2010 Run for Breast Health/Williamsburg 10K

By Rick Platt

Saturday’s Run for Breast Health/Williamsburg 10K was the third debut race on the Colonial Road Runners Grand Prix schedule for 2010, and all three have been a huge success. Like the Run the D.O.G. Street 5K in April, the Breast Health race had over 400 entrants between the 10K run/walk and 1 mile fun run/walk, with 315 finishing the feature 10K event, the only 10K in Williamsburg. The other inaugural CRR event for 2010 was June’s Icelandic Seafood 8K, with 935 entrants, including the fun run, and with 573 finishers in the 8K, the largest turnout in the history of the CRR.

And it was at that Icelandic event that the idea of the Breast Health race came about. Race director Brian Freer of the Health Journal publications wanted to put on a race to support Beyond Boobs!, the Williamsburg-based non-profit organization dedicated to saving lives by providing support for young women diagnosed with breast cancer, and breast health education for all; and during the month of October, National Breast Cancer Month. Conveniently, at the same time, an established CRR event, the Heritage Humane Society 5K Run at Ford’s Colony, informed the CRR that they were not able to continue their event in 2010, leaving an opening in the busy fall race schedule.

Since Williamsburg has an excess of 5K races, a 10K course was designed at the Warhill Sports Complex, starting and finishing at the Sanford B. Wanner Stadium. It started with an out-and-back segment to Warhill High School, then used the service road connecting the stadium side of the sports complex with the WISC side, then down the bike path to a full 3.7-mile counterclockwise loop of the scenic Warhill Nature Trail, returning the same route up the bike path and service road to a finish at the 20-yard line of the stadium.

In the 10K former William and Mary runner William Tarantino, 27, a student at VIMS just back from California, ran his first CRR race since winning the 2008 New Quarter Park 6K, and won easily in 34:22, with Greg Dawson (37:26), Daniel Shaye (37:44), Stephen Chantry (37:56), Steve Menzies (38:00) and Paul Pelletier (38:31), the only other runners able to break the 40-minute barrier on the hilly, challenging course.

For the women Marie Domin, 32, came from behind to catch leader Suzanne Lesnowski in the final mile for a nine-second win, 41:17 to 41:26. Lesnowski, from Toronto, Ontario, was visiting her parents in Williamsburg. Third for the women was 2010 Lafayette High graduate Becky Dobosy, now a freshman at North Carolina State, close behind in 41:44. Completing the women’s top ten were five-time CRR Grand Prix champion and Domin’s sister-in-law Jennifer Quarles (42:58), Nicole Baxter Brown (43:26), Jill Grano, a former Williamsburg resident now living in Boulder, CO (43:35), Amber Lewis (44:10), Connie Glueck (45:21), Karen Kovacs (45:29) and Heather Craddock (45:53). For the men, completing the top ten were Rick Platt (41:34), Brian Dollyhigh (41:43), Timothy Loomis (42:17) and Bill Bustin (42:47).

In the CRR Grand Prix, Dawson’s runner-up finish gave him 69 points and a commanding lead over Chantry (62) and Mark Tompkins (57). For the women the top three are Quarles (81), Glueck (61) and Lewis (51), with four races remaining.

Shaye and Dawson have been the biggest surprises for the CRR in 2010, with Dawson running lifetime PRs like the 17:07 he did the week before in Syracuse, and Shaye running his best times in at least five years, harking back to his glory years of a 15:36 for 5K and 32:35 for 10K.

Race director Brian Freer said he “was not surprised at the immense support our community gave to the Run for Breast Health/Williamsburg 10K. The success of this event would not have been possible without our generous sponsors, volunteers, local media and the logistical support from James City County staff. We are looking forward to making next year's race even better.”