In This Issue - Michigan Runner

Michigan Flavorbest Apple Run 5K, Sparta
Apples Grow, Runners Flow in Sparta Rain
Photo by Scott Sullivan
Soaking rain meant cool temperatures and slippery streets at the start of the Michigan Flavorbest Apple Run.
By Daniel G. Kelsey
SPARTA (7/14/07) - Anybody who showed up
for the 17th annual Michigan Flavorbest Apple
Run 5K, from race director to scribbler, took the
good with the bad.
Kris Koster, 25, of Grand Rapids, still short
of breath moments after the finish, took the cool
temperatures with the slippery streets and sharp
corners.
“I thought the sun always shone on
Sparta,” Koster said. “But I guess not.”
A soaking rain moved in over town prior to
the 8 a.m. start. The mercury plunged to 57°, a
blessing to racers accustomed to July swelter.
During registration, runners, walkers and watchers
moved about under umbrellas, while others
sought shelter in the lee of buildings or under
canopies.
Due to renovations, the high school was not
open, unlike past seasons, for peripheral race
events.
Rain pelted the uncovered as Jessica Rasch,
2006 Michigan Apple Queen First Runnerup,
fired a pistol to send runners and walkers out on
a twisty course, somewhat altered from prior
runnings. Rain lessened to drizzle as the field
wound around to finish where it started.
Koster returned ahead of all rivals, posting
a 15:18 chip time. He beat his nearest follower,
Jerome Recker, 24, of Lansing, by eight seconds.
It was the first Flavorbest championship after
two consecutive seconds for Koster, a Calvin
College alumnus.
“I guess I had something to prove to
myself,” he said. “But you never know who's
going to show up.”
If all his rivals wanted the points in the
Michigan Runner race series, and liked the
event's fun and food as much as he did, it could
have been anybody.
“I really enjoy this race,” Koster said.
Kristen Brown, 35, of Muskegon, enjoyed
the race to the tune of 18:24, winning the
women's open title. Brown outran her nearest
rival, Katie Haines, 17, of Rockford, by 23 seconds.
Dennis West, 46, of Mount Gilead, Ohio,
enjoyed the race to the tune of 17:17, claiming
the men's masters crown. West nipped Kevin
Deyo, 48, of Traverse City, by three seconds at
the line and two seconds on the chip.
Laurie Decker, 47, of Cadillac, came to
Sparta hoping to set an age-group record. Her
19:21 shattered a Flavorbest mark that had
stood since 1991. But it missed Decker's own
masters record by some 35 seconds. And it left
her an eyelash short of the masters championship.
Krys Brish, 43, of Milford, held off Decker
at the finish by six seconds on the chip. Brish
said she looked over her shoulder just in time to
spot Decker's charge.
“I couldn't believe you were sprinting,”
Brish said to Decker.
The runners and walkers finished just in
time to beat a downturn in the weather. The sky
opened and the rain poured down just in time to
soak, if not to dampen the spirits of, kids running
races on the track.
One gagster among the adults, in a parting
shot, pronounced the event not so much a flavorbest
as a cloudburst.
He and others without umbrellas may be
pardoned for bailing out before each winner
received his or her prize of an apple tree, a tradition
at Flavorbest. Turns out it didn't matter
because race director Dawn Geers, lacking
enough tents, canceled the awards ceremony,
asking winners who hadn't bailed out yet to
pick up their prizes. Geers canceled another tradition
at Flavorbest, a pie-eating contest, too.
She was disappointed that a record registration
of 996 adults might have been a great registration
of 1,200 on a sunny day. She was most
disappointed for the kids, 300 of whom signed
up for the races, as compared to 125 a year
before, only to endure a downpour.
“It was a crazy day,” Geers said. MR
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