Record Breaking 5000 meters

Although 5K road races remain popular in Fairbanks (and elsewhere), 5000 meter races on the track remain off the radar. In 2007 and '08 there was only one 5000 m entrant at the local all comer meets (three per year), and that was me last June. To have a little bit of competition I lined up and ran with the 1600 m runners--the winner of that race ended up drafting off me for four laps. Yeah, that worked great.

This year I pushed a little harder to get people involved and it paid off. We ended up with a record field--a dozen runners! I am grateful to each and every one of them for showing up. Doing a 5000 on the track takes concentration and guts. Conditions were good, but a little warm, about 78 degrees and sunny at race time. Wish we'd have stuck with the schedule and run later, not at 6:15.

Stian Stensland dominated the field with a first ever sub 16 on the new Lathrop track, a 15:58. Rounding out the top four were Lathrop coach Kevin Brinegar with 16:40, and recent high school graduates Werner Hoefler (16:52) and Zach Ginn (17:04). I had a good battle with Zach, but couldn't match his surges and final kick, and finished 5th in 17:08. Sixth went to high school freshman Kyle Hanson in 18:22 and seventh was Dave Arvey with 18:27.

Next up is the Midnight Sun Run 10K.