Saturday, October 3, 2009

Wallace, Rosen winners at the 2009 Pine Run

I was standing next to Jay Silvanima on the back lawn of the Beadel House at the Tall Timbers Research Station, enjoying a magnificent view of Lake Iamonia while waiting for the runners to return. It was the morning of Saturday, 3 October 2009 and the second annual Pine Run at Tall Timbers 20K. Gordon Cherr, the race director, strolled over.


"Jay Wallace is going to win this thing," he announced.


"Vince Molosky was leading when I last saw the runners," I offered. I failed to mention that when I last saw the runners, they had only covered the first 200 meters of twenty kilometers.


The lead cyclist emerged from the woods, and we spotted the first runners, Jay Wallace. He shouted something at us as he went by, and then turned back into the woods to make another descent toward Lake Iamonia.


"What did he say?" I asked.


"Something about 'off course,'" said Jay.


"No one could go off course in this race," proclaimed Gordon. "I have it too well marked."


I glanced over toward the Beadel House and saw a lone runner wandering near the registration area. "Isn't that Vince Molosky?"


"Yeah, I think that's Vince," said Jay. "He's off course."


"How could anyone get lost on this course?" howled Gordon, dashing off to intercept the stray runner. "How could anyone get lost on this course?"


'Wrong Way' Molosky wasn't the only one to go astray Saturday morning, but most of the field managed to make their way to the finish line, including Jay Wallace, who held his lead to claim the win in 75:22. John Robida finished as runner up at 77:14, ahead of Tony Guillen in the third spot at 79:02. Wallace was also the morning's fastest master, and Guillen the second fastest. The top woman was Sheryl Rosen who turned in a 86:21. Behind Rosen, Olivia Swedberg and Kelsey Scheitlin battled for second, with Swedberg coming out on top, 91:14 to 91:25. Nancy Stedman was the top woman master, running the 20K in 1:43:54.


The Pine Run 20K was held on the International Paper Company's Southland Experimental Forest annually from 1977 to 2006, after which International Paper announced that it was selling the property. Gulf Winds Track Club and Tall Timbers Research Station revived the event in 2008 on Tall Timbers' property north of Lake Iamonia; this was the second running of the revived race.


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