Sacramento Running News

This past Sunday,  Paul Ngeny of Auburn (by way of Kenya) came to town and ran away with a commanding win of the now officially huge Urban Cow Half-Marathon.

Ngeny’s time of 1:07:51 was announced as a new course record, leaving this reporter confused as the race’s website lists Dennis Rinde’s 1982 course record as 1:05:38. (We promise to post an update when we figure this out.)

UPDATE: Race Director Rich Hanna explains that Dennis Rinde’s record is the “Race Record” set on the old Sacramento marathon course, but Ngeny’s time is the new course record for the Cowtown/Urban Cow course.

Following up in second and third were Chad Worthen of Sacramento and Ben Deland of Pleasanton, who finished in 1:13:17 and 1:14:35, respectively.

In the women’s race, masters runners dominated with Midori Sperandeo, of Folsom, picking up the win in 1:20:17, and Jenny Hitchings, of Sacramento, coming in second with 1:23:34.

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Over the past few years, the Race for the Arts 5K has managed to remake itself from a unique Friday evening, race in downtown to just another Saturday morning 5K in Land Park.

Still, Land Park is a great place to run a 5K and the weather was perfect, so a good crowd assembled to take on the event and support local arts organizations.

Did I mention the weather was perfect? For last year’s race, we “enjoyed” high temps and Gulf Coast-like humidity. This year, it was absurdly cool for late August–about 59 degrees at the start–and clouds filled the sky. It was a perfect fall morning, about a month early.

The overall event seemed larger this year, and the race organization made use of the park’s amphitheater for showcasing local performers. Young opera singers serenaded us as we warmed up and a rock-band was on the stage as we cooled down.

Many of the usual (fast) suspects were on hand for the start and once all the kids that went out at a sub-5:00 per mile pace faded, local speedsters Steven Schenck and Mike Styczynski battled it out for first.

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