Women's Spring Racing Report

The women of the New Balance Prado Racing Team have been busy this spring! The ladies have participated in several road races as a team, once again displaying PRT's dominance in the San Diego running community.

On March 16, the PRT women participated in the inaugural Encinitas Mile, a unique road race challenging runners to draw on their speed over the course of a one-mile out-and-back course along Vulcan Avenue in Encinitas. Runners were divided into heats, and the PRT women participated in the Elite race, the Women's Open division, as well as the Dog Mile!

In the Elite race, speedster Gina Merchant led the team finishing third in 5:13, holding off teammate Julie Sawyer, who couldn't match Gina's powerful kick. Sawyer (5:14) was followed by Kristin Schleicher (5:18) and Hilary Corno (5:23), whose performances were even more impressive given that both women are training for much longer (marathon and half marathon, respectively) races.

The PRT Women were also impressive in the Women's Open division. Sam Espinolda snagged first place in a time of 5:35, followed by teammate Nancy DiBenedetto in third (5:44), Jordana Henderson in fifth (5:45), and Kelcie Wiemann in seventh (5:49).

The entire team was honored to be part of this new and exciting event and look forward to racing the Encinitas Mile again in 2015!

Two weeks after testing their speed in the mile, the women participated in the Carlsbad 5000. Leading the team in a time of 17:33 was Hilary Corno, good enough for third in the Women's 30-39 division. She was followed closely by Kristin Schleicher (17:35, a new PR) and Sawyer (17:36). Together, the three women combined for the fastest Women's Open team, beating out the nearest competition by over a minute (scores are calculated by taking the combined time of the three women on the team). Also in the Women's 30-39 division, Gina Merchant had a breakthrough 5K race, finishing in 18:04, a huge PR!

In the Women's 29-and-Under race, Kelcie Wiemann (19:39), Sara Sanchez (19:53), and Nancy DiBenedetto (21:12) combined for a team score earning them fifth place in the Women's Open division.

In addition to the team-focused races, many PRT women have been chasing PRs in other events. One such notable performance this winter was Hilary Corno's PR in the Carlsbad Half Marathon in January, finishing in 1:19:25, which got her fifth place overall. 

Recently, Marie Schaper went big and traveled all the way to London to run the London Marathon. Her finishing time of 2:48:55 was a seven-minute PR. She was also the top American woman to finish the race and 12th overall!

Finally, Angela Moll traveled back east to participate in the Boston Marathon and finished with a PR of 2:55:44, finishing in the top 100, not an easy task at such a prestigious race!

There are still some more spring races to come, so expect future updates on more PRT New Balance PRs!