Ed Avol & Various Club Members
The Village Runner Fourth of July 5K saw
overcast skies, moderate temperatures, fast times, and lots of runners this year…and
Club Ed Runners were in the hunt, by the dozens.
The annual event was preceded by
presentation of a well-deserved Running Mentor/Coaching Award to El Camino’s
Dean Lofgren, whom many of us have run for, trained with, or chased in races
over the years. Additionally, the inaugural Pathfinder Award was presented to
Kayla Montgomery, a woman who has literally fought with her body (challenged by
multiple sclerosis since her early teens) to continue to race at a high and
competitive level – after hearing Kayla’s story, it’s hard to justify many of
our own trivial excuses for not running.
When the race gun fired, thousands
charged the Redondo course. Almost 2100 runners crossed the finish line, with
many of our Club Ed racers placing or winning age group divisional
designations.
Highlights included:
·
Stewart
Harwell showed us that all that sprinting around the track pays off, by
finishing 3rd overall in 15:04;
·
Cheyne
Inman served notice that he is on the comeback, running 16:17, good for 11th
overall;
·
Aaron
Munger demonstrated that chasing his young sons is helping his turnover,
stepping out in 16:44 and finishing 18th overall;
·
Mark
Shalvarjian gave all 5K runners a one-minute head-start by hanging out in the
restroom when the race began, but he then proceeded to run most of us down from
behind, zig-zagging his way through the pack to finish in 19:07;
·
Coach
Ed thought he had “beaten” upcoming racer Evelyn Bahurinsky by passing her late
in the race, not knowing that Evelyn was doggedly tracking him to the
finish…and based on chip timing, Evelyn actually beat the Coach by 2 seconds;
·
Mitch
Middler PR-ed by 50 seconds, moved to an older age group…and finished four
places farther back in the new age group (proving once again older does not
necessarily mean slower); Sue Reinhardt celebrated moving into her new age
group (W70-74) by demolishing her competition and winning by five minutes;
·
Not
to be outdone, the amazing Sharon Lotesto demonstrated that the new hip and
mended meniscus are working just fine, winning her division by SIX minutes;
·
Speaking
of new hips, phenomenal triathlete Bill Macleod paced the run in 20:57 – just
FOUR MONTHS after his hip replacement (… judging from the racing of Sharon and
Bill, maybe we all should consider hip replacements?);
·
Steve
Notaro used a good luck kiss from wife Cindy to motivate himself to beat Marty
Friedman in the M65-69 division (maybe we should all consider a kiss to
motivate our racing?);
·
Tamar
Gamliel finished in 21:05, 40 seconds faster than her St. Patrick’s Day 5K and
just seven months post-baby #2;
·
Dave
Boland, supported by the wild cheering of his four kids and wife, blazed in at
18:33, then returned the wild cheering as his kids ran in the assorted kiddie
races that followed the 5K…
·
Patty
Humphrey thought she ran a new PR 5k yet to find that based on chip timing, she
was off by 40 seconds…
·
Lots
more stories, lots of achievements, lots of praise for you all!