Weldon cashes in during race

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Recreation

Date published: 4/11/2008

By KURT NICOLL

BY KURT NICOLL

Victory appeared to be a certainty with an 18-minute head start--kind of like protecting a nine-point lead with 2:21 left for a national basketball title.

Unlike the University of Memphis Tigers, though, Billy Weldon did not let mounting pressure get to his head, and in the end walked away with a check for $2,500 on Saturday.

The 37-year-old substitute teacher in Henrico County finished his designated portion of the Ukrop's Monument Avenue 10-k with a better-than two minute advantage over all-around champion Abdi Abdirahman, who crossed the finish line in 28 minutes, 32 seconds.

"I encountered them [the leaders] three blocks sooner than I had mentally anticipated," the former King George County resident told the Richmond Times-Dispatch. "I realized if I couldn't keep up the pace, they would definitely catch me."

For the fourth year in a row, the event has staged an AT&T Dash for Cash feature where a randomly selected entry receives a 2.8-mile head start over the rest of the field.

In two of the previous three races, the front-runner was overtaken by the eventual winner.

Abdirahman, who resides in Tucson and was the winner of last year's race, joked during Friday's press conference how Weldon should "run for his life" when he saw him coming.

Weldon had plenty of fan support in his corner, including his wife, Leslie, two children, his sister, mother and in-laws.

Leah Kiprono of Kenya was the top female finisher, tying the course record with a 32:24 clocking. The event had 24,055 finishers.

Brian Whythe of Ruther Glen was the top area finisher, finishing 109th in 38:41.

Other noteworthy finishes included: Karl Cover of Montpelier (171st, 39:52), Randy Garbee of King George (274th, 41:05), Kristen Keller of Barboursville (331st, 41:40), Dave Paccassi of Warrenton (336th, 41:42) and Raymond McConnell of Stafford (364th, 41:59).

Also, Zackery Sudduth of Colonial Beach (371st, 42:04), Henry Jones of Louisa (403rd, 42:16), Mathew Hovey of Fredericksburg (407th, 42:18) and Brian Hayes of Montpelier (476th, 42:53).

Two efforts of special note were turned in by Stafford County resident Allen Vaughan, placing seventh in the men's 55-59 age division (43:15) and Fredericksburg's Colleen Himelright capturing third place in the women's 60-64 division (57.29).

THE RIGHT STUFF

Date published: 4/11/2008