Top CRR runners earn Super Grand Prix awards – Daily Press

Besides the Grand Prix series of the three major running clubs in the Hampton Roads area—the Colonial Road Runners, the Peninsula Track Club and the Tidewater Striders, there is one more series that combines the best races of those three clubs into one very competitive series—the Hampton Roads Super Grand Prix.

Originally started and coordinated in 2016 by Tom Randolph of the Striders, after several years the administration of the series switched to the CRR and the PTC on the other side of the James River, with now eight-time CRR men’s Grand Prix men’s champion Roger Hopper the person who painstakingly compiles the scoring and the times of every HRSGP race.

In 2022, there were seven CRR races (one special HRSGP event was added in July to the original list, to support Braxton Lee and his mom Maryanne Lee in their quest to set world records in the seven half marathons on seven consecutive days on seven continents, an epic adventure which will start the end of January), along with six Tidewater Striders events and five PTC events, a total of 18.

For the CRR, their seven events last year were the Colonial Half Marathon in February, the Queens Lake 5K in March, the Victory at Yorktown 10K and the Run the DOG Street 5K in April, the Lee’s 5K race in July, the Democracy Dash 10K at Jamestown Island in August and the series-concluding Sleighbell 5K in December.

The PTC’s five races included three on the Yorktown Battlefield tour roads, 10-mile races in February and November, and an 8K on Memorial Day, along with the Riverwatch on the Piankatank 5K in November and the Run for the Son 5K in December. Of the Striders races, by far the premier race was the popular and very competitive Elizabeth River Run 10K on the Labor Day weekend Sunday.

For the HRSGP, runners have to opt in by signing up online for the series, a simple task that takes less than five minutes, and is free, yet every year potential qualified runners for the HRSGP don’t sign up. In 2023, the regular six CRR races in the HRSGP (Colonial Half, Queens Lake, Yorktown, DOG Street, Democracy Dash, and a return to the Governor’s Land 5K) will be expanded to include the Weighted Angels 5K at Billsburg (that race had an amazing 13 runners below 16 minutes last year, due in large part to participation by the William & Mary men’s cross country team, and has already been awarded Virginia RRCA state 5K championship status for 2023). Similarly both the PTC and the Striders have increased their HRSGP race totals to seven, so there will be a record 21 races, the best in the Hampton Roads area, for 2023.

For the HRSGP, the annual series awards go to the top three overall men and women, the top three Masters (ages 40-and-over) men and women, along with the top three in five-year age groups from 19-and-under to 70-and-over, male and female. In the overall and Masters categories, scoring went five deep, and only a maximum of the top six races counted, 20 points for first, then 15, 12, 10 and eight points. In the various age groups, scoring was the same but up to 12 scoring races counted.

The names at the top will be familiar to the CRR—Roger Hopper, Emily Honeycutt and Svitlana Honcharova, who were also the top male, and top two females in the 2022 CRR Grand Prix, doing the same for the HRSGP. Since its inception in 2016, the only HRSGP men’s winner has been Hopper, and he won his seventh consecutive HRSGP title to go with his eight consecutive CRR titles. Hopper of Chesapeake won 11 of the 18 HRSGP races last year, and had a perfect score of 120 points (20 points each for six scoring races), and a total of 220 points. Next was Chris Novakoski of Chesapeake (91 scoring points, 135 total points) and Jordan Spector of Virginia Beach (52 points).

For the women, there have been different HRSGP champions every year, Honeycutt of Newport News finally signed up in 2021, and won her first title this past year with 105 scoring points and 117 total points. Honcharova of Williamsburg was runner-up for the second straight year with 102 scoring and 140 total points. Third place went to Julie Hicks of Virginia Beach with 84 points.

For the Masters divisions, the top three men were Tidewater Striders president Thomas Hicks of Virginia Beach (120 scoring and 155 total points), Robert Whitaker of Yorktown (85 points) and Tobin McMurdie of Norfolk (70 scoring and 78 total points). The top three women were Kirsten Kelly of Virginia Beach (115 scoring and 142 total points), Jessica Anderson of Williamsburg (107 scoring and 134 total points) and Susan Hagel of Norfolk (81 scoring and 111 total points).

HRSGP age group winners from the CRR included brothers Braxton Lee (first, men 19-and-under) and Boston Lee (second, 19-and under), Alexey Popov (first, 35-39), John Epps (first, 40-44), David Anderson (second, 50-54), Joe Buck (first, 55-59), Robert Jean (second, 55-59), Timothy Hodge (third, 60-64), Richard Grant (first, 65-69), Jess Brown (second, 65-69), Jim Duffy (first, 70-and-over), and Dale Abrahamson (third, 70-and-over) for the men; and Ellie Epps (first, 19-and-under), Cannon Jean (second, 19-and-under), Bethany Spector (first, 30-34), Maryanne Lee (first, 35-39), Jessica Epps (second, 40-44), Criztina Jean (second, 50-54), Valor Foy Jones (second, 55-59), Maria Peters (third, 55-59), Jean Phelan (first, 65-69), Shirley Stephens (second, 65-69), Martha Gullo third, 65-69), and Patricia Travis (first, 70-and-over) for the women.

Ellie Epps (230), Maryanne Lee (230), Phelan (217) and Travis (215) had the highest point totals for the women, while Duffy (235) Braxton Lee (230) and Grant (230) had the highest point totals for the men.

Hopper emailed, “The HRSGP is a fantastic collection of all the best races the CRR, PTC and Tidewater Striders have to offer, and most of the best races around in the 757, especially when it comes to well-organized events on fast courses that attract good competition. Many of the biggest races around, including the Colonial Half Marathon, DOG Street 5K, Elizabeth River 10K, and Yorktown Battlefield 10 Miler, are part of the series, and of course I’m not going to miss many, if any, of these paramount events each year. The Democracy Dash 10K is another great course which, while not as venerable as many others, has been a PR opportunity for me each year I’ve run there, so I love that! The HRSGP started in 2016. I’ve won the male title every year since its inception, and I plan to keep that going as long as I can. The toughest year was definitely 2018, when John Walker of the Striders won a couple HRSGP races.”

Five-time CRR Grand Prix champion Honeycutt emailed, “I really enjoyed the Democracy Dash 10K, the Elizabeth River 10K, and the Run with the Son 5K. Both 10K courses are almost completely flat and fast. The Democracy Dash was where I broke 40 minutes for the first time (39:42), and the ERR 10K is my current 10K PR (39:06). The Run with the Son 5K is always a great race and is one of my favorites to run every year. This year I broke 19 on that course for the first time (18:58), winning the race for the 8th time and setting another age group record. Making a Super Grand Prix race from each club has been hard in the past with my coaching schedule for cross country and track [at Tabb High], so I haven’t been as active in the HRSGP as the CRR GP. Last year was the first year I actually completed a Super Grand Prix race from each club and placed 2nd in the HRSGP.”

Whitaker and Hagel have won HRSGP overall or Masters awards most every year. Whitaker, now age 64, was men’s Masters champion in 2016, second place overall in 2017, second Masters male in both 2018 and 2022, and third Masters male in 2019 and 2021. He emailed “I really like getting to race other races and venues, plus running against the competition from the Southside. It’s another level to achieve. I enjoy the Yorktown Battlefield 10-Miler, it’s about the only long distance race I run anymore.”

Hagel, who has won more PTC Grand Prix titles than any other runner (now up to seven, the next best is three) often wins Grand Prix awards for all three area running clubs, as well as the HRSGP (four in the same year, a very busy schedule). For the HRSGP women’s Masters category, she won in 2016, 2020 and 2021, to go with her third place this year.

Rick Platt is president of Colonial Road Runners.