The one person who never has to make excuses -- especially at the annual Memorial Day No Excuses 5K in Land Park -- is 70-year-old Modesto speedster Barbara Miller.
Yes, for the third straight year, Miller easily won the No Excuses age-graded race. She finished with a time of 23:17, which, calculated against her age and gender standard, translated into a 13:19. (One interesting note: Miller ran more than 10 seconds faster than last year at age 69.)
The top four age-graded finishers were women. Miller was followed by 56-year-old Janice Kesterson of Oakdale, 49-year-old Wendy Pratt of Davis and 40-year-old Mary Coordt of Elk Grove. The top age-graded male: Iain Mickle, 49, of Sacramento.
Oh, the overall winner? You know, the person who actually crossed the finish line first?
It was Paul Smith, 32, of Chico. His time was 15:45 but only got an eight-second age-graded break. He finished 11th in the age-graded competition.
Fun as it is, the No Excuses was not the only race on the docket over the holiday weekend.
Many locals ran in the Main Memorial Day 10K. The top local finisher was 35-year-old Sacramentan Alan Jackson, who placed 11th at 31:32. Rounding out the top five non-Masters runners: Matthew Post, age 31, of Carmichael, 23rd at 32:52; Michael Styczynski, 27, of Sacramento, 25th at 33:02; Daniel Dimeo, 23, of Sacramento at 33:45; Chris Knorzer, 41, of Rocklin at 33:45; and Jedidiah Soliz, 27, of Carmichael at 36:08.
Top local Masters runners:
- Edward Randolph, 40, Sacramento: 35:35
- Michael Woodward, 43, Rocklin 35:43
- Daniel Weintraub,49, Sacramento 35:58
- Jaymee Marty, 42, of Sacramento 37:17
- Kirsten Schneider, 41, of Sacramento 39:22
- John Yamagata, 60, Sacramento 39:40
Yamagata was the highest age-group finisher, placing second among 60-64 year-olds. Marty placed third in her age group.
Elsewhere on Memorial Day, 19-year-old Robert Campagnone won the Roseville Memorial Day 10K with a time of 36:36.
On Saturday, three locals did well at the 44th Mount Wilson Trail Run -- yup, straight up Mount Wilson, 8.6 miles. Finishing second overall was John Howard III, age 22, at 1:08:30. His dad, John Howard II, 51, placed 19th at 1:21:54, and 60-year-old Davis runner James Flanigan was 44th at 1:28:22.
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