Saturday, September 1, 2007
Crisfield, Maryland
One of the first events that occurred at the 60th Annual National Hard Crab Derby was the famous Mike Sterling 10K. In it's 28th year, this race does not fail to preserve its history, cause and ties to the Crab Derby. The race honors Mike Sterling, who still participates in it often, who helped make Crisfield history by excelling and finishing among the top finishers in cross country and track and field championships. During his high school years, Sterling was pretty much the only one who ran competitively for Crisfield High School and he is an excellent role model of what can result when vision and aspiration meet hard work and solid preparation.
To this day, this race draws people not only from the Maryland Eastern Shore, but from places like Georgia, Indiana, and northern Virginia, where the participants have ties to Crisfield.
Chad Ramsay, a Salisbury University student from Westover, Maryland and an avid biker won the race in 40:05. Leslie Wright, a strong and avid runner on the Maryland Eastern Shore and a Hall-of-Fame member of Salisbury University's athletic program, was runner up. Mike Sterling, of whom this race is named after, traveled all the way from across the bridge to run a well-paced race and finish third with a strong kick.
The women's race was won by Paula Godes of Crisfield in 50:15. Heather Benson was the second female finisher, and Jill Brittingham from Delaware took third. Not far behind, Delphine DeMauro was the fourth female finisher and she adn her husband, Mike DeMauro, come up from Georgia to run this race frequently.
The Mike Sterling 10K is really flat and it goes through some of the more rural neighborhoods and shaded neighborhoods of Crisfield. The race starts and ends at the city docks in Crisfield where Route 413 ends, so runners get to enjoy the scenic downtown areas of Crisfield around the start and finish (finish area pictured in the first row on the right). With about a little over a mile to go, the last part of the race is westbound on Route 413 and ends just before reaching the docks. The event is well-organized, well-marked, and well-staffed with police and course marshalls. An awards ceremony is held at the city docks where you can see a great view of the Jane's Island (fourth row, on the left).
Congratulations to Mike Atkins of Crisfield for winning the Lank Parks Memorial Award as well!
In addition there is a 5K walk, awards and honorable mentions for which are also given.
I would like to personally thank race coordinators, Steven and Lee Ann Flaherty for getting the race results together and sending them so I could post them. I would also like to thank Margaret Bush for taking photos of the event and sending them to me. I posted a couple of photos of the finish line area and Jane's Island from the city docks. The ones she took that I posted are of the award winners with race coordinator, Steven Flaherty. These include photos of:
- Men's overall and 20-29 age group winner, Chad Ramsay (second row, left)
- Michael Sterling (3rd) and Leslie Wright(2nd) (second row, right, Flaherty on the left, Sterling in the middle and Wright on the right).
- Female overall and 40-49 age group winner, Paula Godes (third row, left)
- Second female and 20-29 age group winner, Heather Benson (third row, right)
- Lank Parks Memorial Award winner, Mike Atkins on the right on the fourth row, who also ran this race.
-The participants gathered before the 10K started (first row, on the left).
Thank you very much for the photos Margaret!
Right now I only have results from the award winners in this event, but I hope to have more results of all of the other participants in this race. Thank you everyone for participating and giving me great material to write about!
| Overall Winners | 10K | City | State | Time | ||||
| Male | Chad Ramsay | Westover | MD. | 40:05:00 | ||||
| Female | Paula Godes | Crisfield | MD. | 50:15:00 | ||||
| Categories | ||||||||
| Men 19 and Under | Jason Blizzard | Crisfield | MD. | 57:37:00 | ||||
| Women | n/a | |||||||
| Men 20-29 | Chad Ramsay | Crisfield | MD. | 40:05:00 | ||||
| Noah Wood | Columbia | MD. | 41:48:00 | |||||
Women 20-29 | Heather Benson | 51:12:00 | ||||||
| n/a | ||||||||
| Men 30-39 | Steven Dunlap | Ewell | MD. | 44:29:00 | ||||
| Sparky Ward | Eliz. City | N.C. | 49:22:00 | |||||
Women 30-39 | Jill Brittingham | Dagsboro | Del. | 55:04:00 | ||||
| Lynn Miller | Seaford | Del. | 55:23:00 | |||||
| Men 40-49 | Leslie Wright | Salisbury | MD. | 40:18:00 | ||||
| Mike Sterling | Harrisonville | MD. | 41:42:00 | |||||
| Women 40-49 | Paula Godes | Crisfield | MD. | 50:15:00 | ||||
| Delphine DeMauro | Savannah | Ga. | 55:09:00 | |||||
| Men 50-59 | Ron Purnell | Crisfield | MD. | 50:56:00 | ||||
| Mike DeMauro | Savannah | Ga. | 54:16:00 | |||||
| Men 60 + | Michael Buchness | Eden | MD. | 52:27:00 | ||||
| n/a | ||||||||
| Women + | n/a | |||||||
| Lank Parks Memorial Award | ||||||||
| Mike Atkins | Crisfield | MD. | 48:58:00 | |||||
