Bucktown 5K Race top honors go to Suburbanite and Floridian while locals prepped for Chicago Marathon

For the men, Matt Field, 25, of Wheaton crossed the electronically timed finish line in fifteen minutes thirteen seconds while Jacki Wachtel, 31, of New Port Richey, FL, at seventeen minutes and fifty-four seconds was the first woman and the twenty-first person to cross the finish line. Many of the 3,535 who crossed the finish line were preparing for the Chicago Marathon.

The other top runners were Andy Derks, 30, and Emil Bojanov, 26, who came in second and third respectively in the Bucktown 5K Race Oct. 4 put on by RAM Racing. For the women, second and third places went to Chicagoans Melissa Hardesty, 33, and Michelle Densmore, 29.

 

Hans Yeates, a triathlon racer, and his wife Toby DeMott Yeates from the West Loop are both runners who trade off races because one-and-half year old Christopher needs attention from one of his parents.

Hans ran the Bucktown 5K and Toby completed the 2010 Chicago Marathon. "I began running when I was in training to be a physical therapist. Everyone around me promoted physical activity and many were runners," explains Toby. "Hans is a biker who does triathlons but we discovered he was really good at running too."

Hans says, "She is a natural runner and better than I. Since triathlons are mainly between June and August, when the water is warmer, now I do more running. We are consistent about running twenty to twenty-five miles a week. When in marathon training, we run more like thirty miles." Hans ran the Bucktown course in nineteen minutes and forty-one seconds coming in as sixty-ninth in the men's category and seventy-third overall. Toby ran the 10.10.10 Chicago Marathon in three hours, twenty-eight minutes and twenty-three seconds

Kevin McCrory of Wicker Park ticked off the race in twenty-two minutes and thirty-four seconds garnering 251 in the men's category and 298 overall. A runner for the last six years, Kevin says he runs to stay in shape and lose weight. An engineer, he has run the Bucktown race for three years. He completed the Chicago Marathon in roughly four hours and ten minutes.

Bucktown resident Glenda Cabrera completed her run in twenty-three minutes and sixteen seconds as the sixty-second woman to cross the line and the 378 racer. A math coach at an elementary school in Logan Square, she says, "I have always run on and off but took it up seriously after my divorce. I will be doing the Chicago Marathon." She completed the Marathon in six hours, thirty-one minutes and eleven seconds.

Blade Runners, part of the Great Lakes Adaptive Sports Association, did their inaugural 5K race at Bucktown last year. This year they had a team of eight amputees and two individually impaired runners.

Cool temperatures favored the runs, unlike the unusually hot temperatures experienced by this year's Chicago Marathon on Oct. 10. The last 5K runner crossed the finish line after one hour and twelve minutes and fifty-four seconds.

Add to this story: Share your experience with the races and/or identify some of the runners in the pictures. Click on any photo to open the slide show.