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Running

Valentine’s Day Couples 5K brings out 92 runners

February 15, 2013

The eighth Valentine's Day Couples 5K Run was held Feb. 9 under cloudy and cold conditions at Cape Henlopen State Park with a field of 92 showing up to race through the 3.1-mile course. From the fishing pier, Beacon eighth-grader Ben Bamforth drove the lead golf cart with the field in chase to the top of the lookout dune and the Striders turnaround. From the start, two top contenders in two age categories wasted little time to move to the lead as Pat Boettcher, 31, of Newark and Greg Cauller, 53, of York, Pa., did what they do best. On the female side, it was all Lynn Knothe, 35, of Wilmington, who quickly put herself in the top 10 overall on the winding Cape Henlopen bike path.

Boettcher easily took the victory in 16:45, averaging 5:23 a clip, followed by masters champion Cauller in second in 17:46. Young Dylan Varrato of Sussex Tech rounded out the top three with an easy training run of 19:28, taking the 14-19 age title. On the female side, Knothe hit the line in 20:30 to average 6:35 a mile for the win. Helen Morrow, 43, of Millsboro, finished second in 22:08 to win the masters championship, while young Logan Shuttleworth, 13, of Lewes, rounded out the top three finishers in 22:18.  Logan is coming off her basketball season at Beacon Middle School and will begin her second season of track & field March 1.  Last year she set the school record in the 1,600-meter run in a time of 5:38.

Finish chute - Lance Fargo is back on the roads again as the king of the Clydesdale division as he was fifth in 20:21 to win the 40-49 age group. The Sava family raced well and took home some hardware as Amanda Sava led a group of preregistration volunteers and then won the 14-19 age group in 28:33. Jennifer Sava of Virginia was third in the 40-49 age group in 25:21, while Donna Sava of Seaford was fifth in 29:06. Griffin Sava of Virginia was second in 26:41 in the 14-19 age group, while Stan Sava of Seaford was fourth in the 40-49 age group in 21:36 to average a sub-seven pace. Ken Sava of Virginia grabbed third in the 50-59 age group in 24:31.  Mel McCloy, 13, ran well to take second in the 14-19 age group in 23:20, while Strider Emma Barthelmess, 10, of Bethany Beach, was third in 23:33.  Finally, how about Larry Windsor of Laurel racing to a 21:49 at age 61?   I can’t forget to thank park ranger Keith Betts for jump-starting my Striders van after Dave “A Team” Mushrush cut out early after setting up, leaving my flashers blinking into the late morning.

State wrap

Sophomore Jake Bamforth led off the 2-mile relay for his Sussex Tech team as they ran 8:46 for fifth place, while Austin MacElrevey led off Cape, which competed in the same race, kicking off the meet at the University of Delaware Field House. Performances in the meet were strong up top, especially in the distance races, where we saw a 1:59 half mile, a 4:17 mile and a 9:33 two-mile run. Wins on the girls' side included a 2:18 half, a 5:06 mile and 11:00 two-mile. It was interesting to me that I watched a 4:17 indoor mile and a 9:33 two-mile and the University of Delaware does not even have a track team. There is talent on the boys' side in Delaware, but we can't keep them in-state if we are going to drop programs.

Sophomore Steve Garrett cruised through the mile in 4:45 and came back with a 4:48 to race to a 9:33 in the 2-mile. Jeremiah Cohen kept the Cape jumping tradition alive by winning the high jump in 6-feet-2-inches and finishing fourth in the triple jump at 43-4, while Briana Hall of Tech won the triple jump in 34-1 and scored in all four of her events. Most of the downstate points came in the field, where Cape’s Kadijah Doughty won the shot put to lead the way with a new indoor school record of 41-7.

The meet was dominated by the upstate athletes. Only nine girls from the Henlopen Conference scored in the sprints, and four girls scored from 800m on up in the whole conference. On the boys' side, seven boys from the Henlopen Conference scored in the sprints, and only two boys scored in the distance races. Hall of Sussex Tech and Amanda Hurst of Cape were the only girls from either school to score in an individual event on the track, while no boys scored. The Cape girls were seventh in the 800-meter relay, while Tech girls finished fourth in the 3,200m relay and Tech boys finished seventh in the 3,200m relay. Sussex Tech girls ended the day in seventh place with 29 points, while Cape was eighth with 27 points. The Cape boys finished 10th with 23 points, while Tech was 22nd with 2 points in the team race.

Upcoming races


Sunday, March 10 - 3rd Get Pumped for Pets 5K/10K, Kent Island, Md.

Sunday, March 10 - Inaugural The Lucky Leprechaun 5K, Milton.

Saturday, March 16 - 6th St. Patrick’s Day 5K Run, Denton, Md.

Saturday, March 23 - 7th St. Paddy’s Day Shamrock Shuffle 15K/5K, Rehoboth Beach.

Saturday, March 30 - 2nd Bunny Palooza 5K/10K, Bethany.

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