Aaron Taylor broke loose around the three kilometer mark and went on to win the Hustle For Haiti 5K in 17:25. Meanwhile, Vicky Droze came out on top in a duel with Raw Power to win the women's division of the race 20:53 to 20:57. The first year event took place on the Florida State University campus on Saturday morning, 1 October 2011.
The race started at 8:30AM, just east of Campbell Stadium in the shadow of the "Unconquered" sculpture. Edwin Lopez took an early lead, but he was stalked by Aaron Taylor. Taylor was just two seconds down after 500 meters, and was never far behind. Just before three kilometers Taylor broke contact, leaving Lopez in second. Dustin Rhodes was another ten seconds back in third. Over the final two kilometers Rhodes chased down Lopez, and when Taylor crossed the finish line with a 17:25 victory, Rhodes had passed Lopez and was racing to protect second place. He did, beating out Lopez for the runner-up spot 17:46 to 17:51.
FSU freshman Natalie Toellner, formerly a cross-country runner at Pensacola's Washington High School (c/o 2011), was the initial pacemaker for the women. After half a kilometer of running, Toellner had a seventeen-second lead on the next woman, Tallahassee's Vicky Droze. FSU student Rae Powers, a former Gainesville (Florida) High School distance runner (c/o 2010), joined Droze as she chased Toellner. Droze and Powers caught Toellner after the second kilometer. During the second half of the race Droze led Powers but never by much. But you don't need much of a lead to win, you just need a lead, and Droze crossed the finish line ahead of Powers to take the women's title 20:53 to 20:57. Behind the top two women, Samantha Ripley (10th, 21:59) overtook Toellner to take the third women's spot, while Toellner (12th, 22:13) was the fourth woman finisher.About 150 athletes finished the 5K run, which was staged by the Tallahassee Haiti Medical Team and Noles for Haiti. The race was preceded at 8:00AM by a one-mile fun run around the area east of the stadium.
Top Ten Men
17:25 ~ Aaron Taylor (M, 18)- 17:46 ~ Dustin Rhodes (M, 27)
- 17:51 ~ Edwin Lopez (M, 21)
- 18:36 ~
- 18:40 ~ Dr. Mike LaBossiere
- 19:41 ~
- 21:42 ~
- 22:10 ~
- 22:25 ~ Mark O'Neill
- 22:31 ~
Top Ten Women
20:53 ~ Vicky Droze - 20:57 ~ Rae Powers
- 21:59 ~ Samantha Ripley
- 22:13 ~ Natalie Toellner
- 22:16 ~
- 23:05 ~
- 23:27 ~ Amanda Nedelec
- 24:33 ~
- 24:46 ~
- 24:49 ~
Links:
- Complete results of the 2011 Hustle For Haiti 5K
[ If I see some, I'll let you know! ] - More photos of the 2011 Hustle For Haiti 5K
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10101053475338823.3213695.5215641&l=6345fbe54b - Fred Deckert's photos of the 2011 Hustle For Haiti 5K
https://picasaweb.google.com/Freddecka/Haiti11 - Learn about the next race on the FSU campus or elsewhere in the Tallahassee region
http://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/search/label/calendar?max-results=1
Thank you for covering this, Herb. My friend's teenaged soon has gone to Haiti with this group several times. I have great admiration for what they do.
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