On Sunday, March 14, the St Thomas Association of Roadrunners (STAR) conducted the season’s first one-mile event calledULTRASPRINT.The next one-miler will be the Carnival Mile on May 2. Brought back after a hiatus of eight years, this year’s ULTRASPRINT was run in two heats, with each heat requiring two laps of the UVI soccer field. However, the profile of registrants allowed scoring in as many as five age groups. First place finishers were awarded trophies, while second and third places finishers received medallion ribbons. Course records for the new race venue are now 6:07, set for the women by Emily Menzer; and 5:48, set for the men, and tied by Titre Buronny and Mark Skandier.
Complete results for all finishers, separated into age groups:
Women
20-39
Emily Menzer — 6:07
40-49
Mida Gaikwad — 10:09
Men
12 and younger
Lukata Samuel — 6:20
Konner Kendall — 7:13
10-13
Karson Kendall — 7:30
16-18
TitreBuronny — 5:48
Rohit Gaikwad — 5:52
Joselito Mateo — 6:28
Samuel Santiago — 7:07
Richard Laplace — 7:14
20-39
Mark Skandier — 5:48
Brad Kappel — 6:05
Richard Ziegler — 6:43
40 and over
Steve Laplace — 6:07
Spencer Dickey — 6:23
Mark Rodriguez — 6:25
Larry D. Wesmiller — 7:39
A lot is attractive about running fast in a race as short as one mile. For one thing, it’s over quickly, yet it allows one to run faster than usual pulled along by the camaraderie of others. With company, we always perform faster than we would running alone. Then knowing that this speed work represents another important approach to health and fitness, we compete only against ourselves and have fun in the process.
STAR hopes to eventually build this fast race up to the level of ULTRASPRINT in its first five years when traffic was stopped so that the enthusiastically-attended race could be run down the east-bound lanes of Veterans’ Drive from Addelita Cancryn to Riise’s Alley.
STAR’s next event is the All-Terrain 10K on March28. The 6.2-mile race will start at 7 a.m. at the National Park Dock. For more information, contact T. Hodge at 775-6373.
