Hair of the Dog 5K and 10K races shed New Year's Day friendship

The New Year’s Day 2016 Hair of the Dog 10K and 5K races in Bethany Beach attracted 196 10K runners followed by a 5K contingent of 539 striders, including a kaleidoscope of dog breeds with some owners racing their own dogs to the finish line. The weather was cloudy and 40 degrees with little or no wind.

Dan Knepper, 35, of Chambersburg, Pa., was the overall winner of the 10K in 36:16. Rounding out the top five male finishers were second overall and masters winner Tim Schluer, 52, in 36:32; Kyle Jones in 36:34; Joey Andrisani, 33, in 36:40; and Chris Racine in 39:09.

The top five leaderboard for women in the 10K were 45-year-old Bridget Maybud in 41:20; Jaime Holmers in 42:26; Meryl Ludwig, 50, masters winner, 43:19; Christine Stanley in 43:39; and Mardiny Ung in 44:31.

Mardiny Ung, 49, and several other diehard runners returned to the starting line and also ran the 5K race, which began at 10 a.m. after the 8:45 start in the 10K.

Local notable Tracey Duffy, 36, a former Cape athlete, ran 54:49.

Tristan Dutton, just 11, from Bishopville, Md., ran 50:26, which is an 8:07 mile pace for 6.2 miles.

Andrew Gorlich of Milton ran 40:15, then ran the 5K in 21:42.

Mike Firch, the smiling Sussex Tech school counselor, ran the 10K in 48:21 and came back to run the 5K in 25:14.

The 5K race was won by Aaron MacGray, 31, from Cumberland, Md., in 17:57 followed by Johan Duba in 18:06; Tim Schuler, 52, 18:17, who also ran the 10K; Andrew Finlayson in 18:31; and Greg Cauller, the York County calculus teacher and cross country runner, in 18:41.

The women’s race was won by Boston College runner by way of Charter,  Amanda Rickert in 18:56. She was followed by Lynn Knothe in 21:45, Kendell Savage in 22:01, Mardiny Ung in 22:54 and Kristin Gill in 23:15.

The 5K race had nine male runners under the age of 9 and was won by Finn Ramnarain in 24:43.

The next Races2Run event is the Lucky Leprechaun 5K in Milton at Irish Eyes Pub Sunday, March 13.