Saturday, September 16, 2023

Megan Noonan and Leonardo Canete celebrate wins at the Tallahassee Women's Distance Festival 5K

From 1982 to 2023, Gulf Winds Track Club has hosted 41 runnings of their Tallahassee Women's Distance Festival 5K. Not all of those races have been in Indianhead Acres, but the 41st event was, on Saturday, 16 September 2023. That morning, Megan Noonan of Tallahassee won the showcase race, the women's 5K, by more than 300 meters, running 20:35. Tallahassee master runner Leonardo Canete took first in the men's 5K, winning by nearly 400 meters in 17:28.

Megan Noonan
Megan Noonan

The race was run in two waves, with the women starting at 8:00 AM and the men starting five minutes later. The first turn on the course came about 600 meters from the starting line; At the turn, Megan Noonan was already in front with a 60 meter lead. Twelve-year-old Alexis Mayfield made the turn next after Noonan. Tallahassee master runner Vicky Droze was fourth around the turn, but later moved up to third. After that, the first three positions were set--Noonan was first across the finish line in 20:35, Mayfield was runner-up in 21:48, and Droze was the first woman master and third overall in 22:58.


The Tallahassee Women's Distance Festival was a road race, but a road race with strong connections to cross-country. Noonan, the winner, had been the first woman at three of the four events in Gulf Winds Track Club's 2023 Summer Trail Race Series, as well as taking the women's title at Gulf Winds Track Club's 2023 Potluck Four-Mile Cross-Country Race and, less than two weeks earlier, at the Bluebird 5K Cross-Country Race on Labor Day. Alexis Mayfield took third in the women's standings at that Bluebird 5K; three days before the Women's Distance Fest she had raced for Swift Creek Middle School in the Everhart Invitational Cross-Country Meet. The Everhart Invitational meet director was Vicky Droze. Leonardo Canete, winner of the men's race, won all four Summer Trail Series races, and has further cross-country plans.

Alexis Mayfield
Alexis Mayfield

"Next week I'm running the Prefontaine 5K cross-country race," said Canete. "I racing in Boca Raton on October 7 at the USATF 5K Cross-Country National Championships."


At the Women's Distance Festival, though, Canete was all road runner, leading the men's field from start to finish en route to a 17:28 win--a good bit faster than his 18:14 win at the 2021 Festival, and also faster than his 17:39 runner-up showing in the 2022 Festival.

Leonardo Canete
Leonardo Canete

Tallahassee master runner Gregory Noonan took second in the men's race running 18:56. Another Tallahassee master runner, Ryan Kunz, was third in 20:15. At 20:45, fourth place went to Emerson Gandy, a seventh-grader on the Raa Middle School cross-country team--again, that cross-country connection.


59 women and 31 men finished Gulf Winds Track Club's 2023 Tallahassee Women's Distance Festival 5K. Another 19 athletes completed a one-mile fun run. Gulf Winds Track Club chip-timed the races.


Top Ten Women, Gulf Winds Track Club's 2023 Women's Distance Festival
  1. 20:35, Megan Noonan (F, 39)
  2. 21:48, Alexis Mayfield (F, 12)
  3. 22:58, Vicky Droze (F, 48)
  4. 23:37, Georgina Hernandez (F, 33)
  5. 23:41, Dori Smith (F, 23)
  6. 23:51, Olivia Willoughby (F, 26)
  7. 24:01, Michelle Hadden (F, 34)
  8. 24:08, Nancy Stedman (F, 61)
  9. 25:34, Meredith Strange (F, 43)
  10. 25:58, Jennifer Bryan (F, 39)

Top Ten Men, Gulf Winds Track Club's 2023 Women's Distance Festival
  1. 17:28, Leonardo Canete (M, 44)
  2. 18:56, Gregory Noonan (M, 40)
  3. 20:15, Ryan Kunz (M, 41)
  4. 20:45, Emerson Gandy (M, 12)
  5. 22:56, Shane Roberts (M, 52)
  6. 23:09, Richard Oberlin (M, 43)
  7. 23:20, Michael Kennett (M, 49)
  8. 25:37, Stephen Kelly (M, 46)
  9. 26:16, David Mayfield (M, 46)
  10. 26:23, Joe Vega (M, 69)

Tallahassee Women's Distance Festival 5K Champions, 1982 - 2023
DateWomenMen
24 July 198220:14, Cheryl JenningsNo Boys Allowed
23 July 198318:33, Barbara BalzerNo Boys Allowed
21 July 198418:11, Barbara BalzerNo Boys Allowed
20 July 198519:11, Barbara Balzer15:24, Herb Wills
19 July 198618:20, Janice Hochstein16:32, Rick Miller
18 July 198718:54, Janice Hochstein15:47, Rick Miller
16 July 198817:58, Michele Farrell15:09, Jessie Close
15 July 198917:20, Sue Addison15:09, Jessie Close
14 July 199018:50, Janice Hochstein15:38, Gary Droze
13 July 199118:51, Angie Crook15:18, Gary Droze
11 July 199217:36, Paula Johnson15:09, Gary Droze
17 July 199318:00, Lynda Nilges15:45, Steve Wilcox
1 October 199418:06, Jane Johnson15:46, Andy Palmer
7 October 199517:47, Jane Johnson15:40, Gary Droze
5 October 199618:41, Tracy Pepoon16:34, Tim Simpkins
4 October 199717:13, Sarah Docter-Williams16:20, Tim Simpkins
3 October 199818:02, Sarah Docter-Williams16:36, Tim Simpkins
2 October 199917:31, Sarah Docter-Williams15:37, Lee Willis
7 October 200019:18, Kingsley Broughton16:26, Art Remillard
6 October 200119:13, Kate Remillard18:06, Reid Vannoy
2 November 200220:27, Mari Leitner16:33, Nate Timm
1 November 200318:52, Kara Newell17:39, Justin Dickieson
6 November 200418:09, Sarah Docter-Williams17:24, Art Remillard
5 November 200521:38, Lydia Veal18:16, Jimmy Graham
7 October 200618:36, Sheryl Rosen17:55, Tim Unger
15 September 200719:02, Sheryl Rosen17:04, Jay Wallace
20 September 200818:52, Lisa Johnson17:29, David Altmaier
19 September 200919:00, Kelsey Scheitlin16:34, John Robida
18 September 201018:39, Lisa Johnson16:34, Vince Molosky
17 September 201117:11, Jackie Drouin15:00, Kevin Sullivan
15 September 201217:06, Georgia Peel16:03, Chris Rego
14 September 201316:51, Kayleigh Tyerman15:58, Stanley Linton
20 September 201420:45, Anna Busby16:45, Roger Schmidt
19 September 201518:53, Katie Sherron17:08, Zach DeVeau
17 September 201618:38, Adriana Piekarewicz15:29, Stan Linton
23 September 201718:13, Katie Sherron16:28, Charlie Johnson
22 September 201818:30, Sheryl Rosen18:02, Bryce Parry
21 September 201918:00, Ann Centner16:17, Paul Allen
18 September 202121:16, Sheryl Rosen18:14, Leonardo Canete
17 September 202219:47, Katie Sherron15:49, Trevor Touchton
16 September 202320:35, Megan Noonan17:28, Leonardo Canete


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Posted by Herb Wills at 5:52 PM
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