Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 5, 1994 TAG: 9406050042
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RALPH BERRIER JR. STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Don't try telling that to Hetty Hoyt, however.
While teen-age wonders Christy Shell and Trish Nervo battled in the 10-kilometer race, the 41-year-old runner was coasting to her second consecutive first-place finish in the 5K event during the 10th annual Festival Classic on Saturday morning in downtown Roanoke.
"Road runners are never shy about giving their age," said Hoyt, a mother of two from Salem. "I'm happily surprised when I beat these young people. That thrills me."
Hoyt has beaten a lot of people - young and old alike - this year. Saturday's victory was her fifth in as many races in the past six months. In addition to Saturday's race, Hoyt has posted victories in the Shenandoah Four-Miler and Vinton's CMT Dogwood Festival 5K.
Hoyt ran Saturday's 5K in 18 minutes, 35 seconds, nearly a minute and a half ahead of the rest of the pack. Roanoke's Deborah Mayhewon was second at 21:03.
"Everyone says you slow down as you get older," said Hoyt, who plans to run in only one more race the rest of the summer. She will, however, continue her weekly track workouts.
"It's possible to run p.r.'s [personal records] as you get older," she said, but "it's harder to do the work."
Hoyt, who finished second in the 5K two years ago with a faster time than she ran Saturday, is having one of her best years since she began running competitively with an appearance in the New York City Marathon in 1979 - the year after Nervo was born.
Running her first 10K race, Nervo, the 16-year-old two-time Group A cross country champion and reigning 3,200-meter state champ from Glenvar High School, was passed by Shell at the four-mile mark.
It was a good race most of the way, with Nervo taking the lead less than two miles after the start. Shell, a 19-year-old member of Virginia Tech's cross country and track teams and a former standout at William Byrd High School, passed Nervo with about two miles left and wasn't challenged the rest of the way in posting a winning time of 39:49. Nervo finished in 40:07.
"I was struggling," Nervo said. "When she passed me, I said, `See ya.' "
"That's what she said," Shell added. "She said, `Go for it.'
"I wasn't really looking to win this, I was looking to compete. When I was behind her [Nervo], I decided to reel her in and try to move in front."
On the men's side, former Tech runner Travis Walter smoked the field to win his third 10K title in the past three years with a winning time of 31:25. Roanoke's Kenneth Monger was second at 33:11.
Walter did not race in the 1993 Festival Classic, after completing his athletic eligibility at Tech last spring.
"At the end of my college career, I kind of partied out," Walter said. "I wasn't in any condition to run."
Walter, like Hoyt, still has some good years ahead of him. He recently finished 16th in the Bay to Breakers 12K race in San Francisco, he competed with the USA Track and Field Team on a recent excursion to England, and he placed eighth in last year's Charlotte (N.C.) Observer Marathon.
Walter continues a string of Festival Classic victories posted by Blacksburg runners in recent years. He plans to return next year to defend his title, but he'll be representing a different hometown. Walter said he is moving to Raleigh, N.C., with his girlfriend later this summer, and he said the urban setting may cramp his training.
"Last week, I was looking for a house down there, and there's no place that'll be like running in Blacksburg," he said. "There will never be another place for me to train like Blacksburg."
Another young man with a bright future is Christiansburg's Brian Eigel, a former cross country state champion in high school and an All-Colonial Athletic Association 5,000-meter runner at William and Mary.
Eigel blistered the field, easily winning the men's 5K race in 15:49. Covington's Chris Merrell was second in 16:22.
"I took a week off from track," Eigel said. "Now, I'm training for cross country. This was a blast. There was a lot of enthusiasm out there - there were a lot of people out there on the course. That's unusual for me. This was fun."
Memo: ***CORRECTION***