Get ready for the 2018 Springtime Road Race, Tallahassee!

In Tallahassee, Florida, this is the week of the Springtime Road Race. Featuring a 10K, a 5K, and a one-mile kids’ run, the event is slated for Saturday morning, 7 April 2018, starting from in front of the Leon County Courthouse and finishing next to Cascades Park. It’s not the oldest race in town, nor is it the longest. It’s not the largest, either. But after being run in center city during five different decades and two different centuries, it’s the best known race in town. For many people, it’s the only Tallahassee event they ever run.

Chris Haynes

For a road race, Springtime is old. This will be the 43rd annual Springtime, making the event older than a good number of the people running it. The Springtime course has changed several times over the years, often enough that runners can assert seniority based on the courses they remember. You might boast, for instance, that you ran the race the year it started south on Monroe Street instead of north. But another athlete will upstage you by claiming to have done Springtime before that, when the race finished with a one-kilometer loop in front of the Florida Department of Transportation building. A different runner will say that he has you both beat, bragging that he ran back when Springtime finished with an uphill climb back to Monroe Street. Then there’s the silver-haired competitor who will tell all of you that the uphill was on Call Street one of the years he ran.


I’m in the fraternity of geezers who were in the race when it was a two-loop, four-mile course on the Florida State University campus. The run wasn’t even called Springtime then; it was named after its title sponsor, a bank that no longer exists. It was probably thirty years later before I found out that I had run in the first Springtime that day.

Ani Veltcheva

More might remember a relatively recent change; the addition of the 5K race in 2008. Purists might argue that the 5K distracted from the 10K main event. After all, the Boston Marathon doesn’t have a 5K option, nor does the Peachtree Road Race 10K. But that line had already been crossed when the mile for kids had been added to Springtime.


The winners of the Springtime 5K seldom match the pace of the front-runners in the 10K. The shorter race is more of a people’s event. Florida Governor Rick Scott ran the Springtime 5K in 2011, his first year in office, placing 174th out of 731 finisher in 29:37. He hasn’t been back since. While executive editor of the Tallahassee Democrat, Bob Gabordi ran the Springtime 5K a couple of times. He didn’t run quite as fast as Gov. Scott, but he did write a piece for the op-ed page about the experience, doing much to establish the 5K as part of Springtime tradition.

Alyson Churchill

Some notable runners have been at the front of the pack in the 5K. For example, Alyson Churchill won the women's division in the 2015 race, running 19:44. A year and a half later, Churchill won the girls' class 3A FHSAA State Cross-Country title while competing for Lincoln High.


Of course, before that Churchill had graduated to running the 10K at the 2016 Springtime.

Kevin Sullivan

In either the 10K or the 5K, hills are part of the Springtime tradition. Actually, hills are part of the topography. Complaining about the hills is the tradition. If you talk to any Springtime runner, they will be sure to tell you about climbing through the hills of Myers Park. It is true that the Springtime 10K takes runners to one of the highest points in Tallahassee. What’s also true, though, is that because part of the course runs along the Saint Augustine Branch, you also hit one of the lowest points in town. The finish line along Suwannee Street is not quite the lowest spot on the course, but it’s close enough that the runners have a net elevation loss of almost 100 feet from the start of the race to the finish. It’s enough of a net downhill that any world record run on the Springtime course wouldn’t be recognized by the IAAF.


The Springtime course probably won’t change in 2019, but just in case it does, you may want to run Springtime this year to ensure you have bragging rights for the 2018 course--5K or 10K. Either way, make sure to work on your story about running up the young mountain on the second mile of the run.

Katie Sherron and Sheryl Rosen

Springtime 10K Champions, 1976 - 2017
Date	Distance	Men	Women	Finishers
24 April 1976*	4 miles	20:30, George West,Donnie Cook	25:27, Janice Gage	106
1977	10K	31:24, Morrison Reid	40:57, Nancy McCormac	205
1 April 1978	10K	31:43, George West	38:03, Laura Ledbetter	468
7 April 1979	10K	33:10, David Ferrell	37:14, Janice Gage	658
29 March 1980	10K	32:35, Rick Swiderski	40:02, Lisa Kinch
4 April 1981	10K	32:06, Mabry McCray	37:14, Janice Gage	683
3 April 1982	10K	32:11, George West	39:56, Pam Ledbetter
9 April 1983	10K	31:21, Noel Shumann	38:15, Janice Hochstein
7 April 1984	10K	30:03, Larry Greene	35:57, Carla Borovicka	917
30 March 1985	10K	30:30, Paul Waldron	35:32, Carole Rouillard
22 March 1986	10K	31:15, Dennis Rice	37:16, Karen MacHarg
5 March 1987	10K	31:52, Jessie Close	35:30, Carla Borovicka	757
26 March 1988	10K	31:22, Paul Waldron	38:18, Karen MacHarg	760
8 April 1989	10K	30:49, Paul Waldron	37:54, Janice Hochstein	827
1990	10K	31:48, Jessie Close	38:16, Vikki Saga	913
1991	10K	32:02, Jessie Close	38:29, Paula Johnson
1992	10K	32:09, Jessie Close	37:38, Paula Johnson
1993	10K	33:11, Andy Palmer	36:54, Paula Johnson
1994	10K	32:17, Matthew Dobson	37:37, Lisa Herman	692
1 April 1995	10K	31:43, Matthew Dobson	37:27, Jane Johnson
13 April 1996	10K	32:21, Jessie Close	37:11, Jane Johnson	610
12 April 1997	10K	31:12, Juri Punda	35:30, Tamara Karloukova	847
4 April 1998	10K	31:07, Randy Hollinger	34:09, Breeda Dennehy	789
27 March 1999	10K	30:56, Muchapiwa Mazano	37:01, Sarah Docter-Williams	681
1 April 2000	10K	32:28, Muchapiwa Mazano	36:05, Anna Pichrtova	770
31 March 2001	10K	32:18, Muchapiwa Mazano	34:46, Tatyana Maslova	717
6 April 2002	10K	31:18, Conor Holt	36:40, Larisa Timchina	732
5 April 2003	10K	30:56, Joseph Zepherinus	34:52, Larisa Timchina	634
3 April 2004	10K	33:22, Caleb Carmichael	37:03, Sarah Docter-Williams	694
2 April 2005	10K	32:43, Joey Zins	36:51, Sarah Docter-Williams	758
1 April 2006	10K	33:25, Joey Zins	34:36, Vicky Gill	663
31 March 2007	10K	33:27, Matthew Dobson	37:23, Lara Shaw	867
29 March 2008	10K	31:59, Joey Zins	38:16, Sarah Docter-Williams	820
	5K	17:58, Cray Peron	23:17, Angela Gibbs	423
28 March 2009	10K	35:00, David Altmaier	38:34, Lisa Johnson	658
	5K	16:44, Daniel Lee	18:48, Allison Eagen	409
27 March 2010	10K	33:09, Chris Lake	38:23, Sheryl Rosen	850
	5K	19:14, Etienne Mazimpaka	21:58, Katherine Lindsay	686
2 April 2011	10K	32:34, Chris Lake	34:52, Pasca Cheruiyot	934
	5K	19:10, Etienne Mazimpaka	18:18, Lisa Johnson	731
31 March 2012	10K	33:29, Chris Lake	37:33, Lindsay Zeiler	905
	5K	19:02, David Witman	18:24, Lisa Johnson	809
6 April 2013	10K	31:42, Kevin Sullivan	36:05, Stefanie Slekis	993
	5K	16:48, Alex Smyth	19:24, Lisa Johnson	788
29 March 2014	10K	32:03, Kevin Sullivan	38:09, Seeley Gutierrez	716
	5K	17:50, Adam Greenstein	18:17, Amy Hines	443
28 March 2015	10K	32:59, Stephen Cox	37:30, Sheryl Rosen	986
	5K	17:31, Adam Greenstein	19:44, Alyson Churchill	709
2 April 2016	10K	34:06, Roger Schmidt	39:09, Adriana Piekarewicz	942
	5K	18:42, Nicholas Loffer	21:53, Megan Churchill	426
1 April 2017	10K	32:51, Christopher Haynes	37:21, Ani Veltcheva	909
	5K	18:36, Nick Loffer	20:53, Shannon Turner	582
* The 1976 race was a four-mile run on the FSU campus.

Links

• Trouble Afoot! coverage of past Springtime 10K Road Races
  
  
  • 2017 story, “Haynes and Veltcheva are the young winners of an old race, the Springtime 10K”
    https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2017/04/springtime-2017.html
    
    
  • 2016 story, “Schmidt and Piekarewicz score come-from-behind victories at Springtime”
    https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2016/04/springtime-2016.html
    
    
  • 2015 story, “Cox and Rosen conquer Springtime”
    https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2015/03/springtime-2015.html
    
    
  • 2014 story, “Sullivan and Gutierrez win at a soaked Springtime”
    https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2014/03/springtime-2014.html
    
    
  • 2013 story, “Kevin Sullivan is man of the season at the Springtime 10K”
    https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2013/04/springtime-2013.html
    
    
  • 2012 story, “Lake owns Springtime, makes it three wins in a row”
    https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2012/03/springtime-2012.html
    
    
  • 2011 story, “Laurels, not florals, for Lake and Cheruiyot at Springtime 10K”
    https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2011/04/springtime-2011.html
    
    
  • 2010 story, “Springtime and everything is coming up Rosen and Lake”
    https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2010/03/2010-springtime-10k.html
    
    
  • 2009 story, “2009 Springtime 10K, Tallahassee, Florida”
    https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2009/03/2009-springtime-10k-tallahassee-florida.html
    
    
• Ten years of Springtime 10K winners, 2007 to 2016
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2017/03/springtime-winners-2007-2016.html
  
  
• 2018 Springtime 10K USATF course certification map (FL11044EBM)
  http://www.usatf.org/events/courses/maps/showMap.asp?courseID=FL11044EBM
  
  
• 2018 Springtime 5K USATF course certification map (FL11045EBM)
  http://www.usatf.org/events/courses/maps/showMap.asp?courseID=FL11045EBM
  
  
• Springtime 10K / 5K / mile website
  http://springtime10k.com/
  
  
• Find your next seasonal race by consulting the Trouble Afoot! calendar
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/search/label/calendar?max-results=1
  
  

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