The snow began with little flakes at 10 am, filled the sky with great white gusts by 11 am, and covered all of pre-inauguration Washington four inches deep by 12 noon.
Beyond that, the bridges were filled with escaping Federal workers outbound and inauguration celebrators inbound.
Adding to the fun, both the Tidal Inlet Bridge and the two entrances to East Potomac Park were fenced off, enabling the geese around the Tidal Basin and on the golf course to be joyously noisy.
Retreating to the warm interior of the Jefferson Memorial, 15 intrepid runners quickly invented an alternate route, counterclockwise around the Tidal Basin, across the Kutz Bridge to the FDR Memorial stoplight on Independence Avenue and back.
R. Singh and Ted Poulos had a classic duel for first place, with R. prevailing in 11:58.
Anne-Marie Pastorkovich timed and collected the results.
En route to the start, Ray Campbell slipped on a patch of ice along the Tidal Basin, losing his keys. After the race, sporting quite the bump on his head, he asked for a lift back to College Park, or at least Metro, thinking he had lost his keys into the water. Jay Wind ran back to the slippery patch to hunt for them, as dozens of Close-Up teenagers were climbing off a bus. Suddenly a snowball fight erupted, catching Jay smack in the face. He looked puzzled for a moment, as the others stopped to see what he would do. The thrower stood sheepishly, as another teenager handed Jay a snowball and said "Free hit!" Jay, a former softball pitcher, tossed a perfect strike down the middle, and everybody laughed. Then student Nat Pearson of St. Louis MO said, "Are you looking for some keys? I found them."
His quest accomplished, Jay ran back to Ray, and the grey day was made way gay.
Next Tidal Basin 3K is Wednesday, February 16.
## Name Age G City State Time
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Wednesday, January 18, 2005 Tidal Basin 3K, Washington DC
1 R. Singh 29 M Washington DC 11:58
2 Ted Poulos 43 M McLean VA 11:59
3 Brad Rippey 38 M Bunker Hill WV 12:07
4 Mark Beattie 25 M Falls Church VA 12:09
5 Josh Henson 32 M Washington DC 12:56
6 Mark Payne 37 M Gaithersburg MD 13:59
7 Jim Darr 50 M Falls Church VA 14:17
8 Peter Blank 50 M Annandale VA 14:43
9 Dave Crawford 54 M Arlington VA 15:47
10 Jay Jacob Wind 55 M Arlington VA 16:08
11 Mike Collotta 51 M Washington DC 16:05
12 Cindy Cohen 36 F Washington DC 16:26
13 John Winkert 48 M South Riding VA 20:11
14 Roger Hoskin 57 M Falls Church VA 20:27
15 Ric Francke 57 M McLean VA 23:41