Club Ed Racers (Successfully) Return to Anaheim, By Ed Avol
On Saturday, June 14, under an overcast but humid morning, our South Bay group made a brief visit to the 15th Annual Northgate Anaheim 5K, to test themselves on the streets near the Magic Kingdom. Last year, several in the group had raced in Anaheim and pronounced this as “a fast course” and “one not to miss.”…so we came, we saw, we conquered (sort of).
The course is a flat and fast run around downtown Anaheim, with long straightaways (the first one is over a mile long), lots of competition, and a nice post-race booth area for snacks and drink. Several clubs (Cal Coast, Snail’s Pace, Southern California Road Racing, Jamul’s Toads) as well as schools were represented…and so was Club Ed Running.
The race was won by Sydney Gidabuday in 14:43, so there was definitely some speed present on race day. Our team was led by Aaron Munger who captured first Club Ed honors for the day and a new PR (16:03), just holding off a quickly closing Humberto Sanchez (16:06). Fast-improving Bill Weber (16:54) showed more of his impressive potential, winning his age group and setting a new PR. Down the final straightaway, Kate Myers (17:12) and Jon Megeff (17:13) fought it out, with Kate getting the lean at the tape. Billy Crader (17:32) finished just seconds ahead of a quickly improving Rich Gust (17:35). Nathalie Higley (17:51) won her age group, even though she felt like she is still a recovery-in-progress. Carrying the club gear and closing the gap, Coach Ed showed he, too, is slowly improving, finishing in 19:26, which was good enough to cover the geezer category.
We all thought the race was well-done and would return to run again…hope to see more of you in Anaheim next June!