Seashore 5 Miler a thermodynamically challenging race
A weather “ill advisory” was posted before the 33rd Seashore 5-Miler July 19 in the northern reaches of Rehoboth Beach. It was straight up hot and humid, but 213 runners were not deterred by good sense or oppressive conditions.
The general consensus from the runners was that a hot and humid July five-mile race in Rehoboth just feels hotter than anywhere else on the planet.
"Runners are smart people, but you hardly ever see one drop out of a race,” said Race Director Tim Bamforth. "I have spotters out there keeping an eye on people and paramedics always on call.”
Brian Petraco, 27, an aerodynamic runner from Lancaster, Pa., by way of York Suburban High School and Penn State, won going away in 27:30, followed by recent high school graduate James Anderson from Burtonsville, Md., who's heading to the University of Maryland, in 28:58. Jeff Young from Wayne, Pa., took third in 29:15.
“I ran club at Penn State; the runners there are just crazy good,” said Petraco, who has an engineering degree. “I recently finished ninth in the Harrisburg Mile run on the roads in 4:31."
Martin Rodriguez in 31:06, Mike Sewell in 31:47, Paul Montini in 32:21 and Zach Bittinger in 32:54 rounded out the top 7.
The Get Out of Town Award was given to eighth-place finisher Stefan Fuchsluger in 33:10 who listed his hometown as Breitenfurt, Austria. Stefan was followed by Charlie Dittrich in 34:43 from St. Louis.
Stefan’s wife, Diane Ward-Fuchsluger, was the eighth women to finish, in 37:59.
The winner of the women’s race was Jeanne Knowles of Lewes in 34:52. She was followed by Abbey Oblender in 35:19, Haley Brown in 35:35, Dee Barbic in 36:25 and Mardiny Ung in 36:56.
A complete listing of results can be found on the website seashorestriders.com.
The next Striders event is the Sunday, July 26 Run for JJ, which starts at 7:30 a.m. behind the Henlopen Hotel in Rehoboth.
