3.15: Hawkins wins Chambersburg Half; 4 locals PR

[kevinspradlin]

Hawkins wins Chambersburg Half; 4 locals set PRs

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. -- Jaron Hawkins won the 29th annual Chambersburg Half-Marathon Saturday in a personal record-setting time of 1 hour, 10 minutes and 31 seconds.

The race doubled as the RRCA Eastern Region Half-Marathon Championship. It was the second time Hawkins, 25, won the race. In 2006, Hawkins posted a winning time of 1:12:34. The Frostburg native collected two plaques and $100 for the victory.

Hawkins led a contingent of seven area runners in the competition, four of whom set personal records at the 13.1-mile distance.

Jeremy Rice, 26, of Frostburg, was 11th overall in 1:17:51 and edged David Mertz (13th, 1:17:57), set a PR and won an age group award. Hawkins, Rice and Mertz, 22, of Cumberland, all competed while wearing Cumberland Valley Athletic Club singlets.

Jim Jordan, 52, of LaVale, was second in the men's 50-54 category (30th, 1:29:35) and Luke Smith, 14, of Cumberland, placed 54th overall while winning his age division with a PR of 1:35:16. He ran 1:39:05 in his debut at the distance on Jan. 5 in Fairmont, W.Va.

Kevin Spradlin, 29, of Ellerslie, finished in 1:41:41 while Matt Fields, 28, of Hyndman, Pa., finished his half-marathon debut - an automatic PR - in 1:44:43.

Full results can be viewed at www.hagerstownruns.com. Race photos can be viewed at www.uscandids.com.

[flyinghighrunner]

Great job all!! Can't wait to see how Boston goes!

[frojoe23]

Thanks Matt, and thanks Kevin for the article - always nice to see.

Race went well - it was pretty windy and that is not fun on the back half of this course. Jeremy and Dave ran well and Luke was awesome - he gets best race performance for me. 1:35 over there is fantastic.

For me, it went pretty good - thought coming in that I had a shot at ub 1:10, but the wind was a little bit of a factor. I ran solo most of the way after taking the lead at two miles after some kid opened up with a 5:05 first mile - spent most of mile two bridging the gap. From there, I was on my own, but the competition over there was deep and I thought that I'd have a nice lead at halfway, but it was close (maybe 30 seconds).

I died coming back into the wind and had a real bad patch from 7-9 where I got some encouragement from Rob, but I really was able to knock out the last 4 miles - especially after Spinnler told me with 3 to go that I had to run 5:30's to get under 1:11 (I had just run 5:44 the previous mile, so it wasn't looking good), but I managed to focus again and hammer it out to the finish with my last mile being my fastest of the race.

Splits:

Mile 1: 5:16.97
Mile 2: 5:16.80 (10:33.77)
Mile 3: 5:31.79 (16:05.56) - nice uphill mile
Mile 4: 5:08.65 (21:14.21) - backside of the hill
Mile 5: 5:18.10 (26:32.31)
Mile 6: 5:19.94 (31:52.25)
Mile 7: 5:21.23 (37:13.48)
Mile 8: 5:27.08 (42:40.56) - starting to head into the wind
Mile 9: 5:44.66 (48:25.22) - yes, quite a let down at this point, thought I was done for sure
Mile 10: 5:27.84 (53:53.06)
Mile 11: 5:26.53 (59:19.59)
Mile 12: 5:24.50 (1:04.44)
Mile 13: 5:15 (1:10:00)
.1: :31 (1:10:31)

On another note, this is a challenging course and I don't think that Jeremy and Dave believed that until they ran it, so they can discuss their views of the conditions and what they thought of the course - maybe somebody will believe them!

[kevinspradlin]

I had a terrible race. Second time in two tries the course has beat me up. Next year I'll probably be a volunteer. Even though my race was shot long before I saw Rob, he was a great encouragement on the bike at a couple of places. It was good to see Luke a couple of times, too, and Jim and Matt near the turnaround point.

It's not pretty, but I'm all about full disclosure, so here goes:

1 - 6:25 (knowing the course as I do, I had serious reservations about a good race here. Started way too fast)
2 - 6:58
3 - 7:22
4 - 6:48 (27:23 - still okay - but felt pretty bad at this point)
5 - 7:13 (34:36, or 6:55 pace) (I knew here that my race was finished. I wanted to drop out)
6 - 7:28
7 - 7:13
8 - 7:44 (I'm in Chambersburg, right?)
9 - 8:22 (Pennsylvania - is that east coast or west coast?)
10 - 8:03 (oh, yeah, I remember I got hurt here a few years ago...)
11 - 8:53 (Wonder if that car'd pick me up and take me to the finish line)
12 - 9:17
13.1 - 10:02
1:41:41

Should have called it quits at 5, honestly, and put in a long run Sunday. Just a lousy day - and my second straight poorly executed long run, although for different reasons).

[flyinghighrunner]

Sorry to hear about your day Kevin. On another note though, thank you for the race write-ups making it into the paper. I haven't been any of these races, but it's nice to get some recognition as runners in the sports section.

[burgrunner]

Believe it or not, Jaron was telling the truth about this course (as a matter of fact, I think that it was more difficult than he led us to believe!) The start of the race was a little quicker than I anticipated as the field was much faster and deeper than in years past. I went throught the first mile in 5:35 with Dave right in front of me. As runners started to spread out, Dave and I, along with another guy (who ended up finishing between us) changed positions several times. Every time Dave or I made a surge, he went with that person. After the turn, it felt like there was a headwind all the way to the finish.

Around 3 miles out, Dave made a pretty strong push and the other guy went with him. My hamstrings were feeling really tight, so I didn't go. I ended up digging myself into a hole and fell about 30 seconds back. I did the quick math in my head and figured that I would have to run about 5:45's for the last 2 miles to be under 1:18. When I looked at my watch at Mile 12 I was just under 6:00 for that mile so I figured that I blew the 1:18, but I seemed to be making up a little ground on Dave and his buddy, who had just surged ahead. I caught and passed Dave on a downhill just about the time I spotted Jaron (who came back to YELL at us). Making the last left hand turn to the final stretch, I caught and went ahead of the other guy. I thought that when I passed him, I would be good to go but he decided to make a surge and he edged in front of me. I decided that I had to give it one final go, as I didn't have enough left to catch him if I fell any farther behind. I passed him again with a couple hundred meters to go and held him off to the finish.

The best thing that I got out of this race was the confidence that my last mile was my fastest, and that I had enough "get up" left to run that with the amount of miles that we have been putting in with no taper.

My Splits:
My Splits:
Mile 1- 5:35
Mile 2- 5:56
Mile 3- 6:09
Mile 4- 5:47
Mile 5- 6:00
Mile 6- 5:56
Mile 7- 5:57
Mile 8- 6:07
Mile 9- 6:23
Mile 10- 5:53
Mile 11- 5:56
Mile 12- 5:59
Mile 13- 5:30
Finish - 1:17:51

[kevinspradlin]

Message from race director (brief survey at bottom - please forward answers to Wayne Kretzer at [e-mail]
<br> </br>
Ladies and gentlemen, <br> </br>
I would personally like to thank each of you for participating in the 29th Annual Chambersburg Half Marathon. The weather was great. Temperature was about 45 degrees at race time with 10-11 mph winds. The race had it deepest field ever. 2 women broke the existing course record. Defending Champion and Course record holder Susan Graham -Gray finished 2nd in 1:21:48. That was 6 seconds under her previous course record. The new course record holder is Molly Pritz from Williamsport, Pa. She is a 19 yr old student at Bucknell University. She has set a standard of 1:21:01.
<br> </br>
The men's race was won by Jaron Hawkins of Frostburg, Md. His winning time of 1:10:31 is the 2nd fastest ever run on the course. The field was very tough and competitive.Last year, Susan was 5th with 1:21:54. This year , 6 seconds faster, she was only 17th. We had 292 finishers out of 317 entrants. many runners have said this is a great run to prepare for Boston.
<br> </br>
The link for the results is : Hagerstown Runs - Your Local Running Site . Pictures were also taken. That link is www.uscandids.com . The club is always looking to improve the race. Please fill out the questionnaire at the bottom. Every answer will be taken into deep consideration. I already have thoughts of putting gloves in runners packets, providing medals for finishers, offering performance shirts for an extra cost like most races, and I am fighting to get a half marathon website itself instead of the club website.

<br> </br>
We are having a follow-up meeting on March 25 at 7:00 pm at the Chambersburg Rec Center. We will discuss next years race. The sooner i get feedback the more i will have to take to the meeting. If there is someone you know that didn't give me an email, please share this with them so i may get as many opinions as possible. This will also help with me getting sponsors.

Thanks for a great run,
Wayne Kretzer, Jr. - [e-mail]
President-CRRC

1. Was this your first time running the Chambersburg Half Marathon?
If not, how many have you done?


2. Would you be willing to pay another $10 for a finishers medal?


3. Would cotton knit gloves with the logo on it be a nice addition to the race packets for no extra?


4. Do you like the website as is or would you rather see a race website separate?


5. Do you like the course as is or would you like to see it run in town more ?


6. Did you stay at a hotel?
If so, which 1?


7. Did you eat at any restaurants while in town for the race?
If so, which 1(s)?


8. If a pasta dinner was held the night before would you attend?
What if it was offered for $10?



9. What food or drinks would you like to see added to the aid stations?


10. What foods or drinks would you like to have as post race refreshments?


11. Will you recommend the race to friends?


12. Do you feel the date of the race and the course are good for a Boston warmup?


13. What suggestions,recommendations and /or criticisms would make the race better for the future?

[wvrunner]

Another great race gentleman. Looks like the group is ready for Boston. Keep up the great work.