Saturday, January 1, 2000 -- Morgantown, WV
New Year's Day Y2K Caperton Trail 5K
Story and photos by Don Parks

[Coverage/Recap] [Pic Set 1] [Pic Set 2] [Pic Set 3]
[Overall Results] [Results by Class]

The first day of 2000 was a great day to be outside

The first day of Y2K brought unseasonably warm weather across the Mountain State with temperatures near 70 in Morgantown. They were perfect conditions for the first ever race on the newly constructed Caperton Rail-Trail. We've heard them say that what you do on the first day of the year is what you'll do all year long. Well, it certainly looks like the Caperton Trail is going to be full of runners, walkers, cyclists, and many more folks as we head into the new millennium.

This race is the first in a three race series put on by the Morgantown Area Road Runners in their Y2K "Trail" Series. In addition, the Road Runners are sponsoring a "Y2K Challenge" where the goal is to complete either 2000 Miles of 2000 Kilometers or running during the 2000 calendar year.

Ed Frohnapfel continues his winning ways

The racing got underway at 2:00pm, a rather late race start. But this did give some folks a little extra time to shake off any Y2K "bugs" they were suffering from after ringing in the new year. Getting off to very fast starts were the teenage brothers that made up the team of "Dent Racing", 19 year-old Dusty Dent and 13 year-old Nick Dent. By the first mile mark the younger Dent began to drop back but Dusty continued to lead through the second mile.

Starting of with a steady pace and working his way through the leaders was Ed Frohnapfel, winner of the 1999 MAGP Series. By the two mile mark on the flat out and back course, Frohnapfel and Dent were running together in a battle for the lead position with E.J. Linger racing in third. The final mile saw Frohnapfel slowly build an advantage as he raced to a first place finish in 15:52. Dusty Dent kept it close to finish second at 15:58 with Linger capturing third at 16:29 and Nick Dent holding on for fourth at 17:18.

Natalie Zimmerman starts the new year with fun and fitness

In the women's field it was West Virginia University's Johanna Fisher putting on an impressive performance. The WVU Junior and distance specialist for the track team completed the course in a PR 17:50, finishing 7th overall.

In the race for second place, Stephanie Meleady showed that she was feeling pretty good after recovering from an injury that had sidelined her for most of the second half of 1999. Robin Stone held the second spot for much of the race until Meleady caught her inside of the last half mile. With a strong finish, Meleady took second place honors with a time of 20:19 as Stone settled for third with a time of 20:33.

First or last, it seems everyone enjoyed a great run to start out the new year. A big thanks goes to the Morgantown Area Road Runners for organizing the event and to BOPARC for the use of their facilities at Morgantown's Marilla Park.