By Rick Platt
Pat Ewell, a 70-year-old female, and Chris Carter, a 23-year-old male, were two of the 11 race age-group recordbreakers last Saturday at the third annual New Quarter Park 6K Run in Williamsburg. While on opposite ends of the age spectrum, the two have more similarities than differences. Both have moved to Williamsburg in the past year and joined the Colonial Road Runners. In contrast to most of the other recordbreakers, Ewell and Carter set their first CRR marks this month.One main difference is that setting records is "old hat" for Ewell, who has set the women's age 65-69 records at both the Anheuser-Busch Colonial Half Marathon (a 2:25:21 at age 67 in the 2001 Colonial race) and the Pomoco Group/Hampton Coliseum Half Marathon (a 2:13:37 at age 66 in the 2000 Hampton race), and broke Virginia state women's 65-69 records for both the 8K distance (a 45:14 at age 65 in the 1998 Neptune Festival 8K in Virginia Beach) and the marathon (a 4:49:12 at age 65 in the 1999 Shamrock Marathon).
The New Quarter Park 6K had 106 finishers for the combined road and trail course
(approximately 1 3/4 miles out-and-back on the park entrance road, and two miles
out-and-back on a scenic fire trail through woods and meadows, with a scenic
view of the York River). Michael Mann, 34, of Hampton won his third CRR Grand
Prix race of the year with a 20:13, nineteen seconds slower than his 2002 race
record of 19:54. Jim Bates, 47, of Hampton was runnerup in 22:06, while Carter
cracked the top three overall in his first-ever CRR race with a 22:14 for the
3.72-mile distance.
On the women's side, Kris Wilson, 30, of Newport News won her second consecutive
CRR race, both in August (the other was an 18:47 at the Vineyards 5K). At New
Quarter Park, Wilson ran a 23:19, only the second female under 24 minutes for
the challenging course (the race record is Alison Holinka's 22:00 from 2001).
Completing the women's top three were Jennifer Quarles, 31, of Williamsburg
(24:45), the runaway CRR Grand Prix leader, and Carol Talley, 48, of Toano (26:50).
After seven (of ten) CRR Grand Prix races in 2003, Quarles has locked up the
title with 65 points, followed by Talley (34), Sherry Volk (26) and Wilson (20).
On the men's side Mann has a substantial lead, with 57 points, over Bates (42),
Jim Goggin (30) and Rick Platt (27). New Quarter Park 6K men's records were
broken by John Holt (14-and-under, 24:48), Chris Carter (20-24, 22:14), Rob
Vance (35-39, 24:14), Ned Berg (40-44, 22:16), Tom Ray (70-74, 28:28), Andrew
Polansky (75-and-over, 35:14) and Tom Gerhardt (walk, 38:04). Women's marks
were set by Jacquelyn Chantry (15-19, 31:05), Kris Wilson (30-34, 23:19), Nancy
Patron (65-69, 34:46) and Pat Ewell (70-and-over, 40:25).
The 60-and-over age categories for CRR race records have been dominated by just
four individuals, Tom Ray and Andrew Polansky for the men, and Joan Coven and
Nancy Patron for the women. Going into 2003, only five runners held more than
ten CRR race records--Coven (22 records), Rick Platt (19), Patron (15), Polansky
(14) and Ray (14). Both Ray (age 70) and Polansky (age 75) moved into new five-year
age brackets this year. While Ray has been breaking some of Polansky's 70-74
records, Polansky has added a bunch of 75-and-over marks in 2003.
Certain to be added to this age-group-domination list is Ewell, who turned 70
on July 7th, and already has two CRR 70-74 marks, including the all-time CRR
women's 70-74 5K record of 30:32 from the Vineyards 5K
(the previous best was 34:47 by Williamsburg's Julie Hotchkiss in 1998). Ewell
and her husband Sam (they were married at age 18) moved to Williamsburg last
December, after stays in Washington, D.C., Arlington, Roanoke, Charleston and
St. Albans in West Virginia, and Annapolis (Sam worked for AT&T), before
retiring to Virginia Beach, Smithfield and finally Williamsburg. Pat grew up
in Norfolk, where she attended Maury and Norview high schools. She has been
running for almost 30 years, and racing since the early 1990s, when a Department
of Justice co-worker convinced her to run a Crystal City race. "Then the
bug bit me," said Ewell. Growing up, Ewell always liked sports, including
baseball, volleyball and badminton.
She has run six marathons, three at Marine Corps (1998-2000) and
three at Shamrock (1997-99). It was three days before the 1998 Marine Corps
Marathon that an MRI showed breast cancer, and a mastectomy was needed. She
came back stronger than ever, setting the Virginia state record at the Shamrock
Marathon the following March. Never a high mileage runner, Ewell's maximum weekly
mileage was 36 miles per week, and now she runs just three days per week, along
with bicycling workouts. Her 5K PR was in the 24s, while in the 60-64 age group.
A relative running newcomer is Chris Carter, who started running eight years
ago during his sophomore year at Brooke Point High School in Stafford. At Brooke
Point he ran cross country, indoor and outdoor track his last three years, highlighted
by a AAA regional championship in the 3,200 meters his senior year. His high
school bests were 9:43 (3,200 meters), 4:19 (1,600 meters) and a 4 x 800-meter
relay split of 1:59.
Recruited to Christopher Newport University, Carter ran off-and-on (an iliotibial
band injury occasionally flared up) for four years at CNU, graduating in 2002
with a degree in sociology. His college highlights included selection to the
Mason-Dixon all-conference cross-country team (twice) and the all-Dixie Conference
cross-country team four times. His 8K cross country best was 26:24. In track
he made the all-conference team in the 5,000 meters (indoor and outdoor, with
a best around 16:12) and the 10,000 meters (with a PR in the mid-34's). While
at CNU, Carter worked a summer job four years as a naturalist on the Jamestown
Explorer tour boat, then decided to remain in Williamsburg after graduation
as night manager (3-11 p.m. shift) for the Governor Spottswood Motel on Richmond
Road.
This year's New Quarter Park race benefited the York County Historical Museum,
which opened up this year in York Hall in Yorktown. The York County Museum is
committed to advance the knowledge and understanding of the history of York
County and the Town of York through the preservation and presentation of historical
artifacts in a museum. Under the guidance of archeologist Hank Lutton, volunteers
continue work on artifacts from the Chiskiak Watch Artifact Collection. There
are also artifacts from Yorktown's past, including Native American tools, Colonial
Yorktown, Revolutionary and Civil War, and the 20th Century. The museum is open
Saturday and Sunday afternoons. This year's race was co-directed by Bonnie Karwac,
the board chairperson of the York County Historical Museum, and by Belinda Willis
of York County
(who is also the race director of the Queens Lake 5K in April). Approximately
$1,500 was raised through the 6K race to benefit the museum. Willis said, "We
achieved our goal of getting some funds, and raising public awareness for the
museum."