Colonial Road Runners Grand Prix resumes in earnest this weekend
The Colonial Road Runners Grand Prix race schedule avoids the extremes. For the cold winter months, there are no CRR races between the third Saturday in December (the Jingle Jog 5K) and the season-opening Colonial Half Marathon and 5K the third Saturday in February.
And during these times of global warming, the CRR avoids the excessive heat and humidity of the summer. After 11 Grand Prix races were held by the end of June, including three that month, there were only two CRR events this summer — none in July and two in August at shorter distances, the CDR SuperHero 5K at the Vineyards and the Raising the Roof 5K at the Landfall at Jamestown course the second and third Saturdays.
That doesn’t mean there are no running events during the summer. The Peninsula Track Club, Happy Cat Events and Colonial Sports schedule a number of fun events from July 4 through the Labor Day weekend to keep racing junkies happy.
The CRR Grand Prix resumes activity in earnest this weekend with Saturday morning’s Hare and Tortoise Ovarian Cancer Memorial Run, which includes an 8K Grand Prix race and a low-key 5K race, along with a 1-mile fun run. Race morning registration is OK, starting at 7 at the Meadows, across the street from the Jamestown Settlement parking lot. Both courses are on the Virginia Capital Trail, starting at the kiosk at Mile 0. The fun run starts things off at 8 a.m.
That begins a stretch of CRR Grand Prix races on six consecutive Saturday mornings, with online registration via RunSignUp.com. Sept. 28 is the Democracy Dash 10K from the National Park Service Visitor Center on Jamestown Island. Oct. 5 is the Run for the Hills 5K from Sullivan Square in New Town. Oct. 12 is the Grove Trotter Chickahominy Bridge 10K and 5K from the Chickahominy Riverfront Park on Route 5. Oct. 19 is the Weighted Angels 5K from the Billsburg Brewery and using the Landfall at Jamestown 5K course. The busy stretch ends with the Jamestown Half Marathon and 5K, from the Jamestown Beach Event Park.
There is a short break before the Governor’s Land 5K in that neighborhood on Nov. 23, the Saturday before Thanksgiving. And the 2024 season ends with races the first three weekends in December: the Christmas Town Dash at Busch Gardens on Sunday, Dec. 8, followed by the Colonial Sports Sleighbell 5K Dec. 14 and the Jingle Jog 5K Dec. 21.
Thirteen CRR Grand Prix races have already been held, with 10 to go. Grand Prix awards go to the top three men and women overall, first Masters (ages 40-and-over) male and female, and the top two in 10-year age groups, from 19-and-under through 70-and-over, including the race walk.
The top six currently for the men are Adam Otstot, age 42 (101 points), Roger Hopper, 33 (71), Jack Strumke, 14 (41), Erik Stauderman, 24 (36), Jonathan Grimm, 14 (34) and Scott Ickes, 42 (27). The men’s age-group leaders currently are Jack Strumke, Stauderman, Hopper, Otstot, David Anderson closely over Joe Calkins and Tim Suhr (men 50-59), Pete Gibson, Dale Abrahamson and Paul Rienth (race walk).
For the CRR women, the top six are Emily Honeycutt, 33 (74 points), Isabella Strumke, 10 (65), Tricia Murphy, 43 (52), Emma Rogers, 24 (49), Karen Grabowski, 40 (46) and Svitlana Honcharova, 26 (45). The women’s age-group leaders are Isabella Strumke, Honcharova, Honeycutt, Murphy, Marjorie Friedrichs (50-59), Marie Shay, Patricia Travis and Cathy Kaurich (race walk).
Pictured from left are Emily Honeycutt, Isabella Strumke and Emma Rogers at the CDR SuperHero Dash 5K. They are among the Colonial Road Runners’ top female athletes. COURTESY OF TODD STRUMKE
Throughout the year, Kaurich, 68, has extended her all-time record of consecutive CRR Grand Prix races to 138, and counting. The previous record-holder was her son, Ben Kaurich, whose streak ended at 108 a couple years ago.
The Democracy Dash 10K is highlighted by a beautiful, scenic, traffic-free USATF-certified 10K course, starting and finishing at the NPS Visitor Center and going out to the James River overlook on the Colonial Parkway, and returning for a full loop of the Jamestown Island tour roads, including scenic wooden bridges and historical sites. Both the pre-race packet pickup and the post-race awards ceremony and social are at the Magnolia restaurant (Dale House), on the James River. It is one of seven CRR races in the 2024 Hampton Roads Super Grand Prix.
The Run for the Hills race started as a 10K from the JCC Stadium at the Warhill Sports Complex, but switched to the New Town 5K course several years ago. The race is a benefit for the Here for the Girls breast cancer organization, and includes both the streets of New Town and the dirt nature trails surrounding New Town.
The Grove Trotter Chickahominy 10K race is a Grand Prix event, but also includes a 5K fun run. It benefits the Grove Christian Outreach Center. Both races are simple out-and-back courses (the 10K is USATF-certified) on the Virginia Capital Trail. The feature is crossing over the Chickahominy River bridge where it meets the James River.
The Weighted Angels 5K is one of the most popular CRR races. In 2022, it was awarded the “best CRR race of the year” honors, and has been the Virginia state RRCA championship 5K multiple years, as well as a Hampton Roads Super Grand Prix race. It is heavily influenced by its connection with the William & Mary men’s cross country team. The race director is Kate Crump, the younger sister of CRR Grand Prix leader and CRR vice president Adam Otstot.
The men’s record is 14:56 by former W&M runner Ryan McGorty of Fairfax. The Virginia state record for the men’s 15-19 age group has been broken the past two years by freshman W&M runners, first by Peyton Golden with a 15:03 in 2022, then last October by Wyatt Townsend with a 14:59.
And this year’s it’s likely the state 5K record for men 15-19 will fall again. W&M men’s distance coach Forest Braden, 41, who himself ran an all-time CRR men’s 40-44 record of 15:07 at April’s Run the DOG Street 5K, emailed, “There are three current W&M freshmen likely to run and give the state record a shot: Collin Walsh, Caleb Wilcox and Travis Wolfe-Thompson. All three have shown to be tough racers over 6k and 8k xc distances and have been training really well. Caleb and Travis are slightly lower volume, and a 5k on the roads should suit them better than the 8k distance at this point in their careers. Collin has been really tough over all distances and has gotten some really steady training in since June. It will be fun to see who is out there ready to get it done in a month!”
Running unattached in the first two W&M cross country meets this season, and likely redshirting this year, the three have run impressive races Aug. 31 (at the 6K Spider Invitational at Pole Green Park in Mechanicsville) and Sept. 13 (at Lee Hall’s CNU Invitational 8K for the men, and 6K for the women). At CNU, despite holding out most of its top runners, W&M easily won both the men’s and women’s team titles.
The Jamestown Half Marathon features a flat and fast course that includes a quick tour of Jamestown Settlement, a full loop of Jamestown Island, and a loop of the Virginia Capital Trail and the Greensprings Trail. It placed second in the Race of the Year competition for 2023, with the Run the DOG Street 5K the winner. It is also a Hampton Roads Super Grand Prix race and is on a USATF-certified course.
The Governor’s Land 5K, one of the fastest and most popular of CRR races, is returning after several years off. It was not held in 2020 due to COVID, returned in 2021, but was not held in 2022 or ’23. It returns this year as the Governor’s Land Dash for CASA, under the leadership of Williamsburg vice mayor Pat Dent, along with Aaron Williams of Williams Landscaping. Also a HRSGP race, it is held on a USATF-certified 5K course.
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