At the Races

Chocolate Chase

October 20, 2007

Veteran masters CTC racers Skip Mullaney and Wendell Golden showed that they can direct a dandy of a race too.  In their debut at the helm of a brand new race the CTC duo scored a big one as over 250 folks participated in the first ever Chocolate Chase 5K.

Starting and finishing at the first United Methodist Church on Jefferson, the runners traversed over the hills of downtown Charlottesville on a scenic but challenging course.

A pile of former UVA X-Country stars, who were in town for James Atchison and Cheryl Carr’s wedding, dominated the top 30 as they took 20 of those top spots, including the overall male (Kevin McHale) and female (Cheryl Carr, the bride-to-be) positions! CTC speedster Chris Samley was the first member into the chutes as he finished 5th overall in 18:38.  Roger Reynolds, who recently turned 40, was the 2nd CTC finisher (10th overall) in 19:23 and Tom Wolanski rounded out the CTC top 3 with a 20:17 clocking.  Lise Willingham was the first CTC female to cover the course (21:17) and she was quickly followed by fellow members Pam Balcke (21:49) and Jeanine Wolanski (23:07).  This is the first time in recent memory that all six of the top 3 men and women were in the 40-49 age bracket!

Other notable CTC times were turned in by the following card carrying members:  Richard Young, Mary Clare Smith (1st 50-54), Kevin Cox (1st 55-59), Wendy Golden (1st 55-59), Connie Friend (1st 60-64), Armand Zambardi (1st 70-79), Nancy Fraser (1st 70-79), Harry Freestone (1st 80+), Emily Smith, Peter Balcke (1st 12 & under), Charlie Jenkins, Cathy Wicks, Kristine Willingham, Bette Dzamba, Sarah Isham, Susan Nelson, Kim Parsons, Amy Stewart, Diddy Morris, Steve Nelson, Tara Friedman and Diane Rosin.

One of the highlights of the day was all of the dollars were raised for a bevy of wonderful area not-for-profit causes.  Thanks to the volunteer efforts of Mullaney and Golden and their great corps of volunteers and to all the participants, the Chocolate Chase was a rousing success and looks to be a new fixture on the fall race calendar.