Road racers who win get to the front and stay there
There are no Silky Sullivans in the sport of foot racing. The hot coppers line up in the front row, sprint to the front and generally stay there. There are some Roger Rabbits who appear in most start photos and perhaps that is their mission because in the quirky, hard-to-figure sport of road racing, slow twitch and fast twitch interact with body type producing predictable results week after week. The late running author George Sheehan wrote, “Throw me out of an airplane and I’d fall at 8:30 per mile.”
The Dewey Beach Liquors 5K on June 9 saw Joey Andrisani, 30, of Wilmington cross the finish line first in 18:11. Kirsten Belair, 40, was the first woman and second overall in 18:53. Two hundred and forty-six athletes crossed the finish line.
The top male runners after Andrisani were Justin Worster, 21, 19:15; Chris Stanley, 44, 19:22; Karin Cover, 53, 19:33; and Mark Turner, 50, 19:36.
The top women following Belair were Tara Cavaselis, 36, 19:57; Jen Cawthern, 39, 20:19; Paula Pels, 45, 20:43; and Amanda An, 26, 21:12.
Age groups are broken down into five-year brackets and no surprise the 14-18 is the least competitive as most teenagers cannot relate to running for the sake of fitness or staying thin. Even high school cross country runners avoid the $20 per race weekly opportunities.
Kyla Lavender, 14, won her age group in 25:48, followed by Katie Kolobielski, 17, 30:42. Katie K was the starting goalie on Cape’s 2012 state championship field hockey team and after the race said, “My legs were killing me before the start. I played hockey all day yesterday.”
Sean Saxton of Dover won the male 14-18 age group in 19:47. Dylan Stanley, 16, was third and 18th overall in 21:22 just two minutes and 18 years behind his father Chris.
Bryan Mack, 23, former Cape soccer player, ran 21:35. Made it look easy like when his dad Greg and uncle Keith play the guitar.
Nick O’Cone, 32, a vet tech from Rehoboth Beach Animal Hospital, continues to drop his time, running 26:03.
John Jones, 35, 21:59, and Spencer Steele, 36, 22:00, both former Cape athletes, were first and second in the 35-39 age group.
Bruce Pringle, 65, has transitioned from walking to running and placed second in his age group in 26:27. Jules Woodall, one of three runners remaining in the 10 Sisters Hall of Fame, won the age group in 25:45.
Doug White, 70, won his age group in 24:52. White is in the Delaware Sports Hall of Fame and is arguably Delaware’s most accomplished road runner north of Dave Knoblespiece.
A crazy competitive race occurred in the 9 and under category where Mason Bush, 9, ran 24:00 to beat Simon Pels, 9, 25:29.
Jonathan Bush, 5, ran 28:26 just ahead of Ryan Pels, 7, 31:56.
The next Ten Sisters beach race is the 11th Annual Rusty Rudder 5K at 8 a.m., Sunday, June 30.
