Bailey wins 3rd straight Firecracker

With temperatures in the upper 50s making running a bit more comfortable than usual for an Independence Day morning, 190 finished the two-and-one-third laps of Gypsy Hill Park in Saturday’s 10th annual Firecracker 5K. Competitors ranged in age from 70-year-old Henry Wood to 4-year-old Logan Mayhew, and several award winners came from outside Virginia.

Matt Bailey, a 21-year-old George Mason University junior from Weyers Cave, won his third consecutive Firecracker men’s title and his fourth in the last five years. Bailey’s winning time of 16:22 was 35 seconds off the Gypsy Hill Park 5K course record of 15:47 he established a year while winning the Dog Days 5K.

“It was tough to maintain a fast pace all by myself,” said the former Fort Defiance distance star, noting that a his record time was set with current GMU teammate Alex Ott finishing within a second of his winning time.

Silver medalist Aaron Patterson, 29, was 56 seconds behind Bailey in 17:18, while Turner Ashby junior Matt Denlinger, 15, was the men’s bronze medalist in 17:36.

On the women’s side, Charlotte Vigeant, of Basking Ridge, N.J., 32, covered the 3.1-mile course in 21:07.
“There were a lot of quick men out there today,” said Vigeant, who led the women’s field from the opening gun, placing 35th overall and relying exclusively on competition from the male finishers around her during the race.

Courtney Moyer, 18, of Staunton, was the silver medalist in 22:16, while Michelle Dennhardt, of Stuarts Draft, 43, was the bronze medalist in 22:28.

All-time Gypsy Hill Park records fell in three of age divisions as Hanna Willard, of Raleigh, N.C., (10 & under) and Niki Kline, of Swoope, (30-36) lowered the best marks for their female age groups, and H.G. Bussard, Jr., of Deerfield, established a new record in the men’s 56 & up age division. The first-place finishers in each division received trophies, and the second- and third-place finishers received medals.

The Blue Ridge Road Runner’s final 5K event of the summer will be the “Dog Days 5K” set for 8 a.m. on Aug. 8 back at Gypsy Hill Park.