New Women's, Masters Course Records Set at State College 5K Resolution Run

BY LAURIE CORBIN

STATE COLLEGE, PA-Every runner felt like a celebrity at the start of the State College 5K Resolution Run on New Year's Eve.  The 6:30 p.m. start may have meant the sky was dark, but the streetlights of the downtown and the enthusiasm of the crowd lining the street illuminated the night with excitement and anticipation.

Runners, some dressed in costumes, did striders up and down the main street, passing elaborate ice sculptures and First Night festivities as they prepared for the Third Annual 5K.

The course started with a lightning-fast blitz down College Avenue as crowds, a bit amazed at the speed and some of the costumes, cheered. One runner was Baby New Year and another dressed as a fairy with purple balloons tied all around her.  A centipede was among the ranks, and the coup de gras was an Elizabethan couple who ended up winning the costume competition.

After the stint on Main Street, the runners made an abrupt right and were confronted with an early quarter-mile hill along Fraternity Row. After that, the course looped and wound down and around to finish with another straightaway down the main thoroughfare.

Larz Selmer-Larson, from Mill Hall, took the lead and won the 5K in 16:38.  On the women's side, Laurie Corbin, of Boonton, New Jersey, who runs for Nike, won with a new women's course record of 17:45. Despite the fact that he was recovering from a severe case of bronchitis, her training partner, Guy Gordon, also a Nike runner from New Jersey, set a  new Masters course record.  State College native Sue Crowe won the female Masters title.

The race is the largest New Year's Eve 5K in the region, attracting runners from over six states.