Russian Twins Tie for First at 25th annual Anheuser-Busch Colonial
Half Marathon
Anna Pichrtova Wins Third Consecutive Women's Title
By Rick Platt
It was a European sweep at the 25th annual Anheuser-Busch Colonial Half Marathon
Sunday afternoon at William and Mary Hall. Russian twins Dmitry and Aleksander
Kapitonov, 35, based out of Gaithersburg, Md., had an easy time in the men's
race, running together the entire way and crossing the finish line in 1:08:07.
Anna Pichrtova, 30, of the Czech Republic, but based out of Wayneboro, won her
third consecutive title in the women's division with an impressive 1:16:08,
equalling the second-fastest time in race history. Pichrtova has both the race
and course records with her 1:15:02 from the 2002 Colonial Half. The 1:16:08
was the same time that Inge Schuurmans of Boulder, Colo. ran in the 1994 Colonial
Half. That time is the record for the previous Colonial Parkway/Route 199 course.
Due to traffic concerns on Route 199, the course was changed to the considerably
hillier and slower Carter's Grove Country Road/Kingsmill course in 1998. The
half marathon, as well as the accompanying 3 mile run, finishes inside William
and Mary Hall. There were 1,171 finishers in the half marathon and 235 finisher
in the 3 mile, with a total of 1,809 entrants.
Pichrtova became the first three-time Colonial winner for the women. Schuurmans
was the only other multiple female winner (1987 and 1994). For the men Steve
Taylor (the race record holder at 1:04:39 from 1991) is a three-time winner
(1991, 1993, 1996), while Gordon Christie (1987-88) and Kibet Cherop (2000,
2003) were two-time champions. Mark Andrews retains the record (1:05:46 from
1998) for the current course.
Ultramarathoner Michael Wardian, 29, of Arlington, who had run the U.S. Olympic
Trials Marathon in Birmingham, Ala. two weeks earlier in 2:22:40 (33rd place),
then had a 23-mile Saturday long run the day before Colonial, understandably
did not have fresh legs, yet was still third overall in 1:09:22. Two other Northern
Virginia runners completed the top five--Christopher Dean, 29, of Alexandria
(1:11:46) and Thomas McCarney, 28, of Arlington (1:12:28).
Chuck Moeser, 52, of Sterling was ninth overall in 1:15:39, and was the Masters
(ages 40-and-over) male winner for the third time (1994, 2003 and 2004), while
Cecilia Lutz, 43, of Reston was the Masters female winner with her 10th-place
overall 1:29:36.
The battle for local honors went to Williamsburg's John Piggott, 38, the Lafayette
High track coach, who pulled away from Hampton's Michael Mann, 35 for a sixth-place
1:12:54 to Mann's seventh (1:13:27). The top four (Kapitonov twins, Wardian
and Dean) were in the early lead pack, with the next group including Piggott,
Mann, McCarney and Moeser. Moeser fell off around two miles, then Mann couldn't
handle a surge by McCarney around six miles. Piggott hung on for two more miles,
before McCarney pulled away. Mann, a two-time Colonial Road Runners Grand Prix
champion, said, "The course is tough and I have never been able to get
a consistent rhythm any year. My mile splits are always all over the place."
He has only been training for seven weeks after hernia surgery in December,
and didn't wear racing flats.
For the women, Jane Maxwell, 23, of Charlottesville came from behind to catch
Casey Smith, 24, of Arlington for second place (1:18:46 to 1:18:52). Maxwell
was the Atlantic Coast Conference 10,000-meter champion in 2003, and recently
completed her collegiate eligibility with the fall 2003 cross country season
for the University of Virginia. Prize money went three deep for the men and
women--$500-300-200.
Pichrtova, Maxwell and Williamsburg's Kathy Newberry were in the women's lead
pack through two miles, before Pichrtova pulled away. Maxwell and Newberry continued
together until six miles, when Newberry (who was only using the race as a training
run for the World Cross Country Championship in March) slowed to her intended
pace. Smith caught Maxwell at eight miles, but Maxwell stayed closed and passed
her back at 12 miles. Newberry said, "I was supposed to do it as a long
run and I think I got a little too caught up in the competition, and didn't
realize how fast I went out until the first mile (5:45). Then I thought that
I felt good, why not keep going. At around six miles I started to feel the mile
repeats we did on Friday and had to slow down to my regular maintenence/long
run pace (6:40's)." Newberry (who finished fifth in 1:22:08) is the fiancee
of W&M men's coach Alex Gibby. The race is organized by the W&M track
team, along with the W&M Special Events office, with finish line and results
by the Peninsula Track Club.
Alison Holinka, 25, of Chapel Hill, N.C., one of the pre-race favorites, and
the last runner to beat Pichrtova at Colonial (Holinka won the 2001 race in
1:17:34), had breathing problems throughout due to bronchitis, and had to drop
out at 10 miles. Pichrtova will be running the Los Angeles Marathon in two weeks,
with the goal of breaking 2:37 and qualifying for the Czech team to the Athens
Olympics. Dmitry Kapitonov will also be running the Los Angeles Marathon, while
older brother (by 10 minutes) Aleksander will go to the Boston Marathon in April.
Race age group records were broken by Moeser for men 50-54 (1:15:39, bettering
his previous mark of 1:16:09 from last year), and by Sharon Giese, 61, of Richmond,
VA for women 60-64 (1:45:09, smashing by almost 12 minutes the previous mark
of 1:57:02 by Tami Graf in 1997). Pichrtova tied the race record for women 30-34
with her 1:16:08 (equalling the record of Schuurmans).
The Colonial Half attracts runners from throughout the Middle Atlantic states
and around the U.S. (helping to fill Williamsburg hotel rooms during the off-peak
season), yet local runners win a disproportionate share of the age-group awards.
Besides Piggott, Mann and Newberry in the overall top ten, there were ten local
age-group first places in the half marathon--W&M sophomore Bert Jacoby (men
20-24, 1:16:54), Rob Hinkle (men 35-39, 1:17:00), Jim Bates (men 45-49, 1:19:23),
Rick Platt (men 50-54, 1:23:14), Bob Spencer (men 60-64, 1:36:10), W&M freshman
Mary Litton (women 19-and-under, 1:43:47), W&M senior Meredith Faulkner
(women 20-24, 1:34:22), former Tabb runner Marie Knight (women 25-29), Linda
Peters (women 55-59, 1:46:57) and Patsy Ewell (women 70-and-over, 2:26:35).
Other area age-group award winners were W&M junior Ryan Stevens (3rd, men
20-24, 1:18:54), Brian Heidt (2nd, men 25-29, 1:23:30), Henry Gleisberg (2nd,
men 45-49, 1:24:03), George Neil (3rd, men 55-59, 1:29:09), Mike Kelly (2nd,
men 70-and-over, 1:52:27), Katharine Waterman (3rd, women 19-and-under, 1:53:43),
Janet (Adams) Waren (2nd, women 30-34, 1:36:00), Carol Talley (2nd, women 45-49,
1:38:23), and Sylvia Boecker (2nd, women 60-64, 2:15:41).
In the three mile, Michael Porter, 19, of Hyattsville, Md. won in 15:26 over
Adam Canning, 18, of Williamsburg (15:51). Williamsburg's Jim Goggin ran his
first race as a 50-year-old and was second Master in 18:41. For the women Emily
Ward, 22, of Richmond won in 17:56 over W&M sophomore Laura Buchanan (18:08),
with Linda Sawvell of Newport News third (19:12). Linda Ingleson, 46, of Williamsburg
was first Master (21:19).