Series Twilight Trail Run to be held Friday evening

At 7 p.m., Friday, July 22, there will be a first for the Seashore Striders Racing Series. The inaugural Twilight 5K Run will start at the Cape Henlopen State Park Herring Point parking lot and run an out-and-back course on the Gordons Pond Trail toward Rehoboth Beach. The evening event will be a first for the series, and it is one of the qualifying events of the Summer Series. This is the 26th year runners from all over the country will converge on the beach series to compete in five 5Ks and one 5-miler to qualify for the series.

The twilight event will present awards to the top three finishers in five-year age groups from 9 & under to 80 & over, as well as the overall and masters finishers.

The male and female runners will get tech T-shirts, with black going to the men and tangerine going to the women.

Race-day registration will begin at 6 p.m. and end at 6:50 p.m., with the race going off at 7 p.m. Start drinking water now; it should be a hot one!

Win from Within

Patrick Castagno, the head coach at Tatnall School in Wilmington, and Tim Brock, men's and women's coach at Providence College, are the directors of the Win from Within cross country training camp that took place this week at St. Andrew’s School in Middletown with 140 campers enjoying the teaching, learning, training and fun from coach Chris and his staff. The camp started July 17 and lasted five days and four nights for runners in grades 7 to 12. Many of his staff are former all-state and all-American runners from the Tatnall School in Wilmington and now college runners as well as some professional runners. One of the camp counselors is local Emily Ritter, who just competed at the Olympic Trials in Eugene, Ore. Tim Broe, 2004 5,000-meter Olympian, is the guest speaker and will tell the story of how he went from a struggling high school kid to the best runner in the United States and an Olympian.

The camp has some local flavor, as Blake Hundley, Lindsey Guida, Lindsay Rambo and Devin Hundley of the Seashore Striders are attending. Olivia Montini and DJ Farren, frequent racers at the beach, are also attending. 

Some camp highlights include a meaningful discussion and instruction on current running issues, including exercise physiology, demonstrations on water running, plyometrics, strength training for the runner, ways to stay healthy at higher mileage, establishing goals and building confidence, visualizing success, racing tactics, training shoe and racing spike selection, training techniques, the role of good nutrition in elite running performance, and training and racing from the heart.  

Young boys and girls who attend this camp will leave inspired to go after their dreams!  

The camp is sponsored by Saucony and the Delaware Running Company.

Three state age-group records

Not one, not two, but three age-group records were set July 17 in Rehoboth at the Seashore 5-Miler, as Joanne Szczepkowski, Marge Warshauer and Stella Castillo all established road race records in Delaware for their age group.  Joanne was the one I was ready for, as I had the course recertified before the race knowing Joanne was racing and the record was only 52 minutes. Joanne ran 43:04 to shatter the 70-74 female record and average 8:35 per mile. When I got home and took a look at the records, I noticed that there were no listings for the 75-79 and 80 & over at the five-mile distance. Right away I thought of Warshauer, who won the 75-79 age group in 1:10:47, and Castillo, who won the 80 & over age group in 1:50:25. I confirmed it with Wayne Kursh of Races2Run and he will update the records. Marge and Stella have no idea and I can’t wait to share the news. Congratulations, ladies, and keep racing!

Road Race Capital

Five of the next 10 days will have road races for different charities attracting people to the beach area from all over the United States. The Striders will host two this weekend at the beach and Races2Run will host one each weekend also at the beach. In the ‘90s during my first 10 years, families would vacation to Lewes and Rehoboth and find a race if available to jump in, while now many families tell me that they plan their vacations around the event they want to participate in. Last weekend as I read the results, it was amazing that I was reading the top three from Vermont, Missouri and Colorado in certain age groups. The following week I was reading names from North Carolina, Maryland and Virginia. They really come from all over to take part in the Striders Series as well as the 10 Sisters Series. I have been told multiple times this summer that they get the Cape Gazette delivered in the mail to their home and follow the running scene and the new races at the beach, which helps them decide which races to run. It is not uncommon to have 300 runners line up at the start in Rehoboth on a Saturday and a different 300 line up the next day. It is a whole lot different from when I began to direct races in 1990, but the enthusiasm, the camaraderie, the competition and the family-like atmosphere are as good as they’ve ever been. Thank you Cape community for all your support.

Upcoming races

Friday, July 22 - Inaugural Twilight 5K Run/Walk, 7 p.m., Herring Point, Cape Henlopen State Park, Lewes, www.seashorestriders.com

Saturday, July 23 – 14th annual College Day 5K & Kiddie K, 8 a.m., Dewey Beach, www.races2run.com

Sunday, July 24- 19th annual Run for JJ; 7:30 a.m., Stuart Kingston, Rehoboth, www.seashorestriders.com.

Saturday, July 30 – 33rd annual Dam Mill 5K, 7:30 a.m., Cupola Park, Millsboro, www.seashorestriders.com

Sunday, July 31 – 14th annual Dewey Beach Patrol 5K/10K, 8 a.m., Dewey Beach, www.races2run.com.