Women’s Distance Festival,
By David Yon
It is a special sight watching 124 women take off on their own 5k quest – many with a goal to make sure that none of the men starting 10 minutes behind them catch up. Most succeeded in that goal as they all joined the 84 men in supporting the TMH Women’s Pavilion’s effort to battle breast cancer. As far as I know, this is the only race where the number of women running is greater than the number of men.
Mari Leitner was the first runner across the finish line and captured the women’s division with a time of 20:27 good enough to beat masters champion and second place finisher Carrie Weyant who ran 20:31. The first man was Nate Timm in 16:33 as he bested second place Tim Bolton who ran 17:22. Doug Gorton out-dueled Bill McGuire down the finishing hill to capture the masters title, 17:49 to 17:53.
The weather was perfect at the start with brisk temperatures in the low 50’s helping to make Sue Kelly’s directing debut a success. The success seemed all the more impressive as she walked around with her recently broken collar bone in a sling, never complaining once.
Complete results.