79 compete in Damn, Dirty Dusty Relay races

Reno's Christopher Badolato and Ann Conlin emerged as the ironman and ironman winners in the annual Dirty, Dusty Damn Hot Relay fun run held on Sunday morning.

Badolato, 23, who competes for Eclipse Running, led the field as he covered the 15-kilometer (9.3 miles) route around El Charro Avitia Restaurant in a time of 55 minutes, 57 seconds. Conlin, 40, won the women's race for the second year in a row and finished fifth overall in 1:08:21.

A total of 79 runners and walkers participated in an event held to benefit Carson Advocates for Cancer Cure.

And yes, it was damn hot outside when the gun went off at 10 a.m.

"This was probably the hottest it's ever been for this race," event coordinator Tim Tetz of Fleet Feet Sports said. "We had people begging for two water stops, which for a 5K course, is almost unheard of. One of the things we're going to do next year is go for an earlier start in the morning."

The fastest relay performance was turned in by the South Tahoe High School trio of Cory Martin, Jeff Cosmi and Dominique Westlake, who combined to run 56:39 for the 15K route.

Martin and Cosmi ran for and Westlake coached South Tahoe's 1999 Nevada state 4A high school cross country team. Martin, who ran a 17:11 split, is headed for Long Beach State to run cross country as a walk-on. Cosmi is entering his senior year at South Tahoe.

The Fleet Feet team of John Pang, Scott Robertson and Matt Donnelly finished as the second team and first in the corporate division in a time of 1:00:09. Robertson and Pang managed to place third and fourth respectively in the ironman division with overall times of 59:39 and 1:05:16 respectively.

Jeremy Zichosch was the second overall finisher in the men's ironman division in 58:41.

The third-place relay team was the Carson City trio of Kevin Bigley, Andrew and Dennis Pedersen, who finished 31 seconds out of the runner-up spot with a time of 1:00:40.

Gardnerville's Ellen Lucas and Lyle Freeman combined with Chris Haines of Anchorage, Alaska, to finish fourth in the relay division with a 1:044:22 clocking. Haines competed for the U.S. in Nordic skiing at the 1976 Winter Olympics.

The Go Girls were the fastest women's relay team, as Andrea King, Staci Baker and Jacki Taylor combined to run 1:08:38.

The Fossil award was taken by South Lake Tahoe's Old Endorphins, as the mixed team of Terry Tubb, John Becker and Jan Bleiweiss ran 1:11:15. The combined ages of the three runners is 156 years.

The two youngest entrants in the ironman competition were 10-year-old Michael Mangiaracina and 8-year-old Sara Mangiaracina from Minden. Michael finished the course in a time of 1:53:33 and Sara, who was seen blowing bubbles with her gum along the way, finished in 2:00:28.

The race brought back some fond memories for Tetz.

"We were excited about the turnout," Tetz said. "This is a special race to me. When I was in school (at Carson High), this race was always our last big workout before practice started."

Fleet Feet Sports is also hosting the Jim Frank Cross Country Classic, a combined middle school and open event which will be held on Friday, Sept. 8, at Fuji Park.