The weather gods smiled on us for this running of the Fairmount 5k on Wed. August 7, 2013. The morning rain gave way to clouds, then clearing skies and pleasant temperatures in the high 60's, I believe, for the race. The evening started off with my favorite part, the half mile kids' race. I love seeing their eager faces at the start, their great efforts around the field and big smiles at the finish. They represent the future of our sport. We had a good turnout of 16 kids from ages 4 to 9. Lucas Adams, age 8, turned in the fastest time of 3:45. Delaney Kramp, age 4, was the fastest girl in 4:57. An observer noted that "the Kodak moment for the kids' race was Rachel Flores, niece of Brett and Theresa Jockers, who had the most proud and happy expression upon receiving her ribbon."

We had 91 runners in the 5k race, and 3 (?4) racewalkers. Michael Nothen repeated as the overall winner, a couple of seconds faster than last year, in 16:51. Second overall was Drew Ryther in 16:56. Bret Scofield, winner of the womens' race, ran one of the fastest womens' time I've seen in my 6 years of directing this race, 19:26. Rachel Perez-Tetrault was not far behind her in 19:59. The fastest masters' (over 40) times were Eric Albright, age 41, in 18:35 and Karen Kantor, age 43, in 21:48.

Other notable age group results: in the men's 75-79 age group the Oak (Ross) Westley won in 29:58 (still under 30:00 at age 76!), followed by Ken Randall in 32:54. In the 70-74 category, all 3 entrants, Tall Red (Ed) Youngberg, The B-Man (Jim Romero) and Tom Chambers were under 28 minutes and within 42 seconds of each other. And, perhaps even more notable, Connie Ahrnsbrak, in the same age category, was only seconds behind in 28:24. No wonder no one in her age group wants to race her! Also worth mentioning: Rich Martinez, winner 65-69 in 25:03, and Janet Sandoval, same category, 27:41. Moving down to 60-64, Roger Allen in 23:17 and Claradene Stewart in 26:44. In the 55-59 category, Bob Irving ran 22:44 and Karen McKean, 29:40. 50-54: Warhorse (Keith) Johnson in 18:57 and Theresa Jockers in 23:32. And 45-49: Mike Quispe in 19:53 and Stacey Totherow in 23:28.

In the high school age group, Jairo Tiscareno, age 17, won in 17:14, while Layne Poskie, age 14, won for the women in 24:59. In the 13 and under age group, Justin Perry, age 13, ran an excellent time of 20:23, with Rosa Gutierrez, also age 13, winning in 24:26.

Ed Gussie was the overall walkers' winner in 44:05, with Ron Gussie 3 seconds behind. Rosalia Dexter won womens' walking division in 46:07.

I would like to thank my many enthusiastic volunteers, starting with my co-director, Monica Ryan. I didn't know I needed a co-director until I got one. Now I couldn't do it without you! Thanks to Connie Ahrnsbrak and Rosalia Dexter (out of retirement!) for handling registration, Adam Feerst for the course markings, and Ken Randall for bringing the Great Harvest bread. The finish line crew were reliable and accurate as always. Thanks to Joe Baird, Rob Fisher, Mike Vanoni, Ken Simons. Thanks also to my water station volunteers, Lisa Wilson and Manda McCarthy, who had to be creative with no table or water jug. Bob Curci was a wonderful all-around help, willing to do whatever was needed--including pre-race set-up, finish line help and grilling. Please come back next year! Marla Ofstad did a great job at traffic control, making sure no one had to worry about their safety crossing 50th. Gina Olberding and Debbie Kampman ran the race, then went out again to sweep the course and pick up markings. Much appreciated! Thanks to Jen Forker for bringing grilling "stuff" and to our grillers, David Wise, Cheryl Ames, Link Lubken, and Amy Lease as well as Bob Curci, mentioned above. Everyone seemed to enjoy the picnic after the race. And finally, thanks to Connie again for tabulating the results, Scott McFarlane for doing the race tags and website and Ian Monk for doing the newsletter. Sorry for anyone I missed.

Thanks to everyone who came out to run, help with or watch the race, and I look forward to next year!