This year has been a very eventful year, both ups and downs, for Kingswood Klam 5K Run race winner Emma Rogers, who recently completed her studies at William & Mary and who will start her teaching career this fall at Clara Byrd Baker Elementary School in Williamsburg.
Rogers won the Colonial Half Marathon in February with a dominant performance (1 hour, 18 minutes, 10 seconds), but then had a serious bike accident in March and is just now recovering to running form.
The eighth annual Kingswood Klam 5K was held last Saturday, starting and finishing at the Kingswood Pool. It had two out-and-backs, of West Kingswood Road and Oak Road, before a loop of Dover Road and Kingswood Road. It was mostly flat, but with several short inclines — not the fastest of courses, but not too challenging. It was the ninth Colonial Road Runners Grand Prix race of 2024.
Many participants, either from the CRR or members of the Kingswood Pool, had the home-course advantage of running past their ownhouses. There were 117 entrants, with 94 finishers in the 5K and 19 finishers in the 1-mile fun run. The race director was Gina Waddell.
Rogers, 23, of Williamsburg, won for the women by 1 ¼ minutes with a time of 17:55, just three seconds shy of the course-record 17:52 set by Laura Labuschaigne, 27, of Richmond, another W&M grad, at the 2023 Kingswood race. CRR Grand Prix leader Emily Honeycutt, 33, of Newport News was second in 19:10, and the rapidly improving Tricia Murphy, 43, of Williamsburg was third in 20:44. Both Rogers (women 20-24) and Murphy (women 40-44) broke Kingswood age-group records.
For the men, CRR Grand Prix leader Adam Otstot, 42, of Williamsburg won his sixth CRR Grand Prix race of 2024 with a time of 16:03. He also won the Virginia Fire Chiefs 5K, Queens Lake 5K, Virginia Regional Ballet 5K, Run for Mental Strength 6K and Proud to Serve 6K, but his best effort of the year was a fourth-place 15:14 at the highly competitive Run the DOG Street 5K.
Nine-time CRR Grand Prix champion Roger Hopper, 33, of Chesapeake, plagued by injuries this year, was the runner-up in 16:22, with Lafayette High and George Mason graduate Nathaniel Darling third in 17:00. Hopper has the Kingswood course record at 15:33 from 2023, while Otstot has the age-group records for both men 35-39 (15:42 in 2021) and men 40-44 (15:39 in 2023).
Besides Rogers and Murphy, women’s age-group records were broken by Marie Shay, 68, of Williamsburg in the 65-69 age group (her 25:49 was six seconds faster than her previous mark of 25:55 from 2023) and Deneen Venters, 60, of Newport News (35:23 in the race walk). For themen, two age-group records were broken, by Isabella Strumke’s older brother Jack Strumke, 14, of Toano for men 14-and-under (18:40), his third CRR age-group record, and by Pete Gibson, 68, of Murfreesboro, North Carolina, for men 65-69 (19:44, a record by just one second).
On an age-graded basis, as compiled by CRR statistician Jim Gullo, four runners bettered the national-class standard of 80% — Gibson (86.44%), Otstot (85.58%), Rogers (82.23%) and Marjorie Friedrichs, 57, of Williamsburg (fifth overall for the women in 22:04, 80.86%). Over 75% were Shay (79.39%), Hopper (79.01%); Tim Suhr, 53, of Williamsburg (19:04, 78.50%); Honeycutt (77.04%); 2018 Kingswood Klam men’s winner Jason Bridges, 40, of Williamsburg (18:39, 76.51%); Joe Calkins, 53, of Lanexa (19:41, 76.04%) and Darling (75.82%).
Bettering the regional-class standard of 70% were Connie Glueck, 60, of Williamsburg (24:51, 74.43%); Murphy (74.42%); David Anderson, 54, of Williamsburg (20:33, 73.43%); George Christopher, 55, of Downingtown, Pennsylvania (20:47, 73.21%, and running past the house he grew up in, on Oak Road); Dale Abrahamson, 75, of Yorktown (25:37, 73.17%); Jack Strumke (72.60%); Kyle Aulenbach, 47, of Yorktown (20:04, 71.10%) and Chris Abelt, 67, of Williamsburg (24:04, 70.10%, running by his residence on West Kingswood).
Rogers emailed, “A few months back, a student I was student-teaching asked me to do this race if I could. I’m so glad I did because it was an absolute blast. I was able to see kids excel and have fun with running, which was so gratifying. My goal was to finish and have fun. I got pretty sickearlier last week and took a few days off to recover. Still didn’t feel 100% healthy on Saturday, but happy with how it went given the circumstances.
“I was at the W&M School of Education getting my Masters of Arts in Education and will be teaching fifth grade at Clara Byrd Baker next year. I’m super-excited. I had a bad bike accident on St. Patrick’s Day. Spent the night in the ER with a concussion and shoulder injury, plus road rash and bruises. I took a week or so off after that before trying to do any physical activity at all.
“After a few days of running, I developed lower back/glute pain severe enough to make it impossible to even walk. I stopped running immediately and took two weeks off. My first week back to running was the DOG 5K [where she placed second for the women in 17:22]. I was still not 100% and did have pain after that race. I finally got my MRI results back. I had a micro-fracture in my sacrum from my crash. By the time I had my follow-up in May, it was essentially healed. Unfortunately, I’ve had bone injuries before. The silver lining is I know what to do (PT, rest, don’t push through pain, see a doctor, get imaging, etc.). I think that expedited the recovery process for me. I haven’t had pain in at least a month. Accounting for the sacral injury, it took a little over two months to fully heal. No goals or anything [for 2024], just have fun and enjoy being healthy. I have a long-term 5K goal, but it’ll probably have to wait for the fall.”
Otstot emailed, “I established a lead pretty early and used the three turnarounds to gauge the gap to second and adjusted my pace accordingly. My lead grew from about 6 seconds at a half-mile to 17 seconds by 1.5 miles. At that point I eased off a bit and managed the lead. My mile splits were 4:55, 5:05, 5:19. I’ve been racing a lot over the past three months, so once I was comfortable that I would hold the lead, I didn’t do any more just for the sake of running a faster time. I had to leave before the CRR picnic and pool party to go and celebrate my grandmother’s 98th birthday!”
Hopper emailed, “Grandma’s Marathon is Saturday, June 22nd. Training has been all right, although it has been challenging trying to even get close to what I was doing in 2023, when I averaged almost 120 miles per week prior to my hip injury in October. My recent weekly mileages have been 80-80-70-110-100-80-100, with no shortage of hiccups due to the upper back pain I’ve been dealing with since February, as well as other little injuries popping up as I try to push the envelope while figuring out what my current limits are. I’m relieved to be able to train consistently again after a frustrating winter. Luckily my hip injury is almost completely under control, and I’ve been able to make a lot of progress with my back as well.”
Darling emailed, “I was with Roger for the first mile and then faded back. I was 50/50 on even running the race. I ran the Loudon Street Mile two weeks prior (4:27) and considered taking a break afterwards but tried to train through. Should have taken a week break, so I was pretty fatigued going into Kingswood. 5K times [in 2024] have been 16:37, 16:42 and 17:00.”
Murphy emailed, “We’ve been getting really lucky with beautiful race weather the last few races. I thought it felt good for a summer race. I stayed for a bit and enjoyed some pizza and pool time. Such a great way to cool off and continue the social aspect. I love racing, but I love the friendships I’ve developed through these races just as much.
“I do not consider it a fast course, although apparently it was for me since it was a new PR. My previous PR was at Queens Lake where I ran 20:54. My 5Ks from this year are 21:52 (Jamestown Swamp Run), 21:24 (Fire Chiefs), 20:54 (Queens Lake), 21:16 (Brew with a View), 20:44 (Kingswood). I’m hoping for sub-20:30 as my next goal and sub-20:00 would be great. We all know I like to go out fast, I just have to figure out how to keep that fast pace for even longer.”
Murphy has run Kingswood the past four years and has gotten faster each year — 25:18, 24:19, 22:04, 20:44.
Rick Platt is president of Colonial Road Runners.
