Asheville Citizen-Times Half-Marathon & 5k

Asheville, NC, September 20, 2003

Four course records highlight Asheville races

Asheville's Jim Hoer races toward an Asheville Citizen-Times 5k course record of 16:28.

Asheville Citizen-Times Half-Marathon & 5k – 9/20 Elly Rono says every time he races in Asheville he wins his next marathon. That may be a taller that usual order this time in New York City in November, but if his course record in the Asheville Citizen-Times Half-Marathon is any indication, he may have a shot to keep the streak alive. Rono, who decided to run even though there was no open money for the first time in the race’s four-year history, pulled away from Winston-Salem’s Kevin Hill at the five-mile mark and went the rest of the way unchallenged in running a course-record 1:07:04 on the difficult, hilly course. Perhaps even more impressive was the performance of Zika Palmer, who won the women’s race in with a PR of 1:20:20, a course record by more than four minutes over Joan Nesbitt-Mabe’s 2002 win. Palmer, who is the co-founder of Zap Fitness in Blowing Rock, is preparing for the 2004 Olympic Marathon Trials. Because Rono, a Kenyan who is now training in Blowing Rock, was ineligible to win the USATF NC Association Championship, Atlanta’s Mike Dudley was the top money winner by finishing second overall. Hill finished third overall and second in the USATF NC money, followed by Asheville’s Joe Gibson, Pete Rea of Boone, and Mark Lundblad of Fairview. Palmer was crowned the state champion, followed by Kristin Dudley (Mike Dudley’s wife), Asheville’s Patti Frederick-Enloe, Gail Jervey of Brevard and Michelle Richardson of Asheville. David McKinney of Tupelo, Miss., and Kerrie Sijon of Greer, S.C., were the master’s champions. Course records were also the trend in the 5k. Asheville’s Jim Hoer was the overall champion in a new course standard of 16:28, while Asheville’s Martha Armstrong set a new women’s record of 20:16. Glen Farr of Knoxville, Tenn., was the men’s masters 5k champion, and Weaverville’s Marie Hartye was the women’s masters’ title winner.