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Farewell, hello add variety Falk will be missed; women's series makes its debut
By JOE SHAFRAN
Army Archerd, the famed Hollywood show business reporter for Variety was in town last week. Now in his eighties, he was here for the memorial for his 58 year old daughter, Mandy Falk. Mandy had died Memorial Day weekend after running a race at Lewes, Delaware. Among her other accomplishments, Mandy Falk was an athlete .She had come to Annapolis in the early 70's from the West Coast. Her mother was an opera singer and Mandy continued with that heritage here as well as being a school teacher and engaging in other pursuits. In 1985, a young Mandy, was in San Francisco with her companion, Dennis Williams, an accomplished runner. Dennis was there to run the Bay-to-Breakers race .He encouraged Mandy to run it with him. She had never run distance races before. She did it and became hooked. After that she couldn't find enough races to run. There wasn't a marathon that she would pass up. She became a fearless triathlete. For 23 years she ran, biked and was a swimmer. This past Memorial Day weekend, she finished a 5 mile running race in award-winning time at Lewes, Delaware, with her Dennis, but walking from the finish line, Mandy felt a pain in her chest and sat down in the grass. She was taken to a hospital where she later died. There was a largely attended remembrance at Quiet Waters Park last week. Her father came east to participate .While here he was also presented with a personal Naval Academy recognition. He then got on a plane and flew back to Hollywood .He had a column to write. For 50 years he has been writing about the lives and deaths of the Hollywood greats. This time, he had to go back and write about the death of a daughter who came east long ago, becoming a mother, a teacher, a patron of the arts, a banker, a runner and a triathlete. May Mandy's soul rest in peace.
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 There was the Zooma race that went off without a major hitch in Annapolis last Sunday. No rain, just a bit of heat and humidity. This was the race for women, a half marathon, a 10 K, and a kid's run. Close to 1700 signed up. They say about 1400 finished. There were a few men, but they weren't scored.
I would say this race brought a new era of running to Annapolis, the brainchild of an Arlington Virginia lawyer and runner, Brae Blackley, who will take Zooma to other major cities this year.
This one was new and different both in the course of the race and what went on after the race. Blackley couldn't get a permit to go through the Annapolis historic district so it became one of the first races around here to finish at a place different from its start which was at the Navy Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. The finish was at Jonas Green Park at the far end of the Naval Academy bridge on the Severn River a couple of miles away. No problem. Blackley had arranged for shuttles run by the Annapolis Bus Company.
The post race expo at Navy Stadium was different in that I didn't see piles of bagels and bananas. Instead, Kraft was there with a mobile kitchen dishing out warm BagelFulls, filled with cream cheese. I also didn't see beer, but there was a wine bar where an I.D wrist band was needed. Saturn was there with a pace car, cars on display, and coupons to win one. There was bottled water but there was also ZICO, the new coconut water drink with Mango essence. There were some local exhibitors. Scott Broerman of Fleet Fleet in Eastport was there His store was an early sign-on to the race. It did seem like races of old, when Sheryl Kline the local runner, who naturally came in among the first of the half- marathon finishers, camped a distance back from the finish line, and yelled encouragement to the 1,297 other finishers. This was not the first race for women ,by the way . There's a long history of the Women's Distance Festival Races and Tom and Laurie Amatuchie and their crew from Baltimore were there staffing a water stop and an exhibit in which they recruited for their annual June 22 Women's classic 5K that was started in 1976 by a woman named Rosasco.
Runner of the week: Ann Sweeney Andrews of Annapolis. Three ankle surgeries later, she's still out there running in my neighborhood telling me that she's moving from St. Mary's to Archbishop Spalding this season as field hockey coach and with some work to do with lacrosse.
Race of the Week: The .05k (point oh 5 kay) MRE Bridge run in Annapolis on June 14 over the Spa Creek draw span that I will try to do in less than a minute. The recent Maritime Republic of Eastport Premier Mark Travaglini is taking bets that I can do it. Wish me luck...
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Running Calendar
June 15: Severna Park High School. 9 :15 a.m. Fathers' Day 10K and Kids Race.
Third in the Striders' Championship Series.
June 21: 8 a.m. Odenton Train Station. Marc Train 5 miler and one mile fun walk put on by the Kiwanis Club of Odenton. Visit www.active.com for registration.
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