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Mayberry 4-mile Trot, 18 November 2007.
Taylor, McCubbin Win at Mayberry.

On a chilly, dark morning Ryan Taylor and Tina McCubbin provided the light as they powered their way through the last mile to capture first place in the Mayberry Four Mile Run.

In the club's first attempt to use the course since last summer's Twilight Series finale, which was shortened from 8K to 4K to reduce the wrath of oncoming thunderstorms, Taylor and Tom Yinger led a field of twenty-three runners and three dogs (more about the woofs later) from the parking lot at Runnymede Elementary onto Bear Run Road. As they reached the director approved first mile mark, Taylor's time of 5:50 placed him twelve seconds ahead of Yinger, with John Way, Bill Kelvey, and James Moreland also in the top five.

By the time that the lead runners reached the three mile mark on the rolling out-and-back course, a number of interesting duels had deverloped. Taylor's time of 18:53 put him only four seconds ahead of Yinger, while masters runners Kelvey and Way were also separated by the same amount.

In the last mile, with a noticeable rise comprising a large portion of that distance, Taylor--a sophomore at Westminster High School, who finished second at Union Mills two weeks ago and participated at the state high school cross-country meet last weekend--added fourteen seconds to his lead over Yinger to finish comfortably in front. In the same fashion Kelvey added nine seconds to his lead over Way to finish third overall as the first masters runner. The good news for Moreland was that he worked successfully to remain ahead of Joe Loveland for fifth place in the male division. The bad news was that he could not catch Tina McCubbin for fifth place overall.

After McCubbin passed the one mile mark in 6:45, slightly ahead of Ashley Baker and Sherry Clower, she increased her margin during the middle of the race, producing a nineteen second lead over Baker and a thirty-three second lead over Clower at the three mile mark, which she passed in 21:19. As was the case with both Taylor and Kelvey, she laid down the hammer during the last mile, finishing fifth overall forty-eight seconds ahead of Baker and fifty seconds ahead of Clower, who almost caught Baker for second. Lisa Hughes finished fourth as the first female masters runner.

The club's resident state trooper, Jon Hill, arrived in his other, civilian car for this race. Prior to the start of the event, he received his age group award for a race run in Eldersburg on Labor Day, now almost three and a half months ago. At that time his reason for leaving before the race officials--not connected with the WRRC--slowly, eventually, and in some cases incorrectly determined who won what, was that his dogs needed to go home. Today he unveiled a trio of running companions, including the "puppy" of the group, whose paws are the largest seen this side of a Saint Bernard.

Starting at the back of the pack, the group worked its way to the middle by the end of the race, finishing thirteenth. With the next race--the Burk Memorial Run, to be held at 9:00 am on Saturday, December 1--using some narrow trails though woods, runners are warned to be either well in front of or well behind them when running on those trails. If you get knocked down, you are likely to be mightily drenched with affectionate but wet dog drool as you try to regain your feet and sense of direction.