The Blarney Stone 5K went off without a hitch last night. 800 runners traversing the Pedestrian Bridge and by all accounts everyone loved the experience. You’ll get to run the same course on June 11 at the Big Blue Run. The River City Yacht Club is a near perfect venue, we’ll do our best to match last night’s after party. Last night was FREE beer & Pizza, insert your own stellar superlatives. I hope everyone enjoyed my bro mixing and scratching his turntable, it ignited my hips and I just barely avoided adding Nebraska to the list of states that I am banned from dance floors.
Race Director Mike Ewoldt granted me the privilege of having a bike on the course, this allowed me a preview and also gave me the best seat in the house to see the race develop. And boy oh boy was I smiling as the winner came down the finish stretch. Chas Davis had won this race I think 8 or 9 times since I’ve been in Omaha. Always in his leprechaun outfit, puffing on his green pipe, sprinting away from our Good Mates that dared challenge him. Chas is a good guy and has worn the giant bullseye for several years, The Man To Beat if our mates are on the right track. Bryan Felker did just that.
If you click on our Flickr tab to the right you can see the post race interview I conducted with “Chubs” as he is affectionately known. Our camerman provides an interesting angle. Bryan returned Saturday from Spring Break in Hong Kong and was fortunate enough to catch a flight out of Narita Airport in Tokyo the day after the devastating calamity. We continue our meditations for those suffering, especially friends made while in Chiba, Tokyo, and Yokohama.
Back to the race. I could tell it was going to be a real battle as the pair descended the bridge onto the Iowa side stride for stride. Just past the turnaround Bryan threw in a mini surge and gapped Chas by about ten seconds, a margin he would not increase nor yield for the remaining half of the race. I kept glancing over my shoulder, imagining Chas just licking his chops waiting to turn on his famed finishing kick and gobble up Bryan. I’ve seen Chas make up :10 in a hundred meters before. But not this time! Bryan held on to take the win 16:21 to Chas’s 16:34. Chubs has been training hard prepping for the Lincoln Marathon, this race should give him quite the confidence boost.
The highly anticipated duel in the Women’s 45-49 age division turned out to be just that. Not only did our TNB matriarch win that division and 1st overall master, Linda Barnhat’s 20:51 was good enough for 3rd Overall! But it didn’t come easily as another of Nebraska’s toughest female masters and 45-49 age group phenom Sarah Fredrickson was just :09 back in 21:00. Nothing like a little Friendly Competition to make a Fun Time all the more so. I’m impressed that Linda has won both the LC10K and BS5K masters titles on roughly 20 miles/week as she transitions from track to roads. Hmmm….
Complete results can be found at www.onlineraceresults.com
Hope you got to see our Ni-Bthaska-Ke Trail Run ad in last Sunday’s OWH. Look also in this week’s LJS, you won’t find it in the funny pages. We are over 250 entrants already, this will be the biggest edition yet. We look forward to showing everyone another Great Time. Still plenty of time to register, www.trailrun.digbro.com
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