After a long hard struggle with Jay Wallace, Steve Mucchetti clocked 16:57 for the win at the eleventh annual Alan Sundberg Memorial 5K in Maclay Gardens State Park on 24 October 2009. Wallace was second and the to master finisher in 17:01. In the women's division the win went to Florida State University sophomore Kara Taylor, who beat out her fellow FSU runner Emily Ness 18:38 to 18:39.
It was a cool, damp morning, and seemed to get cooler as the race progressed. There was, of course, the usual mad dash off of the starting line near Lake Hall, but by the time the dust had settled around half a mile into the race, Mucchetti held a significant lead on the field while being stalked by Wallace and Tony Guillen. Going into the second mile, Guillen faded and was eventually picked off by David Altmaier. In the meantime, Wallace pursued and overtook Mucchetti on the unpaved section of the course on the Lake Overstreet Trail. Climbing the hill up from the Lake Overstreet Trail, Wallace built up a lead on Mucchetti. Wallace was still ahead with less than a mile to go when the pair reached the main road through the park. But Mucchetti made up the ground during the return to Lake Hall and finished the race with a four-second advantage over Wallace. Back in 17:21, Altmaier emerged as best of the rest.
The women's division was even more hotly contested. Kara Taylor led early, but three-fourths of a mile into the race, Emily Ness, Kelsey Scheitlin, and Sheryl Rosen were all within striking distance. Back on the Lake Overstreet Trail during the second mile, Scheitlin passed Ness to move into second, but Ness reclaimed the runner-up position early in the third mile. The runner passed the gardens entrance around two-and-a-half miles with Taylor, Ness, Scheitlin, and Rosen within seconds of each other. From this point, however, Scheitlin and Rosen began to fade, while Taylor and Ness raced back to Lake Hall. It was Taylor over Ness at the finish line, but only by a second. Scheitlin ran 18:59 to hang onto third, with Rosen but a few yards back in 19:04. The top master finisher for the women was Nancy Stedman, 53rd overall in 22:24.The Sundberg 5K is an annual benefit for the Florida Skin Cancer Foundation in the name of Alan C. Sundberg, Jr., who died of skin cancer in 1998 at the age of 33.
Links:
- Photos of the race
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2737464&id=5215641&l=c34e924799 - Complete results at gulfwinds.org
http://www.gulfwinds.org/raceresults/2009/Sundberg%2009.htm - Kelsey Scheitlin's blog about the race
http://kelseystraining.fastrunningblog.com/blog-10-24-2009.html - Find your next race on the Trouble Afoot! calendar
http://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/search/label/calendar?max-results=1
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