Runners of the Month

Community Runner: Joe Milby, who ran a Boston Qualifier of 3:16:29 at the very hilly San Francisco Marathon on July 25th. Milby, 49, finished 23rd in his age group.

University Runner: Robby Andrews, who became the first American male (along with Penn State frosh Cas Loxsom who was 2nd in the same race) to medal in a middle distance event at the World Junior Championships with his 3rd place finish of 1:47.00. Andrews wraps up his stellar freshman campaign with the fastest time in the world for a junior (1:45.54), an ACC and NCAA title at 800 meters, and a Penn Relays Championship of America wheel for the 4×800 relay.

High School Runner: Dave Taylor, a rising sophomore at Western Albemarle, and Elizabeth Sinclair, a rising senior at Albemarle, who were the first high school finishers at the Fourth of July 5K. Taylor was first in his age group and fourth overall in a time of 17:23 and Sinclair finished as the seventh female in a time of 20:45.

This has been a Ragged Mountain family tradition since 1982. Each month we select three individuals (although sometimes we will actually spotlight all of the members of a relay team, like we did when the Western Albemarle Boys DMR indoor squad won the National title in 2008 or an entire team, as we did when the UVa Women won the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships way back in the Winter of 1982) as our “Ragged Mountain Runners of the Month”. We select a representative from three categories: Community Runner of the Month, High School Runner of the Month (has to be an athlete from one of 17 Central Virginia high schools) and a UVa Runner of the Month (although we have been guilty of awarding this to a non-UVa college runner during the summer months, when the UVa teams are idle). The names of these individuals and their remarkable accomplishments, whether they’re amazing times or an incredible personal improvement, are posted on two different display boards at the shop and now, for the first time, on our new web site!

Every single Ragged Mountain Runner of the Month will be awarded a classic Ragged Mountain t-shirt (the same design we’ve been using since Neal Gropen designed our shirt when he was our next door business neighbor in 1982).

Here’s a brief list of just some of the folks who have been Ragged Mountain Runners of the Month over the years: