Beacon boys and Mariner girls win cross country meets

The Beacon and Mariner middle school cross country teams kicked off their seventh season with a Cape district showdown Sept. 23 in Lewes, with the Beacon boys cruising to a 17-46 win and the Mariner girls securing a 24-33 victory at the University of Delaware College of Earth, Ocean and Environment. 

Beacon seventh-grader Trent Kauffman clocked a sizzling time of 11:31 for the 3K to take the individual win in the boys’ race. Kauffman, who also plays soccer for Beacon, looked relaxed from the gun in his cross country debut despite 88-degree heat. He was followed across the line by teammates Mason Marrone (12:15) and Eddie Houck (12:18). Kaden Cherico placed fifth overall in 13:07, while Steven Hart closed out the scoring for Beacon with a sixth-place showing (13:39). Mariner was paced by Jia Han Xie, who broke the tape fourth in 12:58.

Seventh-grade Mariner star Ali Stevenson pulled away from Beacon’s Lindsay Fernandez down the stretch to earn the individual win in the girls’ race, clocking 14:30 for a five-second margin. Third place went to Mariner’s Anna Kucharik, a long-striding 400-meter specialist just getting her feet wet in cross country. Olivia Burkentine (fifth, 15:34), Sara Dawson (sixth, 15:40) and Mollie Skipper (ninth, 16:11) iced Mariner’s 13th consecutive dual-meet victory dating back to 2017. 

The Cape district’s future in the sport looks bright, as 81 runners competed in the meet. 

Dogfish Dash

The 14th annual Dogfish Dash 8K will take off from the Milton brewery at 9 a.m., Sunday with 3,248 off-centered runners and walkers entered in the event. It will benefit the Delaware Chapter of the Nature Conservancy. The race has raised more than $795,000 to date. It will take more than 10 minutes for all participants to cross the starting line and another 15 minutes for the first runner to race across the finish line at just over five minutes per mile. Packet pickup will be at the brewery in Milton on Friday and Saturday afternoons. After the brewery parking is full Sunday morning, vehicles will go to Mariner Middle School, and runners should plan to be onsite no later than 8 a.m. Using Route 9 from the beach and coming into town from the south on Route 5 is the way to go, as Mariner Middle School will be easy access on your right. Be smart and leave early to give yourself extra time to get to this event. There will be no race-day packet pickup Sunday. For more information, go to www.dogfish.com/dash.

Jake B wins Sarasota Tri

Jake Bamforth added another overall title to his resume, as the 22-year-old from Tampa captured the overall title in the Siesta Key Sprint Triathlon in Sarasota, Fla. Jake hit the line in 56:05 for the 0.3-mile swim, 12.2-mile bike, and 5K run distances. Trevor Tilly, 29, of Gainesville, Fla., was second in 58:26, while William Pearce of Tampa rounded out the top three in a time of 56:27. Jake turned in the second-fastest swim of 7:31, the fastest bike of 28:51 averaging just under 26 mph, and the fastest run of the day of 18:34 for the 5K.

“I was really happy with my race today and felt strong throughout the whole race,” said Jake, who will race the Crystal River Triathlon this Saturday.

The top three states with the most sprint triathlons are as follows: Florida, 132; California, 131; New York, 72.

Kai-Boy tackles Superfrog Half Ironman Triathlon

The Ironman 70.3 triathlon in Imperial Beach, Calif., is part of triathlon's rich Navy SEAL history, a spectacular race set in one of the hotbeds of the sport called Superfrog.

The original and longest-running half-distance race, the Superfrog Triathlon was founded in 1979. The challenging course was designed by a group of Navy SEALs stationed in Coronado to prepare them for the Ironman World Championship in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, and to enhance their training.

Superfrog began with a two-loop, 1.2-mile swim in the open Pacific Ocean. Athletes then embarked on a four-loop, 56-mile bike course that traveled along scenic Highway 75. The course is flat and fast, featuring beautiful ocean views. The two-loop, 13.1-mile run offered mixed terrain including sand, trails and pavement. The course took athletes up and down the California coastline and through the Silver Strand Training Complex/Naval Special Warfare Advanced Training Command. An energetic finish line awaited athletes just off the beach.

Competing this year was local athlete and recent Cape Henlopen High School graduate Kai Vitella who, in his first triathlon, went big by tackling a half-ironman distance. Vitella finished 64th among the top men in the race and eighth in his age group with a total time of 5:02:36. Vitella had a swim split of 33:33, a 56-mile bike split of 2:39:01 to average 21.1 mph, and a run split of 1:40:54 to average 7:42 for the 13.1-mile run. A very impressive performance for a guy who was making diving catches at shortstop and hitting bombs over the left-field fence just a few years ago for the Cape Vikings.

Run for Wine 5K

The annual Taste of Sposato Run for the Wine 5K will be held Saturday, Sept. 28, at Sposato Landscape Co., 16181 Hudson Road, Milton, beginning at 9 a.m. Late registration and pickup will begin at 8 a.m. and runners can still pick up their packets from 4 to 7 p.m., Friday, Sept. 27, at Oak Creek Liquors on Route 9 near Harbeson and grab a bottle of Sposato wine. The post-race features Sposato Wine tasting with delicious local treats and music. Students from the Agricultural Department of Delaware Technical Community College will be on hand to showcase innovative projects, artisan vendors will be selling local handmade items, and all race registration proceeds will benefit the Sposato Family Vineyards Scholarship supporting the advancement of agricultural education. See you at the wine table!

Finish chute

Luanne Goldfarb recently completed one of the most challenging races in the country, an event called the Barkley Fall Classic, held in Tennessee at Frozen Head State Park. Here is the description of the course, which was even challenging for me to type: “The BFC is a 50K race with a ridiculous amount of climb and descent (with the reward of numerous scenic vistas). The course is designed to challenge the runner mentally as well as physically. GPS is not allowed, and those choosing to use it run the risk of lifetime ban. Course markings only exist at major turns, leaving the runner to rely on their confidence that they have not made a wrong turn or missed a right one. Long sections of very runnable trail follow on the heels of strength-sapping sections of hills requiring the successful BFC runner to run when every fiber of their being cries out for taking things slow to recover. The most devastating climbs hit at the runner's weakest moments. Everything is arranged to play on the doubts and weaknesses that exist in all of us. The BFC'er must not only beat the course to finish, but they must conquer their own darkest fears.”

As far as her time and place, I cannot even find a set of results, but I think she finished in a few days with only some scrapes, scratches, bruises and a little blood!

The running community lost a great ambassador of the sport recently, as Bob Porter passed away at the age of 85. Bob and I started the Grove Club back in the early ’90s and they are still going strong running and walking every Tuesday evening in Rehoboth. Bob was active with the Seashore Striders as a competitive age-group runner in the state, my timer for many years before chip timing became a reality, and owned a business called Run-A-Round 4 U, which was well known in the Rehoboth and Lewes community. Bob, and his late wife Pauline, were two of the nicest, kindest and most mindful people you would ever want to know, and our world was blessed to have them for so many years.