Yorktown Freedom Run 8K Article
By Rick Platt
On one of the busiest road racing weekends of the year, one race stood out in terms of high-level competition, Monday’s Yorktown Freedom Run Memorial Day 8K, held on the Yorktown Battlefield tour roads. With York High as the registration, awards and refreshments headquarters, runners walked down to the Route 17 underpass for the start, then had a clockwise tour of the shaded, scenic and traffic-free National Park Service tour roads, before finishing at Surrender Field.
The race was a Peninsula Track Club Grand Prix event, a Hampton Roads Super Grand Prix event, and was the second race in the 2023 Hampton Roads Three-Club Challenge, after the April 1st Victory at Yorktown 10K (a Colonial Road Runners event), and before the September 3 Elizabeth River Run 10K (a Tidewater Striders event). Those three clubs also had competitions for the fastest age-graded team (with the top ten scoring for each team) and the largest team (with 123 of the 192 finishers all claiming one of the Hampton Roads running clubs). There was also $700 in prize money, with $100-50-25 to the top three men and women overall, and to the top three Masters (ages 40-and-over) men and women. The course is USATF certified an exact 8K distance (VA-14007-RT).
The Colonial Road Runners dominated the competitive race, with the top three men overall, and five of the six finishers age grading over the 80% national-class level. The CRR averaged just under that 80% level for their top ten (79.586%), the Tidewater Striders were second (74.584%) and the Peninsula Track Club third (68.535%). However, the PTC easily won the largest team competition, thanks to a massive recruitment effort by PTC vice president Will Palagyi. A large percentage of the runners belong to two of the three clubs (mainly PTC and CRR), if not all three, but Palagyi got to them first, to claim the PTC as their team. The PTC total was 52 entrants, the largest turnout ever for the PTC in any team competition. The CRR was next, with 37 entrants, and the Striders were a close third, at 34 entrants.
The top three for the men were Adam Otstot, 41, of Williamsburg (26:51), followed by Sean Bush, 33, of Williamsburg (27:50) and Andrew Osborne, 29, of Yorktown (28:23). The top three women were Bethany Spector, 33, of Virginia Beach with a women’s course record 30:15, followed by Sabrina Little, 36, of Newport News (30:58) and Emily Honeycutt, 32, of Newport News (31:47).
For the Masters men, it was Tidewater Striders president Thomas Hicks, 51, of Virginia Beach (4th overall in 28:39), followed by Daniel Shean, 40, of Virginia Beach (30:33) and Matthew Tilley, 42, of Newport News (31:50). The best competition of the day, though, came in the Masters women competition, with a remarkable five seconds separating the top three. Deelyn Robinson, 57, of Williamsburg (35:07) prevailed over a fast-closing Christine Fernandez, 47, of Virginia Beach (35:09), who caught a surprised Megan Schulze, 40, of Newport News (35:12) just before the finish line.
On an age graded basis, as compiled by the CRR statistician Jim Gullo, six runners were better than the national-class level of 80%. Toano’s 9-year-old phenom Isabella Strumke, although not reaching her goal of breaking her own Virginia state record for 9-and-under girls (a 32:17 from March’s Shamrock 8K, on a totally flat course, and with much cooler temperatures) still ran 32:49 on the Yorktown course, which has two long hills (one coming from Wormley Creek in the second mile, and the other rising to the Route 17 overpass after three miles), along with several other smaller hills. The weather was decent, a steady 66 degrees, and totally overcast, but humid after morning showers the hour before the 8 a.m. start (but none during the race). Strumke age graded near the world-class level of 90%, with her 88.88%, a whopping 4 ½ percentage points better than runner-up Pete Gibson, 67, of Murfreesboro (32:38, 84.37%). The other four over 80% were Robert Whitaker, 64, of Yorktown (32:04, 83.47%), Hicks (83.25%), Robinson (82.63%) and Otstot (82.00%).
Over 75% were women’s winner Spector (78.79%), Marjorie Friedrichs, 56, of Williamsburg (36:27, 78.65%), Little (77.72%), Jon Leiding, 60, of Virginia Beach (33:21, 77.36%), Bill Hart, 74, of Virginia Beach (38:48, 76.98%) and Bush (75.57%). Over the regional-class level of 70% were Honeycutt (74.83%), Becky Upton, 60, of Virginia Beach (40:25, 74.47%), Osborne (73.81%), Fernandez (73.73%), John Piggott, 58, of Williamsburg (34:22, 73.71%), Jean Phelan, 67, of Virginia Beach (45:18, 72.85%), Dale Abrahamson, 74, of Yorktown (41:36, 71.79%), Orlando Perez, 61, of Newport News (36:20, 71.65%), Daniel Shean, 40, of Virginia Beach (30:33, 71.52%), Toby Worm, 50, of Smithfield (33:14, 71.21%) and Chris Abelt, 66, of Williamsburg (38:30, 70.87%).
The CRR’s winning top ten were Strumke, Gibson, Whitaker, Robinson, Otstot, Friedrichs, Bush, Honeycutt, Osborne, Perez, Abelt and Schulze (69.70%). For the Striders, their top ten were Hicks, Spector, Leiding, Hart, Upton, Fernandez, Phelan, Worm, Julie Hicks (68.99%) and Tobin McMurdie (68.21%). And for the third-place PTC team, their top ten were Abrahamson, Aaron Candella (69.94%), Tilley (69.69%), Frank Leone (68.83%), Valor Foy Jones (68.43%), James Deviese (68.23%), Christine Schaffner (67.62%), Patricia Travis (67.51%), Nat Blaesser (66.74%) and Barbara Biasi (66.57%).
The race director was Tom Hunter of the organizing Yorktown Rotary Club, with race proceeds to the Yorktown Rotary Foundation, for youth activities, community services and scholarships for local high schools. There were 205 entrants in the 8K, and an additional 31 runners and walkers in the 5K fun run, with 27 finishing.
Spector broke the women’s course record by 12 seconds with her 30:15, the previous mark 30:27 by Maria Spady, 31, of Hampton in 2022. In 2021 Spector had the record at 30:57, so she gained it back, also getting the women’s 30-34 age group record. Ten other age group records were broken, including Little (women 35-39), Deelyn Robinson (55-59, breaking the previous mark by Hall of Famer Mercedes Castillo-D’Amico), Schulze (40-49), Strumke (9-and-under), Upton (60-64), and Biasi (75-and-over, she also holds the 65-69 and 70-74 records). Men’s age group records were broken by Otstot (40-44), Dillon DeMay of Poquoson (10-14, 33:45), Whitaker (60-64) and Gibson (65-69, breaking the previous mark by Hall of Famer Steve Chantry).
Otstot emailed, “Andrew took the race out with an honest pace for the first mile [5:04-5:05]. I threw in a surge and created a gap there. Once I realized I had a healthy margin, I settled quite a bit and relaxed. I had no time goals. I just wanted to race hard and hopefully win. Fortunately it worked out. I’m pumped that CRR was able to win the age graded competition.”
Bush, who was third overall last year (in the exact same time), emailed, “I always love the opportunity to race on the battlefield roads, even though it’s not a fast course. This was my first race back since the Boston Marathon in April. I was not expecting to see Andrew there. I have not raced him before, but I knew of his previous accomplishments, and did not think I’d be able to compete with him. After staying on Thomas’s shoulder through 2.5 miles or so, I passed him on an uphill section and then slowly reeled Andrew in, passing him with about a mile/mile and a half to go.”
Osborne emailed, “I came into the race knowing the course and how difficult it would be. I took it out knowing that I am not as strong as I normally am (volume has been low!). Weather was great temperature wise. Muggy but who cares. Embrace the elements. Competition was strong. I’m impressed with Adam at 41!”
Whitaker emailed, “My time goal was 31:40 and I came up a little short. Yeah, we can blame it on the humidity. The hills are there but I guess I don’t notice them much, because I run there every day. Pete and I ran together for the first 2 miles. I’m working hard to not let the 9-year old pass me. When I passed her early in the race, she actually raced with me. She’s spunky!! I really like the age-graded competition. I’m tickled that I can contribute. And we get to showcase the CRR talent. If we take our heavy hitters, we should be able to win the ERR in September.”
Striders president Hicks was drained from his 87.7% age graded effort on Saturday in a Striders 4 mile race, also an HRSGP event, with Gibson also tough at 87.3% on a totally flat Dismal Swamp course. Hicks emailed, “First, congrats on the [CRR] team win, very impressive, Striders did ok without many of our A gamers, and we held our own.” He came within 15 seconds of Piggott’s age 50-54 record.
Grafton High grad Spector emailed, “The races at Yorktown are some of my favorites. They’re always put together very well, and the use of York High School before and after the race is perfect. It was a bit humid as the rain had just stopped earlier in the morning, but there was plenty of traction on the course and the trail portion wasn’t too muddy. I wasn’t sure how I would run at the Yorktown Freedom Run having just raced the Tidewater Strider’s Fallen Heroes 4 Miler on Saturday. On a good day I was hoping for an 8K PR and possibly earning a course record. Overall it was my best weekend of racing in a while with a new 4 mile and 8K PR. Choosing a team for the team competition is always a tough call as I am a member of multiple clubs. I went with the Tidewater Striders for this race as I am currently local to Virginia Beach.”
Little emailed, “For the past decade, I have raced at the elite and professional level in trails and ultramarathons, representing the US twice on World Championships teams and winning 5 national titles. Then I had 2 daughters, the youngest of whom is 8 months old. I have not raced short races since freshman year of college. I am not good at it, but I like it. After some time away from the sport postpartum, I am trying to remember what running fast feels like. My objective for the 8K was not a time goal. It was to remember what it feels like to remain in difficulty. I had a really fun time. I met wonderful people like Bethany! I got to catch up with Adam. And I enjoyed the training stimulus of a hard effort.”
Honeycutt emailed, “Coming off a 5K 2 days before (Chick-fil-A 5K on Saturday), I was hoping to be able to be break 32 minutes as I had never broken 32 on that course before and had only been under 32 twice (PR of 31:17 at Ice-Aholics 8K 2022). I was happy to finish in 31:46 as this was a 25 second best time for this course.”
Robinson emailed, “What a thrilling race that was! I was surprised to come in first in the women’s master group. The very best thing about racing with this ultra-strong group of women is how you are pushed to race much harder. I knew that Megan Schulze was close by, I did not know how close she was! And Christine Fernandez came out of nowhere like lightning! Honestly, I am glad that I didn’t know how close she was until after we had finished. I had a stronger race than normal as I am usually third behind Megan and Christine. It was also very exciting to break a record of such an astounding runner as Mercedes Castillo-D’Amico. She has some legendary and inspirational times.”
And for Isabella, her father Todd Strumke emailed, “The Yorktown Freedom Run and more importantly, Memorial Day, are big events for our family. It is so easy to forget what the day really means and just consider the Memorial Day weekend as a big celebration to kick off the summer. It is a day to remember those service members who gave their ‘last full measure of devotion’ so that we can enjoy the freedoms we do, and live in this amazing country. The race actually takes place on the battlefield where so many brave men died in an incredibly pivotal battle that led to the independence of this great nation. While Isabella’s goal was to break her 8K state record (32:17), in retrospect I should have done a better job of tempering that goal a bit. I mistakenly thought the course was flat and all on the roads and would thus lend itself to a fast time. It wasn’t until Isabella got back and I noticed that her back was covered in mud [from the stretch on dirt connecting the tour roads to Surrender Road] and folks talked about the hills that I realized I had made a mistake. That said, while Isabella was disappointed not to break the state record, she was happy to beat the age group record and win the age grade competition.”