Drizzle doesn’t dampen Spectacle

By Bill Shaw

The Facts

Published January 28, 2007

ANGLETON — Rain did not deter 87 runners and walkers from lining up for simultaneous starts of the seventh annual Spectacle Spectacular 5K/10K Saturday. Despite the drizzle and light wind, a Houston runner broke his previous record in the longer race, and a young Brazoswood cross-country runner finally beat his older, friendly rival in the shorter race.

Luis Armenteros, 34, of Houston romped the 10K (6.2 miles) route in 32:05, a 5:10 average mile pace, to win his third consecutive Spectacle Spectacular and to finish the contest at a record-breaking pace for the third consecutive year. Armenteros beat his 2006 record by 10 seconds and collected $150.

“I was fine heading out with a little headwind of about 10 mph, and as long as I could make it halfway without falling apart, I would be OK,” Armenteros said. “Francisco (Perez) took it out pretty hard from the start and ran the race with a nice consistency considering the early rain. I’m a scrub runner and like to come from behind, but about a half mile into the race, I took the lead and held it.”

Armenteros stretched his lead to 2:52 ahead of Perez, 42, one of a number of the Houston Tornados running the race. Perez finished second overall in 34:57.

Perez tried to stay with Armenteros but couldn’t keep up when he picked up his pace at about the two-mile mark. Perez then concentrated on staying ahead of fellow Tornado Juan Carlos Vielma, 34. In the last half mile, Perez turned around and saw Vielma within “striking distance” and sprinted to beat him by 13 seconds.

“When he made that last curve, I knew it was impossible to get him,” Vielma said.

Local Jones Creek runner Melissa Hurta, 43, finished the 10K distance in 44:10, 10th overall and first in the female competition in 44:10, a 7:07 pace.

Hurta concentrated on her race and didn’t concern herself about female competition behind her.

“I just tried to concentrate on Bob Bowden’s bright yellow T-shirt ahead of me,” Hurta said. “I never turned around and looked, and there was never anyone beside me. Today was one of my worse times ever, but I’m trying to come back from some injuries. I’m not in a PR stage yet, but simply trying to keep it all together.”

Hurta, like Armenteros, won $150 for “keeping it all together” and crossed the finish line 47 seconds ahead of the second female finisher, former Lake Jackson resident Sue Wheeler, 45, who finished 11th overall and first in her age group in 44:10.

Brazoswood cross-country runner Weston Caceres broke Houstonian Carlo Deason’s consecutive four-year winning streak in the Spectacle Spectacular 5K (3.1 miles). Caceres, 17, beat Deason, 37, for the first time in their friendly competition by 19 seconds. Caceres finished in 17:15, and Deason finished in 17:34, respective 5:34 and 5:40 race paces. Deason won first place in his age group.

“Weston ran a good, even race; usually he goes out fast and dies,” Deason said.

“I am very proud of him. We jockeyed for position and stayed close for most of the race.”

“Grant Parker took the lead at the start,” Caceres said. “By the time Carlos and I got to the mile marker, we stayed close. He was drafting on me. I pulled away about halfway through mile two. That’s when I couldn’t hear his footsteps, and I held my pace until the end.”

Parker, 25, of West Columbia eventually finished fifth overall in 18:36 to win first in his age group.

Ineligible to receive the $60 prize money because of high school University Scholastic League rules, Caceres donated the money to the Brazoswood cross-country team.

Houstonian Sabra Harvey, 57, finished the 5K 10th overall and first in the female competition in 20:45, a 6:41 mile pace, and did accept the $60 prize money. However, Harvey had to chase down the early female leader Wendy Parker, 29, of West Columbia, Grant’s wife, early in the race.

“I was tracking her,” Harvey said. “Somewhere in the second mile I passed her; then a gentleman caught up with both of us and went around us, but I maintained contact and passed him at the third-mile marker and didn’t see Wendy after I passed her.”

“I was ahead of some tall, long-legged woman at the mile,” said Parker, who didn’t know Harvey. “She passed me between mile one and two; I tried to run with her for a while but couldn’t gain on her. I like running in the rain, but it seems it always makes you slower.”

Parker placed first in her 20-29 age bracket.

Not all runners thought the rain was a negative factor.

“It cooled us off,” said youngster Samantha Schroll, 13, who finished her second 5K with her mother Jeanne, 45, together at 30:04.

“It wasn’t too bad for the race itself,” said veteran runner Cliff Wilson, 72, of Lake Jackson, who finished first in his age group in the 10K in 62:55. “Actually the rain felt comfortable.”

The Angleton Noon Lions Club stages the Spectacle Spectacular, and race proceeds go to the Children’s Eyeglass Program in local Angleton and Danbury schools. The race netted $4,500 for the program last year, according to Patrick Henry, race director.

“Our turnout was good for the weather,” Henry said. “We have attracted a lot of runners out of Houston, some real fast runners. We had excellent help from club members and the community; they come out every year even in tough weather.”

The Moody National Bank is the major sponsor for the contest. Other sponsors and supporters are the City of Angleton, Texas-New Mexico Power Company, Baker & Lawson Inc., Republic Services Inc., Family Practice Associates of Angleton, P. A., Keep Angleton Beautiful, the First Baptist Church, Whataburger and Grant Works.

Complete overall race results, including age group winners, are available on billshawsite.net.