Saturday, January 18, 2003 -- Deep Creek, MD
UNO's Snowflake Chase (iPO Event Id#: 5312)
Story by Heather Bury with photos by Don Parks

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Pictures: [Set 1] [Set 2] [Set 3] [Set 4] [Set 5] [Set 6] [Set 7] [Set 8] [Set 9]
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Running out in the cold

When you wake up in the morning, do you look out the window to see what the weather is like? Do you walk out your back door to check the temperature so you’ll know what to wear? Did you do that on Saturday?

The likeliness is that you woke up to a frost on your window. You walked outside and couldn’t believe that it could be this cold. So you turned on the Weather Channel or logged on to accuweather.com hoping that you were just thinking it was that cold. And what did you see? FOUR DEGREES! Yup, that’s right folks, four degrees here in Morgantown. If you checked the weather for Oakland or Deep Creek, Maryland, it’s probably because you were getting ready to run the UNO’s Snowflake Chase, and maybe you thought twice when you saw that it was –10 degrees.

Good weather to be under your blankets

Weather this cold would keep most people in bed sipping hot cocoa. But somehow, the UNO’s race seems to attract more than 300 runners and walkers who could easily be considered for the local Polar Bear Club. The race manages to live up to it’s name every year, and this year Mother Nature pulled out all the punches to top last year’s snow storm.

But the weather couldn’t stop the record breaking performances that came again this year. All four course records were broken, three of which had been set last year.

The top men from the area came out in droves to prove their masculinity, and try and win a little money. Casey Batey managed to overcome a fall on the starting line to win the 5 mile race in record time (26:50). Canadian Jeff Gorman didn’t let his freezing hands slow him down as he came in second with a time of 26:53. Local favorite Jaron Hawkins hung on for third with a 27:47. Ed Fronaphel came to defend his master’s title, once again he set a course record with a 29:13.

Finishing fast to get to the pizza at UNO's

After the race, Batey joked that he was only out there because he needed the money. And Gorman added that though he was from Canada, the five degrees was definitely the coldest conditions in which he’d ever gone out for a run.

The women couldn’t be outdone. Morgantown’s Heather Bury showed up to take her third title and break her own record with a 29:29. Maria Spinnler just wanted to make sure she broke the master’s record, clearing it by two minutes with a 35:26. Tracy Bridges rounded out the top three with a 36:07.

In the 2 mile walk division Art Sieman made sure that he would make it to UNO’s first for the pizza. He finished the walk in a frigid 19:39. Suzanne Wilburn braved the cold as well and took top honors for the female walkers with a 20:01.

After the race, everyone thawed out and ate some of the best pizza around at UNO’s. All this to benefit the Garrett County Chapter of Big Brothers & Big Sisters.