Lucas Mauch and Laura McDermott were the victors in the fifth Warrior Run

At Brookwood School in Thomasville, Georgia, Saturday, 3 November 2018 dawned with classical cross-country weather. The sky was clear, the air was dry, and temperatures were in the 40s. It was the first time during the autumn of 2018 that it had actually felt like cross-country season. Too bad cross-country season had ended for the Brookwood Warriors a week earlier at the GISA State Cross-Country Championship. But that didn't mean Brookwood couldn't host a race. That very day, as luck would have it, the school had scheduled their fifth annual Warrior Run 5K. Lucas Mauch of Tallahassee, Florida won the race, running 18:33. Another Tallahassee runner, Laura McDermott, was the first overall woman, posting a 20:51.

Lucas Mauch

Back in Tallahassee, Mauch is an eighth-grader at Maclay School, where he runs on the school's cross-country team. Like Brookwood, Mauch's season had ended on 27 October 2018. His last race had been the middle school boys' 3K at the Florida Youth Running Association State Cross-Country Championship.


"I ran decent," shrugged Mauch. "11:41 for 3K. Not great."


It was good enough to put Mauch second on his team, helping the Maclay boys to a 26th place showing in the State Championship.

Warrior Run Leaders

At the Warrior Run, Mauch started off with the leaders. The course was three laps around a circuit of the Brookwood campus, starting on the track of Warrior Stadium and finishing at the Warrior decorating the turf on the center of the football field. Before the end of the first loop, Mauch had the lead to himself. Behind him, Tallahassee master runner Paul Hodge steadily picked off the athletes that had tried to stay with Mauch, but Hodge didn't make up any ground on the Maclay runner.


"I pushed myself," said Mauch. "I push myself as hard as I can. I didn't even look at the clock."

Paul Hodge

When Mauch crossed the finish line, that clock showed that he had won the race in 18:33. Hodge took second.


First woman Laura McDermott came in fourth overall, her 20:51 her best time ever for five kilometers.


"It was nice!" said McDermott. "It was cold!"

Laura McDermott

With cool air and a flat course, several runners ran good times. Some speculated that the race was short. Without USATF certification you can never be sure. But more than a few people insisted that they'd be back for the next Warrior Run.

Known winners of the Brookwood Warrior Run, 2014 - 2018
Date	Men	Women	Finishers
4 October 2014
10 October 2015
24 September 2016	19:04, Samuel Moore	21:38, Joy Kendrick	108
2 December 2017	18:45, Jack Saussy	23:19, Addison Gamble	+
3 November 2018	18:33, Lucas Mauch	20:51, Laura McDermott	+

Links

• More photos of the 2018 Brookwood Warrior Run 5K
  https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10112675081841233&type=1&l=acc2f1e9a1
  
  
• 2016 story, “Moore and Kendrick are the mightiest warriors at Brookwood's Warrior Run”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2016/09/brookwood-warrior-2016.html
  
  
• Find upcoming races in Thomasville and other cities in the Tallahassee region on Trouble Afoot!
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/search/label/calendar?max-results=1
  
  

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