A wet-dog bog slog perfect for Shamrock Shuffle 5K and 15K
The 11th annual Shamrock Shuffle 5K and 15K was a wet-dog slog through the bog along the Junction & Breakwater Trail March 19, attracting 112 runners, including a crew of 14 guys from Long Island who had come to support their friend Patrick Peterson, a former American record holder in the marathon who passed away in June 2015 at age 55 from pancreatic cancer. The Shamrock Shuffle was the last race Peterson ran before he died, so each year his buddies come back to run it in his honor.
Martin Rodriguez was the overall winner in the 15K, running 58:46, a 6:19-per-mile pace for 9.3 miles.
Masters runner Paul Sorace from Bayonne, N.J., was second overall in 1:02.56. He was followed by Chris Stanley in 1:05:03, John Blackford in 1:08:01 and Joe Kuchta in 1:09:10.
The top five women were Katey Stazzone in 1:14:18, Nicole Craver in 1:16:56, Keren Rams in 1:17:44, Jackie Quigley in 1:18:04 and Maureen Pinkerton in 1:18.
The top five men in the 5K were Robert Smullen in 21:16, Jaime Cantlon in 21:28, Tyler Blades in 21:52, Robert Fitzgerald in 23:18 and Caughnery Freese in 24:46.
The top five women were Jamie Reynolds in 26:24, Christina Russell in 27:56, Michele Bailey in 28:02, Jamie Bowers in 28:45 and Candace Gaull in 29:00.
The next Seashore Striders event is the 23rd annual April Fools Prediction Challenge at 10 a.m., Sunday, March 26, at the Cape Henlopen State Park fishing pier. The race is between 3 and 6 miles over challenging and changing terrain.
