Recap of the First Three CRR 2009 Grand Prix Races

Tompkins and Mathe Win Big at Jamestown
8th Annual Jamestown High School Swamp Run 5K
Saturday, March 14, 2009

By Rick Platt

Bruton High School track coach Mark Tompkins, 33, of Williamsburg, and Alyssa Mathe, 25, of Durham, NC, a visiting physician’s assistant student, in Williamsburg for eight weeks, were the winners of the eighth annual Jamestown High School Swamp Run 5K, held March 14th on the Greensprings Trail and the grounds of the high school.

Tompkins, who holds the race age group records for both the 25-29 age group (16:00 in 2005) and the 30-34 age group (16:12 in 2007) was timed in 16:31 this year to win by exactly 1 ½ minutes over one of his former runners from when he coached at Walsingham Academy—eighth-grader Kurtis Steck, 14, of Williamsburg (18:01), with Paul Smartschan, 29, of Midlothian third in 18:07. The precocious Steck demolished a very significant record, the previous Swamp Run 14-and-under record of 18:37 (in both 2005 and ’06) by current Jamestown star Colin Mearns, third individually to teammate Andrew Colley at the 2008 Virginia state AA cross country championships, the team title which was won by Jamestown, 61-104 over Blacksburg. The Eagles went 1-3-6 individually at that state meet last November, with Colley (15:02), Mearns (15:28) and CRR member John Holt (15:48).

Although Tompkins switched schools last fall to take on the teaching and coaching position at Bruton, Steck still has a very fast runner to train with, to help make him faster--Adam Otstot, the new distance running coach for the Walsingham track team. Otstot, a former William and Mary graduate assistant coach, holds the overall course record for the Jamestown Swamp Run, the 15:44 he ran in 2007 (also the race 20-24 age group record). Making for even more of a small-world situation is that Swamp Run co-race director Barb Buerhle (along with fellow co-race director Jim Winthrop, both Jamestown High parents) taught Otstot his freshman year at W&M (spring 2001) in a one-semester physiology lab course for the W&M Kinesiology Department.

The women’s course record is 18:24 by Alison Holinka, then of Williamsburg, in 2002. About a half minute off that mark was women’s winner Alyssa Mathe (18:57), who had been in Williamsburg for just two weeks, before finding out about the race from Greg Biernacki, the doctor for whom she is working as a physician’s assistant student in primary care rotation at the Riverside Williamsburg Family Medicine office on Route 5. Biernacki also ran this year’s Swamp Run, a 27:36 for 10th in the men’s 45-49 age group.

Mathe will be in town through the end of April. A high school star from Colorado, she attended Duke University (class of 2005), where she was mainly a track runner (2:09.5 for 800 meters, and 4:35.7 for 1,500 meters), but also ran an 18:05 for 5K cross country. In 2007 she was in this area, running a 1:31:27 at the Shamrock Half Marathon. Mathe easily broke the previous Jamestown women’s 25-29 record of 21:34 (by Emily Reuter in 2008) with her 18:57. Second in 19:55 was four-time Colonial Road Runners Grand Prix women’s champion Jennifer Quarles, 37, of Williamsburg, with Lafayette High distance star Becky Dobosy, 17, of Williamsburg third in 20:31. Dobosy’s Rams teammate, freshman Heidi Peterson, had won the 2008 Jamestown Swamp Run in 19:46, the race 14-and-under record. With her 20:31, Dobosy broke the race 15-19 age-group record of 20:48 by Edie Nault of Poquoson in 2007. While she didn’t get a record this year, Quarles, like Tompkins, holds two Jamestown records, the women’s 30-34 (18:52 in 2006) and the women’s 35-39 (a 19:38 in 2007).

There were a record number of entrants for Jamestown this year, the first CRR Grand Prix event of 2009, with 201 finishers in the 5K run/walk, and 19 finishers in the 1 mile fun run/walk.

Two Jamestown High 14-year-old freshmen, D.J. Moniak (18:18) and Patrick Shannon (18:50) were also under 19 minutes, with Moniak also under the previous 14-and-under record of 18:37 by Mearns. For one relatively small town like Williamsburg to have three 14-and-under runners under 19 minutes on a trail course is remarkable, mostly likely a testament to the Team Flash youth program, which has spring and summer workouts at the Jamestown High track.
One of the CRR Grand Prix sponsors, Daniel Shaye of Performance Chiropractic ran his first CRR race in a couple years, winning the men’s 35-39 age group in 19:48, one day before his 40th birthday. Shaye is also the CRR vice president, and the sponsor of the CRR’s computerized race results software, administered by Jim Bates.

Other Jamestown age-group records were set by Andrew Polansky, 81, of Williamsburg (men 80-and-over, 35:50); Mercedes Castillo-D’Amico, 51, of Newport News (women 50-54, 21:41; with Carol Talley, 54, of Toano also under Talley’s old mark of 23:57, with a 23:04); Linda Whittaker, 59, of Williamsburg (women 55-59, 24:34); and Pat Eden, 77, of Williamsburg (women 75-and-over, 46:08). Polansky also holds the race 75-79 record of 27:46 (in 2003).
The race walks were won by Steven Shapiro, 55, of Hampton (28:57) over Scott Stakes, 46, of Portsmouth (29:53); and by Ann Manciagli, 73, of Williamsburg (39:30) over Lori Sherwood, 44, of Portsmouth (39:41) and Sandy Conte, 54, of Williamsburg (39:48).

The 2008 Jamestown men’s individual winner was Derryn Bray, 23, of Poquoson (16:21). Smartschan was also third for the men in 2008, with nearly the same time (18:00) as in 2009 (18:07).


5th Annual College of William and Mary
Mason School of Business
Yorktown Victory Run 8 Miler
Saturday, April 4, 2009

By Rick Platt

A great competitive field, and the nicest weather in the five-year history of the second coming of the Yorktown Victory Run, led to a wholesale rewriting of the record book at the April 4th College of William and Mary Mason School of Business Yorktown Victory Run 8 Miler, a scenic and historic running tour from Newport News Park, through the park trails and Bikeway, then on to the Yorktown Battlefield tour roads, before finishing in view of the Yorktown Victory Monument. The race was a Peninsula Track Club event from 1976-1990, then a Colonial Road Runners Grand Prix event starting in 2005, revived by Daniel Shaye and Performance Chiropractic.

The top three men and women overall all broke race five-year age-group records for the CRR event, and race winner Derrin Pierret, 24, of Williamsburg also bettered the men’s all-time course record. The previous record was 44:03 in 2005 by Mark Tompkins, then 29 and living in Newport News. The top three men all were under the previous record. Pierret, a Bucknell graduate and William and Mary computer science graduate student, was first across the line in 43:05. Andrew Budiansky, 18, of Williamsburg, a W&M freshman from Leesburg, and Pierret drove down together, as they are teammates and training partners with Team Blitz, a W&M student workout and racing group, founded years ago by CRR member and former W&M student Bert Jacoby, now teaching in Fredericksburg.

The Team Blitz duo ran together through 3-4 miles, Budiansky prefering to lead, but Pierret pulled away midway through the race. Tompkins, a few yards back for much of the race, caught Budiansky in the final stretch to take second. Tompkins, now 33 and from Williamsburg after coaching and teaching first at Walsingham Academy, and now at Bruton High, was second in 43:45, with Budiansky third in 43:48.

In March Pierret had won the Ali’s Run 5K in Williamsburg (16:23), and had a fourth-place 16:07 for a 5K in Nashville, TN, one spot out of the prize money. In late February he ran 9:07 for 3,000 meters at a Bucknell alumni indoor meet. Last year he ran one CRR race, a win at The Vineyards of Williamsburg 5K (15:55). His 5K PR of 15:32 came at October’s Hilton Village 5K in Newport News. In November 2007, he won the inaugural Blue Talon 5K in Williamsburg.
Budiansky broke into the top 10 at February’s Anheuser-Busch Colonial Half Marathon, where he was the top local finisher with his ninth-place 1:15:11. Last October, he was third overall at the on-campus W&M Homecoming 5K Run, with a PR 16:27. In high school, at Loudoun County High, he ran 9:48 for 3,200 meters. His best 10K came on New Year’s Day in Leesburg, a 34:35 on a hilly course. In contrast, the Yorktown Victory Run in mostly flat, and this year’s race had little wind, with temperatures in the 50s to start, ideal for racing, but warming up to the 60s for the post-race luncheon sponsored by the Mason School of Business Alumni Association.
Pierret broke the previous race 20-24 men’s record of Alexey Popov by over eight minutes; Budiansky bettered the men’s 15-19 mark of 2008 race winner Ian Tupper of Norfolk (45:54); and Tompkins erased the men’s 30-34 mark of 45:42 by Doug Marshall of Newport News (but now Mathews).

Similarly, each of the top three women overall broke Victory Run age-group marks. Jennifer Quarles, 37, of Williamsburg won in 53:41, just bettering her own women’s 35-39 age-group mark of 53:46 from 2007. Quarles, a 4-time CRR women’s Grand Prix champion, has the overall course record for women, the 50:39 she ran in 2006 at age 34.

Runner-up Jami Peterson, 27, of Williamsburg, the cross country and track coach at New Kent High School, was close behind in 54:11, bettering by just over three minutes the previous women’s 25-29 mark of 57:13 by Ashley McWilliams, a former W&M MBA student. Peterson had a 6:28 opening mile, close to Quarles, but dropped back after a 6:50 second mile. Two weeks earlier, Peterson had set a marathon PR, placing 11th overall for the women at the Shamrock Marathon in Virginia Beach in a time of 3:16:22.

Third overall at Yorktown was Rebecca Pierson, 22, a W&M senior from Princeton, NJ, majoring in finance, who ran 54:56 to better Lynn Hurd’s women’s 20-24 mark by almost two minutes. Pierson ran distance for West Windsor-Plainsboro High School in Plainsboro, NJ, but a partial tear of the Achilles tendon kept her from trying out for the W&M team. Instead she is on the W&M club cycling team, and was one of the bike leaders for the recent Anheuser-Busch Colonial Half Marathon. In high school, she had bests of 19:22 for 5K cross country, 5:35 for 1,600 meters and 2:29 for 800 meters. She plans to work full time for Ernst & Young in Northern Virginia after graduation, but will continue with some research this summer at W&M. She has done occasional campus 5Ks, about 3-5 per year, with times in the 19’s. A run-bike duathlon is planned for late April in Richmond.

Other age-group records were set by Langston Shelton, 62, of Grafton (53:58, bettering his own men’s 60-64 mark of 56:31 from 2008); Winston Collins, 68, of Newport News (57:18 for men 65-69); Dick Pierce, 70, of Rescue (1:04:54 for men 70-74, despite running the 8-mile course backwards, from finish to start, as a lengthy warmup, and bettering the previous record of 1:05:17 by Tom Ray of Kitty Hawk, NC).

For the women, new age-group records were set by Mercedes Castillo-D’Amico (57:02 for women 50-54, smashing the previous record of 1:02:53 by Toano’s Carol Talley in 2008, with Talley also under her old record with a 1:01:18); and by Ann Hirn for women 60-64 (1:12:29).
The race depth was unprecedented, as nine runners dipped under the 50-minute barrier, also including Allen Horner, 38, of Fort Belvoir (48:29), David Lockard, 40, of Hampton (49:21, a few weeks after his 40th birthday), Jim Thornton, 54 of Seaford (49:23), Greg Dawson, 43, of Williamsburg (49:43), Matt Popowicz, 26, of Suffolk (49:45), and John Scott, 45, of Newport News (49:57). Last year only two runners were under 50 minutes.

Tom Gerhardt, 57, of Chesapeake won the men’s walk in 1:24:06, while Linda Janssen, 47, of Virginia Beach won the women’s walk in 1:32:55, bettering the women’s race walk record of 1:35:38 by Cindy Steger of Williamsburg in 2006.

The race was again organized by the W&M MBA first- and second-year students, with the beneficiary again Kiz’NGrief, a support organization for children age 3-18, who have lost a loved one to death.

Pete Gibson, Joan Coven, Mercedes Castillo-D’Amico, Langston Shelton, Jim Bates, Mark Tompkins and Linda Whittaker All Run National-Class Age-Graded Times at Queens Lake 5K

16th Annual
Queens Lake 5K Run to Support Avalon
Saturday, April 11, 2009

By Rick Platt

An impressive number of Colonial Road Runners ran times considered national-class on an age-graded basis at last Saturday’s Queens Lake 5K Run to Support Avalon. The CRR Grand Prix event at New Quarter Park event had 140 finishers in the 5K run/walk, and an additional 20 finishers in the 1 mile fun run/walk.

Pete Gibson (87.66%), Joan Coven (85.59%), Mercedes Castillo-D’Amico (83.65%), Langton Shelton (82.94%), Jim Bates (82.06%), race winner Mark Tompkins (81.22%), and Linda Whittaker (81.10%) all age-graded over 80%, considered national-class.

The top three overall men and women were Bruton High School track coach Mark Tompkins, 33, of Williamsburg (16:04), Pete Gibson, 52, of Murfreesboro, NC (17:06) and Bruton senior William Reinagle, 18, of Williamsburg (17:27). The top three women were Morgan Stumb, 21, a William and Mary junior from Boulder, CO (18:48), Connie Glueck, 44, of Williamsburg (20:16) and Mercedes Castillo-D’Amico, 51, of Newport News (20:29). Reinagle (76.45%), Stumb (78.72%) and Glueck (78.06%) were among an additional nine runners over 75%, and there were a total of 26 runners over 70%, considered regional class.

In the race walk division, there were four more finishers over 70%, based on the separate race walking age-graded tables. Steven Shapiro, 55, of Hampton won the men’s walk in 28:58 over Tom Gerhardt, 57, of Chesapeake (30:32) and Richard Luzinski, 63, of Wiliamsburg (36:02). For the women it was Ann Manciagli, 73, of Williamsburg (38:51) over Karen Schenck, 54, of Charleston, WV (41:30) and Marilyn McGinty, 72, of Williamsburg (41:38). Over 70% walk age-graded were Manciagli (75.98%), Shapiro (73.88%), Gerhardt (71.40%) and Pat Eden (70.21%). Eden, 77, of Williamsburg was sixth for the women in 45:02. McGinty just missed 70% with her 69.78%.

On a percentage basis, 5.0 % of the 140 Queens Lake finishers ran times considered national-class, and 21.4% ran times considered regional class, an unusually high percentage for a local road race. In comparison, the recent Shamrock Sportsfest races in Virginia Beach in March had just under 0.7% (108 total of 15,727 finishers in the 8K, half marathon and marathon) running a national-class 80% or better, and that race, with over $25,000 in prize money, attracts many national- and international-class professional road racers.

Why are Williamsburg runners and CRR races so special on an age-graded basis? The reasons are many. First, the popular Queens Lake 5K certified course (VA-08018-RT) is mostly flat, and very fast, with few turns, and a very scenic New Quarter Park venue. And there are many incentives at all CRR races to encourage peak performance, including the 14-race CRR Grand Prix Series for 2009 (with the best 10 races scoring), the separate CRR Age-Graded Grand Prix Series (organized by Jim Bates, details in this newsletter), and the regular awards for each race.
In addition, the CRR compiles five-year age-group records for every CRR race. It also publishes an annual Course Record Analysis in the club newsletter, determining who are the best overall and age-group runners in the club’s history, and with an extensive statistical analysis.

At Queens Lake, three runners broke race age-group records. Castillo-D’Amico ran 20:29 to better by almost a minute the previous women’s 50-54 mark of 21:26 by Williamsburg’s Linda Kidder in 2008. With his 19:41, Langston Shelton, 62, of Grafton was also almost a minute under the men’s 60-64 record of 20:44 by John Essery in 2001. And Pat Eden established a women’s 75-and-over mark with her 45:02.

Gibson (17:06) came close to Steve Chantry’s men’s 50-54 record of 16:40 from 2006, when Chantry was attempting to break the Virginia state record of 16:29 for that division. Joan Coven, 67, of West Point (25:05) was close to her own mark of 24:31 for women 65-69 from 2007.
Williamsburg’s Linda Whittaker, at age 59, just a month shy of her 60th birthday, had the second fastest 5K of her life with a 23:30. Her PR came at Queens Lake in 1999, at age 49, a 23:07. Battling lupus, Whittaker did not race from 2000 until the Fourth of July 2005 Yorktown Freedom Run 5K, where she ran a 23:31. So her Queens Lake time was her best in 10 years, impressive for someone about to turn 60! Much of her training is on the treadmill, as it’s softer than the roads.

Also better than 75% age-graded on Saturday were Graham Wilson, 15, of Newport News (17:30, 79.55%), Wyatt Cutchins, 53, of Newport News (19:36, 77.10%), Greg Dawson, 43, of Williamsburg (18:11, 76.78%), Terry Imbery, 51, of Yorktown (19:33, 76.05%), Robert Wilson, 61, of Toano (21:25, 75.56%) and Jack Lovett, 39, of Newport News (17:59, 75.34%).
This year’s race again was organized by, and benefited Avalon, the women’s shelter in Williamsburg, with assistance by Jim, Geri and Ryan Elder of Colonial Sports, who designed and printed the race T-shirts.

Jim Bates announced this week the details for the 2009 CRR Age-Graded Grand Prix, which will begin with the Walsingham Academy 5K on Saturday, April 25, and end with the Governor’s Land 5K on Saturday, Nov. 21. There will be at least $100 in cash awards distributed at the annual CRR banquet.

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Below - Derrin Pierret brings it home in record time at the Yorktown Victory Run.