Kennett and Parker scrappiest 'scarp scalers at the Cody Climb

Michael Kennett lost no time in grabbing a lead, which he built into a victory margin of over 700 meters in the second annual Cody Climb--an eight-kilometer tour of Tallahassee's Southwood community staged on Sunday, 27 March 2011. Kennett's time was 33:29, breaking Keith Gates' 2010 course record of 33:36. Brian Davis (2nd, 35:59) was the next runner across the finish line, followed by top master Jeff Bryan. Bryan's time of 36:29 established a new master record for the race, edging out Dana Stetson's 2010 master standard of 36:40. Stetson himself was on hand, placing fourth in 37:42.


Jessica Parker was the top woman in the race, placing fifth overall and setting a new women's course record of 39:00, shattering the 49:11 set by Jacque Myers in 2010. Parker finished just over 200 meters ahead of the women's runner-up, Karima Anderson, who was eighth overall in 40:22. The third woman in was top woman master Paula O'Neill, whose 41:26 established a new women's master record for the event.


The Cody Climb 8K originated in response to put-up-or-shut-up comments about my complaints of a surfeit of 5K races and a deficit of other racing distance on the Tallahassee calendar. I had made special note that there was currently no 8K road race on the schedule, although there had been on the past (and the Miller Landing Madness features an 8K cross-country race). With a philosophy of doing less with less, I put together the 2010 race on the first Sunday of spring. I'm not sure how many people thought I was serious. Well, I was serious about putting on a race, just not much else. Anyway, it stormed that morning, and seven people showed up. I figured that was the end of it. I had conscientiously avoided using the term "first annual," so who could even expect a second edition?


Quite a few people, actually. The 2010 participants casually dropped the phrase "next year" so often that you'd think they were Cubs fans. "Next year it won't rain." "Next year more people will run the Cody Climb." "When is next year's race?" And then, "I missed the Cody Climb, but I'm going to run it next year." The author L. Frank Baum once referred to his readers as "gentle tyrants" who had driven him to write a dozen sequels to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. A similar band of tyrants was demanding the return of the Cody Climb. Beaten, I finally announced the race for Sunday, 27 March 2011, which I thought was the first Sunday of spring. I was wrong about that; it turns out that in the 21st century spring begins most often on March 20, while during the gentle past century when I grew up the first day of spring was usually March 21. As you age they take even the calendar of your youth from you.


Fifteen runners gathered at the starting line for the race. Unlike the previous year it hadn't been raining, but the skies were threatening. Judi Taber started the race with a dropped handkerchief, an athletic tradition from the Victorian Era. Michael Kennett went right to the front and proceeded to put the race out of reach. By the end of the first kilometer, Jeff Bryan--a week after a 50-kilometer run around Alabama's Oak Mountain--took up the second position. Brian Davis staked out the spot just behind Bryan, followed by Ace Haddock, Joe Mitchell, and Dana Stetson. Trailing Stetson, Jessica Parker led the women, just ahead of Karima Anderson.


As the runners negotiated the Four Oaks Boulevard-Blair Stone Road roundabout at the end of the third kilometer, Kennett's lead had only grown, while Davis still stalked Bryan. Stetson had moved up in fourth, though, pushing Haddock back into fifth. Parker had moved past Mitchell into sixth. Three kilometers later, as the runners started to descend the Cody Scarp to the finish line on the coastal plain, Davis had caught Bryan to move into second. Davis held that position over the closing stages of the race, which Parker overtook Haddock to take fifth. Mike Baker caught Joe Mitchell and Karima Anderson, capturing seventh.


The course, which climbs up and and then back down the Cody Escarpment thereby taking in nearly every hill in Southwood, generated the usual comments. Women's champ Jessica Parker commented, "I lived in Colorado and before that Vermont so I'm used to hills, but I didn't expect to see them in Tallahassee!" She added, "It reminds me of where I grew up in Ohio." Women's master title-winner Paula O'Neill enjoyed the race but declared, "We've got to keep this underground!"


She has a point. A couple dozen runners could probably loop Southwood with comment or even notice. But a couple hundred--assuming that many people wanted to run up and down the Cody Scarp--would be a different story. You'd need traffic control at the intersections. Southwood residents would start complaining about 12-second delays on their drive to church. Someone would want the course certified so he could use it as a Peachtree qualifier. Someone else would wonder why there wasn't a Cody Climb T-shirt. Another runner would admit she liked the race, but wished it were on the Gulf Winds Track Club Grand Prix.


As long as everyone goes home and lies about the severity of the hills, though, there's not much chance that more than a few runners will ever show up to "scale the scarp." Just to make sure of that, I refuse to acknowledge that there will ever be a third Cody Climb. That's right; you can't put it on your calendar for the first Sunday of spring in 2012. It just isn't going to happen. Maybe.

Second annual Cody Climb 8K Southwood, Tallahassee, Florida Sunday, 27 March 2011 Place Name S Age City St Time Pace ===== =========================== = === ================ == ======= ===== 1. Michael Kennett M 37 Tallahassee FL 33:29 4:11 2. Brian Davis M 33 Tallahassee FL 35:59 4:30 3. Jeff Bryan M 43 Tallahassee FL 36:29 4:34 4. Dana Stetson M 54 Tallahassee FL 37:42 4:43 5. Jessica Parker F 28 Tallahassee FL 39:00 4:52 6. Ace Haddock M 41 Sopchoppy FL 39:21 4:55 7. Mike Baker M 41 Tallahassee FL 40:12 5:02 8. Karima Anderson F 24 Tallahassee FL 40:22 5:03 9. Joe Mitchell M 27 Tallahassee FL 40:27 5:03 10. Paula O'Neill F 49 Tallahassee FL 41:26 5:11 11. Maria Merrill F 29 Tallahassee FL 42:53 5:22 12. Heather Pence F 37 Tallahassee FL 43:02 5:23 13. Bill Tanner M 64 Havana FL 48:48 6:06 14. Wallace Randell M 58 Tallahassee FL 60:03 7:30 DNF Chris Dirman M 40 Tallahassee FL

Links:

• More photos of the 2011 Cody Climb 8K
  http://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2011/03/cody-climb-results-2011.html
  
  
• A tour of the Cody Climb 8K course
  http://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2010/03/cody-8k-course.html
  
  
• Announcement of the 2011 Cody Climb (includes a course map)
  http://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2011/03/2011-cody-climb-8k.html
  
  
• Trouble Afoot! coverage of the 2010 Cody Climb: "Runners 7, Rain 0 at the Cody Climb"
  http://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2010/03/2010-cody-climb-8k-results.html
  
  
• A more traditional sort of road race
  http://www.palacesaloon.com/
  
  
• More races in the Tallahassee region, both usual and unusual
  http://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/search/label/calendar?max-results=1