants..
Every race director can tell you: you never know what can happen when planning and executing an event. I’m happy to say that every year we seem to have wonderful surprises that help the event be a success. This year the US Navy came to the rescue. We were critically low on volunteers, many of our regulars, including Volunteer Coordinator Tom Lewis, who had conflicting commitments out of the blue. I received an email from Amber Porter who is stationed at Fort Meade. Amber has just finished boot camp training and asked if she could volunteer at the event. I said, “We’d love to have your help”. She said, “Oh, I have some friends who want to volunteer and run”. First thing this morning Amber and 8 of her comrades worked the set up, ran and cleaned up….And by the way Amber won her age group with a screaming time 22:55.15… Thank you Amber and friends and of course our Navy…
Thank you Howard County Striders, all the participants, volunteers and sponsors.
See you next year!
Race Director
Ralph Massella
4.09M Run benefitting the Be Strong Stay Strong Fund™
The 4.09 Mile Run is the opportunity for the local running community to help one of our own severely impacted by the events at the Boston Marathon. All proceeds from the run will be donated by the Howard County Striders to the Be Strong Stay Strong Fund™. At this time, donations are not tax deductible. The full course will be 4.09 miles — you can walk or run one loop, as well, which would be approximately 2+ miles.
On a warm, breezy, and sunny Sunday, over 300 runners came to Oakland Mills High School to run the Howard County Striders’ 4.09 Mile Run Benefitting the Be Strong Stay Strong Fund. This, however, was not a regular Striders event, and it drew many new people. This was a very special race; a fundraiser that was very emotional for the running community. On April 15th, 2013, when two bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, two local high school graduates were severely injured. Erika Brannock and her sister, Nicole Gross, both graduates of Mt. Hebron High School, were at the finish line to cheer on their mother, Carol Downing. Nicole suffered two broken legs in the blast, and her husband Michael was burned. Erika lost her leg above the knee as a result of her injuries. A fund has been started to help with the ongoing medical costs – the Be Strong Stay Strong Fund (http://www.bestrongstaystrong.net/) – and this race was a fundraiser for that cause. The distance of the race was for the time on the race clock at the time of the explosion; it was 4 hours and 9 minutes into the marathon. Unlike many races, there were no t-shirts or food at this race. The Striders wanted to donate as much money as possible to the fund, so to that end they donated the timing chips and numbers, and decided to forgo the normal race day amenities. All proceeds from the $15 registration fee and any other donations went to the fund.
Carol Downing, the mother of Erika Brannock and Nicole Gross, was expected to run at the race, but was unable to make it. This was good news, however; Erika was being released from the hospital and returning home to Maryland, and her mother was in Boston to be at her side. According to a story aired with Brian Williams in an interview with all seven women who lost limbs in the explosion, Erika was the last to be released from the hospital, so that is very encouraging news indeed.
The race was a wonderful event that was rendered exceptionally poignant when a number of family members of Erika and Nicole crossed the finish line holding hands in support of their family. There were two large cards for the family that were signed by most of the race participants, and family supporters were selling beautiful technical t-shirts in support of the fund. The race raised over $8000 for the fund, with donations still coming in.
All Fruit Relay
“The Most Delicious Relay in Town”
17 punly named teams of 1 – 4 came out for the always fun fruit relay at Oakland Mills on Sunday afternoon. All teams are required to transport a piece of fruit around the 2 mile loop four times.
1. Back in my day it was a food pyramid 49:41 Jean-Pierre Allen John Brown 2. Could of had a V8 52:12 Zachary Sivo Matt Sherry Patrick Perez Mark Eagles 3. Raisin Arizona 52:53 Robert Blanco Amanda An Faye Weaver Greg Lepore 4. CB's Apples 54:44 James Blackwood Erin Blackwood Joelle Chall John Chall 5. Big Hass 58:32 Karsten Brown 6. Fruitalicious 59:17 Camden Gilmore Anders Chattin Mats Chattin Carina Chattin 7. Granny Smith Apples 1:00:01 Susan Kim Noah Kim Ron Weber Steve Mang 8. Cherry Pickers 1:00:40 Jessie Esposito Josh Laub Johnna Laub Victor Moralez 9. Amazin Apples 1:01:35 Julie Rosicky Emily Howe Juan Fernandez Mike Fleming 10. Black-Eyed Peas 1:03:26 Mikie Allen Austin Birch Bob Birch Philip Allen 11. The Orange Team 1:05:38 Leonard Guralnick Eric Johnston Kirk Gordon 12. Lemoncella 1:07:06 Helen Mercer Bob Mullen Greg Thomas Lynda Allera 13. When Life gives you lemons Make U*T's 1:08:40 Tony Staub Mike Taylor Carrie Shanks Hallie Browkowsky 14. All-stars fruit brigade 1:11:57 Nicole Berson Melinda Krummerich Christina Merenda Jaquisha Kearson 15. kiwi kids 1:12:51 Leslie Nissenberg Angela Caswell Jim L. Bill Dooley 16. Running Raspberries 1:14:04 Kelsey Thomas Sophie Dubin Rena Dubin Elaine Thomas 17. Berry Berry Grapeful 1:17:53 Alexa Mullican Liana Mullican Amelia Mullican Andrew Mullican