Our April 3K race had possibly the closest finish ever at a Pacers race. Twin brothers Aaron and Shane Purser led for most of the race. Long-time Pacer and outstanding area masters runner, Tommy Smith, stayed within striking distance. In the last 150 yards, Tommy made his move and passed Aaron and Shane. But at the last moment, Aaron sprinted past Tommy to beat him by a step with Shane a few seconds behind. After the race, Tommy stated that after passing the Pursers, he heard one of them (Aaron) say, "I've got him." And sure enough, Aaron won the race. Like last month, these teenagers seem to be toying with the masters runners. The timing computer had them separated by 0.39 seconds and the race video confirms it. At their pace, they cover about 16 feet/sec and they were about 6 feet apart on the line.
First-time Pacer racer, Gabrielle Patterson, was the women's 3K overall winner with a blazing time of 11:46. Gabrielle ran distance for the Texas Longhorns during her college days. Bill Shaw, one of the best 65-69 runners in the nation, finished eight overall with a time of 11:35 (more on him later). Joy Kelly won the women's masters title and Ruth Olinger won the senior women's title. Steve Purser finished third in the men's 40-44 age group. Steve is the father of Aaron and Shane which explains their genes!
And from the department of useless information, the top 3 finishers in the men's 16-19 age group are named Alex. The winner of the women's 16-19 age group is named Alexandra. Go figure!
In the 8K race, our fast teen runners had no opportunity to toy with a masters runner. Former White Rock Marathon champion and former Olympic Trials Marathon qualifier, William Moore, took the lead early and never looked back. Moore ran a Pacer age group record time of 27:47 to win by almost two minutes. Local prep runners, Matthew Miller, Dane Conley and Sam Tillery took 2nd, 3rd and 4th overall. Outstanding local masters runner, Frances McKissick, took the women's overall title with a time of 34:54. James Royal and Maria Moore (Pacer member and sister of William) won the masters titles and Don Wallace and Marylyn Patrick took the seniors titles. Former Pacer, Didier Vidal, was 12th overall. Didier is back in Paris again and stopped by to run as he was traveling back home. That's Paris, France not Paris, Texas. It was good to see you again Didier!
Uriel Martinez raced to a blazing sub-4:00 minute time to win the Kids K. Anuska Ray won the girls title.
Occasionally, we have Plano Pacers records broken for various distances. Usually, a record is a record because it is an outstanding effort. But then Bill Shaw and Joanne Barnes haven't taken a turn at it yet. Bill blasted the Men's 65-69 3K record by 52 seconds! The distance is less than two miles. Goodness! Joanne broke the Plano Pacers women's 70-74 age group record by (gulp!) almost 10 minutes. WOW! Bill and Joanne now hold 13 and 3 Plano Pacers age group records, respectively. Speaking of records, Jan Richards set her 8th Plano Pacers age group record by winning the 8K women's 80 and over division with a time of 1:02:18. I hope to be able to get out of bed when I'm 80. Running 5 miles that fast is not on my radar. Congrats, again, Jan.
We were blessed again with a bunch of fantastic volunteers. It would take up too much space to list them all here. Do check out the race results and review the volunteers names below the results. Make sure you thank them when you see them. They make our races happen. Many are already at the park by 6 AM. While you are on the site, click on the Volunteer Signup link and see how you can help, too. A special thanks to our Plano Senior High volunteers. We appreciate the partnership we have with these fantastic students.
