Barnard Blazes to Record Victory

Palisadian Wins Her Hometown Fourth of July Race for Ninth Time

She’s been there and done that many times over, yet Sunday’s stroll through Huntington streets and up and down those switchbacks at Will Rogers State Historic Park was extra special for Kara Barnard, who won on her hometown course for the ninth time, more than anyone else in the 33-year history of the Palisades-Will Rogers Run. Leaving the field behind by the halfway point of the 6.2-mile course, Barnard coasted to her fourth 10K victory in 36 minutes, 56 seconds, moving her one champion’s medal ahead of fellow Palisadian Peter Gilmore, who won the 5K eight times from 1995 to 2006. “It’s sort of nostalgic at this point,” said Barnard, who turned 32 Wednesday. “I hadn’t run this in a few years so there were lots of new faces, but I saw a few people I know and everyone is always so fabulous.” Barnard now resides in Durango, Colorado, but was back home to celebrate her father’s birthday and “decided to do it since I’m out here.” She has won the 5K race five times, including her fastest time of 16:50 in 2000. The last time Barnard ran the 10K was in 2006 when she was runner-up to Erika Aklufi. Her previous 10K victory came in 2004 when she blazed to a personal-best 35:24–the fourth fastest women’s time ever. She needs two more 10K triumphs to equal Katie Dunsmuir’s six victories over a 14-year span from 1982 to 1995. “I’m a California girl but I’ve gotten used to trail running up in the hills and in the snow,” said Barnard, who paced Palisades High’s cross country team to the City Section championship in 1994 and went on to run both cross country and track at UCLA. “I’m going back [to Colorado] in a few days but I’m glad I was able to do this.” Shawna Burger, a 25-year-old from Santa Monica, had won the previous two 10Ks and finished second this year in 39:33. She won in 38:02 last year and clocked 37:56 when she ran it for the first time in 2008. After back-to-back 10K wins Burger hinted that she might try the 5K this year but she chose to try for the three-peat instead. Perhaps no one is more familiar with the 5K route than lifelong Huntington resident Lauren Aspell, who made her debut as a 10-year-old in 1995. On Sunday, exactly 15 years later, she shocked even herself when she made that last turn on Toyopa and realized she would break the tape. “I just got back into running a few months ago so I didn’t expect to win,” said Aspell, who works for Bounce Marketing, an affiliate of AEG at L.A. Live in downtown Los Angeles. “I also just set a huge PR, which is an even bigger surprise. The last time I ran it was three or four years ago and my best time before this was 21:35.” Aspell covered the 3.1-mile neighborhood trek in 20:42, nine seconds ahead of second-place finisher Emily Berkin, a 15-year-old from Santa Monica. After matriculating through St. Matthew’s, Aspell ran cross country and track at Brentwood School, making the CIF finals in the 800 meters her senior year. Then, while earning her psychology degree from UCLA, she coached the girls cross country and track teams at Brentwood and Marymount. The first time was a charm for the men’s 5K winner Jeremy Doherty, a former miler at Illinois State University. The 26-year-old Santa Monica resident had been training with the Fluffy Bunnies Track Club and was encouraged to try the Palisades-Will Rogers Run. “I’ve run 14:20 in the past and my goal is to get back up to that same fitness level,” Doherty said. “I moved out here [to Los Angeles] a year and a half ago to work with Easton Sports. I’ve been running six days a week, 40 to 50 miles a week.” A veteran of the “dreaded” Will Rogers switchbacks, 34-year-old Kevin Purcell won his second 10K in 33:39, a 31-second improvement over his winning time two years ago. “I’ve run a few marathons the last few years but I prefer these shorter, faster distances because it’s over quicker,” said Purcell, who likes to run with Fluffy Bunnies teammates and two-time winners David Olds and Tyson Sacco. “We were all running together until the fourth mile. Then [runner-up] Mike Davies caught us on the switchbacks so I had to accelerate from there. Hearing the crowd cheering really helped me coming up that last hill on Sunset.” Davies finished 10 seconds behind Purcell in 33:49, Olds was third in 34:30 and Sacco finished fourth in 34:50. Purcell, Olds and Sacco are all training hard for the Twin Cities Marathon in Minneapolis, Minnesota in October. “I’ve run the 10K every year since ’96 or ’97 so yeah, I like it,” said Sacco, a 36-year-old from Venice who won in 32:23 in 1999 and in 33:45 in 2001. “We had perfect running conditions today. There was a good marine layer and it’s not too humid. Unfortunately, every year I get a little bit older but the course doesn’t get any shorter.” In the four months leading up to Sunday’s race, Jennifer Levi, a 36-year-old fitness instructor, offered a training program for local moms called CARDIO CORE and she was ecstatic with the results. “I’m happy to report that my entire CARDIO CORE group completed the 10K,” Levi said. “One of the women, Lindsay Hubbard, even shaved two and a half minutes off last year’s time! The other girls all ran it for the first time and they all did great.” Through the years, Levi has engaged in a spirited “Battle of the Sexes” with fellow Palisadians David Houston (the owner of Barney’s Beanery) and Scott Denham, who have yet to beat her in their hometown race. Once again, Levi was up to the challenge, finishing exactly one minute ahead of Denham and taking top honors in her age group for the second straight year with a time of 41:58. Houston finished in 48:19. “All three of us ran much faster than last year, so it’s good to know that age hasn’t slowed us down quite yet,” Levi added. “David wore a hilarious t-shirt questioning if I’d been surgically altered to run faster. My husband Dan even got into the competitive spirit, finishing in 49:46, and our kids Adelle, 5, and Braun, 3, participated in the Kids’ Fun Run. We enjoy the Palisades way of celebrating the Fourth of July!” David Grinsfelder, an eighth-grader at Calvary Christian School, won the 12-and-under age division in the 5K with a time of 19:20 while his mother, Vicky Collison, won the women’s 45-49 age group in 21:40. Palisadian Andrew Bland won the men’s 16-18 division in 16:40–the second fastest 5K posting overall and a significant improvement over 2009, when he won the 13-15 division in 17:34. Chris Milner won the men’s 35-39 division in 18:16 and local mixed martial arts and kickboxing champion Baxter Humby was second in 18:27. Brent Forrester won the 40-44 division in 18:53; Ronald Graham won the 50-54 division in 18:38; Brendan Gallaher won the 55-59 division in 18:08; Bob Gold won the 75-79 division in 28:42 and 81-year-olds Ted Mackie and Ralph Wilcox were the top two finishers in their age group. Nicole Jackson won the girls’ 12-and-under division in 22:21 while Samantha Elander won the 16-18 division in 21:54. Eleanor Keare won the 40-44 division in 21:00; Sue Kohl won the 60-64 division in 29:09; Judith Collas won the 70-74 division in 36:53 and Margie Werker won the 75-79 division in 40:12. Bev Lowe took first place in the women’s 55-59 age group in 23:09 while her husband John Riley, his new hip and all, was second in the men’s 60-64 age group in 22:07. Their daughter, Ali Riley, is a regular participant but missed Sunday’s race because she is in the middle of her first season with FC Gold Pride of the Women’s Professional Soccer league. The most impressive 5K female runner might have been Jean Shargo, by far the oldest person in either race, who crossed the finish line in 1:07:53 at the age of 90. In the 10K, Gregory Dunn won the men’s 13-15 division in 48:23 and 82-year-old Tom McKiernan finished in 1:17:58 to top his age division. Grant Stromberg, fresh off a breakthrough sophomore year at Palisades High, won the men’s 16-18 division in 35:34. In May, Stromberg set a 10th-grader City finals record in the 3200 with a time of 9:38.9 and just missed qualifying for the state meet. “Grant’s really going to be awesome by the time he’s a senior,” said longtime Palisades High track and cross country coach Ron Brumel, who showed up Sunday to cheer for his past and present Dolphins. “He loves to run, he just keeps improving and he always runs negative splits, meaning he’s got a lot left at the end of races.” Sophia Stone won the women’s 16-18 division in 43:21. She was a sophomore at Palisades High in the spring, placing 10th in the 1600 at City finals, helping the girls’ varsity capture its first section track and field championship. Michaela Keefe took the women’s 12-and-under division in 54:27 and Helga Jessen was first in the 65-69 division in 1:07:32. The field of 2,480 runners (1,422 in the 5K; 1,058 in the 10K) included 1,156 patriotic Palisadians. For full race results, visit the Web site at www.palisades10k.com or log on to Race Central’s Web site at www.runraceresults.com and select the Palisades-Will Rogers Run.