Tidal Basin 3K, Washington DC
Wednesday, January 19, 2005

The snow began with little flakes at 10 am, filled the sky with great white gusts by 11 am, and covered all of pre-inauguration Washington four inches deep by 12 noon.

Beyond that, the bridges were filled with escaping Federal workers outbound and inauguration celebrators inbound.

Adding to the fun, both the Tidal Inlet Bridge and the two entrances to East Potomac Park were fenced off, enabling the geese around the Tidal Basin and on the golf course to be joyously noisy.

Retreating to the warm interior of the Jefferson Memorial, 15 intrepid runners quickly invented an alternate route, counterclockwise around the Tidal Basin, across the Kutz Bridge to the FDR Memorial stoplight on Independence Avenue and back.

R. Singh and Ted Poulos had a classic duel for first place, with R. prevailing in 11:58.

Anne-Marie Pastorkovich timed and collected the results.

En route to the start, Ray Campbell slipped on a patch of ice along the Tidal Basin, losing his keys. After the race, sporting quite the bump on his head, he asked for a lift back to College Park, or at least Metro, thinking he had lost his keys into the water. Jay Wind ran back to the slippery patch to hunt for them, as dozens of Close-Up teenagers were climbing off a bus. Suddenly a snowball fight erupted, catching Jay smack in the face. He looked puzzled for a moment, as the others stopped to see what he would do. The thrower stood sheepishly, as another teenager handed Jay a snowball and said "Free hit!" Jay, a former softball pitcher, tossed a perfect strike down the middle, and everybody laughed. Then student Nat Pearson of St. Louis MO said, "Are you looking for some keys? I found them."

His quest accomplished, Jay ran back to Ray, and the grey day was made way gay.

Next Tidal Basin 3K is Wednesday, February 16.

  ##   Name                      Age  G City State                      Time
  --  ------------------------   ---  - -----------------              ------
      Wednesday, January 18, 2005       Tidal Basin 3K, Washington DC
  1   R. Singh                    29  M Washington DC                    11:58
  2   Ted Poulos                  43  M McLean VA                        11:59
  3   Brad Rippey                 38  M Bunker Hill WV                   12:07
  4   Mark Beattie                25  M Falls Church VA                  12:09
  5   Josh Henson                 32  M Washington DC                    12:56
  6   Mark Payne                  37  M Gaithersburg MD                  13:59
  7   Jim Darr                    50  M Falls Church VA                  14:17
  8   Peter Blank                 50  M Annandale VA                     14:43
  9   Dave Crawford               54  M Arlington VA                     15:47
  10  Jay Jacob Wind              55  M Arlington VA                     16:08
  11  Mike Collotta               51  M Washington DC                    16:05
  12  Cindy Cohen                 36  F Washington DC                    16:26
  13  John Winkert                48  M South Riding VA                  20:11
  14  Roger Hoskin                57  M Falls Church VA                  20:27
  15  Ric Francke                 57  M McLean VA                        23:41
      

Results compiled by J.J.Wind. Send additions or corrections.