At least one sport has finally figured out a way to renew its season. Even though it is not on any high school or college athletic schedule, make no mistake that hundreds of athletes have been happy to see road racing start again on the Peninsula.
In fact, the area Colonial Road Racers started back to business in late June, when the Virginia Regional Ballet 5K kickstarted a racing agenda that had been stagnant for three and a half months.
The CRR sponsored two races in September, and the latest results indicate that several local runners are showing no effects of the layoff.
Two harriers in particular, Roger Hopper and Emily Honeycutt, won both races – the D.O.G. Street Pandemic 5K on September 5, and the Powhatan Creek 5K, held two weeks later.
At the Duke of Gloucester Street race, Hopper enjoyed a 42-second cushion over Jacob Warner to break the tape first in 15:44. Jamestown High standout Luke Tompkins was third in 16:38, ten seconds ahead of his father, Jamestown coach, and Masters’ winner Mark Tompkins (16:48).
Honeycutt was pushed more, but seized the “W” with a time of 19:48. Jenny Moran of Virginia Beach gave a worthwhile chase, but ended up in the runner-up spot, just six seconds back in 19:54. Annie Gilbride of Providence Forge was third in 22:16.
The most noteworthy event of the morning may have been the performance of Stephen Chantry. Chantry has eased well into the 65-69 age group, and his age group winning time of 18:58 beat the old CRR age group 5K record, for any sponsored race) of 19:52 by almost a full minute. The eight-year-old record had been held by Jim Thornton, who posted the time at the Governor’s Landing 5K.
At the Powhatan Creek 5K, Hopper broke the course record of 16:13, but he was pushed to the edge by the former record holder, Williamsburg’s Will Thompson, who placed second in 16:10, just five seconds behind the victor.
Honeycutt’s winning time of 20:16 placed her 15 seconds ahead of Saylor Burris (20:31), who at 17, did break the age group course record for women 15-19.
Other age group records were broken by Cooper Hurst (men’s 15-19, 16:43), Roswitha Goossens-Winter (women’s 70-74, 33:09), Rick Samaha (men’s 60-64, 20:20), and Randy Hawthorne (men’s 75-79, 27:58).
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