Hare and Tortoise Recap

By Rick Platt


That Williamsburg’s Jennifer Quarles, 40, won Saturday’s fourth annual The Hare and Tortoise New Quarter Park 8K Run was no surprise. Six-time Colonial Road Runners Grand Prix champion Quarles (5 wins), defending Grand Prix champion Karen Terry (5 wins) and two-time Olympic Trials Marathon qualifier Renee High (2 wins) have dominated the CRR Grand Prix this year for the women, with all the wins through 12 races in the 18-event series. What was surprising Saturday was the second-place finish by Emily Honeycutt, 21, of West Point, a William and Mary senior, who beat age-group superstar Mercedes Castillo-D’Amico, 54, of Newport News for the first time in an exciting finish.

Quarles won in 33:04 for the 4.97-mile course that started and finished at the New Quarter Park Pavilion, went out the park entrance road, included a loop of Copse Way within the adjacent Queens Lake neighborhood, then concluded with an out-and-back section on a scenic gravel-and-dirt fire trail through the woods. After trailing for most of the race, Honeycutt caught Castillo in sight of the finish line, to take second, 34:22 to 34:25.

For the men, for the second consecutive CRR race, Greg Dawson, 47, and Steve Chantry, 57, both of Williamsburg, swept the top two places. At the York River State Park 5K on August 25, Dawson beat Chantry by 17 seconds. At the Hare and Tortoise Run in the York County section of Williamsburg, Dawson won by 14 seconds, 29:41 to 29:55. Daniel Shaye made it a 1-2-3 Williamsburg sweep with his third-place, pulling away from Henry Gleisberg, 55, of Yorktown, in the final half mile, 31:00 to 31:07. Both Dawson (45-49) and Chantry (55-59) broke race age group records.

Seven women broke age group records--Melissa Graham (women 30-34, 39:49), Quarles (40-44), Connie Glueck (45-49, 35:05), Castillo-D'Amico (50-54), Joan Coven (70-74, 44:51), Ann Manciagli (75-79, 1:02:51) and Pat Eden (80-and-over, 1:17:58).

  There were 166 finishers in the 8K run/walk. The race is also known as the Karene O'Hare Ovarian Cancer Memorial Run, and is race directed by her husband, John O'Hare (hence the race name Hare and Tortoise), in partnership with the Williamsburg Community Foundation. Temperatures were in the upper 70s, with excessive humidity, but somewhat overcast skies.

Honeycutt is a W&M senior, majoring in math, and already accepted for 2013 into the W&M School of Education, while pursuing her Masters degree, with the goal of becoming a high school math teacher. She graduated in 2009 from New Kent High, where she ran cross country and track all four years, while coached by Williamsburg’s Jamie Peterson (now Brayton). Honeycutt had a 5K cross country PR of 21:46, ran a 6:18 for 1,600 meters her sophomore year, then specialized in the 3,200 meters her final two years, with a best of 13:38. In cross country she was first or second on the team her junior and senior years.

On the roads, in occasional CRR races, she was in the low 22’s for 5Ks while at New Kent, and in the high 21’s her first two years at W&M. It’s been only in the past year, starting with last October’s Breast Health 10K (timed in 46:05) that Honeycutt has started making breakthrough performances from her modest high school times. She improved to 43:15 at this spring’s Monument Avenue 10K in Richmond, then several weeks later set another PR at the Run the DOG Street 5K (20:31), culminating in May with a ninth-place finish in the Run for the Dream Half Marathon (1:38:46, another PR). The reason for her fast times in 2012 is simple—greatly increased weekly mileage, building from the 35 miles per week she ran at New Kent, to the current 55-70 mpw, settling at 60. While not running or studying, Honeycutt has worked at the New Balance Factory Outlet store for the past 2 ¼ years. Her goal this fall is to break the 20-minute barrier at November’s Governor’s Land 5K, the RRCA Virginia State Championship 5K.

In an out-of-town race this past Sunday, Williamsburg’s John Piggott ran another exceptionally fast time at the Hidden Treasure Half Marathon in Salisbury, MD. Last year he had a 2011 best of 1:14:11 to place second overall, about a minute behind the winner. This year he beat the defending champion by three minutes to win over a field of about 300 runners over the certified course, with a 2012 best time of 1:14:24. Piggott led from the start with a consistent 5:30 pace, went through five miles in a fast 27:28 and ten miles in 55:53. Another Williamsburg runner, Chris Robertson, was ninth overall in 1:34:09.