Mighty Medford Freeway 5K, 16 January 2005

Leathers, Bracken Win at Medford

He might have been the youngest, and he might have been the smallest, but Arthur Leathers was certainly the fastest at the Might Medford 5K, held on January 16, in the vicinity of "the bathtub" and in the presence of those sneaky Avondale Road breezes.

Running with a tailwind and on a flat surface, the field of thirty-one hardy souls charged onto Medford Road in the bright sunlight. Leathers, a veteran of the successful FSK cross-country program last fall, and Colin Fearns, a junior at North Carroll, charged by the one mile mark in 5:30, with master runner Bill Stahr, Bob Ward, and Alan Pobletts some twenty to twenty-five seconds behind. As the field turned onto Nicodemus Road, the hill slowed them, and after the turnaround, it was the wind. At two miles Leathers' time of 11:25 was a full twenty seconds ahead of Fearns, with Stahr another twenty seconds behind. Pobletts had by this time overtaken Ward for fourth. At the finish line it was Leathers by twenty-five seconds over Stahr, who finished with the best last mile into the wind. Fearns finished comfortably ahead of Pobletts, who was the last runner to break twenty minutes. Bob Ward, who brought no Liberty Lions with him to this race, finished fifth as the first runer in the highly competitive 20-29 category.

Neal Riemenschneider, who drove all the way from Winchester, Virginia, was the first veteran finisher, and Roger Kilgore would have been the first senior finisher, had he not been sidelined by a mid-race injury.

Monika Braken, who journeyed north from Montgomery County, led the female contingent through the first mile in a time of 7:25, ten seconds ahead of Chrissy Pennington, with Char Thompson, Debra Leathers, and Dee Nelson at ten second intervals.

Bracken proved the best at handling the hills and wind, she she cruised home with a margin over Thompson of more than a minute and a half. Thompson, who finished as the first master runner, barely outhustled Nelson and Pennington, with Leathers finishing fifth. Recent mother Beth Weisenborn ran in her second club race of the month, this one solo.

The next club race will be the Bear Run Four Miler, to be held at noon on Sunday, January 30, at the Pleasant Valley Fire Hall in beautiful downtown Pleasant Valley. After the race there will be a Main Street Mile organization meeting at the ranch of Liuda Galinaitis, located near the finish line.