By David Yon
The race director’s baton passed this year from Paul Hiers to Tom Perkins and Jeanne O’Kon. That is no small concern for members of GWTC because this race is the major club fundraiser and marquee spring race. No need to worry, though, as they corralled volunteers, sponsors and runners into a splendid performance Saturday morning. 701 participants finished the 10K, while 126 raced the downhill one-mile making the total number 826 at the 26th running of Springtime. Cora Simpkins started the race in honor of Tim Simpkins who passed away last week. Two of Tim’s brothers, Dan and Jonny completed the race.
Muchapiwa Mazano, from Tampa, returned for his third straight Springtime 10K victory and the $300 cash prize. His unofficial time of 32:18 just beat last year’s 32:28, but was off his course (DOT course first run in 1997) record 30:56 set in 1999. Ryan Hicks, who runs for FSU, took second place in a time of 33:29 and donated his $200 prize to the Chenoweth Fund. Art Remillard, director of the Ten for Tim relay, captured the third spot overall and top GWTC spot with a time of 34:24 for $100.
The Gainesville invasion captured the top two spots in the women’s race. Tatyana Maslova took the top spot in an unofficial time of 34:46 for $300. Titova Tatiana finished second with a time of 35:50 to best third place Sarah Docter-Williams the top GWTC finisher in 36:32. They also received $200 and $100 respectively.
The masters races were captured by Tim Unger (35:44) and Cindy Geeker (44:46). They each took home $150. The grand masters race was a ferocious battle as Paul Hoover ran 35:44 to make sure he was far enough ahead of Bill McGuire, 35:59, to avoid Bill’s withering kick. The women’s grand master winner was Betty Lewis in a time of 46:58. Phil Yon and Glen Wade lived up to their prerace publicity and finished in 41:22 and 59:57, respectively, in the hand cycle and wheel chair divisions.
The one-mile was quite a battle as well. James Dexter took the lead early and never let go, running a PR of 5:13 to best Casey Perkins who was one second behind at 5:14, also a PR. The top female runner was Kaia Hampton who finished in 6:45.
The team competition was a huge success. In the agency/corporate division, The Department of Environmental Protection (Jay Silvanima, Angela Dempsey, Jerry Brooks, Mary Jean Yon and Tom Conrardy) edged out the Department of Insurance to claim the fastest team award and back up team captain Mary Jean Yon’s trash talking. The Department of Education edged out the perennial winners, the Department of Revenue, for the highly coveted Most Finishers on an Agency Team award. Trigirls (Carrie Weyant, Sue Hensley, Ann Bowman, Hannah Gerber and Mary Jane Tappen) won the women’s open team, while a familiar name, WYSIWYG (Art Remillard, Tim Unger, Sarah Docter-Williams, Reid Vannoy and Greg Waddell) won the men’s open competition. Twenty-two teams competed in the three classes.