Remembering longtime Seashore Striders runner Mike Richardson

The Seashore Striders lost one of its longtime runners this week as Mike Richardson, 75, passed away unexpectedly due to a stroke. Mike had just left Delaware last month to head back to Florida, where he and his wife Dee Dee lived during the winter months. Mike was a regular. When he was not racing, he was volunteering at the finish line, loading gear into the trailer, helping with registration and always telling stories about his past. Mike was from the Allentown, Pa., area, and for 24 straight years, he qualified for the Seashore Striders Summer Racing Series; he ranks 11th on the all-time streak list. This past summer, Mike was third overall in the 75-79 age group, and even with knee issues, he continued to power his way through with five 5Ks and one 5-miler with pure determination.

Mike was fifth in 2021 and fourth in 2020 in the series’ 70-74 group.

Mike was also involved with the Lehigh Valley Road Runners and directed the popular Emmaus 4-Miler that has been going strong for 44 years. Mike loved the Masser 5-Miler in Lewes and would look forward to training for that event each year. This past September, Mike drove up from Bethany Beach to volunteer at one of his favorite events – the Run, White & Blue 5K in Georgetown. The last race Mike volunteered at was the Darby Dash 5K, a race in honor of Fredman’s Darby dog and all the animals who are running around in heaven. Mike had a love for dogs, especially his own, and I am sure that Mike is throwing the ball to Darby and all the other dog angels he is now with. RIP Iron Mike, the Seashore Striders will miss you every day.

Run with Santa 5K

A record crowd is already registered for this Sunday’s Run with Santa 5K. An expected field of 250 could toe the line at Cape Henlopen State Park in Lewes for the 10 a.m. start. Follow race signs to the start once you enter the park. Last-chance registration will be from 9 to 9:45 a.m. Age group awards will be presented to the top three in 10-year groups from 9U to 80-plus, including the overall and masters champions. Two groups who will join the Striders at the event are the Certified Running Nutz, who will provide some extra refreshments, and the boys’ group from Sussex County’s “Let Me Run,” who will conclude their season with their 5K. Park fees may be in effect, so make sure you drive the car with the state park sticker and carpooling is encouraged due to parking.

Mike Richardson will be honored with a moment of silence at the start as well as on the T-shirt.

Cape track & field

The Cape indoor track & field teams made the first trip to Snow Hill, Md., for the marathon track meet that brings together many of the Henlopen Conference teams on the 160-meter oval.

The Cape boys’ team was fourth of 20 teams with 40 points, while the Cape girls’ team finished 16th with 11 points.

Henlopen Conference teams finishing in the top 10 include champion Caesar Rodney, which won the boys’ meet with 85 points, Sussex Central in third with 44 points, Polytech in sixth with 33 points, Sussex Academy in ninth with 25 points and Milford in 10th with 22 points. The Milford girls were second with 58 points, while Sussex Central was fifth with 32 points, CR was eighth with 23 points and Dover was 10th with 18 points.

Top boys’ finishers in the Henlopen Conference include Thomas Wright of Sussex Central, who leaped 23-feet-4-inches to win the long jump in one of Delaware’s all-time best jumps. Mauricette Yougendy of Sussex Tech was second in 21-6.  

Junior Brady Mauro of Cape won the pole vault in 11-6, while Eddie Houck of Cape was third at 10-6. William Harrison of Sussex Central ran 36.92 to win the 300-meter hurdles for Sussex Central, while Cape’s Billy Cerf took third in the 55-meter hurdles in 8.72 and second in the triple jump in 38-2. Brett Parker of Sussex Academy was third in the 1,600-meter run in 5:05.35.  Yougendy also won the 500-meter dash in a good time of 1:07.99, while Thomas Williams of Sussex Central won the high jump in 5-10. Ronin Mozingo of Sussex Tech won the triple jump in 38-9.

Top girls’ finishers in the Henlopen Conference include Faith Mitchell of Milford, who won the 3,200-meter run in 13:22, while Ky’Aire Matthews of Milford won the shot put in 31-8. Kaitlyn Sivels, also of Milford, was second in the shot put in 27-11. Tatiana Kelsic of Sussex Central was second in the 300-meter dash in 45.57, while Lily Manlove of Sussex Academy was third in the 500-meter dash in 1:30.44. Samantha Hudson of Milford was second in the 3,200-meter run in 13:54.83, while Adyson Kaufman was third in the triple in 29-2.

Marathon mania

After a 24-hour clean-up of the 26.2 miles of the marathon course, in which I was very lucky to have several volunteers help out by walking parts of the course Sunday, I got the chance to read hundreds of comments about the race. After reading hundreds of comments and looking at hundreds of great photos, I reached out to my race partner Marybeth Hutton, the A-team organizer of the event, and asked her, “have you seen any negative comments yet?” “None,” she said, which is always a great thing to hear. There were more than 40 states represented in the race with several 50 Staters and several who were racing the Seashore Marathon as the final state they needed. Another cool item that was done Monday was Medal Monday, which was creative photos of medals – many were just incredible. We try our best to cover all details of the race and then go a little further like presenting local gift baskets to the overall champions, delivering race packets to personal hotel rooms, putting cones on all trail posts and picking up every energy pack and water stop cup from mile 0 to 26.2 along the course. A shout out to the hundreds of volunteers involved in the event, a stunning national anthem by my former student Kelsey Murphy, the Cape JROTC, the nine water stops, the 10 different agencies that kept everyone safe and the 3,000 registered runners who made the 15th annual Seashore Marathon a success.