Records ready to fall at Strides for Health & Fitness 5K

2007 results
2008 race page
2009 race page

Course records:
Men – Dan DeWitt, 16:14, 2009
Women – Maureen Hall, 19:59, 2007
Men’s Masters – Dennis Mickey, 17:11, 2009
Women’s Masters – Maureen Hall, 1959, 2007

Records ready to fall at Strides for Health & Fitness 5K
Saturday morning race in Cumberland defies geography, is mostly flat

By Kevin Spradlin
TriStateRunnur.com

CUMBERLAND – The logistics of the Strides for Health Fitness 5K run are amazingly simple.

The course begins in a traffic-controlled parking lot, the footrace is contested on a low-volume county road early on a Saturday morning and the flat course is accentuated by its novice-friendly out-and-back nature.

No wonder attendance has been on the rise in its first three years. And in quite a spectacular fashion. The 5K (3.1-mile) run, the 2-mile walk and the quarter-mile kids’ run all have a combined start at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday at Progressive Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine Clinic. The clinic is located in the Upper Potomac Industrial Park off U.S. Route 220 south of Cumberland.

Proceeds benefit two $1,000 scholarship for students of physical therapy assistance and certified occupational therapy assistance at Allegany College of Maryland.

The course begins at Progressive Physical Therapy and heads south toward the railroad tracks, which runners cross over before turning left onto Bowling Street. After a ever-so-slight incline, runners retrace their steps on the paved surface back to the starting line.

In 2007, a total of 21 runners and 11 walkers posted official finishes. In 2008, 5K participation more than tripled to 68 and the 2-mile walk finishers had 72 percent more than the year before.

Both marks were broken last year, the event’s third. 5K participation jumped another 63 percent to 111 finishers. Interest in the 2-mile walk mirrored the increase of the 5K and upped 63 percent to 31 finishers.

Projecting on that same progressive path, this year’s attendance could put 5K finishers over the 150 mark – making it one of the largest 3.1-mile runs in the area.

It’s also competitive. Last year’s winner, Dan DeWitt, of Frostburg, reset the course record in a powerful 16 minutes and 14 seconds. The nearest competitor was Dennis Mickey, of Ridgeley, W.Va. Then at age 44, Mickey broke Tony Yurko’s masters record of 17:34 by 23 seconds. His time of 17:11 is currently the standard for men 40-and-over who toe the starting line this weekend.

The women’s race is no less competitive. Maureen Hall, of LaVale, set the course record in the race’s inaugural year in a time of 19:59. Last August, Cumberland resident Amy Rowan came oh-so-close. She earned the women’s victory in 2009 in 20:00 – edged out of tying the record by a single second.

Hall also owns the women’s masters record, having run that 19:59 at the age of 42. Of the four marks, it’s the standard least likely to be challenged this Saturday.

Packet pick-up and race-day registration is from 7 a.m. to 8:15 a.m. with an 8:30 a.m. race start for all three distances.

There is a cash reward of $100 each to the men’s and women’s overall winners and $50 each to the men’s masters and women’s masters winners. In addition, the top three finishers in each age group – 10-and-under, 15-19, 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59 and 60-and-over – will be recognized.

For more information, contact race director Crystal Yoder at 301-268-2797.