INAUGURAL 'DREAM' RACE WEEKEND APPROACHES IN WILLIAMSBURG
DAILY PRESS
Sonja Friend-Uhl doesn't go so far as to consider it fate, but more a happy coincidence that will return her to a place she considers her second home next weekend.
Friend-Uhl was a track standout at William and Mary in the early 1990s. Now, almost two decades later, she remains a nationally-ranked runner in her age group.
Having just turned 40, she is eligible to compete in USA Track and Field Masters' class events. As luck, timing and planning would have it, she will kick off her Masters' competitive career at the inaugural Fit to Run, Fit to Dream 8-kilometer race Saturday in Williamsburg.
"My first Masters official event is in Williamsburg, where I really started my athletic career, so it's kind of a cool thing," Friend-Uhl said from her home in Nashville, Tenn. "I get to come home and be a part of an amazing event, and to top it off, it's my first Masters championship, so I'm just really excited about it."
The 8K race is part of a weekend that includes the Run For the Dream Half-Marathon on Sunday. The two races begin in Colonial Williamsburg and end at William and Mary's Zable Stadium and wind through the streets of Williamsburg.
The events are the brainchild of Walter Segaloff, founder of An Achievable Dream, the Newport News K-12 school for at-risk youth. The races will benefit not only the school, but also the U.S. military's Wounded Warriors program, which assists and advocates for those wounded, ill and severely injured in service to the country.
Segaloff got the idea to stage a race here after attending the annual Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, D.C., in 2008. Since then, he enlisted the city of Williamsburg, William and Mary and various corporate sponsors — the Daily Press among them — and community groups.
He also attracted one of the best in the business at staging road races. Dave McGillivray has run the Boston Marathon for the past 24 years, and his company stages races all over the country.
"It's gone extremely well," McGillivray said of the planning. "Trying to create a brand new event from just a vision is always difficult, and we're anxious to get this one in the bank so we can start working on the next one and have something tangible that everyone can compare to.
"For any event to be successful, the primary ingredient is community support," he added. "We can't be any more thrilled with what we've experienced in the last couple years of trying to make this thing happen."
Two weeks out, the races had attracted approximately 4,100 entries — 2,600 for the half-marathon and 1,500 for the 8K. At least three dozen Wounded Warriors have entered.
The 8K took on added cachet when USA Track and Field designated it the national championship for Masters' class runners at that distance. Prize money will be awarded to the top age-group finishers.
Approximately 100 runners will compete for the prize money and titles, making it a race within a race.
McGillivray's reputation and connections prompted USATF officials, specifically Masters Division distance running committee chair Don Lein, to take the unusual step of designating an inaugural event as a championship race.
"I think when he saw what the event was about," McGillivray said, "he saw the community support, he saw who was benefiting and he met the local folks, Walter Segaloff and (Achievable Dream event director) Kelly Cannon, he said, we're going for it; everything we need is here in this mix."
The 8K has attracted the likes of Mark Andrews of Rochester, N.Y., the 2011 USA Masters Half Marathon champ and an accomplished racer at various distances, and Friend-Uhl, who holds the best times in the U.S. in her age group at 800, 1,500 and 3,000 meters.
In 2010, she was ranked second in the world in her age group at 1,500 meters and fourth at 800 meters. Though her forte is still shorter distances on the track, she has transitioned well to longer road races. She clocked 35 minutes in a 10K in February, with limited training after an injury, so she believes she can go sub-28 minutes for next weekend's 8K, depending on conditions.
"It's kind of like my hometown because I'm coming back to where I spent an important part of my life," said Friend-Uhl, who grew up in Lewes, Del., and is married to former Tribe football player Brad Uhl. "As a cross country runner, we ran all over those roads, so I'm in familiar territory. It's probably the closest thing to a home course for me than the other Masters runners. I know the roads, so I think familiarity will be a plus."
She also has no doubt that the event will be well run, since she's known McGillivray and his team from events in south Florida, where her family lived for 13 years before relocating to Nashville.
"They put together a great event," Friend-Uhl said. "You can count on things that are important to a runner, like mile markers being correct, frequent water stops, things like that. The fact that it's in Williamsburg and they're finally taking advantage of the beautiful venue there, I think is outstanding. It's probably good for the town, too."
McGillivray and his team, as well as all of the local people who have invested in the weekend, are counting on it.
"Success means different things to different people, depending on where you sit," McGillivray said. "It could be economic impact to the community for the people who have been generous enough to allow us to do this. It could be money raised for the beneficiary.
"From my vantage point, being the operational guy, it has to do with how well managed the event is run. I want people to walk away saying everything was taken care of, no stone was left unturned, they thought of everything, they really took care of us."
McGillivray obviously has no control over the weather, but everything he can control becomes critical, from registration to ease of course navigation to the post-race feedbag and awards ceremony.
"What ends up happening," he said, "is the people who participate in the inaugural event — and you only make a first impression once — they become our goodwill ambassadors. They go back out into the running community and say, hey, put this one on the bucket list for next year because they put on a great event. That's what we're hoping for."
McGillivray said that the number of runners is close to the goals set by his team. He aims for manageable growth and can foresee the day when the field is 10,000 runners, and it becomes a significant date on the running calendar.
"We are really thrilled with this event and what the potential is," McGillivray said. "A lot of times, you really struggle with a first-time event. You're on all-fours begging people to run or struggling for support because there's nothing to go on, other than your personal vision.
"A lot of that credit goes to Walter Segaloff himself, because he obviously is a gentleman who has tremendous integrity in that community. When he came up with the concept and said he wanted to do it, he assembled what I think is the appropriate team. He put all the ingredients together and people started supporting it."