Howard County Striders Racing Team: Striders Shine in Summer Races

One of the hottest and most humid summers on record was no match for Striders racing team members, who logged some epic race times, wins and PRs from late June through mid-September.

Since our last blog post, which chronicled races up to the Women's Distance Festival, Striders racers have represented at 20 races!! The first group included:

John Chall took first M60-69 in the Miles that Matter Pikesville 5K on June 16th at 20:22 and came in first overall at the Hayden's Heros 5K on June 23rd at 20:32.
Eric Schuler came in first overall in the Mongoos Scamper 10K on June 22nd at 36:56.
Louise Valentine came in 12th overall in the Baltimore Women's Classic 5K at 21:08 on August 23rd.
Jason Liu came in second overall, won first in the 40-49 age group and earned a PR for his 5:14 performance in the Coolest (not really) Mile on Main Street on June 30th.

Racing team members sizzled on the hyper-humid, hilly Arbutus Firecracker 10K on July 4th, garnering several awards including:

Hannah Cocchiaro came in first among all women with a time of 37:47.
Jason Tripp came in first in the 47-40 age group with a time of 36:43.
Mark Landree came in second in the same age group wit a time of 37:29.
James Blackwood snagged third in the 31-34 age group at 38:50.
Dave Berardi captured 2nd in the 55-58 age group at 44:06.
Adam Sachs came in 7th overall male at 35:27.
Kevin Ford placed 10th overall male at 36:06.
Caroline Bauer came in 4th overall female and first in the 35-38 age group with a time of 40:23.
Debbie Cohen came in first in the 59-62 age group with a time of 59:03.

Our presence was also strong at the Annapolis 10-miler on August 25th, with much more favorable temps for the season. Julia Roman-Duval took first overall female with a time of 57:47, while Caroline Bauer earned 2nd place with a time of 1:01:37. Other A-10 highlights included:

Andrew Madison, 5th place overall at 56:38.
Adam Sachs, 6th place overall and 1st M20-24 at 57:27.
Eric Schuler, 8th place overall and 2nd M25-29 at 57:33.
Mark Buschman, 12th overall and 1st M35-39 at 58:07.
Craig Lebro, 14th overall and 3rd M30-34 at 59:02.
Jason Tripp, 19th overall and 2nd Master at 1:00:53.
Akintunde Morakinyo, 66th overall and 1st M55-59 at 1:07:03.
Also turning in strong performances were James Blackwood, 1:10:03 Faye Weaver, 1:16:18; Deb Taylor, 1:18:08; and Tammy Liu, 1:21:04.

The following weekend, on August 31st at the Charles Street 12 miler, two of our runners earned PRs: Kevin Ford, who came in 3rd overall with a time of 1:07:40, and Louise Valentine, who came in 22nd at 1:27:44.

On the same day, Carlos Renjifo came in 2nd overall at the Ellicott City Labor Day 10K with a time of 34:39, joined by James Blackwood who came in 6th overall and first in his age group at 39:30, and Tammy Liu, who took 4th overall among women and first in her age group at 50:00.

The Parks Half Marathon also saw a lot of strong performances, wins and PRs by Strider racers, including:

Julia Roman-Duval, 1st place overall female and a PR at 1:15:45.
Selvi Rajagopal, 3rd place overall female and a PR at 1:20:45.
Caroline Bauer, 6th overall female at 1:22:40.
Amanda Beal, Lindsay Pickett, and Jason Liu also PR'd with times of 1:28:54, 1:35:41, and 1:23:40, respectively.

Other summer racing highlights included:

Faye Weaver earned a PR of 27:50:41 (yes, that's 27 hours of running!) in the Vermont 100 Mile Endurance Run on July 20th.
Jason Liu came in first, completing 41.12 miles at the Endless Summer 6-hour Run on July 27th and also took 6th the Maryland Heat Race 50K on August 17th at 5:46:16.
Amanda Beal came in first at the Summer Sizzler 5K on August 4th with a time of 19:33.
Kevin Ford took first at the Outrun Cancer 5K with a time of 17:17 on August 4th and came in 5th in the Dreaded Druid Hills 10K on August 17th with a time of 35:44.
Conrad Orloff was the first male master at the Erie Marathon on Sept. 8th and 12th overall with a time of 2:46:59. Faye Weaver also served as a pacer for the 3:55 group.
Brian Shadrick came in first in his age group and 6th overall at the Police Pace 5K on September 8th with a time of 18:38.
Mark Landree came in 3rd overall and PR'd at the Donate Life 5K on September 14th with a time of 16:37.
Louise Valentine PR'd at the Philadelphia Rock N Roll Half Marathon on September 15 with a time of 1:35:39.