Trouble Afoot!: A dozen fast for Cox and Showman at Flash 12K

Maclay School assistant track coach Stephen Cox stole the lead from Wakulla High distance runner Stanley Linton during the tenth kilometer of the Flash 12K, then went on to win the 24th annual race in 41:23. Gary Droze, the head track coach at Maclay, was the fastest master runner in the 12K, placing third overall in 42:45. Tallahassee's Katie Showman took top female honors in the race with a 49:52, while Thomasville's Mary Anne Grayson ran 51:46 to finish as the first female master. 214 athletes completed the race, held Saturday, Feb. 18 in St. Marks.

It was the second year in a row that St. Marks was the site for the Flash 12K, after a long history of the race being run first in Chaires and later in Woodville. Swarms of hungry no-see-ums greeted the runners that morning as they assembled near the starting line in front of Fort San Marcos de Apalachee.

"It's kind of a weird distance," commented one of the runners.

Yes and no. You certainly won't see as many 12K as 5K events on the weekend road racing circuit, but 12K is the official distance for the world cross-country championships. For those of us who never quite switched over to metrics, it works out to almost exactly seven-and-a-half miles.

Some minutes after the scheduled 8:30am, the race got under way. Maclay coach Gary Droze led the initial charge off the starting line, but before the end of the first kilometer Stanley Linton was out in front. Just four days earlier, Linton had opened his senior year track season with wins in both the 1600 (4:48.34) and the 3200 (10:20.03) at a track meet at Rickards High School. In this longer race he led the field through the streets of St. Marks and onto the Tallahassee-St. Marks Rail Trail. By midway through the third kilometer, Linton was 20 seconds up on Droze, with Stephen Cox another five seconds back in third.

For a while Linton's lead grew, but during the second half of the race Cox accelerated. Linton didn't. Cox moved past Droze into second and started chasing down Linton. At nine kilometers, Cox pulled even with the Wakulla High senior. After a brief battle, Cox was the front runner. He spent the last two kilometers running away from the field, finishing the race over 200 meters ahead in 41:23. Linton was runner-up in 42:13, with Droze another 150 meters back in 42:45.

Like Linton, in the women's competition Katie Showman went to the front early. By the third kilometer, a group of four runners was chasing Showman--Kristine Cox, Micah Adriani, Mary Anne Grayson, and Flash 12K defending champion Kelly Stevens. Cox dropped out of the pursuit group and Showman continued to pull away, making it look like Adriani, Stevens, and Grayson were going to be fighting for second. Showman crossed the finish line in 49:52, close to 200 meters ahead of Kelly Stevens, who had fought free of Adriani and Grayson to take the runner-up spot in 50:38. Grayson was closing on Adriani on the homestretch, but Adriani hung on to take third, 51:40 to 51:46.

Top Ten Men, 2012 Flash 12K

41:23 ~ Stephen Cox (M, 28) Tallahassee, FL
42:13 ~ Stanley Linton (M, 18) Crawfordville, FL
42:45 ~ Gary Droze (M, 50) Tallahassee, FL
44:28 ~ Carl Nordhielm (M, 49) Tallahassee, FL
44:36 ~ Jay Wallace (M, 47) Tallahassee, FL
45:01 ~ Hunter Scott (M, 15) Tallahassee, FL
45:08 ~ Roger Schmidt (M, 20) Tallahassee, FL
45:23 ~ Jack McDermott (M, 42) Tallahassee, FL
45:44 ~ Tim Unger (M, 52) Tallahassee, FL
47:38 ~ Peter Kaus (M, 27) Tallahassee, FL

Top Ten Women, 2012 Flash 12K

49:52 ~ Katie Showman (F, 30) Tallahassee, FL
50:38 ~ Kelly Stevens (F, 30) Tallahassee, FL
51:40 ~ Micah Adriani (F, 34) Tallahassee, FL
51:46 ~ Mary Anne Grayson (F, 46) Thomasville, GA
53:21 ~ Kristine Cox (F, 34) Tallahassee, FL
53:40 ~ Angela Wable (F, 38) Tallahassee, FL
54:54 ~ Tiffany Roddenberry (F, 27) Tallahassee, FL
55:07 ~ Mary Vancore (F, 48) Tallahassee, FL
55:18 ~ Cora Atkinson (F, 17) Crawfordville, FL
55:20 ~ Christina Greene (F, 29) Tallahassee, FL

Flash 12K Champions, 1989-2012
Date	Men	Women
1989	39:44, John Devine	48:50, Barbara Balzer
1990	44:10, David Rigby	54:40, Kathy Weiss
1991	39:36, Jessie Close	50:24, Tina Davies
1992	39:33, Jessie Close	45:24, Paula Johnson
1993	42:40, Jonathan Bigg	45:43, Linda Nilges
1994	38:02, Robin Rogers	45:34, Jane Johnson
1995	40:49, Gary Droze	45:34, Jane Johnson
1996	41:10, Gary Droze	44:27, Jane Johnson
1997	39:25, Brian Erb	47:57, Sarah Williams
7 Feb 1998	42:57, Clarence Calloway	45:12, Sarah Williams
20 Feb 1999	44:40, Tim Simpkins	46:27, Sarah Williams
19 Feb 2000	39:44, Michael Strickland	46:06, Sara Docter-Williams
17 Feb 2001	43:56, Tim Unger	45:38, Sarah Docter-Williams
16 Feb 2002	40:35, Gary Droze	47:17, Jane Johnson
1 Feb 2003	42:52, Shawn Patterson	52:18, Lisa Whitworth
7 Feb 2004	42:46, Tim Unger	52:49, Lisa Whitworth
5 Feb 2005	42:05, Lee Willis	45:30, Sarah Docter-Williams
4 Feb 2006	42:49, Vince Molosky	50:21, Lisa Johnson
17 Feb 2007	44:58, Todd Smoot	52:22, Kim Likens
16 Feb 2008	43:10, Tripp Southerland	50:57, Stephanie Liles
21 Feb 2009	42:34, Jay Wallace	50:48, Jane Johnson
20 Feb 2010	41:57, Daniel Lee	47:12, Sheryl Rosen
19 Feb 2011	40:57, Thomas Kunish	49:23, Kelly Stevens
18 Feb 2012	41:23, Stephen Cox	49:52, Katie Showman
In 1989-2004 the race started and finished in Chaires. In 2005-2010 the race started and finished at J. Lewis Hall Park in Woodville. (FL05007DL) In 2011-2012 the race started and finished at Fort San Marcos de Apalachee in St. Marks. (FL11133EBM)

89 runners finished the 6K race that was run concurrently with the 12K. Duane Evans of Crawfordville, Florida was the fastest overall finisher in the shorter race as well as the top master, finishing about half a kilometer ahead of his nearest challenger in 24:57. Tallahassee's Nancy Gribble was the first female and the first female master in the 6K, placing fourth overall in 27:39.

Top Ten Men, 2012 Flash 6K

24:57 ~ Duane Evans (M, 44) Crawfordville, FL
27:16 ~ Daniel Cosme (M, 26) Tallahassee, FL
27:24 ~ Michael Culligan (M, 37) Tallahassee, FL
28:49 ~ Mark O' Neill (M, 50) Tallahassee, FL
30:26 ~ Michael Molen (M, 12) Tallahassee, FL
30:37 ~ Steven Bingert (M, 24)
31:09 ~ Alvin Young (M, 31) Tallahassee, FL
32:27 ~ Christopher Turner (M, 29) Tallahassee, FL
33:15 ~ Ed Claiborne (M, 57) Monticello, FL
34:13 ~ Jeremy Shinn (M, 31) Gainesville, FL