Friday, November 25, 2011

Lake and 5,100 runners decide Turkey Trot is 'just right'

Over 5,000 athletes at the Southwood starting line for the Gulf Winds Track Club's 36th annual Tallahassee Turkey Trot at 8:30am on Thanksgiving morning, 24 November 2011, were faced with three choices that would perplex Goldilocks. Instead of deciding on a piece of furniture or the temperature of oatmeal, though, the runners had to choose among three distances; 15K, 10K, or 5K. Which was too long? Too short? Just right?


Apparently many runners consider the Papa Bear of the Tallahassee Turkey Trot, the 15K, to be too long, but it is the featured race and the oldest, going back to 1978. In the 2011 edition of the 15K University of Florida medical student Chris Lake was going for his fourth straight win. Just over 1600m into the race, Lake was 40 meters behind the leader, Alex Smyth of Capital City Runners. Trailing Lake by several places and a hundred meters was another Capital City Runners entry, three-time Canadian Olympian Kevin Sullivan. Around seven-and-a-half kilometers, or near the midpoint of the race, Smyth had expanded his lead over Lake to half a minute. Caleb Carmichael was running in third, about 45 seconds behind Lake. Trailing Carmichael by ten seconds, Sullivan had moved into fourth.


Less than three kilometers later, Smyth pulled up with trouble in his calf muscle. Suddenly, Lake was the front runner. A minute back, Sullivan passed Carmichael to move into second. For the final five kilometers it was Sullivan chasing Lake, but Lake held his ground and went on to win, 50:39 to 51:35. The top master spot went to Tallahassee's Carl Nordhielm, who finished sixth overall in 56:25.


In the women's 15K Sheryl Rosen was also going for a fourth win, having won the race each year from 2006 to 2008. Rosen lead early, but Springtime 10K champion Pasca Cheruiyot was only a step behind at two kilometers. Halfway through the race, Rosen and Cheruiyot were running side by side. Cheruiyot broke away during the second half of the race and ran home in 57:40, the event's fastest winning time for a women since Janice Hochstein ran 57:25 in 1989. Rosen was the women's runner-up in 58:18. For the ninth year in a row, Jane Johnson was the fastest master woman in the race, this year placing 39th overall in 65:27.


Top Ten Men, 2011 Tallahassee Turkey Trot 15K
  1. 50:39 ~ Chris Lake (M, 24) Tallahassee, FL
  2. 51:35 ~ Kevin Sullivan (M, 37) Tallahassee, FL
  3. 52:17 ~ Caleb Carmichael (M, 27) Pensacola, FL
  4. 53:36 ~ Nate Kaiser (M, 32) Tallahassee, FL
  5. 56:16 ~ Zac Buchholz (M, 16) Tallahassee, FL
  6. 56:25 ~ Carl Nordhielm (M, 49) Tallahassee, FL
  7. 56:34 ~ Brian Manry (M, 33) Tallahassee, FL
  8. 57:00 ~ Roger Schmidt (M, 20) Tallahassee, FL
  9. 57:13 ~ John Robida (M, 31) Tampa, FL
  10. 57:14 ~ Jack McDermott (M, 42) Tallahassee, FL

Top Ten Women, 2011 Tallahassee Turkey Trot 15K
  1. 57:40 ~ Pasca Cheruiyot (F, 25) Tallahassee, FL
  2. 58:16 ~ Sheryl Rosen (F, 27) Tallahassee, FL
  3. 61:31 ~ Seeley Gutierrez (F, 35) Tallahassee, FL
  4. 64:25 ~ Micah Adriani (F, 34) Tallahassee, FL
  5. 64:48 ~ Kelly Stevens (F, 29) Tallahassee, FL
  6. 64:51 ~ Adriana Piekarewicz (F, 23) Tallahassee, FL
  7. 65:27 ~ Jane Johnson (F, 52) Tallahassee, FL
  8. 67:02 ~ Tiffany Barz (F, 25) Tallahassee, FL
  9. 68:18 ~ Kristine Cox (F, 34) Tallahassee, FL
  10. 70:41 ~ Lorien Abbey (F, 44) Tallahassee, FL

643 finishers had decided that the Mama Bear race, the 10K, was just right for them. Richard Smith led that race nearly the entire way, winning in 33:15. Kevin Lane overtook Charlie Johnson with about two kilometers left to finish runner-up in 33:5; Johnson was third in 34:00. The fastest master in the 10K was Tallahassee's Tony Guillen, who finished eighth overall in 36:31. In 2010, L. A. Hanlon had been the ninth female finisher at the Turkey Trot. In 2011 she graduated to the 10K and was the top woman finisher in 45:48, coming in more than 400 meters ahead of women's runner-up Kirsti Satterstrom (64th, 47:53). For the second year in a row Kim Curran was the first woman master in the 10K. Curran was also the fourth woman in the race, placing 78th overall in 49:27.


Top Ten Men, 2011 Tallahassee Turkey Trot 10K
  1. 33:15 ~ Richard Smith (M, 23) Tallahassee, FL
  2. 33:52 ~ Kevin Lane (M, 22) Tallahassee, FL
  3. 34:00 ~ Charlie Johnson (M, 32) Tallahassee, FL
  4. 34:34 ~ Peter Wood (M, 23) Tallahassee, FL
  5. 34:57 ~ Nicholas Maedel (M, 23) Bainbridge, GA
  6. 36:06 ~ Patrick Swain (M, 19) Tallahassee, FL
  7. 36:16 ~ Jared Black (M, 23) Tallahassee, FL
  8. 36:31 ~ Tony Guillen (M, 42) Tallahassee, FL
  9. 36:37 ~ Dan Mosier (M, 21) Tallahassee, FL
  10. 37:19 ~ David Altmaier (M, 29) Tallahassee, FL

Top Ten Women, 2011 Tallahassee Turkey Trot 10K
  1. 45:48 ~ L.A. Hanlon (F, 33) Tallahassee, FL
  2. 47:53 ~ Kirsti Satterstrom (F, 27) Tallahassee, FL
  3. 48:28 ~ Danielle Fischler (F, 24) Tallahassee, FL
  4. 49:27 ~ Kim Curran (F, 46) Tallahassee, FL
  5. 49:05 ~ Alexandria Smith (F, 22) Monticello, FL
  6. 49:19 ~ Laura Welch (F, 50) Tallahassee, FL
  7. 49:22 ~ Krista Killius (F, 48) Tallahassee, FL
  8. 49:42 ~ Lisa Finn (F, 34) Tallahassee, FL
  9. 50:09 ~ Paige Montooth (F, 25) Tallahassee, FL
  10. 50:10 ~ Sarah Mrazek (F, 28) Tallahassee, FL

With the current boom in marathon running, you'd think that many runners would find the 5K too short, but 3,035 picked that Baby Bear distance as just right, making the 5K the largest race of the morning. Sean Mendes was the fastest of those 3,000, running 16:35 to prevail over the runner-up, Leon High cross-country runner Ben McMahon, who ran 17:00. 150 meters behind McMahon in 17:27, Michael Martinez finished third overall as the top master. Tallahassee schoolteacher Lisa Johnson won her third Turkey Trot 5K women’s title in four years, placing 13th overall in 19:02. Robin Pontrelli (147th, 23:21) was the 5K race's top woman master.


Top Ten Men, 2011 Tallahassee Turkey Trot 5K
  1. 16:35 ~ Sean Mendes (M, 19) Tallahassee, FL
  2. 17:00 ~ Benjamin McMahon (M, 17) Tallahassee, FL
  3. 17:27 ~ Michael Martinez (M, 45) Tallahassee, FL
  4. 17:48 ~ Robert Abellera (M, 19) Tallahassee, FL
  5. 17:48 ~ Wil Luca (M, 15) Tallahassee, FL
  6. 18:01 ~ Sukhi Khosla (M, 15) Tallahassee, FL
  7. 18:04 ~ Skip Martin (M, 17) Tallahassee, FL
  8. 18:08 ~ Tae Ross (M, 17) Bainbridge, GA
  9. 18:14 ~ Calvin Vannoy (M, 21) Tallahassee, FL
  10. 18:32 ~ Tim Yinger (M, 28) Tallahassee, FL

Top Ten Women, 2011 Tallahassee Turkey Trot 5K
  1. 19:02 ~ Lisa Johnson (F, 30) Tallahassee, FL
  2. 19:48 ~ Anna Busby (F, 21) Tallahassee, FL
  3. 20:20 ~ Stephanie Liles-Weyant (F, 39) Tallahassee, FL
  4. 20:26 ~ Michaela Ashley (F, 13) Panama City Beach, FL
  5. 21:24 ~ Ruth Ashley (F, 20) Tallahassee, FL
  6. 21:38 ~ Olivia Yinger (F, 28) Tallahassee, FL
  7. 22:27 ~ Molly McCann (F, 12) Tallahassee, FL
  8. 23:09 ~ Sarah Murphy (F, 24) Tallahassee, FL
  9. 22:33 ~ Gray Kinch (F, 12) Tallahassee, FL
  10. 22:42 ~ Jayme Dorsett (F, 25) Tallahassee, FL

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