Community

First-grade teacher gears up for Classic

By DAVE THEALL, Times Correspondent
Published January 10, 2008

A former elite runner in the area used the recent Blizzard Blast 5K in Tampa as a tuneup for next week's St. Pete Beach Classic on the 19th.

Vicki Jetton of Dunedin ran a swift 18:18 - 5:54 per mile pace - at Al Lopez Park, finishing second (17:56) to Jacki Wachtel of Tarpon Springs.

Jetton, 37, a first-grade teacher at Bardmoor Elementary School, said she was pleased with her race since it was a big improvement over her previous 5K, a 19-minute effort for second to Christa Benton at last month's Say No to Drugs race in Clearwater.

"I'm making progress since I stopped running altogether for two years and didn't get back into jogging until August and then working out with coach Dror Vaknin in September," said Jetton, a former top runner at the University of West Virginia, with a 5K PR of 17:55. "Dror keeps me focused. I turned to him when my West Florida Y Runners Club coach, Mel Mella, stopped coaching at the Clearwater High track."

In 2004, Jetton finished as the second woman to Mary Level-Menton at the Times Turkey Trot 10K. She followed up with a win (36:53) at the Say No to Drugs 10K the following month in Clearwater, and followed that with another win (18:25) at the Harvey's Festival 5K in St. Petersburg over Mary Ann Protz and Carol Glasscock of St. Petersburg Beach.

"It's hard to stay injury free in this sport," Jetton said. "That's why I'm taking my comeback slowly. For the most part, I'm enjoying it, especially since we (she and husband Kyle) moved to Dunedin last year and I'm able to run the bike trail along the Causeway to Honeymoon Island. I'm taking it slowly, only about 30 miles a week."

Jetton is doing some coaching herself. She runs the Largo Recreation Department's Youth Track Program.

MORE BLIZZARD BLAST RESULTS: Pinellas women not only finished 1-2 in the race, but Jeanne Townsend of St. Petersburg took fifth (20:18) and Carol Bancroft, 48, 12th of 106 women in 22:04.

The men's field of 102 was led by a 40-year-old former USF standout, Vaknin in 15:58. A 5:03 pace enabled him to hold off Patrick Reaves (15:56) of Silver Springs, Md., and Lee Stephens (16:08) Tampa.

Also in the mix was Irv Batten, 44, of Summerville, S.C., fifth in 16:44. Batten, the brother of Keith Batten, is a Clearwater High graduate and holder of the Midnight Run 10K course record.

CLERMONT HALF MARATHON: Who says Florida was flat as a pancake? Not Albert Wieringa of St. Petersburg and the St. Pete Road Runners Club.

"The course was extremely hilly so any plan to run an even pace was not workable," said Wieringa, 61. "This was even hillier than the Parkersburg (W.Va.) Half Marathon, which I ran last year. But I managed to maintain a 6:46 pace for a time of 1:28:41 and finished first, 50 and over, although that wasn't an official age category."

ST. PETE ROAD RUNNERS: The relatively new club recently elected Ben Fudge as president. Bill Castleman, a former official with the defunct Suncoast Runners Club, is the VP; Jon Dunford, treasurer; Rachel Winter, secretary; and Carol Glasscock, membership director.

The club holds training sessions and monthly membership/social meetings. It's a nonprofit organization affiliated with the Road Runners Club of America. For further details, go to www.sprr.org.

COMING UP: Sunday's Disney Marathon should see two St. Petersburg runners in the mix for the coveted first-place award. They are Benton, who was second (2:57:25) there last year, and Melanie Peters, who has a PR of 2:58:00.

Wieringa, who ran 2:57 in 2005, also is an invited runner, along with West Florida Y Runners Club president Michael Weiss. His best is 2:47 in 2005; most recently he ran 2:52 at last year's Boston Marathon.

Ten Florida runners are invited as part of Disney's Florida's Finest Program. And four of those, named above, are from Pinellas. What does that tell you?

- The Jan. 19 St. Pete Beach Classic is launching a "green" event in connection with its fifth annual 10K/5K. Runners are encouraged to donate used running shoes to Recycled Shoes, a local group that cleans and donates shoes.

Motion Sports Management, headed by Wendy Johnson, also plans to leave the scenic course and assembly areas as it finds it, litter free.

The weekend event kicks off with a Health and Fitness Expo on Friday at the Sirata Beach Resort. For further details, visit www.stpetebeachclassic.com, or call (727) 367-7223.

- The Clearwater Halfathon starts at 7:30 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 20, from Coachman Park, on the waterfront. There's also a 5-miler. The Web site is www.clearwaterhalf.info; the phone number is (727) 347-4440.

[Last modified January 9, 2008, 21:27:50]