Results of 5th Annual Camarillo Marathon on Sunday, January 4th

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The 5th Annual Camarillo Marathon took place last Sunday. This flat, two loop course the first Sunday of the year had a bit of a small turnout, but between the full and half marathon, 10K and 5K, close to 500 people turned out this cool morning.

You don't see this too often, but the winning time was just over 3 hours (and 37 seconds). 2nd and 3rd place overall came in at 3:04 and 3:07 for the men. The top 3 women finished in 3:26, 3:29 and 3:30.

It's not like a sub-3 hour performance on this course is not possible. Last year's overall winner was a 27 year old woman in 2:52, some 15 minutes faster than the 2nd place overall finisher, a male. The race was in hot, windy conditions.

113 folks completed this year's marathon, up from 79 in the previous year.

More at www.camarillomarathon.com.

Results From the 6th Annual Santa Barbara Veterans Day Marathon

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The 6th Annual Santa Barbara Veterans Day Marathon and Half Marathon took place last Sunday, November 8th. 

The top 5 male finishers were Sammy Cheruiyot Mutai (sounds Kenyan to me) in 2:31:40, followed by Damon Valenzona (2:34:29), Van McCarty (2:36:33 - also top Master's runner), Jonathan Corley (2:41:17) and Jason Smith (2:46:09).

The top 5 females were Paige Burgin (10th overall) in 3:06:38, followed by Jennifer Marquardt (12th overall) in 3:10:07, Jill Christ (3:14:58), Deanna Odell (3:19:41 - also top Master's runner) and Hillary Shaw (3:19:50).

There were 8 sub-3 hour finishers out of 856 who finished the 26.2 mile distance, which to me is a bit on the low side.

In fact, my 3:16 time in the inaugural race in 2009 barely landed me into the top 100 runners, whereas that time in the 2014 edition would have placed me in the top 20. My how times change (both literally and figuratively).

Next year's event is planned for Sunday, November 7, 2015. Register at sbmarathon.com.

Results From the 21st Annual Senior Concerns "Love Run" in Westlake Village

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The 21st Annual Love Run to support Senior Concerns' Meals on Wheels Program took place this past Sunday, June 8th, 2014. Meals on Wheels delivers two nutritious, freshly-prepared meals to homebound, hidden elderly in the Conejo Valley community 364 days a year. Funds raised from the Love Run enable Senior Concerns to provide Meals On Wheels scholarships to those who cannot afford the program and ensures that nobody is ever turned away. Learn more about Senior Concerns at www.seniorconcerns.org.

I've run the Love Run from time to time in the past and it is a well organized event. There is a 5K, 10K and a 1 mile fun run.

This past weekend's event had 754 participants in the 5K and 440 in the 10K. Some results:

Top 10 Males in 5K:

  1. Sean Gildea  Thousand Oaks 22 15:35
  2. Mikey Giguere Westlake Village 17 15:50
  3. Cole Anderson Simi Valley 17 16:34
  4. Timothy Wells   14 17:32
  5. Phillip Wright     58 18:45
  6. Andrew Harris   Thousand Oaks 33 19:00
  7. James Locher     Ventura 45 19:13
  8. Thomas Morley Westlake village 15 19:16
  9. Rudy Gonzales Thousand Oaks 56 19:21
  10. Steve Arce  Placentia 19:49

Top 10 Females in 5K:

  1. Christy Jesson   Simi Valley  18  20:40
  2. Bobbi Marie Ellias Newbury Park  17   20:44
  3. Nina Greenberg   Oak Park  51   21:37
  4. Ashley Alderman  Westlake Village  30  21:42
  5. Barbara Ellias Newbury Park 52  21:46
  6. Jody Vermeulen   Simi Valley 38  21:47
  7. Stacy Mackintosh  Westlake Village 41 22:08
  8. Alison Krane  Thousand Oaks 35  22:29
  9. Rochelle Moncourtois    Moorpark 29  22:51
  10. Sophia Tross Westlake Village  11  23:37

Top 10 Males in 10K:

  1. Jerome Vermeulen Simi Valley 47 33:49 (Impressive time for a 47 year old...let alone any age!)
  2. Scott Hambly Thousand Oaks 37 33:52
  3. Clayton Graham Calabasas  24 35:20
  4. Emman Labao  Sylmar 48  37:27
  5. Jorge Rangel  Simi Valley 28  37:38
  6. Jorge Rebolledo  Simi Valley  20 37:49
  7. Teerth Patel  19 39:55
  8. Scott Smith  Thousand Oaks  37 40:07
  9. Chris Just 36 40:49
  10. Nicholas Johanson Westlake Village 34  40:56

Top 10 Females in 10K:

  1. Becky Ahern El Segundo 27 35:53
  2. Jenny Mallen Newbury Park 23 37:46
  3. Katrina Frame Newbury Park 31 42:19
  4. Carolyn Smuts Huntington Beach 40 42:43
  5. Madison Weinstock Thousand Oaks 17 43:17
  6. Kimberly Vipond Westlake Village 34 43:50
  7. Evelyn Gonzales Westlake Village 42 43:55
  8. Jennie Labao Sylmar 40 44:32
  9. Casey Hambly    Thousand Oaks 33 44:58
  10. Laura Serrano Simi Valley 25 45:01

The oldest 10K finisher was 86 year old Francis Petracek of Woodland Hills, who completed the 10K in 1 hour, 23 minutes! Wow!

The oldest 5K finisher was 85 year old Jean Gosse of Thousand Oaks, who completed the 3.1 mile course in 41:26, 518th place overall out of 754 finishers. Way to go!

I was shocked to see there were five male finishers in the 75 to 99 age group in the Love Run 5K! Quite an impressive group of youngsters out there!

Gene Burke of Westlake Village, 77 years old, finished in 29:15, 199th place overall! Woah!!

Rod LeGate of Westlake Village, age 80, finished in 35:56!

Irv Cherno of West Hills, age 79, ran a 48:27.

86 year old Richard Ruwe of Thousand Oaks finished in 50:05!

And 78 year old Gil Good of Thousand Oaks ran a 50:14.

I. Am. Quite. Impressed!


Results From the 2nd Annual Marla Runyan Half Marathon on Sunday, October 20th

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The 2nd Annual Marla Runyan Half Marathon took place on Sunday, October 20th. I ran the inaugural race last year and would have loved to run it again this year had my kids' activities not precluded me from doing so.

There were 243 finished in this year's event and top placing male finishers were Bradley Jones (36) of Camarillo in 1:19:45, Jose Lastre (29) of Oxnard in 1:23:46 and Greg Wondra (35) of Camarillo in 1:26:05. My 1:23:51 in last year's race got me 4th place last year but would theoretically have landed me one place higher in the 2nd annual event.

Top women finishers were Schatzi Sovich (46) of Ventura in 1:36:58, Rikako Takei (51) of Gardena in 1:37:31 and Jenny Loppnow (43) of Camarillo in 1:38:24. Wow, impressive showing by masters' runners in the women's race!

The oldest finisher in the half marathon was Ted Price Sr of Oxnard, who crossed the finish line in 2 hours, 30 minutes, 39 seconds. Nice job, Ted!

There was also a 5K event, where 37 year old Jesus Perez took top honors in 17:18. Not far behind was top femal finisher, Melissa Hernandez of Oxnard in 18:42 - that time got her 4th place overall in the race. A total of 220 runners and walkers completed the 5K.

Not a bad showing for this 2nd annual event, which benefits the Boy & Girls Club of Camarillo at www.bgccam.org. Hopefully we'll see a 3rd annual Marla Runyan Half Marathon in 2014 at www.camarillohalf.org.