Saori Imamura races for the win, while Mario Sanchez cheers. (SRN photo)
A big crowd of speedy women (and a few men) lined up in River Park this morning for the Buffalo Chips’ Susan B Anthony 5K.
The race, founded in 1976, is the region’s oldest women’s race.
Over the years, the times have waxed and waned, but this year the top times were pretty brisk.
I fell in love with the Race for the Arts 5K when it was run downtown from Crocker Park and along the Sacramento River, on a Friday evening in late summer.
Over time, originally because of construction issues, the race was moved to Land Park–but still run in the evening.
Now, it’s just another Saturday morning 5K in Land Park, but still a good time and still a local favorite. The course is flat and shaded. There is plenty of grass to set up a team tent or run your kids around on after the event.
In today’s race, local speedster Kevin Pool ran alone for the win in 15:13. Following him in for 2nd and 3rd were Hector Miranda in 15:52, and Camron Shahmirzadi in 16:15.
Barbara Miller shows winning form at last month's Zoo Zoom. (SRN Photo)
Each Memorial Day, Land Park is abuzz with with runners for the popular, age-graded, No Excuses 5Km. There are the usual suspects up at the front of the pack (Styczynski, Schenck, Fadling, Myers, Cruz, etc.), but the real stars of this race are a few minutes back.
The age grading format gives those runners who are precocious or durable a chance to shine.
A couple of years ago, the official race shirt had a list of popular excuses on its back. One of those excuses was “I’m not Barbara Miller.”
