Bachman Valley Half Marathon, 9/28/2003 Slonaker, Wilkerson Triumph at Bachman Valley Mick Slonaker from Howard County and Pat Wilkerson from Baltimore overcame tough competition in the final miles to post narrow wins at the Bachman Valley Half-Marathon, held on September 28 and sponsored by the Westminster Road Runners. Slonaker, at 54 the oldest winner of the race in its twenty-two year history, charged to the head of the 85 runner pack as soon as it headed from the start at Bachman Valley Farms down Old Bachman Valley Road. His time of 5:40 at the first mile gave him a twenty- five second lead over Bill Peeling, who finished fifth in 2001, and a fifty second lead over Bennett Sweren, who finished third in 2001, and club member Troy Conran. By the time he reached the five mile mark in 31:30, Slonaker's lead over Peeling was a minute and fifteen seconds. The rest of the top five, who by this time had distanced themselves from everyone else, included Greg Nelson, who trailed Peeling by fifteen seconds, Sweren, and Conran. During the second loop of the race, run on a cool but breezy day, the major change that occurred was Peeling's slide from second to fourth place. Slonaker cruised through the ten mile mark in 63:55, nearly a minute and a half in front of Nelson, with Sweren another thirty seconds behind. During the last three miles Nelson closed the gap between himself and Slonaker, and with a little more than a mile to go, he was within thirty seconds. Whether he tired, or Slonaker quit resting, the gap got no smaller, and Slonaker finished with a twenty-three second win. Sweren, Peeling, and Conran finished well apart from each other and well ahead of the rest of the field. Masters runners dominated the field, with eight placing in the top ten, with four of them, including the winner, being over 50. Jim Becker, who inished 13th in 1:37;58, was the first runner in the 60 and older category. Wilkerson, also a masters runner, posted a 6:35 first mile time to lead Anders Grant and Carole Kammel through the largely downhill early portion of the first loop. By the end of five miles, which she completed in 35:25, she was well ahead of everyone except Sykesville resident Lisa Coleman, who trailed by only fifteen seconds. Coleman, who had indicated prior to the race that she could be running with club member and four time winner Jenny Caple, whose triathlon training schedule included this race as a long easy run, changed her tactics during the early past of the race ("I lied," she told spectators at the five mile mark) and moved ahead of Kammel, Grant, and club member Sherry Clower in hot pursuit of the leader. At the ten mile mark Wilkerson's time of 71:50 was only five seconds better than Coleman's, and soon the two were running next to each other. During the last mile, however, Wilkerson accelerated, finishing seventh overall and winning the female division by ten seconds. Coleman finished eighth overall, two minutes and forty seconds ahead of Kammel, with Grant and Clower also in the tope five. Caple finished sixth, with Christy St. Clair in 9th as the first senior runner and Judy Gilbert in 11th in 1:58:37 as the first runner in the 60 and older category. ---------------------------------------------------------- Results (80 entrants) Overall Time Last Name First Age Gender Place Name 1* 1:24:34 Slonaker Mick 54 M 2 1:24:57 Nelson Greg 43 M 3 1:26:04 Sweren Bennett 47 M 4 1:27:38 Peeling Bill 47 M 5 1:30:51 Conran Troy 42 M 6 1:34:06 Duke Ben 20 M 7* 1:34:54 Wilkerson Pat 44 F 8 1:35:04 Coleman Lisa 42 F 9 1:35:07 Bell Les 56 M 10 1:35:46 Copeland Craig 33 M 11 1:36:09 Pilsch Louis 56 M 12 1:36:26 Gaddy Clifford57 M 13 1:36:28 Monn Terry 56 M 14 1:37:08 Beecroft Erik 43 M 15 1:37:44 Kammel Carole 34 F 16 1:37:58 Becker Jim 61 M 17 1:38:57 Myers Joe 39 M 18 1:39:31 Beck Richard 45 M 19 1:41:00 Muhl Robert 40 M 20 1:41:13 Ranel Ted 51 M 21 1:41:58 Snyder Denny 36 M 22 1:42:00 Obrien Dan 51 M 23 1:42:01 Grant Anders 37 F 24 1:42:31 Celtnieks Imants 58 M 25 1:42:49 Lake Ray 43 M 26 1:43:27 Schaeffer Frank 51 M 27 1:43:37 Clower Sherry 31 F 28 1:43:37 Gaasch Wade 48 M 29 1:43:46 Dant Don 48 M 30 1:44:09 Coker Donald 60 M 31 1:44:22 Caple Jenny 38 F 32 1:44:43 Henderson Clint 47 M 33 1:44:47 Kelley Edward 35 M 34 1:44:47 Pierce Scott 35 M 35 1:45:01 Maccherola Tracy 39 F 36 1:45:12 Chabout Brian 39 M 37 1:47:03 Woodward Lance 57 M 38 1:48:23 Heycock John 50 M 39 1:50:36 Caron Chuck 42 M 40 1:50:44 Conlon Kevin 53 M 41 1:50:46 Simpson Susan 38 F 42 1:51:36 Kohr Scott 41 M 43 1:51:49 Repke William 36 M 44 1:51:54 Brown Tom 53 M 45 1:52:01 Shutt Steven 41 M 46 1:52:08 St.Clair Christy 54 F 47 1:52:59 O'Brien Gerry 55 M 48 1:53:02 Potyran Joseph 55 M 49 1:54:27 Groves Melissa 31 F 50 1:56:03 Arter, Jr. Irvin 45 M 51 1:56:38 Myers Beth 34 F 52 1:56:38 Wimert Sonia 31 F 53 1:57:59 Thompson Charlotte40 F 54 1:58:37 Gilbert Judy 60 F 55 1:59:07 Ausfresser Terri 44 F 56 1:59:43 Evans Joseph 52 M 57 1:59:58 Myers Phil 46 M 58 2:00:26 Henry Karen 39 F 59 2:00:52 Pennington Christina28 F 60 2:01:47 Clark Offie 45 M 61 2:01:57 Bilak Maria 42 F 62 2:02:17 Anderson Jake 25 M 63 2:02:37 Brennan Judith 61 F 64 2:03:15 Keene John 44 M 65 2:03:40 McQuade Ted 30 M 66 2:04:49 Bullock Jim 60 M 67 2:05:05 Windle, Sr. Justin 28 M 68 2:06:46 LoBiondo Joe 58 M 69 2:07:18 Storey David 34 M 70 2:07:23 Mazer Steven 51 M 71 2:09:22 Buck Sandra 57 F 72 2:09:46 Jacobson Joe 56 M 73 2:10:52 Ingber Joe 50 M 74 2:10:52 Richardson Lynn 55 F 75 2:13:10 Weisenborn Beth 28 F 76 2:19:26 Fletcher Kathy 55 F 77 2:21:28 Myers James 58 M 78 2:23:23 Harbaugh Deb 51 F 79 2:25:28 Clancy Colleen 51 F 80 2:27:10 Ives Charles 54 M