Maclay School cross-country coach Gary Droze led a field of 78 runners through a tough 3.1-mile tour of Tallahassee's Piney Z neighborhood and the Lake Lafayette trails on Saturday morning, 1 September 2012, winning the inaugural Terry Massa Memorial 5K in 19:58. Droze was also the fastest master runner in the race. Kristine Cox grabbed the top woman honors, finishing ninth overall in 23:08. The first woman master was Sandra Canada of Crawfordville, placing 21st in 27:24.
The race started at 8:30 AM from the Piney Z neighborhood amenities center, situated on a hilltop above the Lake Lafayette basin. That meant that any course the runners followed would take them downhill. And, because the course was out and back, it meant that the runners would finish going uphill. Gary Droze led the athletes on that initial downhill, a 600-meter plunge along Heritage Park Boulevard to the shores of Lake Lafayette. During the descent Bill McNulty was close on Droze's heels, but then the race turned into the woods on one of the bike paths of the Lafayette Heritage Trails, a twisting passage punctuated with roots and moguls. By the time the cross-country coach re-emerged from the woods, he had built up a gap of nearly 200 meters. McNulty had faded back to fourth, with Mike Peyman now in the second position. Droze continued to run away on the ascent back to the Piney Z center, ultimately besting Peyman 19:58 to 20:50.
Kristine Cox reached the bottom of Heritage Park Boulevard a few seconds ahead of Ashley Daily and Katie Showman. When Cox came out of the woods, though, ready to tackle the uphill to the finish line, Daily and Showman were still only ten seconds back. Cox maintained her lead on the climb back up Heritage Park Boulevard, posting a winning 23:08. Daily, meanwhile, opened some ground on Showman to take the women's runner-up spot, 23:20 to 23:26.
The race was a benefit to Special Olympics of Leon County as well as a memorial to the late Terry Massa. Massa had always supported Special Olympics and running, having directed a Special Olympics 5K road race on the FSU campus for several years. If there was one shortcoming of the race route, it was having both ingoing and outgoing competitors trying to navigate a narrow, single-track bike path at the same time. Aside from the congestion, it was a challenging course in a beautiful venue; a fitting tribute to Terry Massa.
Top Ten Males, 2012 Terry Massa 5K
19:58 ~ Gary Droze (M, 51) - 20:50 ~ Mike Peyman (M, 50)
- 21:10 ~ Michael Kennett (M, 38)
- 21:37 ~ Dustin Rhodes (M, 28)
- 21:52 ~ David Sanders (M, 25)
- 21:58 ~ Bill McNulty (M, 54)
- 22:02 ~ Mike Labossiere (M, 46)
- 22:41 ~ Michael Savage (M, 55)
- 24:58 ~ Nico Wienders (M, 41)
- 25:05 ~ Bill McGuire (M, 65)
Top Ten Females, 2012 Terry Massa 5K
23:08 ~ Kristine Cox (F, 35) - 23:20 ~ Ashley Daily (F, 25)
- 23:26 ~ Katie Showman (F, 30)
- 25:20 ~ Vicky Droze (F, 37)
- 26:05 ~ Carlyn Harris (F, 24)
- 27:24 ~ Sandra Canada (F, 49)
- 27:43 ~ Shelly DiPaolo (F, 48)
- 28:31 ~ Colleen Fancy (F, 50)
- 32:38 ~ Libba Harris (F, 55)
- 33:43 ~ Taylor Dayton (F, 19)
Links
- Complete results of the 2012 Terry Massa 5K at gulfwinds.org
http://www.gulfwinds.org/raceresults/2012/Terra%20Massa%20Memorial%202012.asp - More photos of the 2012 Terry Massa 5K
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10102236691763623.3385254.5215641&l=d155ba21ae - Fred Deckert's photos of the Terry Massa 5K
https://picasaweb.google.com/Freddecka/Massa_12 - Map of the 2012 Terry Massa 5K course
https://www.box.com/s/0a1ed56d5f04cc475e09 - Find upcoming races in the Tallahassee region on the Trouble Afoot! calendar
http://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/search/label/calendar?max-results=1
Great write-up, Herb -- sounds like a perfect tribute to Terry.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Paula!
ReplyDeleteHerb.
Found the setup GPS track.
ReplyDeleteThat appears to be out and back East Cadillac highside (south section of the ~4Km loop) to near C54 just past the Cuban Air Lines teeter totter. Ouch. That would make for a tight squeeze. Was a lead bike squeezed through as well? That'd be awesome helmetcam video. And the cyclist would likely end up on the ground.
It would be simple to use the user created shortcut from ~C54-C57 to return on East Caddy lowside or down to the LHT doubletrack. Many variations to get the distance right. Maybe next year.
At any rate, sweet to see a foot race on that singletrack.
John
Cadillac Trail beginning at parking loop
John,
ReplyDeleteThat's at least a plausible description of the route; I'll stick with that story. A tight squeeze, indeed. A loop would solve any congestion problem (good luck passing, though). Out-and-back on the doubletrack would work, too, especially that particular stretch of doubletrack, which has the dimensions of a cleared right-of-way for an interstate highway.
It's always good to get people back on those trails, though. Admittedly, I saw one oak snake back there that would disagree with me on that.
Herb.