05 October 2003

"I just ran the race," Mark Gilmore calmly described his performance at the 27th Metric Marathon last Sunday. Mark led from start to finish, easily winning the 26.2 km (16.3 mile) race. "When we saw Mark at the start, we knew the race was for second place," said Kevin Betts, who had once won the Metric. Gilmore raced all alone except for a bicyclist who lead him along the hilly course from Columbia to Ellicott City and back. "He'd tell me when a hill or a curve was coming up," Mark said about his escort. Gilmore had run the Metric before, but had never won. Surprisingly, his time (1:33:50) was the slowest Metric he'd ever run, and he had only registered for the race the day before. For winning, he received a gift certificate from Feet First and a handsome pewter trophy. "The award is so nice my wife may let me put it up," he said.

Rockville's Margaret Polcawich won the women's Metric Marathon, and she also led the race from start to finish. She had never before raced as far as the Metric Marathon and intends to run Montgomery County's Marathon in the Parks in November. "My plan was to run a 6:40 pace," Margaret said, and that's pretty much what she did in winning the Metric in just under 1:50.
Howard County's Bob Burns (1st, 50-54 M) finished just behind the first woman, and he remembered when she passed him on the far side of High Tor Hill at 12 miles. "She was in better shape, faster, and better looking than me," Bob remembered, "and she ultimately prevailed."

If Gilmore and Polcawich had a relatively easy victories, a real battle for second place developed between Ted Poulos and Doug Kuderna, two outstanding masters runners. "We were going back and forth for pretty much the whole 16 miles," Doug recalled. In the end, however, Poulos used his speed to outsprint Kuderna in the final half mile of the race. "Actually, I was pretty happy to be so close to Ted," commented Kuderna, who also vowed to do more speed work.

The Metric 5k race also accompanied the Metric Marathon. "The Metric was for those not feeling up to running the 5k," joked Dan Laukzemis, who almost won the shorter race. Laukzemis battled Mark Anderson for the first two miles of the 5k, but Anderson put the race away when they got to the bike path and headed back.

Twelve-year-old Nicole Shouse easily dispatched the women's 5k field, winning in 19:42, a person record. A stand-out runner for the Howard County Junior Striders, Shouse also won the Police Pace 5k two weeks before. Nicole's younger sister, Alyssa, also set a person record (24:50) and won the 9-and-under age group.

Cool, sunny weather brought out a good crowd of runners for the tworaces: 300 ran the Metric Marathon and 105 ran the 5k. Overall and age group marathon winners received pewter trophies, while 5k winners received wooden plaques. All participants and volunteers enjoyed a plethora of refreshments, including 80 Ledo pizzas (cheese, pepperoni, veggie), seven different types of cookies baked fresh by Subway, Recharge drink, Bagel Bin bagels, bananas, and Crystal drinking water. "It was a whole garage full of food," said race director John Worley.

The 27th Annual Metric Marathon is staged each fall by the Howard County Striders, who thank the Howard County Police for controlling traffic at the numerous key intersections along the route.