Clyde’s 10K
When local favorite Kelly Westlake toed the line at the 35th Annual Clyde’s 10k last Sunday, she had every hope of rectifying her second-place finish last year and winning the entire race. After all, she had just placed second among the 40-44 women at the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler the week before and had been racing well all year. But Katie Ogden from the Annapolis Striders had similar inclinations. Katie and Kelly raced along together for the first few miles, staying close on the far side of the hilly 6.2-mile course through Columbia, but Katie gradually pulled away as they swept through the West Running Brook neighborhood. She was all alone when she turned onto the homestretch on Little Patuxent, and won the women’s race handily in 38:15. The women’s field had some notable runners in addition to Odgen and Westlake. Robyn Humphrey returned to defend her overall master’s title and Bea Marie Altieri came all the way from her home in Florida to run the race. Both are members of the Howard County Strider Hall of Fame. “I was visiting friends and family,” said Bea Marie, “and decided to run Clyde’s.” A past winner of the race in the 1990’s, Bea Marie narrowly edged Robyn, placing sixth overall (40:26), and winning the overall master-women’s competition. In the mens’ competition, Kyle Stanton won for the second year in a row, and made it look easy. He even ran faster than he did last year. His nearest competition came from Andrew Madison (second overall) and Mark Buschman (third), but those two generally conceded the race after the first few meters. “First he was the size of a man,” remembered Madison. “Then he was the size of a speck, and then I couldn’t see him anymore.” Stanton pulled even further away on the hills on the backside of the course and finished decisively in 31:27, 34 seconds faster than in 2012. “Yeah, but I ran 22 miles yesterday!” Buschman protested. He’s training for an upcoming marathon. If not, he might have even finished second. About 1900 hundred registered for the race, which did not accept race day entries. “It was a union issue,” explained former race director Charlie Brown about that decision. In spite of being closed for renovations, Clyde’s of Columbia treated the 1729 runners who did finish with their usual Sunday brunch spread featuring pasta salad, Clyde’s chili, yogurt, Coca-Cola products, assorted pastries (new this year!), fruit and fresh strawberries from Watsonville, CA, and cold beer. “I may not have won the race,” said Karsten Brown (35:27), “but I won the race to the beer. For the second year in a row!” Dennis Albright served as race director of the Annual Clyde’s 10k. He enjoyed the support of many Howard County Strider volunteers along the course, as well as the Howard County Police, who provided traffic control during the Sunday morning event.