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Running: Race director bridges trouble
By JOE SHAFRAN, For The Capital
If you happen to have any of the memorabilia from the 2005 Army Ten Mile Run, hang on to it. Like the Indian Head nickel, it might be worth a lot of money someday. The 2005 version of the Army Ten Miler will go down in the history books as the Army Fun Run.
An unusual happening occurred at the race and I’ll try to explain it the best I can. It took about ten days to sift it out. It wasn’t a phoned-in bomb threat as was first speculated, but the race had to re-routed because of another type of threat, mid-way into the race, and because the new route made it an 11.1 mile run, the name had to be changed. I’m getting this from the race director himself, George Banker, who also will go down in history as perhaps the only director in history whose race changed names midway through.
You have to know Banker. A seasoned runner, a fellow with an extremely cool disposition, skilled in leadership abilities. The Army lured him to the directorship about two years ago. They call him operations manager. He has a staff of qualified assistants. This is the time-honored Army Ten Miler, the 21st annual, starting and ending near the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, but with most of the race course in Washington D.C. Banker shut off registration weeks ago when it hit 20,000. It takes a full year to pull this one off. This is the race course that goes through 7 different police jurisdictions, just about all them continually under code orange, as required by the Department of Homeland Security. A very high security zone.
This is the race that is put on by the Army of the United States of America. It’s under intense scrutiny and was that way even before 9-11 Scrutiny from the President on down. You would never be able to count the gold stars on the shoulders of the brass at this race. Here’s what happened as told to me by Banker. Halfway into that race, the D.C. Metropolitan police shut down the 14th Street Bridge over the Potomac River as a security measure. This was the main route to the finish line. .Just after 6:30 A.M. on race day, as it became light, the police harbor patrol discovered some objects on the river bank under one end of the bridge that had apparently not been there before. The order went out to close the bridge and to clear a wide area around it.
Word is flashed to Banker, at “command and control” that the bridge is closed to vehicles and to runners, also. Banker had to make a quick decision. Stop the race with the lead runners at the 40 minute mark just west of the Capitol or go to a version of Plan B that had been rehearsed many times before the race. Plan B was to by-pass the 14th Street bridge and use the other Potomac crossing, the Memorial Bridge, the one that connects the Lincoln Memorial to Arlington Cemetery. Never in a million years would anyone think they would have to resort to Plan B. It was a last resort and not the best of situations with 15,000 people running the streets of Washington at that point. On the Memorial Bridge, runners would now have to compete with vehicle traffic, also detoured away from the closed 14th Street Bridge. That was not good. Banker would have to cross his fingers and hope nothing would happen. There would be no lane set aside with those orange safety cones as would have been the case on the 14th Street span.
Trouble was that in the quick change, the certified ten mile distance was skewed, so Banker, sitting before a bank of TV monitors, got on the radio and made the announcement for all to hear that not only was there a change in the race route, but that the race had a new name and a new finish line. And without another moment of hesitation, he sent orders to quickly move the finish line, along with the sound system , the bagels, bananas, 12,000 bottles of water and what have you to the new finish. It was all done with seconds to spare but they did it. In the days that followed, there was certification that the race course ended up being 11.2 miles.
Somehow it all worked out. All 15,000 got over the Memorial Bridge safely and to the new finish line, and except for about 10 grouches, the 14,990 other runners took it in stride and went home knowing they made history.
I talked with Banker this week and he’s already planning next year’s race and hopeful that any bomb or security threat should come before the race, not at the 40 minute mark And last week, the D.C. Police announced that they had erred on the side of caution that Sunday morning. The objects under the bridge supposedly belonged to a construction company that was to start on some bridge work on that Monday, but forgot to notify authorities that they were putting some of their material under the bridge on Saturday. Banker tells me he has conferred with the director of the upcoming Marine Marathon, that uses much of the same route, and finds that everything seems well under control and that the bridges will be closely guarded over the weekend.
So, save anything that reads The 2005 Army Ten Miler. I recall a couple years back there was another bridge incident, this time on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, over which there was to be the Striders 10K run. With 3,000 at the starting line ready to run to Sandy Point State Park, the race was canceled because of weather. And I’m recalling two other incidents, one about a year ago when a 10 mile race near Frederick also became an 11 miler when fire broke out in a building on the running route and forced a several block detour. And in another incident, I believe it was on the NCR Trail north of Baltimore a couple years ago, that a hurricane weekend 90-foot tree, 15 feet around, fell across the wooded running course the morning of the race, leaving no room to get around, which also pretty well fouled up the official timing. Oh, yes, in Army Ten Mile incident, the 14th Street Bridge finally did get opened later that Sunday morning.
On a more relaxed note, they had the metric marathons on that same Sunday, the 2nd one in bucolic South Anne Arundel County and another at Columbia. At that one in Columbia there were some area runners, one of whom was Ted Poulos, 43, of McLean, Virginia, who is well known in the Annapolis area. Columbia was Ted’s 3,201st race. He recently chalked up his 1,000th win. He came in 4th at Columbia.
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Running Calendar
Oct. 15: 7:55 a.m. Baltimore Running Festival. The marathon, the relay, the half, and shorter fun runs. Too late to enter, but come watch. It’s around Camden Yards.
Oct. 15: 9 a.m. Watkins Park, Largo, Prince George’s County, the second Autumn 5K Trek and the 1 mile Victim’s Fund Run/Walk put on by Reaching Objectives through Joint Action Inc. and the County State’s Attorney’s Office. Call 301-952-3500.
Oct. 22: 9 a.m. Annapolis, Forbes St. OSMC 5K Halloween run/walk to benefit special Olympics. Call 410-729-4878. Run or walk in costume.
Nov. 5: Pasadena. Down Park 8:30 a.m. 5-mile trail run. Call Don Higdon at 410-266-0561 or go to the Striders web site.
Race Results
Metric Marathon, (16 . 3 miles) Oct. 2
Men: 1. Josh Dorsey, 23, 1:41:42, 2, Pat Reed, 36, 1:41:49, 3.Dr. Tom Hattar, 44, 1:43:00, 4, Erik Bates, 19, 1:45:35, 5, James Fitch, 41, 1:45:57, 6. Matt Mace, 45, 1:47:47, 7. Anthony Olzewski, 35, 1:48:34, 8, Patrick Kiley 30, 1:48:41, 9. Chris Daubert, 35, 1:48:59, 10.Gary Buchan, 48, 1:50:21
Women: 31, Jennifer Sullivan, 40, 1:58:24, 35. Jill Hargis, 45, 1:59:52, 39. Jennifer Lundeen, 46, 2:01:28, 43. Sarah Haines, 25, 2:03:05, 47. Kate Garney,35, 2:03:29, 52. Angie Folstad-Holm, 35, 2:05:09,56. Mary Lynn Hansen,39, 2:08:32 ,57. Michelle Buckley, 38, 2:08:37, 62. Kathy Carney , 45, 2:10:47, 65. Ellen McGee, 49, 2:11:44
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