Court rules annual Dick Fitzgerald 2-Mile beach race
Incoming Mira Costa High School senior Xavier Court won his second Dick Fitzgerald 2-Mile run championship in three years. Photo
After placing third in the Bay League cross country finals and helping Mira Costa High School to a strong boys track and field season as a junior, Xavier Court continued to help the Mustang cross country program Saturday morning winning his second Dick Fitzgerald 2-Mile Run title in the last three years.
The race is conducted by the Mira Costa Track and Cross Country teams with proceeds from the run benefiting the programs.
The race is named after former Director of the Department of Beaches Dick Fitzgerald who helped start the International Surf Festival.
Court cruised to a victory with a time of 12 minutes, 57.2 seconds, defeating JP Soares (13:33.3) and former Palos Verdes High School distance running standout Rebecca Mehra (13:41.2). Manhattan Beach’s Cormac Carew was the third male finisher at 13:43.7.
“I wasn’t running for a certain time but for the place,” Court said. “The beginning is tough. You need to go hard in the soft sand, which is the most difficult part of the race, the turn it on coming back.”
Mehra recently completed her college career at Stanford where she was a first-team All-American finishing fourth on the school’s all time list in the 1,500 meters with a top time of 4:11.97.
“Growing up in the area, I did Junior Lifeguards for about a decade but running in the soft sand is difficult,” Mehra said. “Your legs are a little jiggly and you need to recover fast for the return on the hard-packed sand. It’s been awhile since I’ve run on the sand but it was fun. This race was one of our summer staples when I was in high school.”
Winning the female division brought back memories for former Palos Verdes High School distance running standout Rebecca Mehra. Photo
Mehra is one of the few high school runners in California history to compete in eight state meets — four in track and four in cross country. She was the CIf State Division III champion in cross country and placed second in the CIF State Track & Field 1,600 championships in 2012 (4:47.33).
Lauren Chiu as the second fastest woman at 16:29.1 followed by Diane Silva at 17:12.8.
Males winning their age group included Richard Whalee (10U, 19:02.9), Carew (11-14), Court (15-19), Mark Ery (20-29, 16:08.2), Phillip Jacques (30-39, 14:29.6), Shinsuke Adachi (40-49, 15:21.1), Thomas Schumann (50-59, 14:09.1), John Holcomb (60-69, 15:54.2) and Peter Rech (70+, 23:48.2).
Females winning their age division were Scotty Losson (10U, 17:42.8), Chiu (11-14), Olivia Hacohen (15-19, 17:44.6), Mehra (20-29), Renee Delphin-Rodriguez (30-39, 17:29.0), Patricia Hogan (40-49, 20:46.2), Silva (50-59), Maria Marrone (60-69, 19:18.9) and Mary Sikonia (70+, 40:01.0).
Complete results are available at surffestival.org.