Rodriguez, Montini win Summer Racing Series championships

Martin Rodriguez, 39, of Selbyville ran away with the overall championship in the Seashore Striders Summer Racing Series by completing both five-milers and seven of the eight 5K races to finish with a combined time of 1:56:31. Rodriguez would have been one of the 13 runners to complete all the races, but he came to my rescue at the Run for the Paws 5K by playing race director and was needed behind the scenes.

Olivia Montini, just 16, one of the finest high school distance runners in the Philly area, captured her first series championship by completing one-five miler and five 5K races, finishing with a total time of 2:12:44, more than 20 minutes ahead of the next female runner.

Seven of the top 10 male finishers in the overall series standings were masters runners, meaning they are over 40 years old, and seven of the top 10 female runners were also masters, showing the strength of the older age groups in the series.

2021 Series Results

Overall series champions - Martin Rodriguez, 1:56:31, and Olivia Montini, 2:12:44

Masters series champions - Michael Sewell, 2:05:19, and Susan Dunn, 2:33:55

Female 10-13 - Maya Yngve, 3:11:54

Male 10-13 - Aaron Tikiob, 2:35:45

Male 14-19 - Caleb Bradley, 2:04:41; Aydan Vanderwende, 2:33:54

Female 25-29 - Rebekah Yanacek, 3:14:07

Male 30-34 - Beau Croll, 2:26:38

Female 35-39 - Elizabeth Gerritt, 2:51:45; Constance Bean, 2:55:45; Jennifer April, 3:04:22

Female 40-44 - Amy Kuhlman, 3:39:19; Heather Marvin, 3:46:49; Karen Eller, 4:30:24; Bonnie Brooks, 6:03:06

Male 40-44 - Jeff Evans, 2:22:10; Dave Kittell, 3:09:21

Female 45-49 - Jen Perry, 2:47:34; Jenny Seth, 2:54:36; Carla Yngve, 3:13:58; Jennifer Murray, 4:16:22; Alyssa Simon, 6:09:39

Male 45-49 - Bill Pilkington, 2:24:28; Breck Vanderwende, 2:36:41

Female 50-54 - Maureen Pinkerton, 2:49:13; Elaine Dernoga, 2:55:16; Tanya Karaman, 2:56:36; Melissa Mulligan, 3:38:12

Male 50-54 - Paul Montini, 2:08:05; Chris Stanley, 2:25:45; Chris Sinclair, 2:50:20; Bryan Bowles, 2:52:45; Mark Penuel, 2:53:12; Joel Simon, 3:31:47

Female 55-59 - Margaret Colvin, 2:37:30; Karen Johnston, 2:58:10; Sheila Young, 3:08:10; Cindy Dominik, 3:21:10; Jane Boyd, 3:29:31; Laurie Yanacek, 3:57:36; Laurie Milnes, 3:59:08; LeeAnn Waltz, 4:40:18

Male 55-59 - John Yanacek, 2:54:14

Female 60-64 - Lori Holdsworth, 2:37:12; Cathy Haut, 3:30:42; Jackie Rams-Martin, 3:40:43; Louise Holt, 3:55:42; Marian Dowling, 4:17:08

Male 60-64 - Bill Holdsworth, 2:21:37; Tim Young, 2:25:51; Peter Tracey, 2:33:09; Israel Colon, 2:33:24; John Dowling, 2:43:14; Daniel Nellius, 2:48:01; Pater Chiarelli, 2:49:04; Kirk Alderdice, 3:32:57

Female 65-69 - Joy Biser, 3:03:08; Teri Moore, 3:46:37; Cheryl Justison, 4:37:36

Male 65-69 - Rick Poppleton, 2:29:02; Brian Johnston, 2:29:25; Rich Feinstein, 2:52:30; Alan Quillen, 2:56:20; Donald Cowie, 2:57:23; John Walters, 3:10:30; Jack Edwards, 3:51:49; Richard Tikiob, 5:07:32

Male 70-74 - Jules Woodall, 3:03:08; Woody Disharoon, 3:06:26; Terry Gricher, 3:40:05; Jim Marvin, 4:02:50; Mike Richardson, 5:15:39; Bill Brooks, 6:37:13

Female 75-79 - Joann Szczepkowski, 3:10:57

Male 75-79 - Brian Logan, 3:36:10

Male 80+ - Jack Huxtable, 3:31:37; Jack Noel, 5:44:35.

All-10 Group

A group of 13 runners achieved the All-10 status of not missing a race in the series. Congratulations to the following: Connie Bean, Jennifer April, Karen Eller, Jennifer Murray, Chris Stanley, LeeAnn Waltz, Louise Holt, Marian Dowling, John Dowling, Cheryl Justison, Alan Quillen, John Walters and Jules Woodall.

Heading into the Paws 5K, we had 63 runners who had qualified for the series, with 17 runners needing just one more 5K. The maximum we could finish with was 80 qualified runners for a series, and we ended with 79. Only one runner of the 17 needing the final race dropped out and did not qualify. Not too bad coming off a year of virtual races.

Fort Collins

I thought renovating a house was a challenge, but the real challenge last Friday was getting back to the East Coast, and more importantly, on time for a 7:30 a.m. race. My flight was scheduled to leave at 6:05 p.m. Friday night, but when we finally boarded after four delays it was 11:30 p.m., and we landed at BWI just after 4 a.m. At 4:23 a.m., I made the call to my team to activate the “Tim’s not making it back” plan, and they went to work. I am so lucky to have a great group of volunteers who know how to put on a quality race. So it gets better. I grab my luggage and get on the bus to the garage, and when I get to my truck, I have no cellphone. Now I have no communication with the world, so I drive straight to the race. Did you know you can make it from BWI to Dewey Beach  in under two hours? I arrived at the race just after 7 a.m. and my team was engaged and everything was going great. I helped set up the finish timing and fired the gun at 7:35 a.m.; I could hardly believe it.

Today I got a call from BWI Lost & Found telling me that they need me to come over and ID an iPhone with a purple case with the name “Tim Bamforth Seashore Striders” on it. It was found Sunday between the seats on the bus. Sometimes a challenging 40-hour day does have a happy ending!