2017 to be a big year for six-kilometer racing on Florida's roads

If you followed the 2016 cross-country season at Tallahassee, Florida's Apalachee Regional Park, you'd have noticed the variety in racing distances. Athletes competed at ten kilometers, eight kilometers, six kilometers, five kilometers, four kilometers, two miles, three kilometers, two kilometers, and even a remarkably brief one kilometer. The six kilometer distance turned out to be fairly frequently contested. The university women raced at 6K at the NCAA Division 1 South Region Championships on 11 November 2016, both the women masters and the open women went 6K at the USATF Club Nationals on 10 December 2016, and everyone ran 6K at Gulf Winds Track Club's Tannenbaum Trail 6K on 17 December 2016.

Women's 6K at the 2016 NCAA-D1 South Region at Apalachee Regional Park

The six-kilometer distance may be a staple in cross-country, but it's not nearly as common in road racing. In 2016, though, the South Florida Heroes In Recovery 6K had their course USATF certified. The Fort Lauderdale, Florida race had joined Saint Augustine's Character Counts 6K and Palatka's Ravine Gardens 6K in the state's elite group of races on certified six-kilometer courses. With 2017 approaching, Gulf Winds Track Club obtained USATF certification for the course of the Flash 6K in Saint Marks, Florida. So we should see four 6K races on USATF-certified courses in 2017. Here's how those events have stacked up from 2013 to 2016:

A comparison of four Florida 6K road races, 2013 - 2016
Year	Date	Race	Male Winner	Female Winner	Finishers
2013	9 February	Character Counts 6K	21:33, Yaro Middaugh	26:24, Beth Sweeny	205
	16 February	Flash 6K	21:54, Michael Martinez	25:09, Jessica Gillard	70
	27 April	Heroes 6K	21:30, Luiz Souza	27:13, Sara Devi Pierson	466
2014	8 February	Character Counts 6K	23:02, Mike Beaman	26:53, Katie Dingler	123
	15 February	Flash 6K	21:56, Jon Mason	28:15, Sarah Taff	85
	3 May	Heroes 6K	22:37, Harrie Olsthoorn	28:56, Rachel Bush	397
	25 October	Ravine Gardens 6K	22:30, Dan Stoner	26:50, Talisa Fletcher	32
2015	7 February	Character Counts 6K	24:15, Bryan Thompson	26:36, Zahra Crim	218
	21 February	Flash 6K	23:30, Duane Evans	24:20, Katie Gorman	98
	25 April	Heroes 6K	21:44, Christopher Mills	23:53, Danielle Kleppan	302
	24 October	Ravine Gardens 6K	23:47, Peyton Snyder	28:34, Sally Chappell	49
2016	6 February	Character Counts 6K	21:32, Yaro Middaugh	23:54, Ani Veltcheva	253
	20 February	Flash 6K	23:17, Travis Parks	32:26, Leah Kiros	87
	4 June	Heroes 6K	20:24, Scott Byers	24:07, Abidemi Charles	391
	22 October	Ravine Gardens 6K	26:53, John Wisker	33:09, Leigh Doran	23
2017	4 February	Character Counts 6K
	18 February	Flash 6K
	3 June	Heroes 6K
	21 October?	Ravine Gardens 6K
The Character Counts 6K was held on USATF certified course FL12089EBM from 2013-2016. The Ravine Gardens 6K was held on USATF certified course FL14061EBM from 2014 to 2016. The Heroes In Recovery 6K was held on uncertified courses from 2013 to 2015, and on USATF certified course FL16048EBM in 2016. From 2011 to 2016 the Flash 6K was held on an uncertified course in Saint Marks, Florida; the race will be run on USATF certified course FL16069TY in 2017.

You can see that the newly-certified course at the 2016 Heroes 6K produced both the fastest and the largest race of the year, as Scott Byers led a field of 391 athletes with a 20:24--which could very well be the fastest time ever on a USATF-certified course in Florida. Chicago State alumna Abidemi Charles won the women's title at the 2016 Heroes 6K with a very fast 24:07. It was only Florida's second-fastest women's time of the year, though; Abraham Lincoln Middle School's Ani Veltcheva had already gone 23:54 at the 2016 Character Counts 6K. Veltcheva's time is likely Florida's women's record for 6K on the roads.

Ani Veltcheva

In 2017 six-kilometer road racing in Florida opens with the the fifth annual Character Counts 6K in Saint Augustine on 4 February 2017. Two weeks later, Florida athletes get another crack at the distance in Saint Marks at the 29th annual Flash 6K on 18 February 2017. The fifth annual South Florida Heroes In Recovery 6K in Fort Lauderdale is scheduled for 3 June 2017. As of this writing no date had been posted for the fourth annual Ravine Gardens 6K.


Actually, it's Gulf Winds Track Club's Flash 12K that will be the "29th annual." The 6K has only been around since 2009, so this will be the ninth running for the shorter race. Still, the Flash 12K will be the oldest six-kilometer road race in Florida during 2017. Largest and fastest? Those remain to be determined.


Links

• Florida's USATF-Certified six-kilometer road courses
  
  
  • Character Counts (Saint Augustine)
    http://www.usatf.org/events/courses/maps/showMap.asp?courseID=FL12089EBM
    
    
  • Flash 6K (Saint Marks)
    http://www.usatf.org/events/courses/maps/showMap.asp?courseID=FL16069TY
    
    
  • Heroes 6K (Fort Lauderdale)
    http://www.usatf.org/events/courses/maps/showMap.asp?courseID=FL16048EBM
    
    
  • Ravine Gardens 6K (Palatka)
    http://www.usatf.org/events/courses/maps/showMap.asp?courseID=FL14061EBM
    
    
• “Six kilometers, a tale of three races”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2016/03/six-km-2016.html
  
  
• “Schmidt and Sherron fly through the Flash”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2016/02/flash-2016.html
  
  
• Find upcoming races of six kilometers and other distances on the Trouble Afoot! calendar
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/search/label/calendar?max-results=1
  
  

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