Shout it out, then sort them out! At Cape Henlopen State Park Oct. 4, 100 real runners with no emojis or avatars clouding a virtual field stepped to the starting line to run a 5K, a half-marathon or a half-marathon relay.
“It felt like a lot of people, and people were happy just to be out running together,” said Race Director Tim Bamforth.
The breakdown was 52 half-marathon runners, 34 in the 5K and another seven who were part of a half-marathon relay team.
The Italian Stallions galloped to glory in the 5K, led by Mike Marciano in 18:49, followed by masters winner Matt Sparacino in 18:58.
Roy Jones, the running rower from Baltimore who is 6-foot-7, 225 pounds, ran an impressive time of 19:58.
Tracy Smith McLamb with a Cape/Milton credential in her back pocket was the overall women’s winner in 29:16. Mary Beth Evans was the female masters winner in 30:05.
Young guns who ran well included Mason Morrone, 14, in 22:14, and Ethan Thompson, 10, in 24:34.
The half-marathon course was smoked by 22-year-old Dylan Smiley with a time of 1:09:14. Dylan was followed by Francisco Puac in 1:18:19, Martin Rodriguez in 1:21:16 and masters winner Mike Sewell in 1:28:30.
Jen Cawthern was the women’s winner in 1:39:27, followed by masters winner Laura Berger in 1:40:58.
Father and son Gavin and Nolan Furlong had the fastest relay time of 1:41:15.
Runners can go to seashorestriders.com to learn about changes in the upcoming racing schedule.