ROCKVILLE, MD - March 24, 2003

 

“The race must go on!”

 

            That’s what Montgomery Road Runners Club president Brian Tresp said Saturday morning when asked whether the club would cancel its race at Seneca Creek State Park, in Germantown, as last weekend’s DC Marathon promoters had done.

“Canceling a race at this time would send the wrong signal to terrorists,” Brian said.  “We don’t want to give them the impression that they can disrupt our lives.” Besides, he added, “in tense times like this people need a way to relieve stress, and running is the perfect way to do it.”

The determination of Montgomery County Road Runners officials to hold the race was just what 36-year old Serbian runner Zoran Bursac wanted to hear. Earlier last week Zoran, a 2:26 marathoner, left his wife and three children at home in Belgrade and flew more than 4,000 miles to DC for The DC Marathon. He was confident he had a “good possibility of finishing with the leaders”, having trained 100 miles a week through a Serbian winter where temperatures sometimes dropped below minus 50 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Then, after he arrived at his friend’s house in Gaithersburg, he heard the bad news: The DC Marathon’s promoters, H2O Entertainment, had canceled the marathon because of terrorist fears.

Zoran, like thousands of other disappointed runners who had registered for the marathon, saw months of hard training fall by wayside.

A few days later Zoran’s training partner, Nok Dobrica, a co-worker at the Belgrade Post Office who had also flown to the United States to run The DC Marathon, suggested that he and Zoran run the ‘Piece of Cake 10K’ in Seneca Creek State Park as “consolation” for the canceled marathon. 

While Zoran admitted that “a 10K is not the same as a marathon,” he was pleased to have the opportunity to compete against US runners.  “I’m so glad that the Montgomery County people didn’t cancel,” Zoran said in halting English.  “It helped me to make up for some for not being able to run the marathon.  And the race was very nice, very well organized.”

Zoran, whose fastest 10K is 31:36, outpaced Kensington’s Mark Hoon with a time of 33:32.  Zoran blamed the hills in Seneca Creek State Park for his slower than usual time.  “Of course we have a lot of hills in Serbia,” he said.  “But I was expecting to run the DC Marathon, which is a flat course.  I didn’t expect to have to run these hills.”

Still, he added, “the natural surroundings in the park were very beautiful, and I am very grateful that the race went on as planned.”

Most of the more than 268 runners who participated in the race with Zoran were from the DC area, including Marjan Huizing, 34, of Gaithersburg, who won the women’s race in 39:32.

Zoran and his training partner, Nok, easily won the honors for traveling the farthest for the race.  Nok was the 9^th male finisher in a time of 36:07.

Will Zoran come back to the United States to run after the disappointment of the canceled DC Marathon?  “Oh yes,” he said.  “I love to run in the United States. I plan to possibly run the marathon in Philadelphia—and if I can, I would even like to come back to Montgomery County and run the race here again.” 

 

 

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