AAAA Attends Starry Nights Festival

October 16-18, 1998

Presented by the Town of Yucca Valley, California
and the Western Region of the Astronomical League (WRAL).

Sponsors of the 5K run were Z107.7 KCDZ-FM Radio, The Town Council of Yucca Valley, and BARR Lumber Company.

The 5K run started at 7:30 a.m. Saturday morning at the Yucca Valley Community Center. Registration fee for this event was $14,00 which included a long-sleeve T-shirt. Late registration at the time of the event was $17.00. First Place overall male and female runners in the Starry Nights 5K Run received a Celestron refractor telescope, donated by Orion Telescopes of Santa Cruz, Ca. Coffee mugs were awarded to the second and third place overall, as well as the top male and female finishers in each age category.

The 5K course is about 3.1 miles in length, and was described in the literature as a loop course that is generally fast and mostly flat through a residential area. Personally, I found the thing to be very long with lots of hills.

I am used to running a mile at home, or riding my bicycle, and I thought I was in pretty good shape, but this short race stretched my endurance. Perhaps it was the 3,000 foot altitude. However, I did make it!

The male winner was Greg Potter, in 17 minutes 39 seconds. The female winner was Bella Short at 23 minutes 25 seconds. I came in about 20 minutes later, second out of two in my age class!

Ed Flaspoehler
Vice-President, AAAA