Palo Alto Double Racing Festival
Ten times he’d been on the outside looking in as the winners reaped the spoils in the Double!
The 11th time, however, turned out to be the charm for Osamu (Sam) Tada, a 34-year-old, transplanted Japanese runner from Sacramento, Calif., who finally broke through to win the Palo Alto Double 8K, Sun., July 19, in the Baylands Nature Preserve area in Palo Alto, Calif., beside San Francisco Bay.
Tada, who’s a true Double afficionado and was instrumental in exporting Double Racing to his native Japan, led from gun to finish in both legs of Sunday’s race, running the opening 5K stage in 16:30 (5:19 pace) and the concluding 3K stage in 10 minutes flat (5:22 pace) for an aggregate time of 26:30, which was a new men’s Japanese record.
Nicholas Spector of Sonoma, Calif., holds the men’s world best in the Double 8K, 24:32, set on Dec. 21 of 2014 in Pleasanton, Calif., when he ran the 5K in 16:02 (5:10 pace) and the 3K in 8:30 (4:34 pace).
Finishing second in the men’s race in Palo Alto on Sunday was 15-year-old Ben Dahlgren of Marietta, Ga., who was in Palo Alto with his family on a vacation specially arranged to coincide with the date of the Palo Alto Double 8K. He ran the 5K in 16:54 and the 3K in 10:14 for an aggregate time of 27:08, which placed him only 38 seconds behind the winner – and he’s only 15!
At the other end of the age spectrum, 45-year-old Jose Pina, Sr. of San Jose, Calif., finished third (the first Masters runner in the race) as he ran the 5K in 16:58 and the 3K in 10:16 for a combined time of 27:14.
Brooke Wells, 30, of San Francisco, Calif., was the women’s winner and placed fifth overall in the race as she set a new women’s world record in the Double 8K, 28:15. Leading from start to finish in both stages, she ran the 5K in 17:30 (5:38 pace) and the 3K in 10:45 (5:46 pace).
The veteran Rosa Gutierrez, 51, of San Jose, Calif., had a battle on her hands to salvage second place. She established a 14-second lead over Bre Avalos, 21, also of San Jose, in the 5K as they ran 19:35 and 19:49 respectively. Avalos then ran the concluding 3K leg significantly faster, however, as she clocked 11:37 compared to the 11:46 run by Gutierrez. But the nine seconds Avalos gained fell five seconds short as Gutierrez won on aggregate time, 31:21 to 31:26.
The youngest finisher in the race was the amazing Elliott Daniels of Campbell, Calif., who’s only 10! He was 12th overall in the Double 8K with an aggregate time of 30:47 as he ran the 5K in 19:08 (6:10 pace) and the 3K in 11:39 (6:15 pace).
Since he also was the boy’s winner in Bob Anderson’s Kids’ Cup Double 1½ mile in Palo Alto, running the mile in 6:08 and the half-mile in 2:52 for a combined time of 9 minutes flat, he actually completed a double Double in Palo Alto!
As is always the case, Natalie Mazaud, 13, of Carmel, Calif., was the girl’s winner in the Kids’ Cup Double 1½ Mile with a combined time of 9:59 (6:55/3:04).
The Most Fit Team in the competition, determined by the greatest number of finishers, was Too Legit to Quit from the San Jose area, which counted 18 finishers. The Jose Pina Team, also from the San Jose area, had 13 finishers.
There were 154 registered runners in the race, which was run on both trails and paved roads. The competition had almost a family outing type of feel to it.
Bob Anderson, the creator of Double Racing, commented, “A lot of people I talked to are just fed up with these big races with thousands of competitors. They prefer the smaller events.”
In that regard, the Double is now becoming something of a hidden jewel to many competitors.
One person who now runs Doubles almost exclusively is Sharlet Gilbert, 64, of Richmond, Calif., who was the first female finisher in the 60 and over age group in Palo Alto on Sunday. She ran the 5K in 25:06 and the 3K in 14:49 for an aggregate time of 39:55.
The Palo Alto Double 8K, presented by A Runner’s Mind running shoe store in Burlingame, Calif., was run on flat, fast courses in the 1,940-acre Baylands Nature Preserve, one of the largest tracts of undisturbed marshland in the San Francisco Bay area, with its miles of multi-use trails and road. Each stage started and finished at the Baylands Athletic Center, but the Recovery Zone this time was situated outdoors. The Baylands Nature Preserve is regarded as one of the finest bird-watching areas on the West Coast.
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