1) Andrew Epifanio 18:24 14)Julie Olsen 20:54
2)Chris Rabon 19:01 19)Mary Ann Rau 21:39
3)Dominic Delio 19:21 22)Sheila Haire 21:53
4)James Masters 19:38 25)Pamela Hanson-Peterson 21:59
5)William Filipkowski 19:43 28)Rebecca Lang 22:42
6)Elliott Strouse 19:48 30)Frankie Painter 23:24
7)Evan Strouse 19:54 32)Kathy Schwerdfeger 23:33
8)Brian Fredley 20:06 33)Anna Slifka 23:35
9)Brandon Morris 20:16 34)Toni Fow 23:35
10)Andrew Phelps 20:26 39)Sharon Marsh 23:55
5 kilometers- 257 finishers
This course had more twists and turns than a bowl of spaghetti. The course map--highlighted in a color that looked suspiciously like Chef Boyardee pasta sauce--showed no less than 27 spots where a runner would have to downshift, then turn a corner, before resuming his race pace. Being young and lean, Andrew Epifanio had no problem at all with the turns. A late entrant because his DeLand High School track team pulled out of a meet the night before, he ate up the roads around Victoria Park. In fact, he was so close to John Boyle’s lead bicycle that it looked for awhile like Boyle might lose the race. Boyle, however, managed to cut him off at the finish line, so Andrew had to settle for second…but was the first runner (18:24).
Of course, Bob Stengel (no relation to Casey) might have preferred that there was spaghetti. As founder and chief restaurant scout for “The Breakfast Club,” he led his intrepid team of green-garbed runners (which included Bob and Debbie Brown, Jeff, Jeffrey, Tiffany and Debbie Dorber, and Lisa Stauffer) directly to the best post race meal of the month: pancakes, sausages, and coffee, courtesy of Deland Kiwanis. When asked which was more important to his team, the race or the food, he didn’t hesitate.
“Eating. That’s why we run. But running’s a close second.”
On a more serious note, however, the club has an altruistic side.
“We started with Team in Training, as part of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. We run to raise money to help find a cure for leukemia. Most of our people start training in August for the Disney Marathon (January). This year they each raised approximately $2000.”
(If you also have an impulse to compete in green wigs and like to eat ’n run, you can reach The Breakfast Club, a Volusia County “surrogate family,” at bobbrown@cfl.rr.com. They have group runs, usually at Gemini Springs in DeBary, on Saturday mornings.)
Of course, I still wanted to know how Bob was sure the “ole perfessor” wasn’t a relative, so I asked him.
“My Dad wrote to Casey way back when. We’re still waiting for a response.” Since Stengel died in 1975, they may not get one, unless of course his correspondence is one of those “USPS ghost letters” that suddenly surface years after they were mailed.
Like most local races, this one had a pretty good-sized contingent of local finishers; 119 to be exact. Among the Delandites was women’s runner up (to 26 year old Julie Olsen of Ormond Beach in 20:54), Mary Ann Rau (first in the 40-44s in 21:39); 11 year old “Iron Will” in the 11 and unders (was that 24:34.9 with, or without a sled team?); and brothers Elliot and Evan Strouse, who took first and second, respectively, in the18-29 category.
Both of the Strouses are products of Deland H.S. cross country and track teams, Elliott being a 2006 graduate and Evan currently a senior. Elliott is on spring break as a pre-law student at Toccoa Falls College in Georgia, and brought running friend Anna Slifka along. Their training together helped both: Elliott (19:48.1) and Anna (23:34.7) led their (18-29) age group, the latter in a new personal best. Evan was a close second to his brother, in 19:53.5.
The field also included at least one local that is on loan--as a UCF student--to Orlando. 23 year old Jamie took time off from grad school to run a 33:10. (“I’m majoring in non-profit administration,” she said. “We can make money, we just can’t keep it.” She claims that this is all right with her parents…for now.) Running in her vicinity (30:14) was brother-in-law Matt Dono (“I don’t go to school. I’m past that.”) Waiting at the finish line, for moral support, was their friend and Stetson graduate school business major John Szarolata (“I have a bachelor’s in sociology, but nobody bothered to tell me that there are no jobs for sociologists.”).
This is the fifth annual running of this pre-St. Patrick’s, pre-dawn (spring ahead!) footrace. Somehow having floodlights, loud music, and hundreds of strangers running around the otherwise peaceful community of Victoria Park is okay with the residents. (Maybe they put something in their drinking water to help them sleep through it.) We’re glad. This is a unique event, even if you need a flash light to use the portions. After all, when’s the last time you received a free flash light (thanks to, who else, Bright House networks; “From bright minds…”).
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