New road 6K state records for Florida during 2017

At the end of 2017, Ethan Clary's 19:15 stands as the fastest 6K time run on the Florida roads during the year, and Sonja Friend-Uhl's 22:29 as the fastest women's time. Both marks were recorded at the 3 June 2017 Heroes 6K in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Clary's time is also the fastest run on a USATF-certified course in Florida going back to at least 2013.


When 2017 opened, the oldest 6K race in Florida, Gulf Winds Track Club's Flash 6K, was scheduled to be run on a USATF-certified course for the first time. It looked like that for the first time, Florida would have four 6K races on certified courses--the Character Counts 6K in Saint Augustine on 3 February 2017, the Flash 6K in Saint Marks on 18 February 2017, the Heroes 6K in Fort Lauderdale on 3 June 2017, and the Ravine Gardens 6K in Palatka on 21 October 2017. However, the Ravine Gardens race was not only shortened to a 5K event, but because of race was ultimately canceled because of damage to Ravine Gardens State Park by Hurricane Irma. Hopefully the park will recover and the race will return as a 6K.

Geb Kiros

Florida still had three excellent six-kilometer races on USATF-certified courses during 2017. Andy Nicol opened the series with a 23:32 win at the Character Counts 6K, where Deana Reich won the women's competition in 26:59. Two weeks later, master runner Geb Kiros upped the ante with a 22:02 win in the Flash 6K. In the same race, Kat Sack established a new women's best for the year, going 26:02. But neither of those marks survived the third, final, and largest race on the circuit, the Heroes 6K. Ethan Clary led a field of more than 400 runners in that race, going 19:15. If anyone kept track of state records for the road 6K, that time would stand as the Florida record. Likewise, Sonja Friend-Uhl's 22:29 in the Heroes 6K would stand as the women's state record.

Kat Sack

Of course, not every 6K race in Florida is on the roads. In 2018 there will be two particularly significant 6K cross-country races in the state. The senior women's and junior women's races at the USATF National Cross-Country Championships will both be 6K, and both will be run on the Apalachee Regional Park Cross-Country Course near Tallahassee, Florida on 3 February 2018. As for the roads, Saint Augustine's sixth annual Character Counts 6K is scheduled for 3 February 2017 and the 30th annual Flash 6K is slated for 17 February 2018. There isn't a published date yet for Fort Lauderdale's 2018 Heroes 6K. Those are the three races for anyone who wants to chase Ethan Clary's 19:15 men's state record or Sonja Friend-Uhl's 22:29 women's state record.

A comparison of four Florida 6K road races, 2013 - 2017
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	23:32, Andy Nicol	26:59, Deanna Reich	215
	18 February	Flash 6K	22:02, Geb Kiros	26:02, Kat Sack	127
	3 June	Heroes 6K	19:15, Ethan Clary	22:28, Sonja Friend-Uhl	405
2018	3 February	Character Counts 6K
	17 February	Flash 6K
		Heroes 6K
The Character Counts 6K was held on USATF certified course FL12089EBM from 2013-2017. 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 to 2017. 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.

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
    
    
• “2017 to be a big year for six-kilometer racing on Florida's roads”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2016/12/six-km-2016.html
  
  
• “Six kilometers, a tale of three races”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2016/03/six-km-2016.html
  
  
• “Speed counts for Nicol and Reich at the Character Counts 6K”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2017/02/character-counts-2017.html
  
  
• “Not for the first time, Molosky and Sherron are first at the Flash”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2017/02/flash-2017.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
  
  

#2141