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Pirates and runners roamed the streets of Fernandina Beach Saturday for the fifth annual Pirates on the Run 5K/10K, one of the most festive running events in North Florida.
"This was a great race with our biggest turnout yet,” said Race Director Deborah Dunham of Amelia Island Runners. The 5K/10K field topped 300 finishers this year for the first time. Fernandina Beach Pirates Club members were stationed along the route to point runners on their way. Near-perfect weather and new features, including a spirited pre-race aerobics warmup, added to the sense of celebration on Mardi Gras weekend. “It was wonderful to see so many runners and walkers of all levels and abilities out there, and it's always great to see so many kids participating too,” Dunham said. Fun runs for children and a two-mile walk were part of the morning’s activities. In the 5K (3.1-mile) run, 51-year-old Bill Beaumont of Yulee continued his winning ways, finishing as the first male overall in a time of 18:10. First overall among the women was Lisa Thomas, 43, of Jacksonville in 20:01. In the 10K (6.2-mile) event, the first finishers overall were Neil Brenner, 38, of New York City in 33:58 and Shelby Kittrell, 16, in 42:44. “I felt I had a really good race, mostly because the weather was so nice,” said Kittrell, a member of the Fernandina Beach High School cross-country team and the winner of the Reindeer Run 10K last December. “It was cool, and a bright, sunny day. It just makes you want to run fast.” “It’s a really fun race, well organized, great volunteers, great weather,” said Brenner, a sociology professor at New York University who was visiting Amelia Island. “I’m used to running in cold, icy conditions. To be able to run in a singlet is a privilege.” In the “masters” category (age 40 and over), overall winners in the 5K were two Fernandina Beach runners, Alicia Parker, 47, in 22:59, and Bill Murto, 42, in 18:57. In the “grandmasters” category, 50 and over, the overall winners were Mary Jean Last, 57, of Fernandina Beach in 27:03, and Dave Hoock, 51, of Ponte Vedra Beach in 20:16. Among the “senior grandmasters,” age 60 and over, finishing first overall were Ann and Richard Molloy of Chelmsford, MA; she, 62, in 34:44, and he, 66, in 22:12. In the 10K, first overall among the masters runners were Dawn McGee, 42, of Atlantic Beach in 45:07 and Shane Still, 41, of Yulee in 40:16. First overall among the grandmasters were Bruce Holmes, 60, of Jacksonville in 43:57 and Elfrieda Wyner, 65, of St. Augustine in 46:44. Among the senior grandmasters, first overall were Sue Branley, 61, of Jacksonville Beach in 50:27 and Herb Taskett, 60, of Jacksonville in 45:02. Wyner, an elite masters runner, was ranked third nationally in her age group for 2007 by Running Times magazine. 10K runners who thought the course seemed a bit longer than usual were correct. A problem with a directional sign as runners exited Lighthouse Circle sent almost all of them off the measured course for 0.289 mile (0.46K), adding that distance to their total run. By using runners’ pace per mile, it’s possible to estimate what their times would have been at a true 10K distance. Instructions on how to do that, and a program that will do it automatically, are available at www.ameliaislandrunners.com/pir10kerr.htm . Said an optimistic Randy Arend of Orange Park, who finished second in his 10K age group, “Almost everyone who ran the race had a PR (personal record) – albeit at the not-so-common race distance of 10.46K.” Proceeds from the event will benefit youth running in North Florida, including Girls on the Run and a new running scholarship program for Nassau County high school seniors by Amelia Island Runners, the local running club that presented the Pirates on the Run. Brenner thanked race organizers and volunteers for coming out and cheering the runners on. “Everyone who ran was so friendly,” he said. “The running community wherever you go is always so friendly. That’s part of the fun of being a runner. “We share something really profound,” he said. “We all love to run.”
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