The women dominated the 17th annual Hare and Tortoise Ovarian Cancer Memorial Run 8K on Sept. 13, not just on an age-graded basis (which compares runners of all ages and both genders), but overall. Six of the top seven runners across the Virginia Capital Trail finish line, including race winner Emily Honeycutt, 34, of Newport News, were female. And nine of the 12 age group or course records broken were by women.
The 8K was on a mostly flat and very scenic course, utilizing the Virginia Capital Trail, Greensprings Trail and Powhatan Creek Trail, starting and finishing in Jamestown at mile zero of the VCT, across the street from Jamestown Settlement.
The 8K was this year’s 11th Colonial Road Runners Grand Prix race, with a lowkey 5K starting 10 minutes after the 8K, with a simple out-and-back to the long wooden bridge on the VCT. There were 98 combined finishers in the 8K/5K, with 60 finishers in the 8K and 38 finishers in the 5K.
The race was founded by the late John O’Hare, and is now race directed by Nick Luccketti, and is in honor of their respective wives, Karene O’Hare and Bitsy Whitten, both of whom died of ovarian cancer, the race cause. The race beneficiary is the Williamsburg Community Foundation Ovarian Cancer Endowment Fund.
A highlight of the race, besides the post-race pizza and beer, and other refreshments, was Williamsburg musician Bruce Hornsby handing out the race awards. Hornsby also was the batboy for Luccketti’s William & Mary baseball team (Luccketti was a 1971 W&M grad).
Honeycutt, Tabb High’s cross country and track coach, set a personal record in the 8K, with a superb time of 30:24, also breaking her course record for the Jamestown 8K course (also used in last year’s Hare and Tortoise race, but also for the CRR No Frills 8K back in February, 2023). Honeycutt’s previous course record (31:30) was in winning that No Frills race on a frigid winter morning.
Second and third overall for the women were Crystal Witte, 40, of Yorktown (34:17) and Aimee Gianoukos, 49, of Williamsburg (34:50). All three broke course age group records, Honeycutt for 30-34, Witte for 40-44, and Gianoukos for 45-49. Three more women finished ahead of the second male, all from Williamsburg—Tricia Murphy, 44 (35:17), Marjorie Friedrichs, 58 (35:51) and Deelyn Robinson, 59 (35:59).
First male, and second across the finish line, was Alexey Popov, 42, of Newport News (33:26), who also broke an age group record (men 40-44). Second and third for the men, both from Williamsburg, were Mark Kostro, 51 (36:19) and Robert Moore, 50 (36:40).
Other men below 40 minutes were Ken Alberg, 64, of Suffolk (37:05), Tristan Roehrbein, 34, of Providence Forge (37:06) and Tony Perez, 63, of Newport News (37:24). Other women below 40:00 were Megan Syrett, 43, of Yorktown (37:16), Melanie Hennis, 62, of Portsmouth (37:53) and Jennifer MacRae, 39, of Homosassa, Fla. (39:37).
Other women who broke five-year age group records were Haley Hyndshaw, 23, of Toano (46:58), Jelly Turner, 52, of Newport News (43:14), Hennis (37:53 for women 60-64), Jane Keith, 75, of Williamsburg (1:35:30 for women 75-and-older) and Molly Sandling, 51, of Williamsburg (race walk, 1:03:54). The two other men’s age group records broken were by Dale Abrahamson, 76, of Yorktown (42:04 for men 75-and-older) and by Paul Rienth, 66, of Williamsburg (1:03:41 for men’s race walk). The men’s course record is 25:19 by Roger Hopper, 32, of Chesapeake at the 2023 No Frills 8K.
On an age graded basis, the top five were women, Deelyn Robinson (80.44%, above the national-class 80% standard), and Friedrichs (79.73%) and Hennis (79.39%). Honeycutt (75.80%) and Gianoukos (73.83%) were next, and three men also bettered the regional-class standard of 70%–Abrahamson (73.25%), Alberg (72.10%) and Perez (70.83%). Murphy (69.35%) and Witte (69.25%) just missed the 70% regional standard.
Honeycutt emailed, “The Hare and Tortoise 8K was my first 8K ever in 2011 (when it was held at New Quarter Park), so it is pretty cool that it is the race where I now currently have my 8K PR and where I got my first ever overall win (for men and women). The weather was pretty good for racing [a morning low of 59, with low humidity and temps in the low 60s, good for a September race]. The course is nice and flat, though my miles on the trail were a little slower than the others. I was running by myself for pretty much the whole race. I wasn’t looking at my watch at all and felt really good, so I assumed I was just running for place and was really surprised to hear my dad [CRR finish line volunteer Mike Honeycutt] yell that the clock was at 30:10 as I was approaching it. I was super happy to finish in a 42 second PR of 30:24. My previous PR was 31:06 from Shamrock 8K this year. I was unfortunately unable to stay for the awards and post-race festivities, as I had to get back to catch the bus up to Pole Green Park [Mechanicsville] for RVA Relays.”
Witte emailed, “This was my first time running the Hare and Tortoise 8K, and I really enjoyed the scenic course! There were long stretches of shade and smooth pavement, so it was an ideal venue. I enjoyed running with many competitive female runners, and I enjoyed running for a good cause.”
Murphy emailed, “I really enjoyed running this course although I wish my body was able to run a bit faster. I was hoping to run a similar time from the Memorial Day race in Yorktown, but I was almost a minute slower. I started off third overall, with a huge gap running, by myself. I don’t race well by myself. About 3.5 miles into the race Crystal passed me, and then right before 4 miles Aimee passed me. Obviously I wish I could have held onto second, but Crystal and Aimee were stronger. I loved finishing and seeing Marjorie, Deelyn and Megan right behind. Such a fun race with so many women dominating the course. I hadn’t realized Bruce Hornsby was going to be at the race, so that was also a fun surprise to get photos with him.”
Friedrichs emailed, “It was great to see so many fellow runners out on the course this week, after a long (hot) hiatus since our last CRR race [June 28 for the Night Owl 9K]. And how exciting to see six of the top seven finishers be women! Such an inspiring group of ladies. They are a challenge to keep up with for sure!”
The Strumke family spent seven weeks in Argentina this summer. They visited Iguazu Falls, one of the natural wonders of the world. Courtesy of Todd Strumke
The only woman missing from this year’s top five in the CRR Grand Prix standings was Isabella Strumke, who spent seven weeks in Argentina this summer with her family–father Todd Strumke, mother Berenice, and siblings Jack, Luke and Sean. Berenice is from Argentina and both Isabella and Sean were born in Argentina.
Instead of Hare and Tortoise, the Strumke’s ran the RVA Relays cross country meet Saturday evening, along with many local high school runners, parents and coaches.
Todd Strumke emailed, “Both Jamestown’s Jonathan Grimm and Grafton’s Amelia Valenti ran the anchor legs for their high school teams in the RVA Relays. Jamestown was ninth out of 66 teams. Grafton took second out of 63 teams. Scott Ickes, Mark Tompkins and my son Jack ran in the open RVA race as well as Tricia Murphy.”
“Tricia’s son along with Megan Syrett’s son also ran in one of the races as did all of the Ickes kids and my kids as well. Isabella ran the 2.5K race in 9:13, good for second place out of 104 in the girls’ middle/elementary school division. The boys actually ran the race at the same time, and overall she placed 14th (out of 247 total runners), was the first 6th grader to cross the line of either gender and with the exception of three 7th grade boys, everyone else that finished ahead of her was in 8th grade.”
“In large part Isabella has a ways to go before she gets back into top physical shape. While we had an amazing time visiting Iguazu Falls (one of the natural wonders of the world), the glaciers down south, the Andes mountains, a cattle ranch and the capital, Buenos Aires, the kids only got in around 10 runs while we were there. The good news is that because it is south of the equator, it is actually winter time down there, so we missed all of the heat in Virginia. Following Sean’s birth the entire family, with the exception of myself [Marines duty], actually stayed in Argentina for a year. The kids (Jack, Luke and Isabella) actually went to the same private English/Spanish school that my wife and all her sisters went to.”
Rick Platt is president of Colonial Road Runners.
https://www.pilotonline.com/2025/09/19/course-record-falls-at-hare-and-tortoise-8k/
