10 Year Old Avery Cunningham Surprises with Win

by Nathan Bickell

Memorable moments were produced in both races at the 29th annual Women’s Distance Festival and Run After the Women 5k Saturday in Annapolis.

In the opening race, 10 year old Avery Cunningham had put a fair sized gap on the all female field by the midpoint and only widened her lead to finish in a remarkable 19:52. “It was hard” she said afterwards about her PR run. Avery has been running for most of her life and it is scary to think how fast she could be if she continues to improve with age. “She asked for running shoes for her third birthday” said her mother Trish who also ran finishing in 21:52.

Masters runner Sheryl Kline finished in second, followed by High School runners Chris Patrick and Casey O’ Brien. Kline had run against Avery before so she was not surprised to see a young kid at the front of the pack. However she was looking forward to a rematch next week at the John Wall Mile, “I think I can get her in the mile” Kline said with a laugh.

After the 283 female runners had finished, it was time for the Run After the Women. Former South River runner Chris Moody, who now runs cross-country for Bowling Green, set an extremely hard pace from the gun, quickly stringing out the lead pack. “If you don’t push yourself, you will never break through walls” he said. By the one mile mark he had given himself a large lead with former Navy runners Justin Mikolay, Matt Leyndyke and myself following in pursuit.

Moody expanded his lead on the second loop to finish in 15:46. His time was the fastest listed in the 10 years of race results available on the Annapolis Striders website. It was nearly a minute before Mikolay crossed the finish line for second place in 16:44. I was able to pass Leyndyke around the three mile mark to take third in 16:48.

“It was nice to get the feel of racing again” Mikolay said after finishing.

The race was organized by the Annapolis Striders, and is part of a state and national series of women’s distance festival races. The series first began, in 1983 to encourage female participation in distance running, in anticipation of the 1984 Olympics where the women’s marathon was first contested and won by Joan Benoit Samuelson. Some of the races, including the Annapolis event have added a mens race afterwards.

The Annapolis Striders race series continues next Saturday with the John Wall Memorial Mile at Broadneck High School. Races begin at 8 a.m.

WOMEN

1    Avery    Cunningham    10    F    00:19:52.22
2    Sheryl    Kline        46    F    00:20:11.07
3    Chris    Patrick        15    F    00:20:18.37
4    Casey    O'Brien        16    F    00:20:28.80
5    Candice    Dickson        20    F    00:20:41.99
6    CarolineReiser            14    F    00:20:58.45
7    Mary    Reiser            14    F    00:20:58.83
8    Maureen    Hall        44    F    00:21:04.43
9    Cheryl    Gilman        41    F    00:21:11.46
10   Caroline    Hutchinson    15    F    00:21:41.08

MEN

1    Christophe    Moody        20    M    00:15:46.71
2    Justin    Mikolay        30    M    00:16:44.76
3    Nathan    Bickell        18    M    00:16:48.44
4    Matt    Leyndyke        23    M    00:16:50.85
5    Gene    Severtson        33    M    00:17:35.39
6    Alan    Cook            38    M    00:17:41.72
7    Nik    Korbelak        17    M    00:17:46.34
8    Huey    Inman            48    M    00:18:39.85
9    Carl    Zaparanick        30    M    00:18:43.86
10    Chris    Dyer            27    M    00:18:47.01