Bluemont Fair 10K

Bluemont, VA, September 15, 2007

Race Report

Each September, the western Loudoun County village of Bluemont suddenly begins bustling with activity as its two-day Bluemont Fair gets underway, and since 1979 the fair has kicked off with a 10 kilometer (6.2 mile) running race. While the race does not quite see the numbers it used to, seventy-three runners showed up on the morning of 15 September 2007 to take part in the race's 29th running. An early morning overcast was carried out of the area by a strong breeze, leading to beautiful sunny skies and temperatures around 60° by the 8:00 AM start. After a few words from race founder Don Corley and a brief false start, the field took off on the opening 1½ mile jaunt down the shoulder of busy Route 7.

"The guy who won the race last year is back," one participant was overheard to say, "and this year he's brought some friends!" 2006 men's champ Chris Sheaffer, a science teacher and assistant cross-country coach at nearby Loudoun Valley High School, had indeed returned to defend his title, and one of those friends of his was fellow 23-year-old Justin Fritzins. The duo quickly separated themselves from the rest of the pack and yet were clearly not overexerting themselves on the rolling course, as they could be overheard chatting throughout the race. The only threat to their comfortable lead was an unmarked turn with a mile and a half to go, but one of the trailing runners was able to shout them back on course with only a few seconds' delay. Sheaffer and Fritzins were still together as they trotted up the final hill into Bluemont, but it was Fritzins who crossed the finish line first, credited with a 36:11 finish to Sheaffer's 36:12.

The first woman to dash up Snickersville Turnpike to the finish arrived in 41:24, the fastest women's time at Bluemont in many years. And this 36-year-old woman looked so cheerful and unfatigued that more than one spectator wondered if she hadn't taken a wrong turn somewhere. But no, the women's winner turned out to be Herndon's Kristin Eddy, an accomplished runner, triathlete, and adventure racer who had won the VHTRC Women's Half-Marathon Trail Run by a comfortable 3½ minute margin just one week earlier. Her margin of victory was even greater at Bluemont, as Karen Young of Beallsville, MD was almost five minutes back. Young, returning to Bluemont for the first time since 1999, finished in 46:22 and earned the runner-up award in her 91st race of the year.

Although no Masters awards were handed out to the 40 & over crowd at this year's race, there were a number of impressive Masters performances. 45-year-old Mark Neff of Derwood, MD, posted his best Bluemont time on record with a 37:07 finish, over a minute faster than he ran when he won the race outright in 2005. Neff finished fourth this year. A more hidden gem of a performance was the 42:56 posted by 13th finisher Bob Chase of Falls Church. If the race's Senior Masters (50 & over) award still existed, Chase would've been the easy winner-- at the age of 62! Leslie Rigby Kash of Round Hill would've been the women's Senior Masters winner this year with a run of 56:27, while Sue Roberts of Hamilton would've earned the Masters win in 55:11.

The youngest finisher and oldest finisher awards returned this year after a one-year absence, and those were given to 16-year-old Stephen Novitch and 82-year-old Bob Atkins. Other notes from the race: Of the 21 runners returning from last year, Novitch showed the most improvement, cutting almost ten minutes off his 2006 performance to finish in 48:04. Leslie Kash dropped 5½ minutes from last year, Tim McCaffrey ran faster by five minutes, and Robert Denney shaved off 4½ minutes... At least 37 of the 73 finishers had run the race before, with John Winkert of South Riding wincing his way through excruciating back pain to keep his string of consecutive finishes alive. We're not sure how far back John's streak goes, but we know he's finished at least the last nine races... 37 of this year's participants hailed from Loudoun County, with 19 more coming from adjacent counties (although surprisingly, there was not a single participant from Clarke County, the border of which is less than a mile from Bluemont)... Sabrina Beane, hailing from Santa Barbara, California, clearly travelled the farthest to run the race. Third place female Kristen Gochnauer was the runner-up in that regard, coming down from Lititz, Pennsylvania to run with fellow Juniata College graduate Sheaffer.

Special thanks are owed to the vivacious Raylene Scott, who filled in for race director Charley Billman to head things up on race morning. Raylene was aided by a fine crew of volunteers, including Myron Kremer and Lynne Lawrence of the Shenandoah Valley Runners, results compiler Kyra Brown, Don & Linda Corley, Tom Ashton, Steve Greenberg, Sonny Colbert, Wes Walker, and a number of others whose names we don't have. Although there were a few snags this year, we're sure everything will go smoothly for the 30th running of the Bluemont Fair 10K on Saturday 20 September 2008!