CABADA, KEFALAS AND KENNEDY  BIG WINNERS IN PLEASANTON DOUBLE

By David Prokop (Photo by Catherine Cross)

Pleasanton, Calif., Sunday, Dec. 23, 2012 – Running in intermittent rain and gusting winds, Fernando Cabada, Tina Kafalas and Christine Kennedy were the big winners today at the Pleasanton Double Road Race™.

The other big story at the Pleasanton Double was that the creator of this unique new competition and sport, Bob Anderson, founder and former publisher of Runner’s World magazine, successfully completed his 50-Race Challenge (50 races in 50 weeks to celebrate his 50 years of running) at the competition.

The first time the Double had ever been held in America, the event marked the birth of a new sport – and the way the competitors , some 900 of them,  ran the race, which consists of a 10K opening leg, followed by a concluding 5K leg, with a recovery break in between, clearly established the Double at a valid, bonafide athletic competition.

Cabada, a world-class runner from Boulder, Colo., who holds the American 25K record on the road, won the men’s overall competition by running the 10K leg in 30:31 and the 5K leg in 15:02 for an aggregate time of 45:34. Daniel Tapia of Prunegrove, Calif., near Salinas, finished second with an aggregate time of 46:03, and Tyler McCandless, also of Boulder, Colo., was third with an aggregate time of 47:13.

Tina Kefalas, who now lives in Hillsborough, Calif., but represented Greece in the women’s marathon at the London Olympics earlier this year, won the women’s division by running the 10K in 35:55 and the 5K in 18:07 for an aggregate time of 54:03. Michelle Meyer of San Francisco was second, posting an aggregate time of 54:42, and Heather Tanner of Menlo Park, Calif., finished third with an aggregate time of 56:14.

Christine Kennedy, the 57-year-old marathon  marvel  from  Los Gatos, Calif., won the 55-59 age group with an aggregate time of 58:34 (39:14 for the 10K and 19:19 for the 5K) to win the Double Champions Cup for the best age-graded performance. Kennedy holds the world marathon record for women 57 or older – 2:56:04.

For Bob Anderson, the Pleasanton Double marked the successful end of his very long run (A Long Run is the name of a film documenting his 50-Race Challenge). He had set a challenging goal for himself this year to run 50 races in 50 weeks, a total of 350 miles, averaging under seven minutes per mile. Coming into the Pleasanton Double, he was 33 seconds short of his goal. The difficult weather conditions at Pleasanton working against him, he ran the 10K leg in 43:25 and the 5k Leg in 21:38, for an aggregate time of 1:05:03, which was 11 seconds under seven-minute pace, but still left him 22 seconds short of his goal. Nevertheless, nobody  in his right mind could fault him for an achievement in the 50-Race Challenge which was nothing short of remarkable for a man aged 64 –  especially since it concluded  on a day when this running visionary saw his creation, the Double Road Race™, unveiled as a brand new sport on the American athletic scene.  Afterwards, Bob decided to count this Double as one race and he is running The Moody Two Dec 29 as his last race.  He is hoping to get back the other 22 seconds.

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