David Yon
For me, the 4th of July has always meant being in Atlanta for Peachtree. However, because of a wonderful opportunity to travel in Africa and run Comrades we found ourselves in Tallahassee on the 4th this year instead. So we made the short drive to Greensboro to participate in the local Independence Day race. Greensboro is nowhere near as big (155 v. 55,000) and it is only half the distance (5K v. 10K), but it is a wonderful little race and it was a GWTC Grand Prix Event. A very friendly attitude, a nice course and a post race breakfast make everyone feel right at home in this small north Florida town. Only complaint I had was the use of different age brackets for the men and the women. While there may have been fewer women running, I still think the brackets should be the same.
Gary Droze ducked under 16:00 minutes with a time of 15:57 to win by a comfortable margin and claim the grand prix top prize. Corey Cherr edged Paul Hoover for second place with a time of 17:13.Paul finished in 17:22 and would have claimed the masters’ title, but for his top three finish. That title instead went to Karl Hempel who ran 18:13.
Sarah Docter-Williams and Kim Wynn locked up in a good battle on the women’s side. Sarah finished in 18:10 to win the title, while Kim took second with an 18:24. Third place went to Fran McLean who ran 20:17. Like Paul, she was given the third place trophy instead of the masters’ title. Yvonne Gsteiger was the masters champ instead with a time of 21:08.