Mighty Medford Freeway 5K, 11 January 2004

Dotson, McCubbin Win Medford Run

Bruce Dotson and club member Tina McCubbin ran unhindered on a chilly morning to capture the men's and womanen's portions of the Mighty Medford Freeway 5K.

Dotson and Bobby Ward, recently honored by the Baltimore Sun as the All-Metro Co-coach of the Year for his great work with the Liberty High School Cross-Country team, charged to the front of the twenty-two runner and one dog field, with Dotson's time of 5:35 giving him a thirty second lead iver Ward. In third place was Neal Riemenschneider from Winchester, Virginia, followed by Bill Stahr and David Dickerson from Olney.

After making the turn on the Nicodemus Road hill well in front, Dotson continued to widen his lead on the way back. At two miles his time of 11:35 was fifty seconds ahead of Ward, and no one behind was making any great surges. Dotson's final time of 18:15 gave him a winning time of over a minute. In fact he finished so far in front that he either went for more mileage or left in his car, since he was not around at prize time.

Riemenschneider, who drove his wife's car (license place RUNTCHER, which is Run Teacher, not Runt Cher), was the first masters finisher, with James Moreland, still recovering from back problems, and Roger Kilgore, who has agreed to coordinate this summer's Twilight Series, finishing as the first 50's and 60's runners.

With multitime women's winner and last year's overall winner Sherry (Esposito) Stick not present, no one challenged Tina McCubbin, who led from start to finish and finished eighth overall. Her times of 6:55 for one mile and 13:55 for two miles showed good pacing, and she won by four minutes.

Master runner Dee Nelson passed Christina Pennington during the second mile to finish second, and Liuda Galinaitis got fourth at the finish line ahead of recent Florida visitor Chris Reese on the basis of the layer of extra clothing she wore.

Although the Dancer Dash 10K was cancelled last month, the prizes for that race made an appearance for this race, which means that the Mighty Medford race made money since Dave Griffin didn't have much in the way of expenses.

We meet again at the Pleasant Valley Fire Hall in beautiful downtown Pleasant Valley at noon on the 25th for the Bear Run Four Miler.