WRC had a great turnout at this past Sunday’s Cherry Blossom 10 Miler – both on and around the course.  We had over 20 club members running the race with another dozen or so sprinkled around the course cheering everyone on!  The support from fellow club members proved to be extra valuable as many came away with major PR’s.

Feeling cheery after the 2014 Cherry Blossom 10 Miler! WRCers L-R: Kendall Tucker, Ben Stutts, Jesse Frantz, Julia Taylor, and Pat O’Keefe.

The near-official results:

114th, BENJAMIN STUTTS, 57:08
206th, PAUL KARLSEN, 1:00:38
226th, GEOFF KING, 1:01:03
250th, JIM MOORE, 1:01:38
256th, ANDREW KILLIAN, 1:01:46
279th, MEGAN HABERLE, 1:02:45
284th, RACHEL CLATTENBURG, 1:02:53
327th, BRIAN SAVITCH, 1:03:50
349th, STEPHANIE SELMER, 1:04:13
507th, JENNIFER PAUL, 1:06:37
539th, EMILY BUZZELL, 1:07:01
567th, LAURA JENNINGS, 1:07:19
664th, JULIA TAYLOR, 1:08:25
1235th, JAY JACOB WIND, 1:13:23
1447th, PATRICK O'KEEFE, 1:14:36
1486th, CHRISTINE HACKMAN, 1:14:44
1574th, JESSE FRANTZ, 1:15:10
1785th, BRENDAN SULLIVAN, 1:16:06
2278th, KENDALL TUCKER, 1:18:07
2286th, OLGA GORODETSKY, 1:18:09
5615th, JAMES SCARBOROUGH, 1:28:40
10731st, NANCY MARSILLO, 1:41:17
17,849 Total Finishers

The official results will be made available on the race website.

Breaking news, via the magic of SMS/MMS:

Emily Buzzell: first place team coed division at Caesar Rodney! Go WRC!
Received: 11:58AM
Emily Buzzell:

Nine decorated WRCers, standing in front of the equestrian statue of Caesar Rodney at Rodney Square in Wilmington, DE. Like our runners, the horse is depicted in full gallop.

Received: 12:19PM
Emily Buzzell: Everyone is having fun here!
Received: 12:21PM
Emily Buzzell: Rachel and Ben did AWESOME (1:26, 1:19)
Received: 12:21PM

Team captain, Emily Buzzell, also sez:

Washington Running Club brought home first place in today’s Caesar Rodney Half Marathon in Wilmington, DE!

Bolstered by good competition, close to perfect running weather (low 40s, overcast, breezy), and the promise of pizza and cupcakes after the race, WRC turned out some fantastic performances this morning. Ben Stutts led the way with a 16th place showing and his first sub-1:20 in a half marathon. Drew Killian ran close to his PR for 42nd place, and Rachel Clattenburg wowed with a 4th place finish among women. Particularly impressive about Rachel’s performance were her negative splits and the way she dropped the hammer during a long, challenging uphill climb between miles 6 and 9. Emily Buzzell ran a very evenly paced race to finish as the 7th woman. The team scoring was rounded out by Laura Jennings, who ran a 5-minute PR and finished in the top 100. Race organizers only allowed for scoring of the top-5 runners, but Jesse Frantz, Kendall Tucker, Carla Freyvogel (in her bold WRC singlet), and Claire Tsoukalis all ran stellar races as well.

WRC drove away from Wilmington, DE, today with some nice hardware, and we hope to return next year and do it all over again!

Citizens Bank Caesar Rodney Half Marathon
March 23, 2014, Rodney Square, Wilmington DE
Individual Results, Team Results

16 Ben Stutts         1:19:28, 16th overall
42 Drew Killian       1:24:43, 42nd overall
50 Rachel Clattenburg 1:25:56, 4th woman
60 Emily Buzzell      1:27:16, 7th woman
98 Laura Jennings     1:31:24
256 Jesse Frantz      1:41:27
469 Kendall Tucker    1:51:19
658 Carla Freyvogel   1:59:09
764 Claire Tsoukalis  2:04:08
1195 finishers

Winning Co-ed Team, Averaged 1:25:46.

WRC budgeted $100 in travel money, to send its members to race together. Talk about a return on investment!

Congrats to Ben Stutts for his third place overall finish with a time of 18:04 and Kirk Masterson for taking first in his age group with a time of 18:32 (results)! With less than a half mile to go the first and second place (Kirk) leaders chose a different path, which likely exceeded the intended 3.14159 miles and definitely resulted in a few lost places. Expect apple pie following tomorrow morning’s long run!

Great job to everyone who raced this morning!

Half Marathon Results
Charlie Ban           1:11:16 (5th Overall)
Stephanie Selmer      1:28:02 (5-minute PR!!)
Andrew Killian        1:28:22
Julia Taylor          1:33:56
Shinobu Kusakabe      1:34:02
Gareth Coville        1:45:15
Madeleine Dolan       1:46:19
Piers Kirk	      1:54:12
James Scarborough     2:02:37

Marathon Results
Matthew Wieczorek     3:07:00
Lydia Pelliccia       3:17:47
Ashley Etue	      3:28:36
Jay Jacob Wind        3:40:10

Having conquered the alarm clock thanks to the start of daylight savings time this morning, WRC’s team battled competition and race clock to throw down high-quality, early spring racing season results:

St. Patrick's Day 8k 
March 09, 2014 - Washington, DC
Results

PLACE	BIB	NAME			AGE	NET	PACE
92	1442	Rachel Clattenburg	29	0:31:10	6:17
413	2495	Christine Hackman	50	0:37:32	7:33
43	2768	Andrew Killian		34	0:29:24	5:55
93	3868	Alan Pemberton		61	0:31:14	6:17
4038 Finishers

4th of 54 CO-ED Teams (Results)

George Washington Birthday Classic 10K 
February 16, 2014 - Alexandria, VA
Results

PLACE	BIB	NAME		AGE	NET	PACE
18	639	John Hallett	28	0:36:55	5:57
44	819	Daisuke Ogata	38	0:40:01	6:27
730 Finishers

John joined last December, but was a shade too modest to race for the club at the Jingle All the Way 8K. This year, he’s starting anew from the top of the pack.

Next up on the 2014 Grand Prix‘s schedule: Sun March 9, St. Patrick’s Day 8K!