On a perfect evening at Santa Barbara City College’s picturesque La Playa Stadium, two strong fields led to fast times and exciting contests in both the women’s and men’s 5000 meter races at the rabbit5000 presented by Running Warehouse.
In the event’s second year, Phillip Reid of the HOKA ONE ONE Aggies, based in San Luis Obispo, CA and Maor Tiyouri of Boulder, CO came away victorious with winning times of 13:51.36 and 16:04.17 in the men’s and women’s races respectively. For Reid, this was his fastest mark since 2011 and it will have an outside chance at qualifying him for the USA Outdoor Championships later this month in Des Moines, IA.
Athletes sponsored by Santa Barbara based running apparel company rabbit also had strong showings, with rabbitPRO Amy Schnittger taking second in the women’s race in a time of 16:15.37 and fellow rabbitPRO teammates Seth Totten and Tyler McCandless taking second and third in the men’s race respectively, with times of 14:01.41 and 14:03.65. McCandless, who has qualified for a third USA Olympic Marathon Trials, improved his 5K best by almost twenty seconds in his first 5K race on the track since 2010.
“This was the first year of the rabbit5000 at the iconic La Playa Stadium with an increased prize purse and we can’t wait to be able to continue to bring top runners to beautiful Santa Barbara to run fast times in future years,” commented Race Director David Monico.
In addition to the support of presenting sponsor Running Warehouse, the rabbit5000 also received support from local sponsors Alaris Fitness, American Riviera Bank, LogicMonitor, Vining Construction and Santa Barbara Running.
“Giving back to the sport is important to us personally and professionally at rabbit. We thank our sponsors in helping put this event together as well as the Santa Barbara running community for coming out to cheer on these incredible athletes looking to fulfill their dreams,” expressed Monica DeVreese, rabbit co-founder.
“It was an incredibly fun and exciting night, and we look forward to building upon the event in future years. We love being able to support the sport of running and the rabbit5000 is just one way we hope to do so,” said Jill Deering, rabbit’s other co-founder.
