Union Mills 8K, 5 December 2004

Stahr, Rooks Capture Union Mills 8K

Bill Stahr and Brittney Rooks started slowly and finished strongly to capture the Union Mills 8K by sizeable margins on December 5.

On a much nicer day than last year's race, cancelled because of icy conditions, a small but hardy field assembled on Old Hanover Road, only to have to reassemble as the usual surge of drivers charged through the starting area.

When the race finally started, Bobby Ward, who has run well this fall, and Remus Medley, who arrived just before the starting time, passed the first mile in 6:30. Trailing them were Stahr, 6:40, high school runner Brandon Dulaney, 7:00, middle schooler Delvaughn Rooks, 7:07, and Joe Loveland, 7:10.

As the runners moved uphill to the turnaround at 2.5 K and began the downhill race to the finish, usually a recipe for negative splits, Stahr quietly moved to the front and then began to distance himself from the rest of the field. His time of 26:00 for four miles, giving him a 6:30 pace, faster than his first mile split, placed him a minute and twenty seconds ahead of Dulaney, with Ward and Loveland trailing.

At the finish line Stahr's margin was still bigger, with Dulaney, Ward, and Loveland holding their places. Tom Yinger ran by himself to finish fifth, and Jim Bullock finished eleventh as the first in the 60 and over group.

Although Brittney Rooks lost quite a bit of time tying her shoes at the starting line while the rest of the field charged through the first mile, she trailed Sherry Clower by only five seconds when Clower passed the first mile in 7:30. Rooks continued to move strongly through the rest of the race, finishing sixth overall with a pace of approximately 7:20 per mile.

The last race of 2004 will be the Dancer Dash 10K, to be held at 9:00 am in the Tech Court industrial park off Old Bachmans Valley Road and Magna Way, north of Westminster. Race director Bob Leatherman promises all sorts of goodies for the participants, including some of the world's finest chocolate chip cookies.