Sunday, February 14, 1999 -- Mineralwells
Couples Classic 5K Run

[Coverage/Recap w/Pics] [Results] [More Pictures]

Tom Kramer shows championship form at the Couples Classic 5K

If you didn't have a date for Valentines day (and you were looking for one) or you just felt like running a race, the Couples Classic 5K was where you wanted to be. The race, held in Mineralwells, featured the option of putting your name in a hat to be randomly paired with a runner of the opposite sex. While some slushy snow was left on the course and the temperature at race time was in the 30's, the sun made a special appearance to make things relatively nice for February.

The Couples Classic 5K was the second in the River City Runners Winter Series. The course, an out-and-back, started at the Mineralwells Community building, headed out 1/2 mile on Lincolnshire, up a hill with a nice view of the golf course, and down on to a straight stretch to the turn-around. A lower than usual turnout was attributed to the Daytona 500 stock car race being shown on TV, and those absent missed a beautiful afternoon to get outside.

Willis Ridenour finishes the Couples Classic 5K with the sun at his back

A combined time of 44:32 was just enough for the team of Jolene Taylor and Carl Hatfield to win the couples category over Steve Browning and Stephanie Hatfield (Carl's daughter) who finished with a time of 44:59. Mike Taylor (17:47) won the overall individual race followed closely by Josh Weekley (18:01) and Tom Laframboise (18:31). Sharon Marks had the best time for the women crossing the finish line at 22:34 beating out Susanne Ebersbach (23:11) and Stephanie Hatfield (24:17).

Even Rocky Wiseman (who, by coincidence, was the only runner not to place overall or in his class) was given a special award of innovative shoelace retention devices. It seems that Rocky has, in the past, had trouble tying sufficiently tight knots in his shoelaces. Hopefully these will propel him to a medal in the Leprechaun Run 5K on March 14th, the final race in the RCR Winter Series.