Four Miler comes up Roses

The last time Rachel Rose competed in a big arena was in the fall of 2004 during her senior year at Albemarle High, when she led from the start en route to winning the Group AAA cross country title. Her impressive victory at the 27th running of the Charlottesville Track Club’s Women’s Four Miler at Foxfield on Saturday looked like she picked up exactly where she left off.

Rose started fast, scorching through the opening mile in 5 minutes, 46 seconds and leading nearly the entire race. She crossed the finish line in 23:49, four seconds ahead of defending champ Dana Thiele.

“I felt great and I was overwhelmed by the cheering and enthusiastic support from the huge crowds along the course,” Rose said. “I cannot imagine a more conducive and positive environment for anyone, no matter their ability, to race in.”

Rose, who is in her third year at UVa, led the field through the early stages of the race. After first-time participant Louise Knudson dropped back just after the first mile, it was just Rose and Thiele going at it for the title.

“Rachel ran an awesome race, and I really loved the way she took it out hard and made it an honest race,” Thiele said. “It felt good to be in a competitive arena again. I really worked hard to stay with her, but after she threw that surge in on me at 2.5 miles, I knew it was going to be a lot of work to catch her.”

Rose opened up the first bit of serious real estate on Thiele and had a commanding lead at the 5-kilometer mark, but Thiele surged back over the last half-mile to make it a close race at the finish.

“Thank goodness it was sunny, because I could see Dana’s shadow coming back into sight,” Rose said. “It helped because I didn’t want to turn around and let Dana know I was worrying about her catching me.”

Knudson rounded out the top three as she clocked an impressive debut time of 24:02, finishing only nine seconds behind Thiele.

The spirit of the cause and the all-female venue led to a record 70 teams, who competed, and another 33 mother-daughter tandems ran together over the course.

Western Albemarle girls lacrosse coach Nancy Haws and her two daughters, Jordan and Julia, held up a banner with their grandmother’s name on it as they crossed the finish line together. The speedy trio were running in memory of Kay Webber, Nancy’s mom, who died after a battle with cancer a few years ago.

“This is why our family comes out for this special event,” Nancy said, “because of the cause and because it is so community oriented.”

There were teams from State Farm, Monticello, ACAC and the Village School, with many of them dedicating their team effort to a special friend who had battled cancer.

Daily Progress correspondent Mary Alice Blackwell joined Kathy Garstang, Nicole Goerge and 40 other friends as the “Raising Cain” team as they ran in memory of Susan Cain, their dear friend, who died earlier this year after battling breast cancer.

The race raised money for research, clinical care and programs at UVa’s Breast Care Center. “We’re delighted that so many women stepped up and raised so much for this special cause,” praised race director Cynthia Lorenzoni. “We’re particularly pleased that 100 percent of the over $300,000 raised will stay right here locally.”

Maybe no one summed it up better than the blue-ribbon winner, as Rose said, “It’s such a great race for such a great cause — and gosh, was it ever so much fun.”