2010 Hare & Tortoise New Quarter Park 8K

By Rick Platt

Although he finished second overall in the second annual Hare & Tortoise New Quarter Park 8K race last Saturday, Williamsburg’s Greg Dawson, 45, took over the overall lead in the men’s division of the 2010 Colonial Road Runners Grand Prix, in the absence of his two main competitors.

Men’s winner Gregor Krancj, 36, a visiting assistant professor of history at William and Mary, but originally from Toronto, Ontario, has run only two Colonial Road Runners races since he arrived in August, 2009, both the Hare & Tortoise 8K. He was third overall last year in 29:12, and ran almost the same time in 2010, a 29:16, but good enough for the win. The Canadian spent the summer in Toronto, where he ran a PR 1:18 half marathon. While a PhD candidate from 2000-05 at the University of Toronto, Kranjc ran cross country and track, with best times of 9:12 (3,000 meters), 34:59 (10K) and 2:50 (marathon).

Dawson, who celebrated his 45^th birthday two days earlier, was second Saturday in 29:51, improving on his 30:12 from 2009. Third for the men was Paul Pelletier, also 45, but he wasn’t third across the finish line. That went to women’s overall winner Darcy McDonald, 23, of Williamsburg, a W&M graduate student in the School of Education, who chased Dawson until the final uphill mile, and settled for a women’s course record of 30:17. Over five minutes behind in second and third were Elizabeth Ransom, 38, of Toano (35:25) and Amber Lewis, 26, of Williamsburg (35:41).

There were 146 finishers in the 8K run/walk this year, and an additional 38 finishers in the 1 mile fun run/walk. The race again was the Karene O’Hare Memorial Run for Ovarian Cancer, in memory of the wife of race director John O’Hare. The event was co-sponsored by the Sentara Williamsburg Regional Medical Center Auxiliary.

With his runner-up finish Saturday, Dawson leapfrogged past Mark Tompkins and Steve Chantry to assume the Grand Prix lead for the men, after 12 races in the 17-race series. Dawson now has 60 points, followed by Bruton cross country coach Tompkins (57) and age-group standout Chantry (55). Well back in the standings are Christopher Newport freshman Patrick Cunningham (37), Todd Kessler (35), Pelletier (29), and Lafayette High’s Scott Gemmell-Davis (25) and Kurtis Steck (23).

For the women in the CRR Grand Prix, Jennifer Quarles hasn’t raced since June, but still holds the lead with 74 points, followed by triathlete Connie Glueck (58), who was busy last weekend at the Patriot Triathlon, doing the bike leg of a relay on Saturday, and the sprint triathlon on Sunday. Amber Lewis, with her third place Saturday, now has 47 points, but she needs to watch out for McDonald, who has 30 points off three wins (Warhill 5K in June, Vineyards 5K in August, and Hare & Tortoise 8K).

For the Masters (40-and-over), with Dawson (49 Masters points) and Chantry (39), expected to win overall awards, that competition will come down to Steve Menzies (17), Pelletier (17) and Daniel Shaye (13). CRR vice president Shaye was fourth for the men Saturday in 31:19. For the women Masters, Glueck has a huge lead (41 Masters points), but will most likely get the second overall Grand Prix award, leaving the Masters competition to Mary Beth Bird (13), Carol Talley (11), Arlyne Spalla (10), Robin Corson (10) or Ann Hirn (9). Bird, Talley and Hirn were among the women who broke 10 of their 15 five-year age-group records.

Women’s age group marks were set by McDonald (20-24, 30:17), Lewis (25-29, 35:41), Kimberly Floyd (30-34, 40:25), Ransom (35-39, 35:25), Bird (40-44, 37:31), Talley (55-59, 39:37), Hirn (65-69, 41:27), Ann Manciagli (70-74, 59:47), Pat Eden (75-and-over, 1:20:49), and Lori Sherwood (race walk, 1:00:36). For the men race age group marks were broken by Dawson (45-49, 29:51), Jim Thornton (55-59, 32:22), Rick Platt (60-64, 32:49), Ken Mitchell (65-69, 36:59), Bill Fenwick (75-and-over, 42:51) and Tom Gerhardt (race walk, 48:30).

A notable age group was the women’s 65-and-over division, where Ann Hirn, 65, of Portsmouth (41:27) gave Joan Coven, 69, of West Point (43:04) a rare age-group defeat. However, on an age-graded basis, Coven prevailed 83.76% to 81.70%, the top two age-graded in the 8K. The rest of the age-graded top ten were Platt (80.32), McDonald (79.53), Thornton (78.69), Dawson (78.05), Pelletier (76.10), Mitchell (74.53), Kranjc (74.46) and Will Murray (74.46).