MUSEUM OF AVIATION FOUNDATION RACES SET NEW RECORD WITH 1,525 REGISTERED

Warner Robins, GA – A total of 1,525 people from 29 U.S. states registered for the Museum of Aviation Foundation Marathon, Half Marathon and 5K Run/Walk on January 14, 2012 – a new record for the races held each year on Robins Air Force Base. The temperature at the 8:00 am start of the Marathon and Half Marathon races was 27 degrees but the sky was clear and many runners ended up shedding layers, gloves and hats as the morning warmed up.

The fastest person in the longest race was 30-year-old Christopher Reis from Ludlow, Kentucky who completed the 26.2 mile Marathon in 2 hours, 37 minutes and 14 seconds. The fastest female marathoner was Michelle Didion, 43, from Laporte, Indiana with a time of 3 hours, 18 minutes and 21 seconds. The male and female first place winners in the half marathon were Jonathan Kinsey, a 27-year-old from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and Grace Tinkey, 16, from Macon, Georgia. Kinsey did the half in 1 hour, 12 minutes and 35 seconds and Tinkey posted a time of 1 hour, 27 minutes and 5 seconds. Tinkey is one of the top high school runners in the United States.

The largest race pool was 664 runners and walkers registered for the 5K race which started at 8:15 am and took a different but scenic course around Robins Air Force Base. The winner of that race was Martin Bett, 34, from Decatur, Georgia who sprinted the 3.1 miles in 19 minutes and 14 seconds.

The 5K race attracted several families with a total of 36 young runners under the age of 10. The youngest entrants were 4 and 5-year-old sisters Margaret and Mary Woody from Atlanta, Georgia who were escorted around the course by their grandmother while their mother Kimberly Woody ran the half marathon. The seniors also came to test their meddle. A total of 29 men and women over the age of 70 competed in all three races. Seventy-six-year-old Eugene Defronzo came all the way from Cheshire, Connecticut to complete the marathon course in 7 hours, 6 minutes and 11 seconds. Defronzo has now run a total of 483 marathons – 8 in each of the U.S. states. The oldest person to complete a race was 81-year-old Bub Way from Hawkinsville, Georgia, who did the 5K in 53 minutes and 58 seconds.

The 16^th Annual races put on by the Pacers Running Club of Warner Robins and the Museum of Aviation Foundation benefited the Museum of Aviation at Robins Air Force Base in Warner Robins. A total of $3,000 in cash prizes were awarded and 314 trophies were handed out to winners in all three races.

PHOTO: Runners start the half marathon. Grace Tinkey, second from right in the white bib, won the first place female runner trophy in the race.

Contact: Bob Dubiel