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Standout Benton bests field, all genders

By TIMES STAFF WRITER
Published October 22, 2006

It wasn't particularly surprising that Christa Benton won the women's division of the recent Race For the Cure 5K in downtown St. Petersburg.

What was surprising was that she also won overall. In fact, the race wasn't much of a contest.

Benton, 22, a fifth-year senior at USF, clocked a swift 16 minutes, 52 seconds to easily beat men's winner Trey Clarke of Tampa, who ran in 18:23. It was her 15th consecutive women's win as she prepares to defend her Times Turkey Trot 10K title next month.

Second and third among men were Jim Duncan (19:04) of Largo and Kraig Beale (19:10) of Seminole. Kelly McCarty, 23, of St. Petersburg, was the second woman in 18:37 with Laure Blume, 40, of Pinellas Park, third in 19:35.

The high finish and low time were a pleasant surprise for Blume, a former 2:59 marathoner who essentially dropped out of the sport for close to three years.

"The Race For the Cure was a good race for me," Blume said. "It was a perfect course with great weather."

Blume's resume includes second in the inaugural Hops Marathon in 2000 in Tampa in a personal-best 2:59:08, just behind Forerunners teammate Christy Phillips. Blume went on to finish among the top 60 at the 2001 Boston Marathon in a swift 3:02:50, though she never put in the high mileage her teammates did in preparation.

Blume finished second in the 2001 Turkey Trot (to Mary Level-Menton) and won the 2002 Trot 5K in 18:23. In 2003 she began to curtail her racing and didn't compete at all on the roads in 2004-05.

"I wanted to try different sports, such as tennis and triathlons," she said. "I wanted to try to improve my tennis and cycle with my husband, Daryl, who could no longer run due to an injury. Furthermore, our children were getting into soccer and they come first."

Now Blume runs less, enjoys it more and still is realizing a high level of success.

"I'm renewing my membership in the Forerunners and plan to race a few more races," she said. "Someday I may even run the Boston Marathon again." TAMPA POLICE MEMORIAL 5K: Last Saturday, former Countryside and Gibbs High standout Ray Friedman asserted himself in the race from Lykes Gas Light Park. He ran in 16:02, 19 seconds ahead of former Florida Southern standout Louis Rufo. Clearwater's Keith Sawayda took third (17:01) and led in over 40. He was followed by Chris Hough (17:06) of Tampa and Angelo Breuning in 17:42.

Outstanding age-group times were posted by Tampa's Fred Dorsey (17:57), the 50-54 winner who was sixth overall; Chicago Marathon-bound Albert Wieringa, 60, 15th of 332 men in 18:28; Joe Burgasser, 67, who won his age division by more than five minutes in 20:02; and Emery Jewell, 80, in 28:57, well ahead of 137 younger men.

Jacki Wachtel of Tarpon Springs continued her winning streak in 17:32, well ahead of St. Petersburg's Kelly McCarty (18:07). Harmony Holland place third in 19:10 followed by masters division winner Kristine Cox of St. Petersburg in 19:58 and Kim Burton (20:43).

In age-group highlights, Lenore Rupert not only 60-64 in 28:46, she also was first among 55 and over. GULFPORT CHAMBER CHALLENGE 5K: In a field of 180, Trey McDonald of St. Petersburg broke the tape in 18:15, comfortably ahead of Tampa's Patrick Swere in 18:53. Kraig Beale, 46, of Seminole captured third in 19:00 last Saturday.

Barb Amen of St. Petersburg won among women in 20:38, followed by Jennifer Grimes (21:00) of Sarasota and Christina Simpson, 44, of St. Petersburg in 21:41. ULTRA MARATHON: A fourth area event last weekend, the John Holmes 50K (31.1 miles) in Brooksville's Croom Forest, left former Clearwater resident Linda Mason Barber bruised after falling several times on the rugged course. But at 53, she won the women's masters division in 4:36. Noora Alidinda of Palm Harbor was second in 4:51. The overall women's winner was Stacy Bartoff (4:17) of Maitland. Roger Sutton (4:10) of Ocala won overall followed by Craig Foxhoven (4:24) of Naples.

In the concurrent 15-mile event, former Gasparilla 15K winner Laura Drake of St. Petersburg captured the women's title in 2:02, only six minutes behind men's winner Phil Marcus of Tampa. COLUMBUS MARATHON: Millie Hamilton of Redington Beach, fresh off a 60-64 group win at last month's RYKA Iron Girl 5K in Clearwater, ran an even-paced 4:21:46 last Saturday in Ohio to qualify for the 2007 Boston Marathon. Her age-group standard is 4:30.

[Last modified October 21, 2006, 17:46:16]