Tommy Coveleski memories are gentle on the minds of 5K runners
The Power of One: Tommy Coveleski brought out 163 runners for the eighth annual Tommy Ten 5K Run/Walk Oct. 24.
The weather was perfect for the 9 a.m. race that started on the Boardwalk at Wilmington Avenue, raced north to Gordons Pond, then turned around and came back.
Tommy, everyone’s spiritual go-to lifeguard, would have loved the fact that many tourists, including one aged Golden Retriever in a buggy, elected to go through the chute on their “destination anywhere” morning jaunt.
Legendary lifeguards from the ’70s Pete Hartsock and Woody Marderwald recruited VIP starter Mike Castle who whacked the cannon with a wooden mallet and, along with his wife Jane, held the banner for race winners Bryan Mack and Bethany Killmon.
The Sunday morning Gazebo Gathering of Old Men, there by cosmic coincidence, included George Cole, who played for Frank Coveleski at Rehoboth High, and Bob Smith, a former Cape superintendent who has retired to a house on Norfolk Street.
The Sussex Consortium where Tommy worked as a physical education teacher was the clearing house liaison with Races2Run, which took care of race management.
There are a lot of ways to break down and analyze a running race; the full results can be found at races2run.com.
Age group winners were :
Males: (1-13) Robbie Myers, 29:29; (14-18) Harrison Dobbs, 20:12; (19-29) Hank Coveleski, 23:04; (30-39) Michael Chojnowski, 21:07; (40-49) Ryan Blair, 23:57; (50-59) Pete Coveleski, 23:21; (60-69) Rick Poppleton, 24:15; (70-79) David Downing, 25:11; (80-99) Bernie Gallagher, 33:45. (Masters) Darren Haschak, 22:45.
Females: (1-13) Mia Thompson, 23:22; (14-18) Autumn Hamilton, 1:01:10; (19-29) Sara Jannelli, 21:54; (30-39) Sarah Richards, 21:24; (40-49) Cynthis Haschak, 28:51; (50-59) Hiba Stancofski, 30:15; (60-69) Beth Mills, 30:00; (70-79) Nornajane Daval, 41:06; (masters) Krista Lynch, 26:18.
There were 16 members of Team Coveleski who ran ... or 163 if you count everyone. It depends on how you keep score.
