Saturday, June 16, 2007 -- Clarksburg, WV / Downtown
Greater Clarksburg 10K
2007: [Photos]
[Details] [Coverage]
Results: [Overall Results] [Results by Class] [More Results] [More Results]
Coverage:
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Photos by Maria af Rolén with story by Julie Black
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This year was also different for other reasons. Medbrook Children's Charity, Steptoe and Johnson and Dan Ryan Builders teamed together as investors for the Greater Clarksburg 10K's Kids Challenge. The GC10K Planning Team developed the Kids K Challenge Program to promote healthy activities for school age children that consisted of 1-mile or 30 minutes of walking/running 3 days per week for 10 weeks.
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The elites tend to gather for this event every year and $10,000 in prize money surely has something to do with that, but some new faces graced the line.
Elites like Ethiopians Alemtsehay Misganaw and Alene Reta who live in Manhattan, New York and train together. Reta, a male professional runner, has been in the spotlight in 2007 for overall wins even though a checkered past has followed his name. With a few suspensions on record, one after running under an alias, and one after drug suspicions more than 5 years ago, Reta has had his share of tough times. Despite the alligations he continues to feed his desire to be one of the best in the world. He is undeniably emerging as one of the best half marathon/10K runners on the east coast.
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It's no surprise that Alene Reta won another $1,000 at the Clarksburg 10k finishing first overall with a time of 29:36. David Langata (30:01) of Kenya followed in second.
Third overall with a time of 30:40 was Zach Sabatino of Morgantown, WV. A Charleston, WV native, Sabatino is happy to be back in his home state training with his original college coach, Sean Cleary. It's paid off, earning Sabatino the title of first West Virginian and a $1,000 prize. He recently secured a spot on the U.S. team after placing 6th at the 2007 USA Cross Country Championships in Boulder, CO and competed at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Mombasa, Kenya on March 24th.
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The women's class was dominated by Alene Reta's running partner Alemtsehay Misganaw, who finished 12th overall with a time of 34:34. Misganaw runs with the Westchester Track Club of New York, a two-tiered club for elite and recreational runners the nationally-registered track team (formerly Puma) consists of a multinational group of Olympic aspirants.
Maria Busienei of Kenya was second (34:46), and Zenedkun Belainesh (35:29) of Ethiopia finished third. The first WV woman to finish was former West Virginia University track star and NCAA All-American, Jennifer Davis. Like Misganaw, Davis also runs with the Westchester Track Club of New York.
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The top three women of the 2-miler were all from West Virginia. Buckhannon runner Reba Cutright claimed first with a time of 13:44. Kayla Wright (14:03) of Lost Creek was second and Sarah Ray (14:05) third.
The last event was the exciting Kids K Run paired with the new Kids K Challenge Program. Children were separated into age classes and run a variety of distances down Main Street. This event attracts just as many spectators as do the elite runners.
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The Kids K Challenge Program impacted more than 6,099 Harrison County students in 10 weeks. Schools distributed information to parents not only on the student program, but also encouraged parents to partner with their child and participate in the 10 Week to 10K Training Program, and possibly run or walk the 10K race or 2 Miler on June 17.
Timing and race results were provided by The Runner's High. S. Mark Courtney and his crew have timed the event professionally for many years using Champion Computer Chip timing. Find out more about their services at runhigh.com.
Many thanks to the 2007 race sponsors, Race Chairman Larry Mazza, Race Director Carl Hatfield who has been on the planning crew for more than a decade, Ike Skidmore, and the entire GC10K Planning Committee and all volunteers.
