Course Record Falls At 2018 Cotton Row Run
HUNTSVILLE- The 2018 Mercedes-Benz Cotton Row Run is in the history books…literally. The course record, that had stood since1983 when set by John Wellerding, was not only broken, but shattered by more than 30 seconds by Kenyan Linus Kiplagat who set the new mark of 28 minutes, 36 seconds in the annual Memorial Day 10K race held in downtown Huntsville.
The 23-year old Lansing, Michigan resident not only won the first place winnings of $1,200, but he also received the $5,000 bonus for breaking the course record that was set at 29:10 35 years ago.
Among the 308 CRR finishers that call Madison home, 39-year old Josh Whitehead was tops with a time of 34:10. The longtime elite runner from Madison was nearly two minutes faster than second place Anthony Parameswaran, 22, who posted a time of 36:03.
“I had a good race finishing 19th overall as I went out fast with my goal being a little faster than I ended up with, but I felt that the effort was good,” said Whitehead, who finished second in the male 35-39 age group and whose wife, Deanna, and brother-in-law, Jason Hartsell also ran. “The field of elite competitors was the deepest and most talented we’ve had in many years. Some of those elite runners were late additions to the field. The course record breaking was certainly something unexpected.”
In the female division, Margaret Wamahiga, also hailing from Kenya by way of Lansing, Mich., sorted through the 10K course with a $1,200 winning time of 34:20. Her time was exactly one minute off the female record of 33:20, set by Silvia Skvortsova in 2007.
The top female from Madison was Caitlin Morris who had a time of 41:20. Morris, 33, was just ahead of second place finisher Loryn Dobbins, 30, who ran the race in 47:26.
“I would have liked to have finished faster, but I’ll take it as it was extremely humid,” said Morris, mother of two, kindergarten teacher at Legacy Elementary School and resident of Madison since 2010. “The Cotton Row Run is one of the hardest 10K courses I’ve raced as it’s not my favorite, but just to be able to finish I believe was good.”
The youngest participant from Madison was eight-year old Caden Gibbs who finished alongside his mother, Steph, with a time 1:14.35. The eldest of the competition representing Madison were Wayne Heckler (46:50) and Martin Carson (1:32:55), both 68.
The annual Memorial Day event began under partly cloudy skies with a 72-degree temperature and humidity at 94-percent with rain threatening throughout the race from the nearby tropical storm Alberto. The weather conditions virtually mirrored what Mother Nature presented to racers a year ago.
Regarded as one of the finest races of its kind in the United States, the CRR also featured a 5K race. Tops from Madison were Anthony Parameswaran, 22, 21:49 for males and Jennifer Raymond, 36, 22:01 for females. In all, there were 260 finishers in the 5K outing from Madison.
