Wardian and Veneziano:  5K champions on vacation

A record number of runners, 339, made a fast field as 33 athletes broke the 20-minute mark, including 13 sub-18-minute runners at the July 2 Beach Paper Firecracker 5K in Rehoboth. Ultra distance star Mike Wardian, 37 (see People in Sports), who runs so often and so long his 5Ks are for training purposes only, beat a stellar field in a time of 15:34. Chris Sheaffer, 27, was second in a time of 15:49.

The top six finishers are all previous winners of Striders 5K races.

Lisa Veneziano, 46, on her summer vacation from Michigan, was the women’s winner in 18:37. Cindy Conant, 50, who ran a personal record by 15 seconds and was real happy about that result, was second in 19:09.

Jay Owens, 49, and married to Lisa Veneziano for 20 years, ran a very quick 17:57, just losing the masters title to Mike Sewell, 42, who ran 17:50.

Tim Latterner, 18, a frequent summer runner in Seashore Striders races, ran 17:30 and will be heading to Siena College in the fall.

Andrew Weir of Garnet Valley, Pa., age 12, and Jake Bamforth, 13, both broke the 20-minute mark with times of 19:17 and 19:23, respectively.

Olivia Weir, 9, won her age group in 22: 31 while her mom, Cheryl Weir, 42, a former University of Delaware distance runner, ran 21:21 to win her age group.

“There were lots of personal best times in the race,” said Director Tim Bamforth. “It’s the largest field we’ve ever had for this race; there were lots of families here on vacation."

Kari Putterman, 22, a former Cape Gazette sports correspondent, ran her first race of the summer. Coming off a training injury, she won her age group in a time of 20:23. Kari just graduated from Columbia University and is heading off to graduate school to pursue her passion, creative writing.