Bachman Valley Half Marathon, 24 September 2005
~112 runners registered; 101 finishers

L'Heureux, Dukes Win Bachman Valley Half Marathon

With the weather cooperating (reasonably cool and delightfully cloudy), approximately 110 runners participated in the twenty-third offering of the Bachman Valley Half Marathon, held on September 25.

Alex L'Heureux from Raleigh, North Carolina, passed the one mile mark in 5:55, just ahead of Steve Kartalia--winner of the 1993 race and the guy who had to travel the shortest distance, since he lives on the course--and Jason Grimm, who finished third last year, with Sean Allen ten seconds behind.

At this point L'Heureux increased his pace, and when neither Kartalia nor Grimm could match it, he assumed the lead for the rest of the race.

At the five mile mark his time of 28:30 gave him a forty-five second lead over Kartalia and Grimm, with Allen trailing by nearly a minute and a half. During the second lap L'Heureux increased his lead, passing ten miles in 56:30, with Kartalia a minute and a half behind and Grimm nearly two minutes behind.

Approaching the finish line, L'Heureux began passing runners who were still completing the first lap. He finished with a margin over Kartalia of more than two minutes while recording the fifth fastest time in the race's history. Kartalia, who just turned forty and whose winning time in 1993 was 1:12:04, set a new masters record, eclipsing the previous best by over two minutes, while Grimm repeated last year's third place finish.

Allen captured fourth, with Richard Morgan finishing fifth as the first finisher in the 50-59 age category. Jesse Hull finished twentieth as the first finisher in the 60-69 age category. Clubmembers Karsten Brown and Bob Paczynski finished seventh and ninth, respectively.

This year the women's category amounted to more than one third of the race field. At the one mile point Claire Scanlon had the lead among this group with a time of 6:40. Julie Dukes was second with a time of 6:45, with Anne Gonnella and club member Tina McCubbin ten seconds behind.

Scanlon's lead was short-lived, however, as Dukes then moved into the lead, and by the time she reached the five mile mark in 35:30, she was thirty seconds ahead of Scanlon and a minute ahead of McCubbin.

While McCubbin passed Scanlon during the second loop, Dukes maintained a substantial lead over both, winning the race by over a minute and finishing twelfth overall. For McCubbin, who won this race in 2001, it was the third time in recent years that she has finished second. Scanlon finished third, a minute ahead of Gonnella. Club member Chrissy Pennington finished seventh.

Linell Smith finished sixth as the first runner in the 50-59 age category, and Laurel Bell finished eleventh as the first runner in the 60-69 age category.

After successfully directing this race for the past three years, Bill and Meredith Long are transferring the task to people as yet unknown. Since the club has presented this race for twenty-three years, it is obvious that a decent tradition has been established. Anyone who would like to continue that tradition is encouraged to contact Beth Weisenborn at weisenbo@msu.edu. Plans for next year's event will probably begin after next April's Main Street Mile.