Holding off a homestretch challenge by John Robida, 2008 FHSAA-1A cross-country champion Patrick Swain won the annual "Breakfast on the Track" one-mile run, hosted by Gulf Winds Track Club on the Maclay School track on Saturday morning, 15 August 2009. Swain's time was 4:43.40, less than a second ahead of Robida's 4:44.04. For Swain, it was a payback of sorts--in the 2008 edition of the "Breakfast on the Track" he had finished fourth in 4:43.12, a single place behind Robida's 4:41.43. In this year's mile, Robida had led much of the early stages of the race, with Swain taking over the pace on the final lap, then fighting off Robida's surge in the last hundred meters.
The male masters also had a dramatic finish, but at the finish line it was Michael Martinez inching out defending masters' champion Jay Wallace for the title, 4:58.15 to 4:58.56. Martinez and Wallace finished fourth and fifth overall, respectively. Finishing sixth overall and winning the 2009 women's title was Jana "Stretch" Stolting of Maclay School, running 5:05.66. Stolting was less than four seconds ahead of women's runner up Stefanie Kurgatt, who finished tenth overall in 5:09.21. Kurgatt also runs for Maclay, and will start her freshman year there later this month. The top woman master was Jane Johnson, 45th overall in 6:12.37, well-ahead of the next over-40 woman, Nancy Stedman, who was 65th overall in 6:39.73.
The
"Breakfast on the Track" is an annual track meet with one event, the one-mile run, run in multiple sections based on projected time. This year there were 177 finishers in nine sections. With the exception of women's master champion Jane Johnson, all of the titlists ran in the first section (runners projecting a finish time under 5:15), which somewhat later than the scheduled time of 7:45 am ET. Temperatures were mild for mid-August in north Florida with intermittent cloud cover. Athletes (and anyone else who happened by) were treated to a pancake breakfast after their race. Spectators saw some fine racing, and even the annoying pop music blaring over the public address system while the running was going on could not spoil the morning.Links:
- Complete results of the 2009 "Breakfast on the Track" one-mile run
http://www.gulfwinds.org/raceresults/2009/BOT%202009.htm - My photos of the race
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2697903&id=5215641&l=0634de7d9e - Lori Abbey's blog about the race
http://loriruns13point1.blogspot.com/2009/08/track-flats-blueberry-pancakes-pink.html
- Whose birthday is today?
http://runningbirthdays.blogspot.com/
The music was loud, but I was okay with it until they cranked up "Old Folks Boogie" during my heat.
ReplyDeleteYeah, that might have been the last straw.
ReplyDelete