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Enos Benbow fixes cart, wins race and collects tickets

June 19, 2014

The Friday night weather for the 11th Georgetown Library 5K was rumbling and unsettled, threatening what some old-timers call an electrical storm. And the electric Seashore Striders' pace cart was dead in the parking lot and like a cash-and-carry business wouldn’t take a charge.

Enos Benbow, the Georgetown/Jamaican elite runner with the lilting voice and gentle personality, went to the socket set side of the street, lifted the seat, addressed the problem of five batteries in series leading to a charger to some bypass surgery and achieved a solution. “Giving up is never an option," Enos said, who was immediately given the nickname Usain Volt.

And then Benbow won the 5K in 17:12 with a small following field of 83 runners chasing him because at the finish line there were watermelon wedges, banana nubs, slices of cantaloupe and plenty of bottled water in buckets of ice.

Benbow, who is a member of the Seashore Striders administrative race team, then collected tear-off tags in the finish chute.

Glenda Adams was the first woman to finish, in 19:45.

Other notable performances included 8-year-old Lainey Shockro, who ran a personal best 24:16 and on Fathers Day would run another PR 23:17, causing regular runner Linda Chi to say, ”Well, I used to run next to her, but those days are now over.”

Jerry Peden Jr.,  46, who served as an assistant basketball coach at Cape and Sussex Central, ran a respectable 25:11.

The Georgetown run started a three-day race weekend with Saturday's Irish Eyes 5K and Sunday's Fathers Day 5K in Rehoboth that showcased 383 runners having fun and enjoying sun and fitness in Sussex County.

The next double down Seashore Striders race weekend features the Jungle Jim’s 5K Saturday, June 21, and the 19th Annual Bill Degnan 5K Sunday, June 22.

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