1997 NationsBank City of Roses Half Marathon/5K

1997 Edition of Cape's longest distance event.  Another fast field with top 10 men finishers all coming in under 80 min mark.   Randy Starr again led the field with a outstanding finish time of just under 68 minutes and topped the second place finisher by nearly a minute.  Cape Girardeau runners showed well with 3 runners in the top ten.   Marvin Zeman of Carbondale, Ill rounded out the top 20 with a solid 1:26:03 at 49 years of age.  Marc Romine, age 42, was the top Master's finisher.

Top Ten Men
1.  Randy Starr, Jefferson City, MO       - 1:07:58
2.  Jamie Burnam, Joplin, MO                - 1:08:57
3.  Jay Orr, Manchester                         - 1:11:16
4.  Marc Romine, Holts Summit, MO     - 1:13:35
5.  Jeff Janes, Murphysboro, IL              - 1:13:55
6.  Gary Holda, Carbondale, IL              - 1:15:54
7.  Michael Sullivan, Cape Girardeau      - 1:18:18
8.  Ron Keller, Cape Girardeau              - 1:18:24
9.  Terry McDowell, Cape Girardeau     - 1:18:44
10.Phil Wahlbrink, Eldon                        -1:19:38

The women's field was led by local distance star Bernadette Huston who finished 23rd overall in the field of 171 runners. 
Top 5 Women
1.  Bernadette Huston, Cape Girardeau       1:27:14
2.  Trina Graham, Cape Girardeau               1:31:21
3.  Gail Ford, St. Louis                                1:32:36
4.  Sarah Jost, St. Louis                               1:34:10
5.  Sue Pennington, Jefferson City                1:37:33

5K Results

Greg Cox of Roanoke, Texas ventured up and took first overall with a competitive race with one of Cape's best rising stars Bryan Kelpe.  Both runners broke the tape with sub-17 min runs.  53 runners competed in the 5K event. 

Top 5 Finishers
1.  Greg Cox                 16:23
2.  Bryan Kelpe             16:32
3.  Jason Zallares           17:33
4.  Bill Rutledge             17:45
5.  Kevin Hammes         17:58

Top 5 Women
1.  Linda Mattingly         21:21
2.  Jennifer Langston      22:07
3.  Diana Hays               23:13
4.  Candace Wiggin       23:16
5.  Holli Carman            23:18

Ron Ruminer, 56 of Evansville, Indiana won the City of Roses One Mile race in 6:18.  He doubled up as he ran the 5K earlier in the day and placed 14th overall with a time of 20:43.

-KHammes

Cape Girardeau Riverfest Runs 1997

Friday June 13th, 1997 was again the venue for some great road racing competitions as the Riverfest took place in downtown Cape Girardeau, MO. 

5.25 Mile Run Results
160 runners lined up for this out-and-back course running along the Cape flood wall.  Each runner knew they needed to save some power for the last tough hill leading up to the finish line near the corner of Broadway Street.

Top 25 Finishers

1. Joe Dandridge, 27 of Cape Girardeau    28:39
2. Brian Cornelius, 19 of Perryville, MO     29:01
3. Steve Humphrey, 19 of DeSoto              29:51
4. Michael Sullivan, 22 Cape Girardeau  30:04
5. Tye Decramer, 19 Cape Girardeau     30:31
6. Kenny McFerron, 40 Advance           30:52
7. Bryan Kelpe, 19, Cape Girardeau       31:06
8. Ron Keller, 41 Cape Girardeau           31:17
9. Mark Hosler, 50 Cape Girardeau        31:22
10. Kerry Kimmel, 26 Perryville, MO        31:41
11. Mark Payne, 29 Cape Girardeau         32:20
12. Doug Graham, 37 Cape Girardeau       32:33
13. David Hester, 37 St. Peters, MO         32:44
14. Mark Stone, 14 Cape Girardeau          33:17
15. Kevin Hammes, 31 Cape Girardeau     33:25
16. Ross McFerron, 15 Advance               33:33
17. Eduardo Monge, 31 Carbondale, Ill     33:37
18. Nathan Davis, 16 Perryville                  33:38
19. Wayne Corse, 47 Charleston, MO       33:43
20. Amy Giblin, 26 Cape Girardeau           33:47
21. Ira Judd, 17 Scott City, MO                34:26
22. Dwayne Ford, 22 Jackson                   34:33
23. Travis Schiwitz, 18 Benton, MO          34:35
24. Ambrose Wilson, 46 Versaille, KY      34:36
25. Blake Popp, 15 Jackson, MO             34:41

I have just listed the top 25 at this point but plan to add additional placers in the future as I recognize many, many runners and other multisport athletes while perusing the list.  Noted people in this top 25 runners include three current XC coaches in the area.  In addition, Mark Hosler, multiple Missouri state road record holder, was still running strong at the age of 50 and continued his assault on a variety of course distances for years to come. 

Top 5 Overall Female Finishers

1. Amy Giblin, 26          33:47 and 20th overall
2. Sherry Lange, 21       34:47.9 and 27th overall
3. Tobie Bittle, 17          34:52 and 29th overall
4. Sunny Gilbert, 18       35:39 and 33rd overall
5. Barb Mueller, 35       35:50 and 35th overall

* All of the top 5 overall female winners placed in the top 35 overall in this competitive race.

One Mile Run Top 10
Overall Winners were Ben Chisman and Becky Wright

1. Ben Chisman, 18 Cape Girardeau         4:56
2. Ross Tilghman, 14 Cape Girardeau       5:21
3. Dennis Sanders, 32 Jackson                 5:54
4. Arthur Pilsner, 13 Cape Girardeau        5:59
5. Ron Ruminer, 56 Evansville, Indiana     6:14
6. Becky Wright, 14 Farmington, MO      6:30
7. Bob Mothershead, 37 Benton, MO      6:31
8. Loren Groves, 11 Chaffee, MO            6:32
9. Andrew Mothershead, 10 Benton         6:35
10. Alex Schneider, 11 Cape Girardeau      6:47

--KHammes

Cape Girardeau Half Marathon/5K

This was the first half marathon I had attempted and it was definitely a learning experience.  Being a newbie to the SE Missouri area I thought this race looked challenging.  Knowing little about long distance training, I had the assumption that if I could run 10 miles I could race a half marathon so I did my long runs up to 10 miles.  Needless to say, during the race itself, I felt pretty good up to the 10 mile mark - the last 5K was grueling and I had to take the next day of work off because my feet hurt badly.  However, I was hooked on distance racing.  I finished in 1:23:12 and ninth overall but first place in the 25-29 age group. 

The "Starr" of the day was Randy Starr of Jefferson City, Missouri who ventured down to set a new course record in a time of 1:09:10.  He was followed by Marc Romine in 1:12:33, David Baker in 1:14:38, Kenny McFerron in 1:16:20 and Farron Toler in 1:18:37 to round out the top 5 overall finishers. 

Barbara Mueller won the women's Overall title with a 1:31:01 time. 

The 5K winners were Sammy Shah in 17:22 and Misty Dubman in 21:49, both Cape Girardeau residents.

- KHammes