Jim Halley and Alison Thumm finish earliest at the better-late-than-never Run For Lawson 10K

The Run For Lawson started as an annual 5K in 2011 with a 10K added to the program in 2012. Through 2017, each cross-country race took athletes on a tour of some beautiful Tallahassee, Florida countryside. Runners got to experience Lawson's Course on the campus of Holy Comforter Episcopal School as well as the hills and fields of Welaunee Plantation.


Meanwhile, Welaunee was changing. After decades of agriculture, it was turning into a residential development. In 2018 the course for the Run For Lawson was unusable because of construction, and the autumn races were postponed.

Jim Halley, Alison Thumm

But the Run For Lawson was back with new courses on Saturday morning, 16 February 2019. Jim Halley of Tallahassee was first in a field of 44 finishers in the 10K, winning by over a minute in 41:25. Tallahassee master runner Alison Thumm was the first woman in the 6.2-mile race, placing fifth overall in 46:00.


Eric Godin had won the 5K at the 2016 Run For Lawson. He stepped up to the 10K in 2019, taking the runner-up spot in 42:43. Wayne Thumm was the first master runner in the 10K, coming in third overall in 44:21.


Alison Thumm's Run For Lawson 10K title was her second; she had also won the race in 2012, it's inaugural year. Master runner Ali Kelly was second to Thumm in the 2019 women's standings, placing ninth overall in 48:37. Emily Kaiser took third on the women's side and eleventh overall in 48:37.


Top Ten Men, 2019 Run For Lawson 10K

1. 41:25, Jim Halley (M, 39)
2. 42:43, Eric Godin (M, 34)
3. 44:21, Wayne Thumm (M, 46)
4. 45:30, Jack Chatham (M, 38)
5. 46:50, Michael Kennett (M, 45)
6. 48:02, Juan Padron (M, 49)
7. 48:17, Juan Ordonez (M, 45)
8. 51:20, Robert Steinmetz (M, 63)
9. 53:40, Danny Balmer (M, 10)
10. 54:25, Mark Zeigler (M, 55)

Top Ten Women, 2019 Run For Lawson 10K

1. 46:00, Alison Thumm (F, 41)
2. 48:37, Ali Kelly (F, 46)
3. 52:44, Emily Kaiser (F, 26)
4. 53:11, Kristin Halley (F, 37)
5. 55:40, Sarah Brown (F, 32)
6. 56:16, Allison Richards (F, 24)
7. 56:48, Ashley Young (F, 32)
8. 57:09, Lindsey Boomer (F, 26)
9. 57:46, Karima Anderson (F, 32)
10. 58:38, Laura Clark (F, 27)

Wyatt Townsend is in this third and final year at Deerlake Middle School. Townsend ran for Deerlake's cross-country team during those years, winning more than half a dozen 3K races during the 2018 season, including Florida's Middle School Boys' Cross-Country Championship. Holy Comforter hosted six middle school cross-country meets on Lawson's Course while Townsend was competing for Deerlake, but he never got to race at any of those. The Deerlake eighth-grader got his first look at Lawson's Course in the 2019 Run For Lawson 5K.


Townsend may have been a first-timer, but he raced like a veteran, winning the 5000-meter race by almost 400 meters. Tallahassee Community College cross-country runner Kendall Ward was the first woman in the 5K, placing fourth overall in 21:56.

Wyatt Townsend, Kendall Ward

At 19:40, Kurt Dietrich, runner-up in the 2017 Run For Lawson 5K, was also runner-up in the 2019 race. David Cruz took third in 21:44. Tom Schulte was the first master runner in the 5K and the fourth male finisher, fifth overall in 22:22.


Running 23:44, Meghan Kennedy edged Ava Hill for second in the women's standings. Hill, a sixth-grader on Holy Comforter's cross-country team, ran 23:46. Kennedy and Hill were ninth and tenth overall. Jaye Danforth (16th, 26:07) finished just ahead of Camilla Schaefer (17th, 26:13) to take fourth on the women's side. Schaefer was the first woman master in the race.


126 athletes finished the 2019 Run For Lawson 5K. Gulf Winds Track Club of Tallahassee chip-timed both the 10K and the 5K.


Top Ten Men, 2019 Run For Lawson 5K

1. 18:09, Wyatt Townsend (M, 14)
2. 19:40, Kurt Dietrich (M, 27)
3. 21:44, David Cruz (M, 37)
4. 22:22, Tom Schulte (M, 52)
5. 22:53, Ian Kuhn (M, 15)
6. 23:25, Henry Mayfield (M, 41)
7. 23:33, Joe Soto (M, 44)
8. 23:53, Asher Hill (M, 10)
9. 24:28, Jeremy Cohen (M, 42)
10. 24:30, Harrison Kennedy (M, 9)

Top Ten Women, 2019 Run For Lawson 5K

1. 21:56, Kendall Ward (F, 18)
2. 23:44, Meghan Kennedy (F, 38)
3. 23:46, Ava Hill (F, 12)
4. 26:07, Jaye Danforth (F, 38)
5. 26:13, Camilla Schaefer (F, 47)
6. 27:07, Isabel Davis (F, 12)
7. 28:36, Ellie Mazziotta (F, 9)
8. 28:51, Stephanie Wade (F, 27)
9. 29:08, Claire Georgiadis (F, 21)
10. 29:08, Ireland MacDonell (F, 21)

Run For Lawson champions, 2011 - 2019
Date	Distance	Men	Women	Finishers
8 October 2011	5K	17:29, Gary Droze	22:22, Molly McCann	393
6 October 2012	10K	39:32, Tony Guillen	52:00, Allison Thumm	123
	5K	18:29, Gary Droze	22:00, Molly McCann	335
28 September 2013	10K	35:50, Chris Lake	45:53, Renee Cox	174
	5K	18:20, Gary Droze	21:23, Molly McCann	317
1 November 2014	10K	38:58, Paul Guyas	45:32, Jillian Heddaeus	94
	5K	19:16, Evan Wilson	20:47, Molly McCann	221
26 September 2015	10K	41:03, Michael Peymann	44:56, Leslie Dickinson	98
	5K	20:56, Hawthorne Hay	21:04, Brittney Barnes	226
22 October 2016	10K	36:23, Chris O'Kelley	45:47, Juanita Chalmers	100
	5K	18:24, Eric Godin	20:57, Samantha Reilly	205
28 October 2017	10K	41:36, Tony Guillen	44:43, Emily Culley	63
	5K	20:38, Eric Houge	27:42, Jaye Danforth	137
16 February 2019	10K	41:25, Jim Halley	46:00, Alison Thumm	44
	5K	18:09, Wyatt Townsend	21:56, Kendall Ward	126

The photos in this story were taken by the peerless Fred Deckert.


Links

• Complete results of the 2019 Run For Lawson
  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vSzaZYmqL9OexOp_F9XjGof1oLmBq6jL7_B90rLBlco4gajJoh-1vCYatmShp2-gGAqrM9aKdAp-HDc/pubhtml
  
  
• Fred Deckert's photos of the 2019 Run For Lawson
  https://photos.app.goo.gl/EVGWGo9i8EeNr95H8
  
  
• 2016 story, “O'Kelley and Chalmers capture the Run For Lawson”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2016/10/lawson-2016.html
  
  
• 2015 story, “Peymann and Dickinson prevail on the trail at Run For Lawson”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2015/09/lawson-2015.html
  
  
• 2014 story, “Guyas rolls and Heddaeus sets record at Run For Lawson”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2014/11/lawson-2014.html
  
  
• 2013 story, “Lake and Cox set new standards at Run For Lawson”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2013/09/lawson-2013.html
  
  
• 2012 story, “Farther is better for Guillen and Thumm at Run For Lawson”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2012/10/lawson-2012.html
  
  
• 2011 story, “Droze and McCann race for Lawson”
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2011/10/lawson-2011.html
  
  
• Run For Lawson website
  http://runforlawson.org/
  
  
• Plan a future run in the Tallahassee region using the Trouble Afoot! calendar
  https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/search/label/calendar?max-results=1
  
  

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