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Chic? Or nauseating?
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For the second year in a row, the SVR Winter Series went out with a complete lack of style, with the once staid Claymont Ramble transformed yet again into a bizarre celebration of the ignominious decade known as the 1970s. Yes, it was time once again for the Claymont Retro Ramble 5K, hosted by well-known cultural eccentrics Rick & Julie Kerby at the Claymont Children's School near Charles Town, West Virginia.
Rick & Julie
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The 62 participants were met with cloudy but temperate weather, a scenic & hilly course with a few rugged spots that Rick had frantically cleared of brush a night earlier, background music culled from the Kerby's collection of obscure '70s tunes, and a number of fellow runners dressed in garish outfits that caused eyestrain at only a moment's glance.
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Peachey vs. Keeley
Tammi DeSimone
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Given the race's weird theme and the fact that the majority of the Winter Series awards had already been clinched, the race had even more of a relaxed feel to it than the other relaxed races in the series. Overall Winter Series winners Neal & Ruth Riemenschneider were seen jogging together and chatting with Bill Osuch, finishing four or five minutes slower than their typical 5K times. Beth Keeley & Jen Peachey ran together happily, knowing that they would tie for a series age group award if Beth finished the race right in front of Jen. Even a couple of SVR relatives got into the spirit, with Michael Eisenfeld (father of Rachel) and Leigh Brown (wife of Mike Brown) crossing the finish line. Leigh is now on her husband's SVR membership (along with children Ashley & Brennon), and the club picked up five other members at Claymont as well-- Laura Nelson, Denny Maietta, Tammi DeSimone, Dave Donohue, and Amy Castle. Welcome to the club, all!
Some of the costumed runners
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About a quarter of the runners slapped on some funky duds at some point before or after the race, but this year's winner of the Claymont costume contest was a course marshal & kids run participant-- young Dillon Robb, who was clad in a stunning floral-print, bell-bottomed outfit. | |
Dillon Robb
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He may be 7 years old, but you've got to be a man to wear an outfit like that. Dillon had some tough competition for the prize, however! Craig Clauson and Chris Hallam sported interesting wigs, fitting in nicely with Rick Kerby and his gigantic afro wig... Both Ruth Riemenschneider and Kennon Yeck wore outfits colorful enough to be seen from space...
Clauson & Hallam
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The Kremer-Owens family all sported bandannas upon their noggins... The author wore an old Washington Capitals jersey to commemorate the team's founding in 1974 (which is also the year of his birth)... Beth Keeley and Jon Whitehead were a match made in a thrift shop... And Melissa Moore, Christina Moore, and Kim Weisgerber-Craig were all quite the babes in their '70s get-ups.
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Laura Nelson
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Wait, wasn't there a 5K race involved in all of this? Ah yes. Well, it could've been a tight race for the women's victory, but with Ruth Riemenschneider taking it easy for a change, Harrisonburg's Laura Nelson sped to her second Winter Series win in a time of 20:00. The powerhouse known as Sandy Adams was nearly a minute and a half back, finishing in 21:24. Seven seconds later, Christina Moore crossed the line for third. Fourth went to the tie-dyed Heather Kremer in 22:30, and Kim Weisgerber-Craig and her leopard-print pants took fifth in 22:53. Rachel Eisenfeld ended up just four seconds behind Kim for sixth. Sandy, Christina, and Rachel also locked up overall Winter Series awards with their strong finishes!
Jared Prunty
Dustin Sweeney
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On the men's side, it was Jared Prunty's race. The Sherando High School senior, born 1,034 days after the 1970s ended, was virtually unchallenged for the win, breaking Bobby Lockhart's 1999 Claymont course record by eleven seconds with a final time of 16:29. Clarke County High School senior Dustin Sweeney (born 1,132 days into the '80s) took runner-up honors in 17:17, topping his winning time from 2000 by fourteen seconds. Josh Adams came out from Reston, VA to nab third place in 18:26. Ol' Mark Vann, still on the comeback trail, made his best showing on this version of the Claymont course, finishing fourth in 19:06. And fifth went to everyone's favorite shop teacher, Kennon Yeck, in 19:45, with Michael Wilcox nine seconds back for sixth. Kennon & Michael both ended up in the top three for the Winter Series, and Jared wound up with an age group award.
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Dillon Robb vs. James Kerby
Ashley & Brennon Brown
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A children's race of maybe a quarter of a mile was also held, and James Kerby and Dillon Robb were neck and neck as they came in sight of the finish line. But whether it was Dillon's bell-bottoms or the 263-day age difference between the two youngsters, 8-year-old James managed to open up a small gap that Dillon couldn't quite close. Also participating in the kids run were Tara Owens, Mariah Krossman, Ashley Brown, and a couple of other youths whose names I do not know. Undoubtedly all of them were wondering what the deal was with this 1970s stuff!
The packed prize table
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The prize table was packed with good stuff after the race, including cakes baked by Kim Yeck, mix tapes made by Rick Kerby and yours truly (and whoever ended up with my Claymont mix and '70s Elvis tapes, I hope you're enjoying 'em!), a Fleetwood Mac CD set donated by Peter Blank, a brand-new pedometer donated by Chuck Raper, and coupons for free "Single meals" generously given to us by the local Wendy's Restaurants. (Wendy's has good salads, you know. Try one today!) The grand prize was a set of lava lamps, and these would end up with the winner of the post-race trivia contest.
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Donohue vs. Palks
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In the battle for the lava lamps, Rick Kerby pulled names out of a box and asked people trivia questions, and the first five people to give correct answers-- Kennon Yeck, Judy Masi, Jon Palks, Dave Donohue, and me (Karsten Brown)-- made it to the final round of questioning. Both Judy and I
Rick Kerby quizzes Kennon
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(a person who prides himself in shouting answers at the idiots on TV's "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire") fell from the final five by failing to identify when Saigon fell. Jon gave the correct answer (1975) without hesitation. Soon Kennon missed a question as well, and it was down to Jon and Dave. Faced with the final question, "Name the person who won 'Best Actor' in 1972 and who then went on to star in 1979's 'Apocalypse Now'," Dave came up blank, and with Jon's correct answer of "Marlon Brando", he took home the coveted lava lamps.
Also testing the knowledge of the Claymont participants were two trivia questions printed on the race's finish cards. The first question asked for the date of Elvis Presley's death, and two runners, Ray Kitchen and Tammi DeSimone, managed to nail it! Ed Klejnowski missed August 16th, 1977 by one day, while Mike Brown was five days off and Margaret Horioka was a mere week off. Nancy Specht was confident she got the question right-- "I was at Ocracoke!," she wrote on her card-- but alas, she whiffed on the year. Still, I was impressed with these people's guesses! See the sidebar in the right column for a fine pie chart showing how close everyone came.
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Olympic winners Lawrence & Brown
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The other quiz question was a bit more of a softball toss, for us runners, at least: "Who won the 1972 Olympic marathon?" 39% of the participants (and 56% of those who actually wrote down answers) knew that it was Frank Shorter, the first (and last) American to win the Olympic marathon since 1908. Of course, there were some interesting wrong answers. The Moore sisters (born in '87) get credit for combining the names of two famous marathoners and answering "Bill Shorter". Judy Masi named Lynne Lawrence as the winner, despite the fact that there was no women's Olympic marathon until 1984 (not to mention that Lynne was not yet 13 years old at the time). Lynne in turn named me (Karsten Brown) as the winner, despite the fact that I wasn't born until two years later.
Josh Adams, not a Cierpinski fan
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And Julie Kerby claimed that she won the '72 marathon, despite being 9 years old back then. Beth Keeley, meanwhile, said that her dad won it. Probably the closest incorrect answer, though, was Josh Adams' guess of "Waldemar Cierpinski". Alas, it was at the 1976 games where Shorter finished second to the East German Cierpinski. (Shorter's been campaigning recently to have Cierpinski stripped of the gold based on allegations of steroid use.) Good guess anyway, Josh! Take a look at the sidebar in the right column for a rundown of all the answers.
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Betty Luttrell works registration
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Well, phew, what an exciting event, and what a fun way to end this year's Winter Series, too! And it all happened thanks to the dedicated efforts of Rick & Julie Kerby, along with volunteers Jerry Anderson, Betty Luttrell, Dillon & Ann Robb, Katrina Whitehead, and Katrina's friend whose name we don't remember. We should also thank the folks at the Claymont Children's School for letting us use their facilities, along with Wendy's Restaurants and the folks who donated prizes for the event. Kim Yeck also deserves credit for taking 42 of our race photos-- be sure to check 'em out. And thanks, too, to Beth Herr from iPlayOutside.com for coming out with her camera and taking more shots of the Claymont Ramblers! iPlay has posted Beth's Claymont pics along with a race report from our own Neal Riemenschneider, so head on over there as soon as you're done here. And we hope to see all of you next year at Claymont! Will the '70s theme continue... or will we be celebrating some other era of American culture? Stay tuned!
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