REPORT ON THE ENO EQUALIZER RACE

RICHARD SMITH, RACE DIRECTOR

The Eno Equalizer, the fifth event in Godiva's Winter Series, was held

Saturday, January 24 in Eno State Park. Last year the event was run in

snow. This year we beat the year's heaviest snowfall by one day; the race

was run in good weather and temperatures in the fifties. 36 runners and 6

volunteers turned out which made for 12 teams of 3.

Also unlike last year, we had the freedom to use any trails in the park;

as a result there was a new course, consisting of the Cox Mountain loop, a

hilly trail run whose official distance is 3.75 miles.

Each runner is given a "handicap score" based on age and sex, which is

meant as a rough approximation in seconds (adjusted from 5K road race

performances) of the USATF single-age record for four miles. The computer

then forms teams so that, as far as possible, the total handicap score in

each team is the same. The runners make their own predictions which

determine the start times: the slowest predicted runner on each team

starts at 0:00, while the others start at times that, according to their

predictions, would just allow them to catch the lead runner on their team.

The "finish time" is the time the runner crossed the finish line, and the

"net time" is the actual running time for that runner. The "team time" is

calculated by taking the slowest finish time for the three runners in each

team, and subtracting one-third the sum of the start times. The winning

team is the one with the lowest team time.

There were some glitches in the timing: because of an error in one of the

stop watches, all the times that were announced at the finish were 75

seconds slower than they should have been. This error has been corrected

in the times below.

When all the results were calculated, the team consisting of Gordon

Keeler, David Brady and 10-year-old Asher Colburn won the overall prize

with a team time of 32 minutes 56 seconds. The system I'm using gives

Asher the same handicap as a 62-year-old man; Gary Schultz's tables for

the Geezer Pleezer would give him the same handicap as a 56-year-old man;

it would be interesting to know which is the more accurate method.

Although we don't have a prize for "best age-weighted performance", Asher

also had the best ratio of handicap score to actual finishing time in

seconds (1379 divided by 1816, or 76%), but he didn't beat out Jim

Clabuesch (73% by the same calculation) by very much. I'm including all

the "age-weighted performances" in the individual results below.

However, although Asher's team had the fastest average net time (30:54) as

well as team time, it's interesting to note that the second-placed team

(Owen Astrachan, Denise Fry and Bryan Kempter) had an average net time

that was faster than the winning team time. So if Owen, Denise and Bryan

had predicted their own times exactly, they could have overhauled the top

team. The way this race works, it does not pay to be too cautious about

your predicted time. For example, Betsy Kempter started 18 minutes after

her teammates, failed to catch them, and wound up the last finisher in the

whole race (when did that last happen to Betsy?). But in fact, she was

very accurate in her predicted time; her teammates predicted teams several

minutes slower than they actually ran.

Rhonda Mickelson had an unfortunate accident, falling and gashing her

knee; Deb Bialeschki stopped to help her and the two jogged home together.

As they currently stand, the rules of this race don't allow for

dropped-out runners, so I've credited both with the time they actually

crossed the finish line.

Jim Clabuesch ran the fastest time of the day, followed by David Brady and

Frank Murray. First three women were Candace Major, Holly Ortlund and

Betsy.

I'd be interested in any comments about the overall format of the event.

This event has now been part of the Winter Series for four years (first in

Umstead Park, moving to Eno last year), and I haven't made any major

changes to the rules since it started, but maybe it's time to vary the

format somewhat. If you have any ideas, you can email them to me at

rls@email.unc.edu.

Volunteers: Thanks to Delaine Deal, Amy Grady, Paul Naylor, Gary Schultz,

Heather Sherrard and Jerry Surh.

Name Sex Age Handicap Predicted Start Finish Net

Score Time Time Time Time

1st place: Team 10

Gordon Keeler M 48 1218 38 0 0 0 33 55 33 55

David Brady M 42 1153 30 0 8 0 36 31 28 31

Asher Colburn M 10 1379 30 0 8 0 38 16 30 16

Total Handicap Score 3750, Team time is 32 min 56 sec

Average net time is 30 min 54 sec

2nd place: Team 3

Owen Astrachan M 47 1206 32 15 2 45 32 26 29 41

Denise Fry F 43 1310 35 0 0 0 35 5 35 5

Bryan Kempter M 51 1244 33 0 2 0 33 10 31 10

Total Handicap Score 3760, Team time is 33 min 30 sec

Average net time is 31 min 59 sec

3rd place: Team 8

Patrick Bruer M 45 1185 32 30 8 55 38 24 29 29

Karen Murphy F 25 1205 38 0 3 25 39 52 36 27

Kate Colburn F 47 1378 41 25 0 0 38 57 38 57

Total Handicap Score 3768, Team time is 35 min 45 sec

Average net time is 34 min 58 sec

4th place: Team 11

Candace Major F 24 1210 30 0 8 0 37 51 29 51

Jim Hotelling M 56 1287 36 0 2 0 37 13 35 13

Alfred Kleinhammes M 52 1255 38 0 0 0 39 16 39 16

Total Handicap Score 3752, Team time is 35 min 56 sec

Average net time is 34 min 47 sec

5th place: Team 2

Karla Henderson F 54 1460 43 0 0 0 43 13 43 13

Patrick Akos M 32 1068 33 0 10 0 42 40 32 40

Tom Kirby M 50 1234 37 0 6 0 43 9 37 9

Total Handicap Score 3762, Team time is 37 min 53 sec

Average net time is 37 min 41 sec

6th place: Team 5

Peter Hessling M 51 1244 42 0 0 0 42 55 42 55

Charles Alden M 57 1293 36 0 6 0 43 59 37 59

Holly Ortlund F 30 1213 32 0 10 0 39 58 29 58

Total Handicap Score 3750, Team time is 38 min 39 sec

Average net time is 36 min 57 sec

7th place: Team 12

Carolyn Huettel F 39 1251 35 0 2 0 38 3 36 3

John Charlton M 56 1287 36 0 1 0 36 35 35 35

April Horton F 29 1212 37 0 0 0 40 12 40 12

Total Handicap Score 3750, Team time is 39 min 12 sec

Average net time is 37 min 17 sec

8th place: Team 6

Walter Rogan M 54 1272 42 0 0 0 46 41 46 41

Lena Hollman F 52 1423 34 0 8 0 44 11 36 11

Frank Murray M 25 1066 28 0 14 0 42 39 28 39

Total Handicap Score 3761, Team time is 39 min 21 sec

Average net time is 37 min 10 sec

9th place: Team 9

Glenn Peterson M 38 1117 30 45 13 15 42 28 29 13

Shannon LaDeau F 28 1210 39 0 5 0 42 31 37 31

Barbara Hindenach F 52 1423 44 0 0 0 45 33 45 33

Total Handicap Score 3750, Team time is 39 min 28 sec

Average net time is 37 min 26 sec

10th place: Team 4

Jim Clabuesch M 38 1117 28 0 9 0 34 38 25 38

Rhona Mickelson F 50 1401 37 0 0 0 44 40 44 40

Wayne Hadler M 50 1234 34 0 3 0 35 26 32 26

Total Handicap Score 3752, Team time is 40 min 40 sec

Average net time is 34 min 15 sec

11th place: Team 7

Charlene Simmons F 28 1210 39 0 1 0 40 47 39 47

Deb Bialeschki F 52 1423 40 0 0 0 44 40 44 40

Nigel Kirby M 20 1118 38 0 2 0 40 47 38 47

Total Handicap Score 3751, Team time is 43 min 40 sec

Average net time is 41 min 5 sec

12th place: Team 1

Jen Richey F 32 1211 50 0 0 0 43 26 43 26

Betsy Kempter F 37 1230 32 0 18 0 49 48 31 48

Bruce Hertzberg M 59 1317 50 0 0 0 46 46 46 46

Total Handicap Score 3758, Team time is 43 min 48 sec

Average net time is 40 min 40 sec

Individual times:

Runner Net finish time Age-weighted performance

Jim Clabuesch 25 min 38 sec 0.73

David Brady 28 min 31 sec 0.67

Frank Murray 28 min 39 sec 0.62

Glenn Peterson 29 min 13 sec 0.64

Patrick Bruer 29 min 29 sec 0.67

Owen Astrachan 29 min 41 sec 0.68

Candace Major 29 min 51 sec 0.68

Holly Ortlund 29 min 58 sec 0.67

Asher Colburn 30 min 16 sec 0.76

Bryan Kempter 31 min 10 sec 0.67

Betsy Kempter 31 min 48 sec 0.64

Wayne Hadler 32 min 26 sec 0.63

Patrick Akos 32 min 40 sec 0.54

Gordon Keeler 33 min 55 sec 0.60

Denise Fry 35 min 5 sec 0.62

Jim Hotelling 35 min 13 sec 0.61

John Charlton 35 min 35 sec 0.60

Carolyn Huettel 36 min 3 sec 0.58

Lena Hollman 36 min 11 sec 0.66

Karen Murphy 36 min 27 sec 0.55

Tom Kirby 37 min 9 sec 0.55

Shannon LaDeau 37 min 31 sec 0.54

Charles Alden 37 min 59 sec 0.57

Nigel Kirby 38 min 47 sec 0.48

Kate Colburn 38 min 57 sec 0.59

Alfred Kleinhammes 39 min 16 sec 0.53

Charlene Simmons 39 min 47 sec 0.51

April Horton 40 min 12 sec 0.50

Peter Hessling 42 min 55 sec 0.48

Karla Henderson 43 min 13 sec 0.56

Jen Richey 43 min 26 sec 0.46

Rhonda Mickelson 44 min 40 sec 0.52

Deb Bialeschki 44 min 40 sec 0.53

Barbara Hindenach 45 min 33 sec 0.52

Walter Rogan 46 min 41 sec 0.45

Bruce Hertzberg 46 min 46 sec 0.47