2005 Synopsis

"So I lied. Last year I said that we would probably not publish this booklet again, but load it on the Derby Running Club website. But after a year of hemming and hawing around, everything is still on my computer with no real help in sight. So here goes - one more time and again I hope it's the last time. Because we had more than 600 new Honor Roll quality times in 2005, but with the new format we started last year, the page count didn’t go up so much. And as I write this synopsis, we think we can publish the 5000+ times in the LOG file that we didn’t publish last year. However, it will be in a “condensed" form, somewhat like we used to publish. And those pages will be numbered L 1 thru L 28 at the end of this booklet.

As we did last year, all honor roll times recorded in 2005 are listed for each age group -for each event. That is followed by the best time “ALL TIME” for each individual in that age group. In this “BEST" time section we have a LOG column that shows how many more honor roll times that individual has run and then moved to the appendix LOG FILE.

With all the new Honor Roll times, we again thought there would be a lot of new records, but not so. The men only chalked up 5 new records plus 3 resident records. But the ladies pretty well held up their end of the scale by putting 15 new marks in the book plus 3 new resident records.

Four of the five male records were set by out-of-staters. But Dave Halferty of Topeka actually led the masculine side, knocking out one of the oldest records in the book in the 35-39 age group, when he clocked 2:32.55 at the Wichita Marathon. That record had been in existence since October 1986. Still, he knocked out an even older record in the 10K, a “resident record" in the 5K that has stood the test of time since May 1986. Jack Rector of Oklahoma City set two new records in the 80+ age group; he took almost 23 minutes off the Half Marathon mark and a resounding hour-plus off the Marathon record.

On the distaff side, we had two double breakers in Mari Mohr and Gayla Hefley, both of Wichita. Mari hit the half century age mark and promptly clipped the 5 K record for the 50-54 group and then knocked more than 4 minutes off the 15 K record. She also added the 10K Resident record to her pallet at the River Run and the 10 mile Resident record in the fall. The second doubler was an unlikely candidate as Gayla had not run competitively for quite a number of years. But this year she decided to get in shape and hit the road again. And she got in good enough shape to reduce the 15 K record by more than an hour and the Marathon by almost an hour and a half in her 65­-69 age group.

The only teen-ager to set any kind of record was Mallory Champa of Clearwater who wiped out a 7 year old resident record in the Four mile. Also I should mention that there are three other teen­ager records in the book this year that were actually set in 2003 & 2004. The National Junior College Half Marathon championships were held on Wichita’s certified HM course in those years, but results were not made available to your record keeper till this year. So thanks to Butler County Community College coach Kirk Hunter, the 16-19 age group honor roll was basically replaced with the fine times clocked by an array of kids from all over the USA. 

One of the saddest events of the year was the loss of one of the most prolific record holders of the “older” ladies generation. Carolyn Buckner of El Dorado finally lost a race, but this time it was to that “relentless” foe called cancer. See the tribute at the bottom of this synopsis.

Another sad situation should be noted for this "final?" publication. I received no results this year from Southeast, Southwest nor North Central Kansas and only one from the Northwest which is, of course, the Atwood 10 Miler. I know some races are being held in those areas but evidently not on certified courses. Most of the past certifications have expired and probably never renewed. Except for the Kansas City metroplex area, the Northeast is being "policed" so to speak by Steve Riley who makes sure I get results or at least provides contacts for races in that area. And with only a few exceptions, I have to depend on the Mid-America Running Association website for results in the Kansas City area. This works fine except I constantly get rumors (and some facts) that a race in that area was not run as certified or there are timing problems, but this is never noted on the website posted results. Then I have to bug Mike Lundgren or Lou Joline to see if they have any more “intimate" knowledge about the suspect races. I wish there was a requirement for each race director to note the certification number on the results and a note that the race was run as certified. I hate to publish results that are not accurate because it is not fair to all other runners across the state who are busting their tails to get on the Honor Roll. Of course there are similar problems in the South Central area, but I have a whole cadre of runners who make sure I know of any race anomalies and they are particularly sensitive to timing problems. And believe me, these types of problems cause me more headaches than all the hard work of compiling the results for this booklet.

So THANKS AGAIN to the multitude of friends and acquaintances that have made this publication possible for 17 years.

IN MEMORY of CAROLYN BUCKNER, 1937-2005

This picture shows Carolyn Buckner of El Dorado on the occasion of her retirement from work in 2000. But it was certainly not her retirement from being one of the top age group runners in the state.

It took a different type of competitor to slow her down; unfortunately that competitor was called cancer. Although she may have run later races, the last time I saw her race was in the El Dorado “Run For Your Life” 5K on July 24, 2004. At that time she held 11 age-group records in the 60-64 & 65-69 groups, over distances ranging from 2 miles to the half marathon, although her half marathon record for the 60-64 age group was broken two months later.

The first time I remember running in a race with her was the 1988 Turkey Trot 2 mile in Wichita. Although we both won our age groups I was much more impressed with her time than mine. She clocked a 15:35 which was head and shoulders above the best “50 plus” ladies of that time. And in fact it was still the state age 50-54 record when I compiled the first state record book in 1990; but she just got better with age, clocking as low as 14.27 after she turned 60. And although she only held eleven records when she was forced to the sidelines in 2004, my records show that she held more than twenty Kansas age group records during her illustrious 17 year racing career.

So we salute you Carolyn and hope you find some great running trails "up there” with a lot less wind than Kansas.

- Millard (Jack) Crook, Mulvane, KS