Strides for Health & Fitness 5K‘No surprise’ Sober sets 5K course record

‘No surprise’ Sober sets 5K course record
Saucony runner shatters 2007 standard; DeWitt earns men’s title

By Kevin Spradlin
TriStateRunnur.com

BOWLING GREEN, Aug. 14 - It wasn’t a statement of discontent or event a hint of anything other than respect and admiration.

It also was an impression of the obvious.

As McHenry resident Jen Sober approached the finish line of the fourth annual Strides for Health & Fitness 5K run Saturday, one spectator simply couldn’t help expressing what likely was on the minds of many.

“That’s no surprise.”

It was no surprise that, with the 37-year-old in the field, she’d be first. No one was taken aback when she stopped the clock in 19 minutes and 12 seconds - a full 47 seconds ahead of the previous course record. Maureen Hall, of LaVale, established what was - until Saturday - the standard for female runners on the flat, out-and-back road run in 2007, the event’s first year.

In the fourth year Sober - in her first effort on the course - thought nothing of breaking the old mark at the race, sponsored by Progressive Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine Clinic in the Upper Potomac Industrial Park south of Cumberland.

It didn’t hurt that Sober and the 107 other 5K finishers had unusually cool temperatures for a mid-August race. The 8:30 a.m. race start was highlighted by a comfortable 70-degree reading.

Sober easily outdistanced Amy Rowan, 30, of Cumberland, for first place. Rowan was second in the women’s field - and 27^th overall - in 21:01. No doubt her 4-mile jaunt up and down Polish Mountain last week with the Mountain Maryland Marathon Club, an effort which earned her a first-place finish, sapped some speed from her legs on Saturday.

Third in the women’s standings was Lydia Valenta, 18, with a time of 21:30. Paula Bridges was fifth in 22:31 and the first 40-and-over woman to cross the finish line.

Frostburg resident Dan DeWitt, 22, defended his title handily with a time of 16:30, 16 seconds of last year’s time in which he established the course record. Veteran Dennis Mickey, 45, of Ridgeley, W.Va., was a distant second in 17:32. Woody Snoberger, 25, also of Ridgeley, was third in 17:35. Snoberger barely held off Taven Rohrbaugh, 17, who finished in 17:37.