Lots of racing action this past week for members of the KC SMOKE!
Mike Hernandez, 23, and Ron Kochanowicz, 40, headed to St. Louis to kick things off by racing in the Festival of Miles hosted by our friends at Big River Running Company. A cool and very windy evening made things challenging for all competitors. Kochanowicz raced in the masters mile and came in 2nd in 4:41.37. Mike Hernandez put his talent to work and paced the elites to 800m clocking 1:56. What a great evening for milers as there were several events for all ages and hundreds of spectators!
Kansas City’s Hospital Hill Half Marathon kicked off racing for Saturday. Hospital Hill is known for being a very tough Half Marathon course. Yet this year things were made easier as we were blessed with cool temperatures! KC Smoke athletes Phil Hudnall, Ken Moran, Pat Merrigan, and Brett Rinehart all participated in the Half Marathon and Eric Hunt and David Franz raced the 5K. Moran, 42, won the overall HM masters division in 1:19:00 and Merrigan, 51, was the 2nd master in 1:20:59. Rinehart, 30, PR’d by 48 seconds running 1:16:38! – Hunt,34, raced a 16:59 5K and placed 4th and Franz, 25, raced a 17:27 5K and placed 7th.
Aaron Yoder and. Yoder, 26, came in 4th in 32:53 and Keith, 54, placed 9th in 34:29. Keith ran an astounding age-graded performance to win top honors. Congrats Aaron and Keith!
Aaron Hohn made the trek north to Des Moines, IA for the DAM to DAM 20K. Hohn, 26, came in 14th with a time of 1:08.09. Very Nice!
Mike Hernandez wasn’t through racing. He made the trek to Nashville, TN to race in one of the midwest’s premier track elite track meets for middle distance athletes. Mike raced in the elite mile Saturday evening matching his 1500m PR of 3:52.07 en-route to a Mile PR of 4:08.11. Great JOB Mike!!
Kevin Miller, 50, drove to Ann Arbor, MI for the USA Masters 10k championships. It was well worth too as Miller clocked a time of 33:00 for his 10k and came in 4th overall. He also won his age division and over-all age grading. A very nice payday!
Amy Thompson Run
Last but not least, the Smoke had a huge showing at the Amy Thompson 5k and 8k on Memorial Day.
Aaron Davidson won the 5k in 15:38, followed by Aaron Hohn in 2nd place with a 16:20 and Eric Hunt in 3rd with a 17:20. Ken Moran won the masters division in 17:44.
In the 8k, Eric Graham took 9th overall with a 28:31. Great job guys!