12/31/2023

The Great New Year’s Eve 5K

Stow, Ohio

Scott Orland

Finish Time:  22:52

Overall Place:  37th Place / 359

Division Place:  3rd Place / 21

Mike Williams

Finish Time:  26:07

Overall Place:  88th Place / 359

Division Place:  9th Place / 21

Kevin Christensen

Finish Time:  29:20

Overall Place:  145th Place / 359

Division Place:  9th Place 20

Cleopatra Sirnic Clifford

Finish Time: 30:17

Overall Place:  153rd Place / 359

Division Place: 6th Place / 23

Nancy Wardell

Finish Time:  30:42

Overall Place: 161st Place / 359

Division Place:  10th Place / 11

Jerry Lynch

Finish Time:  33:38

Overall Place:  209th Place / 359

Division Place:  12th Place / 20

Jill Bidwell McCauslin

Finish Time:  39:19

Overall Place:  265th Place / 359

Division Place:  5th Place / 9

Volunteers:  Gretchen Snyder

Team ER Fan Support:  Christine Churpek And Mike Pastva

Race Recap By Nancy Wardell:

It was a great time with so many Team-ER members at the Great New Years Eve 5K race in Stow, Ohio this evening! I’m not the fastest runner, but I really do appreciate my teammates! Thank you for all the support at these events and for the memories! Congratulations to Scott Orlando who got third in his age group for his birthday!  I finished with a total time of 30:42 with a 9:53 pace. Thanks for the great smiles and happy New Year’s Eve celebration with Cleopatra Sirnic, Mike Williams, Kevin Christensen and his better half, Christine Churpek, Mickey Rzymek, Gretchen Snyder and others, sorry if I don’t know all your names yet! Next year, remind a woman of the hills!

Race Recap By Scott Orlando:

I have a love hate relationship with the annual Great New Year’s Eve 5K in Stow, Ohio.  I love to finish off the year and celebrate my birthday on New Year’s Eve with one last race, but I also must say I never look forward to the challenging course of this race.  Because the race is held so close to my house and on my birthday I do return every year to race.  Typically the weather borders on cold and miserable to freezing and ridiculous.  This year however conditions were much milder and actually tolerable.  Thanks to some new charity partners and increased marketing there was a huge increase in attendance.  There were almost 400 runners and walkers registered with 360 crossing the finish line.  The course which starts behind the high school is out and back and features lots of hills.  This is not a course many are going to set a personal record while running.  Most years I am just thankful to survive the weather and hills.

The gun sounded and I was off to a fast start.  I managed a 6:50 first mile which had me feeling strong.  Then I hit the hills.  I took a conservative approach up the hills and tried to increase my pace on the flat and downhill sections of the course in an effort to reserve energy for the end of the race.  The last mile of the race has one last hill which is the largest on the course.  Once I got up that hill I began to increase my pace to try to have a strong finish.  My strategy seemed to work.  Usually after the big hill I am spent but this year I felt better and had a nice kick the last half mile through the finish.  I managed to beat my time from last year by 31 seconds finishing in 22:52.  I finished 37th overall and took 3rd place in my division.  Last year I finished 53rd overall and won my division.  Even though I didn’t win my division this year I was very happy with the faster time and I was happy to move up in the overall ranks.

The race was once again well organized by Summit Athletic Runners Club, Ritchie’s Sporting Goods, and North Coast Multi Sports.  I always want to mention the efforts of Mickey Rzmek and Josh Ritchie.  Without them most of the local races would never even happen.  All participants received long sleeve tri blend shirts and age group winners received running socks.  There was a nice selection of snacks after the race.

A huge thank you to Gretchen Snyder who volunteered her time to help with registration and awards.  Thank you to Nancy Wardell who had a surprise mini birthday party for me and Jerry Lynch complete with cupcakes and other party favors.  Thank you to Mike Pastva and Christine Churpek for attending the race to support and cheer on all of the Team ER members competing.  Congratulations to Team ER members Mike Williams, Kevin Christensen, Cleopatra Sirnic Clifford, Nancy Wardell, Jerry Lynch, and Jill Bidwell McCauslin who all crossed the finish line.