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Lynne Lawrence
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The nineteenth annual Shenandoah Valley Runners Winter Series kicked off with strong victories by 18-year-old Jared Prunty and 43-year-old Ruth Riemenschneider, a labyrinthine eight kilometer (4.97 mile) road & trail course, and Lynne Lawrence's fours-full-of-nines full house.
Forty-eight SVR members, including new members Mike Brown, Christina Moore, and Melissa Moore, were joined by nine other runners on Saturday 2 December 2000 at Sherando High School east of Stephens City, Virginia, for this year's cold & breezy version of the Poker Run. Due to a glut of 5Ks in the Winter Series, the Poker Run was turned into an 8K, and last year's grass sections were eliminated in favor of trails in adjacent Sherando Park. But with only about a mile and a half of usable trails available, we ended up with a course that was best described as "circuitous", with three trail loops broken up by two road sections. Runners could often see other runners through the woods at different points on the course, and at a couple of points runners passed each other while on different trail loops altogether. Helping to stave off utter confusion were the copious trail markings and the efforts of course marshals Rick Kerby, Leesa Anderson, Kim Hazard, Kyra Brown, and Karsten Brown.
Jared Prunty
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Sherando High School senior Jared Prunty dashed out into the lead as runners started out on the Sherando track and headed up the zig-zagging wheelchair ramp. Prunty never relinquished the lead, winning the race in 28:20. The long-striding Prunty ran so powerfully that runner-up Bill Stewart, Jared's coach and no slouch himself, looked like he was jogging by comparison. | |
![Neal Riemenschneider [l], Mark Vann](pkr00077t.jpg)
Neal & Mark
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Chris Northrup showed up sans baby jogger for once and finished comfortably in third. The newly-unretired Mark Vann battled for much of the race with Winter Series veteran Neal Riemenschneider, but Neal sprained his ankle with a mile to go and then stepped in a hole in a wooden bridge, giving Vann the slight edge he needed for a fourth place finish. Neal hung on to finish just five seconds back for fifth.
Neal's wife Ruth is well on her way to another good showing in the Winter Series. As she has been doing at area races for years, Ruth dominated the women's field,
Rachel & Ann, early on
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finishing the Poker Run 8K one minute seventeen seconds ahead of runner-up Sandy Adams with a time of 35:12. Ann Robb managed to stay ten seconds ahead of Sherando freshman Rachel Eisenfeld for third, and Stephens City's Hope Morris followed her fourth place finish at the FCPRD Thanksgiving 5K on 23 November with a fifth place finish here.
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Lauren Allen
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Sherando High School's district champion cross country team was certainly well-represented at the race. In addition to Prunty, Eisenfeld, and Coach Stewart, Warriors John Sturm, Lauren Allen, and Sean Ashworth also participated. All six were in the top half of finishers, and no doubt they were helped by their intimate knowledge of the area.
But forget all of that-- there was poker to be played! Participants were given one playing card when they registered, and they were supposed
Kennon Yeck
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to grab three more cards from volunteers Leesa Anderson and Kim Hazard during the race. Their poker hands were capped off with a final card handed to them at the finish. Prizes, including gift certificates generously donated by Sheetz, were given to the runners who ended up with the highest ranking poker hands. The top hand was Lynne Lawrence's full house, followed by Ruth Riemenschneider's flush. (Ruth was one card away from a straight flush!) Vying for the remaining prizes were nine runners holding three of a kinds, led by Erjan Akkus' king-high hand. (We apologize for not having as many prizes available as we did last year.) Kennon "The Shark" Yeck appears to have been the only repeat winner from '99.
Kim W-C, SVR prez
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Let's all send special thanks to race director Kim Weisgerber-Craig and her crew of assistants, including Jerry Anderson, Betty Luttrell, hubby David Craig, and mom Ruth Weisgerber, as well as the aforementioned course marshals. More thanks go to Bill Stewart & Glenn Luttrell for allowing us to make use of a classroom trailer & bathrooms at the school, and to Sheetz for their donation of gift certificates. The Webmaster would also like to thank Winter Series director and co-course-designer Rick Kerby for helping mark & unmark the course. (All markings were down by 12:30 PM!) And obviously, thanks to all the runners who participated!
If you'd like to share any feedback about the course, please e-mail the Webmaster. I apologize that I did not have enough time to mark miles one and four and to put down enough markings on the road sections. Odds are that our "grand experiment" in course layout won't be repeated next year... but you never know!
In the meantime, feel free to check out the Poker Run 8K results, results by poker hands, and 135 pictures from the race. And don't forget that the Winter Series continues on Saturday 16 December 2000 in Clarke County with the Jingle Bell 5K!
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![Neal Riemenschneider [l], Mark Vann](pkr00077.jpg)
