Sunday, March 6, 2011

Sullivan and Adriani triumph on Thomasville Road

Kevin Sullivan didn't wait around for anyone. On Saturday morning, 5 March 2011, the three-time Canadian Olympian took a big early lead in Tallahassee's Thomasville Road Baptist Church 5K and built it up into a winning gap of over 200 meters, running a course-record shattering 15:49. Behind Sullivan, Nate Kaiser outlasted Vince Molosky to take second, 16:37 to 16:47. On the women's side, Micah Adriani (20th, 20:24) powered away from Katie Showman (22nd, 20:36) late in the race for the title. Mary Anne Grayson of Thomasville, Georgia held onto the third women's spot in 20:58, finishing 24th overall as the top woman master.


Vince Molosky was denied an opportunity to defend his 2010 title in the Thomasville Road Baptist Church 10K because there was no Thomasville Road Baptist Church 10K in 2011. The race organizers dropped the ten kilometer race, making the 5K the main event. Molosky showed up nevertheless, and led the early pursuit of Sullivan. Kaiser was never far behind, though, and eventually took over the second position, running away from Molosky over the last few hundred meters.


Adriani, Showman, and Grayson established a three-woman lead group during the first kilometer of the race. Grayson dropped off the pace, leaving Adriani and Showman. It was still a two-woman race during the final approach to the church on Thomasville Road, but Adriani had a better kick over the last 400 meters, escaping Showman for the title.


Top Ten Men
  1. Kevin Sullivan (M, 36) 15:48
  2. Nate Kaiser (M, 31) 16:36
  3. Vince Molosky (M, 31) 16:46
  4. Brian Manry (M, 32) 18:05
  5. Keith Howell (M, 28) 18:41
  6. Tim Unger (M, 51) 19:02
  7. Peter Kaus (M, 26) 19:07
  8. Bing Xu (M, 43) 19:12
  9. Steve Barraco (M, 56) 19:13
  10. Keith Gates (M, 29) 19:15

Top Ten Women
  1. Micah Adriani (F, 33) 20:23
  2. Katie Showman (F, 29) 20:35
  3. Mary Anne Grayson (F, 45) 20:58
  4. Nancy Stedman (F, 49) 21:38
  5. Kristine Cox (F, 33) 22:02
  6. Julie Clark (F, 49) 22:13
  7. Paula O' Neill (F, 49) 22:36
  8. Mary Vancore (F, 47) 22:45
  9. Angela Dempsey (F, 42) 22:58
  10. Susan Williams (F, 26) 23:07

Links

5 comments:

  1. It's a shame they dropped the 10 K; 'twas a nice yet challenging course. Maybe they just didn't want to do the traffic control on a full mile+ of Thomasville Rd. anymore? Sigh. The 10 K, in my view, really helped it stick out from the crowd of 5 Ks in the area, though perhaps that view isn't shared by all since the total number of finishers stayed the same between 2010 and 2011.

    Anyway, keep up the great work, Herb -- I enjoy reading all about what's happening on the running scene back in Tallahassee despite being two time zones and 5,000 ft in elevation away these days.

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  2. I agree Clark. I ran the 10k last year and really enjoyed it, but skipped the event this year because I needed more mileage than a 5k.

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  3. I didn't hear from anyone who said, "Boy! I'm glad that they dropped the 10K!" And as @Clark said, now it's just another 5K. And I've been bending ears about the "just another 5K" problem for some time now. I even wrote about it here last year, "Pieces of Eight." A lot of good that did, huh?

    Thanks for the comments and the kind words!

    Herb.

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