Distance Ace Shelley Shows Plenty of Heart

Once was not enough for Richard Shelley of Las Cruces, N.M., at the Heart Run in Woodland Hills on Sunday morning.

Shelley, a 31-year old aerospace engineer born and raised in England, finished second in the five-kilometer run to start the day before winning the 10K about an hour later.

“I’m coming off an injury so I’m trying to race my way back into shape,” Shelley said. “I planned to run a 1,500 at Cal Poly Pomona (Saturday), but the meet was rained out. I thought this would be a good double.”

Shelley timed 32 minutes 40 seconds in the 10K and 15:40 in the 5K. He had won the Heart Run 10K in 1990. Mario Gutierrez, 29, of Canoga Park, last year’s 10K champion, won the 5K in 15:06.

Gutierrez, a native of Chihuahua, Mexico, was not seriously challenged. He has bests of 14:22 for 5,000 meters and 29:48 for 10,000. “I was hoping to run 14:30,” Gutierrez said. “But (15:06) is all right.”

Jeffrey Williams (15:44) and Bill Guzman (15:54) finished third and fourth in the 5K and Dago Perez placed second in the 10K in 33:12.

Tracy Rose of Valencia, a former standout swimmer at Cal State Northridge, won the women’s division of the 5K in 17:42, finishing 21st. Christina Lightfoot (39:53) was the women’s 10K winner for the second year in a row.

There were 753 official finishers in the 5K run and 479 people completed the 10K race.