Williamsburg
Area Running
Ford's
Colony
2002
Ruiz Breaks Course Record at Ford's Colony 8K Run
By Rick Platt
There may never have been a more casual course recordbreaking performance than
that turned in by Jamestown High School senior BryceRuiz Saturday morning at
the Ford's Colony Run for Shelter 8K. Almost every indicator dictated against
a best-ever time for the Colonial Road Runners Grand Prix event.
The previous record of 25:31 was a strong one, set by Tommy Holland, 25, of
Virginia Beach in 1998, when Holland was one of the top roadracers in Virginia.
Ruiz ran the race Saturday in his regular Adidas training shoes (as opposed
to faster racing flats). His father Brent, who coaches Bryce according to the
well-respected Jack Daniels training program, told Bryce to go out slow, then
run each mile a bit faster than the previous one. Bryce, 19, was not even aware
of what the course record was, and he didn't sprint at the finish. His only
goal was to have a weekend training run with some company, rather than running
by himself. Bryce also had to uphold bragging rights within the family, as little
brother Blake, 8, earlier won the one mile fun run in 7:18, and told Bryce he
now had to win, too.
Although he went out a bit faster than planned (an opening 5:11mile), Bryce
averaged under 5:08 per mile for the 4.97-mile distance, and finished in 25:29,
two seconds under the previous mark. Michael Mann, 33, of Hampton and Andre
Smith, 29, of Hayes kept up with Ruiz for the first two miles, before falling
back. Mann was second in 26:09, smashing John Piggott's 30-34 age group race
record by 46 seconds. Smith, the 2001 CRR Grand Prix champion, was third in
26:51, 45 seconds faster than his winning time from last year's Ford's Colony
race. Mann, who won the Jamestown High School Swamp Run 5K two weeks earlier,
currently leads the 2002 Grand Prix with 19 point (Smith issecond with 17).
The next race is the Queens Lake 5K Run on April 6 at New QuarterPark. Ruiz
will now turn his attention to the outdoor track season for Jamestown High.
After running a personal record 9:17 for two miles at the national high school
indoor track championships two weeks earlier in Maryland, his goal for outdoors
is to come as close as possible to the magic 9:00 mark for the 3,200 meters
(a distance about three seconds shorter than two miles). Bryce plans to attend
North Carolina State with studies in their design engineering program.
In the women's race at Ford's Colony, Williamsburg's Alison Holinka won her
tenth Colonial Road Runners race in ten attempts, winning by over four minutes.
Holinka ran a 30:27 (well off her own course record of 28:37 from 2001), with
Masters runners Sherry Volk, 41, of Williamsburg (34:41) and Carol Talley, 47,
of Toano (34:47) in second and third.
There were 160 finishers in the various events, 97 in the 8K run, 35 in the
5K walk, 18 in the 5K fun run, and 10 in the one mile fun run. The race walks
were won by George Fenigsohn, 54, of Poquoson (28:26) over Harry Watson, 60,
of Suffolk (28:29) for the men, and the appropriately-named Linda Walker, 47,
of Lancaster (38:02) over Beverly McElroy, 48, of Quinton (42:56) for the women.
The lowkey 5K fun run was won by Ben Smith, 24, of Norfolk (19:29) over Andrew
Owen, 15, of Williamsburg (19:56), and by Monika Henn, 13, of Williamsburg (24:41)
over Marie King, 20, of Williamsburg (26:19). Henn's time was a 5K fun run record
for the women.
Age group records in the 8K were set by Bryce Ruiz (men 15-19, 25:29), Michael
Mann (men 30-34, 26:09), Lindsay Kent (girls 14-and-under, 34:51), Joan Coven
(women 60-64, 37:55) and Nancy Patron (women 65-and-over, 45:07). For Coven,
it was her 20th Colonial Road Runners race age-group record, tieing her with
Rick Platt for the most CRR records (Andrew Polansky and Tom Ray are next with
12 each). The Ford's Colony Run for Shelter is organized by, and benefits Housing
Partnerships. Drew Mulhare of the host Ford's Colony presented a $4,000 donation
check to Nayda Pophal of Housing Partnerships at the race awards ceremony.