Kelly Fritchman 5K draws 248 runners
The third annual Kelly J. Fritchman Memorial 5K went off with a bang July 14, literally. Pirates Pete Hartsock and Woody Mardenwald fired off a Naval cannon to start the race, causing runners to jump back before moving forward. But that didn't stop 19-year-old Josh Hayman of Bear from logging a quick winning time of 16:43, a 5:24-mile pace.
Hayman, a soon-to-be sophomore at the University of Delaware, runs for the club track and field team. UD demoted the men's track and field team to club status in 2011 to comply with Title IX. Hayman runs the mile and half mile events at UD and uses cross country as training in the off season.
Despite his running background, Hayman said he didn't expect to win the Fritchman 5K.
"To be honest, no I didn't," he said. "I've actually been injured all summer. This is the longest I've run all summer, but I've been trying to get back into it. I was surprised how good I felt. I've been trying to stay in shape as good as I can, and I guess it paid off."
Just like many of the 248 runners in the event, Hayman had a connection to Kelly Fritchman, who died at 32 in 2009 of cystic fibrosis. Hayman's father, John, coached Fritchman on the UD women's swim team for four years.
The race benefited the Kelly J. Fritchman Swimming Scholarship, which has raised more than $28,000 toward its goal of $50,000. The scholarship is awarded to a male or female UD swimmer who displays the characteristics of courage, spirit, determination, strength, competitiveness and inspiration.
Finishing second in the event was Wilmington native Michael Fucci, a 23-year-old marathon runner who's attending Duke University to get his master's in public policy. He finished 40 seconds behind Hayman at 17:03.
"I went to George Washington, and while there I got really into triathlons and half ironmans, stuff like that," he said. "I'm more of an endurance guy, and this is just to have some fun on the weekends."
Recent Cape grad Ali Coning was the top runner in the women's race with a time of 21:14. The race was just a warm-up for the day, as Coning had to skip out on the post-race fun to get to work on time.
