FOOTPRINT Lake Grapevine Runners & Walkers
October 2007
www.runnersandwalkers.com
RAW off to the Races… Was it Too RAW to Handle? By Kevin Wessels
next RAW off to the Races Dallas Running Club Half Marathon Sunday, November 4 8:00 a.m. White Rock Lake Dallas, TX VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
RAW runners enjoy a photo opp after successful racing at Too Hot to Handle.
O
ver 50 RAW members converged on White Rock Lake for the annual summer heat suffer-fest known as Too Hot to Handle. This was the latest installment of “RAW off to the Races” and proved to be another successful venture for RAW athletes. Although not the blistering heat seen in previous years, this year’s event still held true to its name and challenged all the competitors running the 5K or 15K races.
“Runners and Whiners” and our running club was immune to the sizzling heat at this year’s race. Mindi Rice was the women’s overall winner in the 15K in 1:01. RAW also took both 15K masters titles. Leana Sloan was the women’s masters winner in 1:05 and Ken Hall was the men’s masters winner in 0:54. In fact, RAW took 5 of the Top 20 finishers’ spots. Robert Fowler and Yolanda Hopping also won their respective age groups.
Because of the large number of racers this year (there were 850 finishers in the 15K and 550 finishers in the 5K), parking became a major issue and delayed the race start by ten minutes so late-arriving runners could grab their timing chips and dash to the start. Normally, a few minutes delay is not a big deal, but at this race, every minute adds that much more sun and scorching heat for the final few miles.
The 5K had some great times, too, although Mark Miller was the unfortunate recipient of a lead vehicle mistake. The lead police motorcycle made the turnaround too early, causing several runners in the lead pack to turn back towards the finish and shave some distance off the full course. The rest of the 5K runners, including Mark, continued to the correct turnaround spot and completed the entire 3.1 mile distance. Of course, this dashed any hopes Mark had of winning the race again like he had in previous years and he finished second is his age group.
Well, that’s only a problem for other runners. RAW does not stand for
Sign up to volunteer for the RAW Booth at the Dallas Running Club Half Marathon on Sunday, November 4, 2007 We need 3 or 4 enthusiastic members for the RAW booth at the Half If interested, contact John Bush johnb@runnersandwalkers. com or Mark Miller at markm@ runnersandwalkers.com
Kelly “K2” Richards took first in her age group. Whether a “RAW off to the Races” special event or not, the annual trek to Too Hot to Handle is always a lot of fun. The running club places well every year and RAW logos seem to overwhelm the finish line announcer and awards ceremony. Congratulations to all of this year’s finishers. Get ready to lace ‘em up again next July. The extended forecast is calling for sweltering temperatures and stifling humidity... another perfect day for RAW racing.