Susan B. Anthony 5K: Still Running Strong After 30 years
The Start of the 2011 Susan B. Anthony 5K (Photo courtesy of Craig Newport)
If you were in River Park on Saturday morning, you were in for a treat as the Susan B. Anthony 5K, one of Sacramento’s oldest running traditions, showed it is as important as ever.
The Buffalo Chips have been hosting this race for 35 years, and Race Director Carol Parise has been at the helm for the past several of those years. This experience showed and the race continues to be a popular first race for many women in the region.
“We were really overwhelmed by the response for this year’s race,” said Race Director Carol Parise. “Our numbers were up significantly from last year’s event, so clearly, there is a demand for a well run, supportive, women’s race in Sacramento.”
At this year’s Susan B. Anthony 5K, there were almost 500 starters, and Sacramento’s Elissa Zakrasek took home the top honor with the overall win in 18:36.
Elissa Zakrasek on her way to the win. (Photo courtesy of Carol Parise)
Nipping at Zakrasek’s heels were a couple of teenage runners that we hope to see more of in the future. Madeleine Ankhelyi, 16, of Folsom, was second in 18:49, and Mary Kriege, 18, of San Jose, finished third in 19:09.
It did seem that this year was the year of the teen runners, as three of the top-five finishers were under 19. The last of these fast teenagers was Leanne Jarvis, of Yuba City, who finished fifth in 19:33.
The top masters woman was Becki Kriege (whom I am assuming is Mary’s mom–neat!), of San Jose, who finished fourth overall in a brisk 19:14. Kriege was followed in by Karen Jeffers, of Wheatland, in 20:23, and Cynthia Bosco, of Sacramento, who finished in 21:44.
The Susan B. Anthony 5K was started in 1976 when women’s distance running was still just getting going. There were no women’s distance events in the Olympics. The women wouldn’t have a marathon in the Olympics until 1984!
In this spirit, the race was named after the famous women’s suffragist in honor of the achievements of women. (No. A suffragist is not an ultra runner. It is someone who works to allow people (in this particular case, women) to vote.)