‘Running with John’ in Chaptico Classic

Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2007

Click here to enlarge this photo Staff Photo by Reid Silverman Lusby’s Sierra Schenk, left, and Julia Smith of Tappahannock, Va., won the women’s 10K and 5K events Saturday to defend titles. E-Mail This Article | Print This Story

It took Leonard 1 hour 3 minutes 17 seconds to finish the 10K run at the 22nd annual Chaptico Classic, but Leonard wasn’t keeping time. He ran to finish the race his brother never got a chance to.

Leonard and his father, William, of Avenue ran Saturday’s race in honor of Michael’s brother, John, who died in April. The cause of death is still a mystery for the Leonard family, though they said doctors detected pressure in his brain.

‘‘He was going to run this before the Marine marathon,” Michael said.

So his family ran for him instead. William finished 22nd, two spots ahead of Michael. They trailed two-time winner Danny Bennett of Dunkirk by almost half an hour. But when they crossed under the thick heat of the early morning, no one got a louder reception.

‘‘I know this guy’s glad to be done,” the race announcer said as Michael crossed the finish line.

Michael ran through the finish line, took a taste of water and kept walking a few feet down the descending road he had started out on an hour before. Eventually he came back to his family and embraced his father quickly.

‘‘He used some dirty cross country tricks on me,” Michael said. ‘‘I waited for him to catch up so we could run together. We passed one guy, and I figured we could just coast. But he just kept going ahead of me.”

Michael won the 10K race in the 20-29 age group, the only runner in his age group, though there should have been one more.

Bennett won for the second time in three years with a time of 38:41. He showed no signs of a decline after missing last year’s race when he was in Singapore for his job.

‘‘It’s always good,” Bennett said. ‘‘A well-organized race, one of the best. This and the Potomac River Marathon are the two best races going. I like it even better than the Hospice race.”

The high school teams dominated in the men’s and women’s 5K. Six high school runners placed in the top 10 on the men’s side, while half of the top six in the women’s race came from Leonardtown High School.

Justin Zarzaca’s time of 18:23 edged that of his Leonardtown High School teammate Cameron Paul, who finished in 18:31.

‘‘I thought it was a good run,” Zarzaca said. ‘‘I think the competition made it a little harder.”

Sierra Schenk of Lusby ran 44:32 in the women’s 10K to win the event for the second consecutive year. Julia Smith also won her second women’s 5K race. The Tappahannock, Va., native finished in 18:58, almost three minutes ahead of Olivia Webster, a senior at Leonardtown.

E-mail Brian Paglia at bpaglia@somdnews.com.