Tuesday, March 16, 2010

2010 Jacksonville River Run: Tallahassee runners "travel well"

When the business of college football bowl games is being discussed, you'll hear a lot about whether or not a school's fans "travel well." That is to say, if you invite their team to your bowl game, will their fans show up in consuming hordes, buying up tickets, restaurant meals, hotel rooms, and souvenirs? This is an important consideration, because the business of college football bowl games...is a business.


Well, big-time road racing is a business, too. Let the 2010 River Run 15K serve as a notice to road race directors everywhere: Tallahassee runners travel well. Don't believe it? Well, 115 of them made the 200 mile trip to Jacksonville. Here are their names and times, lifted from the results:


    86. Stephen Cox              Tallahassee     FL 26 M    0:53:10
141. Gary Droze Tallahassee FL 48 M 0:56:11
179. Tim Unger Tallahassee FL 50 M 0:58:12
215. Brian Corbin Tallahassee FL 42 M 0:59:26
234. Joel Piotrowski Tallahassee FL 40 M 0:59:58
358. Keith Howell Tallahassee FL 27 M 1:03:42
378. Andrew Roberts Tallahassee FL 43 M 1:03:59
465. Manny Gutierrez Tallahassee FL 36 M 1:05:59
517. Kim Likens Tallahassee FL 41 F 1:06:54
483. Jimmy Mollenhour Tallahassee FL 19 M 1:07:18
557. Cole Tessier Tallahassee FL 27 M 1:07:20
620. Chuck Davis Tallahassee FL 49 M 1:08:19
802. Jerry McDaniel Tallahassee FL 56 M 1:10:13
782. Jamie Joanos Tallahassee FL 47 M 1:10:15
815. Brian Davis Tallahassee FL 32 M 1:10:30
742. Aaron Franz Tallahassee FL 34 M 1:11:55
1127. Patrick Mahoney Tallahassee FL 57 M 1:12:56
1161. Brian Topchik Tallahassee FL 34 M 1:13:15
1328. Judy Alexander Tallahassee FL 48 F 1:14:42
1303. Carla Schell Tallahassee FL 28 F 1:15:20
1449. Curtis Brown Tallahassee FL 44 M 1:15:34
1166. James King Tallahassee FL 23 M 1:16:46
1629. Alfred Bea Tallahassee FL 54 M 1:16:53
1642. Kathy Watkins Tallahassee FL 54 F 1:16:54
1659. Geoff Likens Tallahassee FL 44 M 1:17:08
1957. Jamie McBrearty Tallahassee FL 31 M 1:19:16
2057. Janice Hochstein Tallahassee FL 59 F 1:19:48
2526. Carlos Sepulveda Tallahassee FL 24 M 1:22:16
2766. Matthew Ouellette Tallahassee FL 22 M 1:22:22
2615. Kelly Garland Tallahassee FL 38 F 1:22:35
1677. Micah Brienen Tallahassee FL 32 M 1:23:00
2734. April Williford Tallahassee FL 43 F 1:23:56
3225. Jayme Roper Tallahassee FL 33 F 1:24:59
2354. Chaney Coggins Tallahassee FL 27 M 1:25:02
3561. Lisa Unger Tallahassee FL 42 F 1:26:36
3327. Christopher Ristuccia Tallahassee FL 24 M 1:27:40
3576. Amanda Dossat Tallahassee FL 23 F 1:28:37
3690. Laura Mulford Tallahassee FL 50 F 1:28:39
4187. Melissa Zapata Tallahassee FL 30 F 1:29:39
4319. Christian Summers Tallahassee FL 27 M 1:29:54
2586. Logan Rhodes Tallahassee FL 22 M 1:30:22
4603. Craig McIntyre Tallahassee FL 23 M 1:32:28
5194. Sonya Dudley Tallahassee FL 41 F 1:33:15
5371. Jackie McDaniel Tallahassee FL 55 F 1:33:42
3560. Jonathan Nash Tallahassee FL 30 M 1:33:44
4211. David Goldman Tallahassee FL 18 M 1:34:10
5022. Brian Dunmire Tallahassee FL 23 M 1:35:02
5837. Carlos Zapata Tallahassee FL 64 M 1:35:50
5108. Emily Anthony Tallahassee FL 18 F 1:35:54
5836. Amanda Lawrence Tallahassee FL 32 F 1:35:55
5773. Turkessa Thompson Tallahassee FL 32 F 1:36:03
5113. Emily Joan Dowd Tallahassee FL 31 F 1:36:20
5861. Amy Coltharp Tallahassee FL 37 F 1:36:45
5674. Tommy Hendricks Tallahassee FL 39 M 1:36:51
6160. Allan Leonor Tallahassee FL 23 M 1:36:51
4901. Emily Milton Tallahassee FL 30 F 1:37:25
5766. Ronald Moalli Tallahassee FL 52 M 1:37:33
5727. Alicia Cobb Tallahassee FL 23 F 1:37:59
4965. Bradley Givens Tallahassee FL 21 M 1:38:01
6320. Allison Howell Tallahassee FL 26 F 1:38:31
5343. Amy Carpenter Tallahassee FL 31 F 1:38:41
6541. Todd Veleber Tallahassee FL 34 M 1:38:45
6393. Jana Freedman Davis Tallahassee FL 39 F 1:38:47
6410. Joe Rice Tallahassee FL 24 M 1:39:19
5608. Lisa Echeverri Tallahassee FL 44 F 1:39:26
6490. Kerrie Stillman Tallahassee FL 39 F 1:40:16
7113. Kate Pingolt Tallahassee FL 26 F 1:42:09
6789. Laura Cilek Tallahassee FL 20 F 1:42:47
6539. Michael Nichols Tallahassee FL 27 M 1:44:00
7701. Travis Tuck Tallahassee FL 20 M 1:44:08
7956. Ashton Henderson Tallahassee FL 22 F 1:44:45
7185. Carol Winger Tallahassee FL 61 F 1:45:42
7170. Mary Alford Tallahassee FL 19 F 1:45:52
7172. John Alford Tallahassee FL 52 M 1:45:53
7981. Gene Stillman Tallahassee FL 42 M 1:46:52
7683. Jackie Brown Tallahassee FL 23 F 1:46:59
7028. Nathan Wright Tallahassee FL 27 M 1:47:24
8341. Meghan Hauptli Tallahassee FL 34 F 1:49:28
8695. Sean Frye Tallahassee FL 17 M 1:50:12
8736. Jacquelyn Rice Tallahassee FL 27 F 1:51:47
8540. Michelle Brooks Tallahassee FL 46 F 1:52:16
9187. David Wells Tallahassee FL 52 M 1:52:37
8669. Wendi Works Tallahassee FL 39 F 1:52:53
9553. Patricia Bruner Tallahassee FL 52 F 1:53:40
8943. Chris Dirmann Tallahassee FL 39 M 1:54:30
9479. Dan Carlton Tallahassee FL 34 M 1:54:35
9289. Leanne Broom Tallahassee FL 30 F 1:54:48
8774. Audra Oven Tallahassee FL 36 F 1:55:39
9845. Robin Hill Tallahassee FL 24 F 1:55:48
10126. Elyse Skislak Tallahassee FL 30 F 1:56:07
10089. Dinah Johnson Tallahassee FL 40 F 1:59:28
9726. Riley Landy Tallahassee FL 24 F 1:59:33
9727. Patrick Landy Tallahassee FL 23 M 1:59:33
10196. Kristin Lothman Tallahassee FL 28 F 2:00:11
10459. Aaron Gavila Tallahassee FL 24 M 2:01:01
10536. Tara Stamm Tallahassee FL 32 F 2:02:43
10542. Stephanie Kennedy Tallahassee FL 33 F 2:02:45
10845. Ashlee Weber Tallahassee FL 29 F 2:03:03
10920. Glynn Neville Tallahassee FL 45 M 2:03:23
10527. Cass Vickers Tallahassee FL 61 M 2:03:35
10528. Lu-Ann Snider Tallahassee FL 57 F 2:03:35
10585. Ryan Lohrengel Tallahassee FL 13 M 2:04:19
11154. Stephen Choate Tallahassee FL 20 M 2:04:40
10516. Jennifer Wittstock Tallahassee FL 26 F 2:04:55
10777. Kourtney Graham Tallahassee FL 20 F 2:06:47
11050. Kate Ray Tallahassee FL 32 F 2:10:42
11459. Nicholas Stratis Tallahassee FL 58 M 2:12:40
11265. Nikki Schonfeld Tallahassee FL 23 F 2:13:31
12184. Julie Lohrengel Tallahassee FL 46 F 2:22:54
12174. Peter Lohrengel Tallahassee FL 47 M 2:22:55
12703. Patti Harris Tallahassee FL 41 F 2:37:10
12927. Cathryn Gooding Tallahassee FL 47 F 2:40:14
12929. Amy Griffin Tallahassee FL 53 F 2:40:14
13215. Kendra Salvatore Tallahassee FL 27 F 2:53:17
13216. Kari Peebles Tallahassee FL 24 F 2:53:17
13217. Vernon Walker Tallahassee FL 21 M 2:53:17
This is just runners specifically listed as coming from Tallahassee, and doesn't include a dozen or so other runners from Monticello, Quincy, Bainbridge, Thomasville, or the other towns less than an hours drive away from city hall. It's particularly impressive when you consider that 700 runners stayed in Tallahassee that day and ran either the five-kilometer race or the one-mile fun run at the Shamrock Scurry.

So what does this mean?

If you're a race director in the Tallahassee area, it means that if your race draws less than 115 runners then you are doing something terribly wrong. Consider that if only 87 runners will cross town to Southwood for the "Race for Autistic Kittens" 5K, but 115 will make a round trip of hundreds of miles for the River Run, then the "Race for Autistic Kittens" has a problem. Maybe the director didn't get the word out. Maybe it was held on a bad day on the calendar. Maybe the T-shirt was ugly. Maybe it's just a lousy event.

If you're a race director outside of the immediate Tallahassee area but still no more than a few hundred miles away, then you should be coveting all those runners in Tallahassee that "travel well." In addition to putting on the best event that you possibly can, you should also be making sure that Tallahassee runners know about it. Certainly, you should make sure that it's listed on the Gulf Winds Track Club race calendar, the Trouble Afoot! calendar, and any other place where Tallahassee runners look for races. You might even consider buying advertising in the Gulf Winds Track Club newsletter, the Fleet Foot.

But that's just crazy talk.

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