El Chupacabra de Houston – 2012 Results
By David Hanenburg on 05 Jun 2012 at 11:18 am | Tagged as: race news
Over 450 runners enjoyed some puddle jumpin’ and plenty of bouncing headlamps at the el Chupacabra de Houston nighttime scamper. Heavily wooded trails within Lake Houston Park and the 8:30 pm start, made for a unique 5/10 km adventure.
Photo: Copyright Andrew Wolfe / PhotoWolfe.com
Results
Photo: Copyright Andrew Wolfe / PhotoWolfe.com
10 km
Sesar Figueroa (15 min road 5ker) and Kevin Pool were locked in an exciting front-end 10 km dash. Both averaged near a 6:30 pace in the darkness with Sesar creating a 22 second gap at the finish to win the male race in 40:12.
Sweeet! Sesar Figueroa rips a 6:30 pace in the spidey suit! (Photo: Copyright Andrew Wolfe / PhotoWolfe.com)
Top 5 male
- Sesar Figueroa – 40:12 (gun time)
- Kevin Pool – 40:33 (tag time)
- Jondell Shives – 41:40
- Gus Murillo – 43:22
- Ryan Gill – 43:32
The female race reminded those interested in the win, to position yourself near the front. Gun time, not chip/tag time often determines the win. While two women ran faster 10km times, their gun times were slower because they were positioned a ways back at the start.
Raquel Tidwell earned the female win averaging a 6:59 per mile turnover in a gun time of 43:28.
Laura Zamarripa and Elsa Rodriguez had a spicy little run between each other being separated by 2 seconds (tag time) at the finish. They would have likely created an extremely fun race with Raquel if they would have started near the front.
Top 5 female
- Raquel Tidwell – 43:28 (gun time)
- Laura Zamarripa – 43:21 (tag time, gun time: 43:52)
- Elsa Rodriguez – 43;23 (tag time, gun time: 43:56)
- Natalie Buchs – 47:01
- Shannon Lewis – 50:51
Megan Wolfe crossing the line as 10th female. (Photo: Copyright Andrew Wolfe / wolfephoto.com)
5 km
Isabel Gloria-Ruiz ran within the top three of the overall and won the female race in 27:09.
Jenniffer Deets earned second place honors.
Top 5 female
- Isabel Gloria-Ruiz – 27:09 (gun time)
- Jenniffer Deets – 27:30
- Diana Gusman – 27:42
- Cristina Chavarria – 27:43
- Melissa Dominguez – 28:03
Pre-race prep. (Photo: Copyright Andrew Wolfe / wolfephoto.com)
Steve Duran ran alone at the front of the male race averaging a 7:28 pace and crossing the finish in 23:13.
Steve Duran crossing the finish for the male win. (Photo: Copyright Andrew Wolfe / wolfephoto.com)
Joseph Herr crossed the line for second, over three minutes later.
Top 5 male
- Steve Duran – 23:13 (gun time)
- Joseph Herr – 26:25
- Dale Marshall – 27:07
- Michele Cencini – 27:20
- Chirag Sabunani – 27:20
We got a Vid
(If you can’t see the video, click here.)
Race Reports and Pics
- I couldn’t find any race reports. Please share in a comment below if you have one.
- race pics – Check out all the great pics by Andrew Wolfe of PhotoWolfe.com.
Talk some Dirt
- What did you think of the night run experience?
- How many white shoes got muddy/dirty?
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David Hanenburg is the passionate dirt-lovin' creator of Endurance Buzz and has been playing in the endurance sports world since 2000 after knockin' the dust off of his Trek 950 hardtail thanks to a friend asking to go ride some local dirt. In 2007 he ran his first ultra on the trails and fell in love with the sport and its people. For more information on David's endurance sports journey, check out the About page.
There was some discrepencies with those results. Runners who signed up for the 10k but turned around early with the 5k runners and still crossed the finish mat registered as 10k runners.
I’m pretty sure that this was the case for the women you listed in second and third place.
Steve – Thanks for the insight. That sounds like a results nightmare. I would expect the online results will not be updated either since a few weeks have passed since race day.
I always enjoy this race. The post race BBQ and all you can drink beer is well worth the drive. Oh yeah, the run is great as well. The course was different this year. There was this weird out and back section and you hit the only aid station twice. Thought I was going the wrong way a few times. There were some muddy sections on the back half due to the rain the day before but were avoidable if you were paying attention. It was a nice way to get the skakes out before my trip to Jemez. PR’d the 10K so that was an added bonus. Bill Gardner knows how to party.
Hey Jonathan – Thanks for sharing your insights on the day! After hearing BBQ, I’m hungry!