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Local officers pursue both fitness and criminals
By JOE SHAFRAN
Anytime I talk about running by law enforcement personnel, fire fighters or the ambulance crews, I think of the story told to me by former Anne Arundel County policeman, Joe Hatcher, a seasoned runner. Hatcher retired as a corporal a couple of years ago only to enter another branch of law enforcement. His story goes like this: as a county officer, he had made a traffic stop. The driver of the stopped car bailed out and started running. But this guy picked the wrong cop to do a bail-out and run. Hatcher, in uniform, in street shoes and wearing his flak jacket, took off after the fleer, and two minutes later, a mile away, the fleeing man totally out of breath, gave up. Hatcher tells at that point, he was just getting his second wind. You find Hatcher today still running any race that he sees on the calendar. And there’s the story of present Deputy County Police Chief Emerson Davis, 25 years after his recruit days, being shocked three years ago when he glanced down and saw the high number on the tape used to measure his waist for a new uniform. He became a runner and began to watch his diet and today does is daily early morning runs through his Broadneck area neighborhood and is just about down to his rookie days weight.
And on the subject of rookies, one of the more awesome sights last Sunday at the Victim’s Fund Run at Severna Park that attracted some 500 runners and walkers was the twenty or so recruits from the Anne Arundel County police training academy ,all clad in a uniform blue, all running the race, one of them holding the class flag. Along with them were several seasoned police officers. That race, the tenth annual is put on by the State’s Attorney’s Office and the lawyers belonging to the County Bar Foundation, with the proceeds going to the fund.
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Let me suggest our selections as the Races of the Week as the 5th annual 5K Heartsmart Run and Walk at Kinder Farm Park, Sunday, October 7 put on by the Cliff R. Roop Cardiac Support and Education Foundation and Comcast Cable It’s a race/walk where you don’t have to get up at the crack of dawn to be at the start line. It begins at 10 A.M., after warm-up exercises. The proceeds from this race promotes the use of the AED, the somewhat new defibrillator device, now found in many public places that could have saved the life of Cliff Roop, the member of Anne Arundel County Council who collapsed and died at the Arundel Center in Annapolis just after a Council meeting a few years ago.
Also, there’s the Junior League of Annapolis’ Volunteers on the Run 5K at Quiet Waters Park Saturday at 8:30 A.M . If you jog or drive there, turn into the Red Maple Pavilion. The organizers make sure the race course affords you a look of all the grandeur of the Park, including the South River promenade and overlook, something often missed if you just take a stroll through the park from the entrance and get tired and turn around after a couple of miles. Lara Mish is race director.
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Hint of the week… On Kent Island, the Queen Anne’s County Department of Recreation and Parks has been on an aggressive trail-building program the past few years and has crisscrossed the County with several miles of them. On each trail, they have erected large signs urging bikers and joggers/runners to give a warning when overtaking someone ahead of them. For bikers, they suggest using a bell or horn. They don’t spell out a warning to be used by runners or joggers, so let me give you one that I find helpful. It’s three simple words yelled out from a distance behind someone ahead of you, “On your left/right!” Just belt it out. Don’t be bashful. For a person ahead, walking or running slowly, the sound of a runner/jogger coming up unannounced from the rear can be frightening, known to have caused a heart attack. Or who knows, thinking it is a robber, someone might just pull out a container of pepper spray and let the passing runner have it. Try “On Your Left/Right !”
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Race Results
Results (partial) of the Sept 23 Victim’s Fund Run at Severna Park furnished by Kristin Riggin, PIO at the State’s Attorney’s Office.
Men: 1. David Berardi, 2, Ricardo Borrero, 3, Luis Diaz. Women : 1. Sheryl Kline, 2 Maureen Hall 3. Vanessa Cox.
Running Calendar
Sun. Sep. 30, Quiet Waters Park. Red Maple Pavilion.
8:30 A.M. 5K run. Volunteers on the Run. Junior League Of Annapolis.
Register and get information on www.active.com.
Sun. Sep. 30, BWI Thurgood Marshall Midfield Cargo Complex, Linthicum.
8:50 A.M., 21st Annual 4 mile run and 2 mile family walk. Benefits children with Down Syndrome at Kennedy Krieger Institute.
Call 410.993.RUNN.
Oct. 7, South River Colony, Edgewater.
9 A.M. 4th Annual Jodi Reitz 5K fun run/walk. Proceeds go to AA County CASA.
More info on www.aacasa.org.
Oct.7, Southern High School, Harwood, Annapolis Striders Metric Marathon. Pre entry for Striders before Saturday the 29th is $3 for members and $5 for non. 7th leg of the Club Championship series.
More info on www.annapolisstriders.org or call 301.855.0744.
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If you have a suggestion for the runner of the week,
please e-mail me with a contact number.
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