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Mt. Airy Flag Day 5K

Furst Sets Record at Mt. Airy Run.

On the tenth anniversary of the Mt. Airy Flag Day 5K, now named in honor of former mayor Jerry Johnson, Eric Furst of Catonsville, running for the Howard County Striders in Columbia, hattered the course record by over a minute on June 17.

Running on a sunny but not yet hot morning, Furst and Frederick resident Dickson Mercer led a field of one hundred ten runners west from the Mt. Airy Elementary School, reaching the one mile mark in a time of 5:00. Trailing by twenty seconds at that point was high school runner Tristan Dickison, with Dennis Coleman, who set the course record of 17:10 in 2002, Denny Snyder, and Sherry Stick, who became the first female to win the race in 2005, within a few seconds of Dickison.

Halfway through the one mile circle which comprises most of the second mile, Furst surged up the hilliest portion of the course to settle any doubts as to the identity of the eventual winner. His time of 10:00 at the two mile mark gave hime a twelve second lead over Mercer, with everyone else more than a minute behind.

On the return to the Elementary School, Furst continued to extend his lead, finishing in 16:01, winning by twenty-six seconds and eclipsing Coleman's record by over a minute. Mercer, who finished in 16:27, also broke the record, and Coleman, who won his age group at the Father's Day 5K in Towson the next day, finished third as the first masters runner.

Snyder, who passed Dickson in the second mile, finished fourth, and Neal Riemenschneider, who has been relegated to umpiring Babe Ruth games now that the minor league umpire strike has been settled, finished as the sixth male and the first in the 50-59 age category.

Although Stick was not able to repeat her winning performance of last year, she ran near the front of the pack for the whole race, winning the female division by nearly four minutes. She finished fifth overall in what would be the second of three races during a four day period. From Thursday to Sunday her 5K time dropped from 19:00 to 18:13. If she could continue that trend through the summer, she would be approaching world-class status by Labor Day.

Stephanie Kramer led the rest of the female contingent, with Liganore high school student Emily Main and Westminster High school student Ali Thompson trailing by a half-minute. Char Thompson, Ali's mother, finished eighth as the first masters runner.

Nine year old Lauren Knight and eight year old Brian Cave finished at the front of the one mile Kids Run in 7:30 and 7:42, respectively.

Proceeds from the race, ably directed by Dan Strayton, were donated to the St. Jude's Hospital.