During the fall of 1990 I was coaching high school cross-country in South Carolina. On what seemed like way too many weekday afternoons, we loaded the teams into vans, drove the athletes to a park or a golf course or a school yard somewhere in the Low Country, and they raced five kilometers. We left after classes, so the races were in the late afternoon or early evening.Many folks have had a similar experience of high school cross-country--late afternoon races during the week. That's also the experience of athletes at the Leadership Gainesville Alumni Association 5K cross-country race in Gainesville, Florida, which is always run during the week in the late afternoon/early evening. You finish work or school, then head over to Ironwood Golf Course with your racing gear.
Gainesville master runner Patrick Gallagher was among the athletes who headed to Ironwood on Wednesday afternoon, 10 April 2019, for the LGAA 5K. Gallagher won the thirteenth annual race, running 19:45. Courtney Rouse was the women's champ, placing third overall in 20:25.
A veteran of the LGAA 5K, Gallagher had finished tenth in 2017 and eighth in 2018. Adam Varnedoe of Gainesville finished runner-up to Gallagher in the 2019 race, covering the course in 20:01. Gainesville's Chris Marhefka ran 20:26, taking third in the men's standings and fourth overall.
Two-and-a-half weeks before the LGAA 5K, women's winner Rouse had been the first woman at the Trail of Payne 10K--a longer and more rugged cross-country run. Leanne Harrison-Forbes of Gainesville was the first woman master in the 2019 LGAA 5K, the second female and fifteenth overall in 22:50. Gainesville master runner Sandy Flory was the third woman and eighteenth overall in 23:19.
151 athletes finished the 2019 LGAA 5K. Proceeds from the event benefit the scholarship and grant program of the Leadership Gainesville Alumni Association. The race was chip timed by Start To Finish Race Management of Alachua, Florida.
Top Ten Men, 2018 LGAA 5K Cross-Country Race
- 19:44.3, Patrick Gallagher (M, 43) Gainesville, FL
- 20:00.1, Adam Varnedoe (M, 38) Gainesville, FL
- 20:25.3, Chris Marhefka (M, 33) Gainesville, FL
- 20:36.9, Timothy Hannan (M, 28) Gainesville, FL
- 20:39.9, Jonathan Mays (M, 44) Gainesville, FL
- 21:18.1, Timothy Donovan (M, 41)
- 21:39.9, Jeff Godman (M, 46) Gainesville, FL
- 21:42.1, S. Austin (M, 9) Gainesville, FL
- 21:42.6, Patrick Traynor (M, 38) Gainesville, FL
- 22:00.8, Matthew Stanton (M, 41) Archer, FL
Top Ten Women, 2018 LGAA 5K Cross-Country Race
- 20:24.9, Courtney Rouse (F, 25) Gainesville, FL
- 22:49.1, Leanne Harrison-Forbes (F, 46) Gainesville, FL
- 23:18.5, Sandy Flory (F, 42) Gainesville, FL
- 24:53.1, Lisa Alcala (F, 50) Gainesville, FL
- 24:54.9, Karen Harbaugh (F, 50) Gainesville, FL
- 24:58.7, Kelly Chesser (F, 37) Fort White, FL
- 24:59.6, Tatiana Orozco (F, 32) Gainesville, FL
- 25:00.6, Mary Drummond (F, 41) Gainesville, FL
- 25:08.5, Marlena Wesh (F, 28)
- 27:23.9, Linda Rocafort (F, 39) Gainesville, FL
| Leadership Gainesville Alumni Association 5K winners, 2007 - 2019 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Men | Women | Finishers |
| 18 April 2007 | |||
| 16 April 2008 | 15:37, Brent Schneider | 18:40, Romy Krueger | 279 |
| 15 April 2009 | |||
| 24 March 2010 | 15:55, Andrew Robinson | 20:22, Mary Waechter | 180 |
| 13 April 2011 | 15:52, Brent Schneider | 23:02, Claudia Noah | |
| 11 April 2012 | 16:40, Dan Monteau | 19:53, Stephanie Williams | 263 |
| 10 April 2013 | 17:32, Dan Clark | 21:47, Rebecca Weaver | 267 |
| 16 April 2014 | 16:26, Michael Anderson | 19:05, Ani Veltcheva | 385 |
| 22 April 2015 | 15:42, Jon Mott | 19:32, Ani Veltcheva | 350 |
| 27 April 2016 | 16:06, Enoch Nadler | 18:43, Ani Veltcheva | 305 |
| 5 April 2017 | 15:12, Enoch Nadler | 18:34, Georganne Watson | 189 |
| 4 April 2018 | 16:42, Enoch Nadler | 18:58, Georganne Watson | 196 |
| 10 April 2019 | 19:45, Patrick Gallagher | 20:25, Courtney Rouse | 151 |
Links
- Complete results of the 2019 LGAA 5K Cross-Country Race
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vTYhBUA5HtycmnJStAajtxgGM9vB-BiXrDE_YkUzPMFeJqYobUbl0cED5d9412MKpoi2KKa_a7GGNMH/pubhtml
- 2018 story, “Nadler and Watson repeat at Ironwood in the LGAA 5K”
https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2018/04/lgaa-2018.html
- 2017 story, “Enoch Nadler's 15:12 wins the LGAA 5K”
https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/2017/04/lgaa-2017.html
- Ironwood Golf Course
http://www.ironwoodgolfcourse.org/
- Leadership Gainesville Alumni Association
http://www.lgalum.com/
- Find an upcoming cross-country race on the Trouble Afoot! calendar
https://troubleafoot.blogspot.com/search/label/calendar?max-results=1
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