On a cool, breezy, and drizzly Sunday morning, Oct. 24, 2010, at 9AM, the first ever “One Mile Bang” road race took place. Overall, there were 31 runners competing in 5 different heats. The event got started off with a pre-race prayer from Rev. Sharon Vaughn of City Team Ministries, along with a moment of silence for a good friend to many of us, Rick Milam, who passed away recently.
After the prayer, the first heat of the day was the high school division, where Jose Pina edged out Steve Nugent to win in 4:58.9. Steve followed closely behind in 5:03.2. The top girl in the high school division was Ally Politoski with a time of 6:30.6.
Next up was the Masters heat combining both men and women. This was the largest field of the morning, with a total of 16 runners. Doubling up as race director, Scott Bang also found time to run and won the Men’s Masters race with a time of 4:44.9. There was a great battle for 2nd place, as Dennis Kurtis and Norry McAllister were neck and neck, with Dennis pulling out 2nd overall in the Masters heat and first in the 50-59 age group. Dennis’ time was a swift 5:09.4, with Norry less than a second behind in 5:09.7.
The Women’s Masters race was won by Nicky McAllister with a time of 7:19.5, followed closely in 2nd by Stacy Rue at 7:28.5.
Next up was the Women’s Open heat, where the youngster, Ally Politoski, ran again, and won again, this time going even faster with a time of 6:20.6, with Evangeline Ventura right on her heels, coming across the line at 6:21.0
The Men’s Open field was small, but fast. Lenin Zapata, who is currently in first place in the overall standings for the PAUSATF Cross Country Grand Prix, took it out fast early on and held a steady pace throughout. He finished with the fastest time of the day in 4:31.9, establishing the course record for this first of what will hopefully be many One Mile Bangs in the future. Bjorn Samson, who runs frequently at club workouts, came through in 2nd with a fine time of 4:52.3.
Rounding out the day’s festivities was the Family Fun Run. There still were official times for everyone in this heat, and young Carter Welke took home top honors here with a blazing time of 8:51.9. Next up was Scotty McIntyre, also running well, finishing at 8:57.8.
The Family Fun Run was an excellent way for more serious runners to compete in an earlier heat, and then join their friends or family or significant others who are not so serious (or perhaps even pregnant) and to be able to enjoy the One Mile Bang course a second time in a more relaxed setting.
All in all, the One Mile Bang was a big success, complete with accurate timing and results by Rocketman Enterprises, (Danny Moon and Ken Bloesch), top-notch starting and announcing crew and overall great job by the entire volunteer staff, who numbered over 20 people. Free pairs of shoes were awarded to all top finishers in each heat, as well as medals to all age group winners. And, there was even some fabulous Hobee’s coffee cake at the finish for all who ran, which was a huge hit!
We hope to have the One Mile Bang be even bigger and better in 2011, so keep your eyes open for more details and for a date to be set. Thanks to all who participated and volunteered!
–Scott Bang