Guyas and Meleski head the Half-Shell Hustle

For as long as there have been Floridians, Floridians have loved oysters. Pre-Columbian people left behind huge oyster-shell middens as evidence of their loves, heaps of shells left behind after the oysters inside had been eaten. One such midden near Jacksonville covers 25 acres and is 25 feet deep in shells, the refuse from nearly 2,000 years of oyster consumption. Elsewhere in the state the mounds of shells show up as islands or oak hammocks.


Rather than start their own modern-day midden as a monument to the oyster, the people of Apalachicola, Florida celebrate the shellfish with an annual festival, the Apalachicola Oyster Cook-Off. And since 2014, part of that festival has been the Half-Shell Hustle Road Race.


The fourth annual Half-Shell Hustle was held on the streets of Apalachicola on Saturday morning, 14 January 2017. Tallahassee, Florida athlete Paul Guyas won the five-kilometer race, running 18:16. Lane Williams, the 2015 Half-Shell Hustle champion, was runner-up in 18:46. Joel Piotrowski of Tallahassee was the fastest master runner in the race, placing third overall in 19:07.


Master runner Genee Meleski was the women's champion placing ninth overall in 22:23. The women's runner-up was Ashley Cook, eleventh overall in 22:25. Just behind Cook, master runner Sarah Ransom placed third in the women's standings and twelfth overall in 22:31.


93 athletes finished the fourth annual Half-Shell Hustle 5K.


Top Ten Men, 2017 Half-Shell Hustle 5K

1. 18:15.7, Paul Guyas (M, 39)
2. 18:45.4, Lane Williams (M, 20)
3. 19:06.8, Joel Piotrowski (M, 47)
4. 19:40.8, Matt Sandburg (M, 36)
5. 20:00.0, Brian Reilly (M, 49)
6. 21:42.2, Noble Davidson (M, 26)
7. 21:50.6, Brian Hickey (M, 49)
8. 22:22.8, Colin Amison (M, 13)
9. 22:23.5, Scott Buser (M, 49)
10. 23:53.7, Bill Bushue (M, 65)

Top Ten Women, 2017 Half-Shell Hustle 5K

1. 22:22.9, Genee Meleski (F, 48)
2. 22:24.3, Ashley Cook (F, 29)
3. 22:30.8, Sarah Ransom (F, 55)
4. 23:18.2, Meli Zapata (F, 37)
5. 23:33.0, Eden Keene (F, 34)
6. 23:36.1, Martha Guyas (F, 32)
7. 27:31.6, Callie Sherrill (F, 11)
8. 27:51.9, Eisley Pope (F, 13)
9. 28:02.4, Allyce Havord (F, 27)
10. 28:41.6, Ashley Rutherford (F, 27)

Half-Shell Hustle winners, 2014 - 2017
Date	Men	Women	Finishers
18 January 2014
17 January 2015	18:51, Lane Williams	21:44, Christy Phillips	72
16 January 2016	17:14, Bryce Cole	19:16, Amy Hines	64
14 January 2017	18:16, Paul Guyas	22:23, Genee Meleski	93
The 2014 Half Shell Hustle was a 3,000-fathom race (just under 5,500 meters)

Links

• Complete results of the 2017 Half-Shell Hustle 5K
  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1RfMWT-KDtPklwRye4DJxdWRpOIk4-ezoNcl5R-Lw0cY/pubhtml
  
  
• 2016 story, “A pearl of a race for Cole and Hines at the Half-Shell Hustle”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2016/01/half-shell-hustle-2016.html
  
  
• 2015 story, “Williams and Phillips win the Half-Shell Hustle”
  http://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2015/01/half-shell-hustle-2015.html
  
  
• Course map, 2017 Half-Shell Hustle 5K
  https://app.box.com/s/unc00g49r4fdm0mzpiwawvcwp5tedny5
  
  
• Apalachicola Oyster Cook Off
  http://www.oystercookoff.com/
  
  
• Find another upcoming race celebrating raw bivalves on the Trouble Afoot! calendar
  http://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/search/label/calendar?max-results=1
  
  

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