Approximately 170 Suffolk runners participated in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Virginia Beach Half Marathon on Saturday, but Andrea Leber and her son Marc were among the few from anywhere who did so with passengers.

The Lebers each ran the 13.1 miles while pushing a stroller that carried a disabled child. They did this as a part of Team Hoyt, which is an organization that works to help the physically disabled to become active members of the community.

“Team Hoyt is a group of runners that are running for people who can’t run,” Andrea Leber said. “And the idea is to give the kids that have, for example, no legs or (have) cerebral palsy or have mental disabilities the feeling we have when we run and we have that high feeling when we go through the finish line.”

The group was started by a father, Dick Hoyt, whose son Rick was disabled from birth. Dick began pushing Rick in races back in 1977. Since then, the pair has participated in more than 1,000 races.

Andrea, 47, and Marc, 16, are both competitive runners who heard about this special brand of racing by word-of-mouth from a friend who was running similar races.

They contacted Team Hoyt and have enjoyed the opportunity to serve others.

“That’s why we started — it was really giving back,” she said. “It’s racing to give somebody else fun. It’s like double the reward. It’s not only racing and feeling fit, but it’s racing, feeling fit, and (giving) back to somebody else who also feels good afterwards.”

Andrea and Marc had different histories with the children they pushed. Andrea had never met Jared Washington, who was born in 2007 and has hydrocephalus.

“I was scheduled to just run between the strollers and help the ones that needed help,” she said. “But we had one rider more, and they asked me the morning of the race, ‘Would you mind to push somebody?’”

She accepted and was thrilled with Jared’s enthusiasm for a speedy race.

“He’s really heavily disabled, but he was waving his hands and making noises every time I got slower,” she said.

They finished 10th out of 34 with a time of 02:01:38.

Marc was pushing 13-year-old Ashton McCormick, who has moderate to severe autism and does not show emotions often as a result. This was not the first time they had partnered in a race for Team Hoyt.

“My first race with them was the Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters 8K,” Marc Leber said, “and that’s when I first met Ashton, who’s the kid I’m pushing.”

From that first race, a lasting partnership was formed.

“From then on forth, he and his mother have been asking for me the whole time,” he said. “They don’t run with anybody else.”

Pushing another person poses some serious running challenges.

“It’s definitely a lot harder, because I’m pushing nearly double my body weight, but it’s fun,” he said. “It was my fifth time running with him, but it was our first time on any distance that was longer than five miles.”

Marc and Ashton finished with a time of 01:48:57, which was good for third place out of 34.

Pushing Ashton has given Marc another reason to run. While competing in high school track and cross country, winning was the only thing on his mind.

“But now, I’ve realized that it’s not all about winning, and I have fun with it,” he said. “Sure, I’m in pain for about half the race, but I see him smile — which is quite rare — and it just brightens my day every single time.”

His mother affirmed Marc’s sentiments.

“Being second in my age group was nice, too,” she said. “But even if I’m the last one in the whole marathon — if I were the last one in the whole half-marathon — just seeing Jared getting excited, waving his hands on the finish line was good.

“I think it is much more rewarding to cross the finish line for somebody else than for yourself.”

Rock ‘n’ Roll Virginia Beach Half Marathon — Half Marathon

Overall Place/Name/Time

382 Josh Micko 01:44:41

590 Marco Weygan Suffolk, VA 01:49:25

1005 Joseph Verdirame 01:55:23

1009 Bryan Zimmerman 01:55:25

1174 Whitney Dunning 01:57:19

1303 Jon Morris 01:58:49

1325 Amy Grom 01:59:00

1669 Steve Sheppard 02:02:19

1875 Tim Watters 02:04:04

1893 Tracey Hodge 02:04:15

1934 Blair Brinkley 02:04:41

1947 Jessica Blasik 02:04:47

2009 Tim Westfall 02:05:16

2099 Stefani McFarland 02:06:09

2233 Shane Gibbs 02:07:19

2305 Clint Rose 02:08:00

2368 Debbie Russell 02:08:33

2482 Lynsey Daughtrey 02:09:15

2502 Jordan Goodwin 02:09:23

2558 Jared Von Bargen 02:09:46

2559 Christopher Ritter 02:09:47

2643 Chaz Carmichael 02:10:22

2732 Tina Stimson 02:11:05

2773 Ian Stainback 02:11:21

2938 Glenn Chase 02:12:48

3164 Beverly Breeden 02:14:33

3228 Karen Mason 02:15:05

3297 Paul Vrhovac 02:15:42

3299 Andrea McHugh 02:15:43

3525 Tracey Carr 02:17:18

3532 Crystal Collins 02:17:21

3601 Joan Butt 02:17:52

3620 Paul McQueen 02:18:00

3692 Travis Bost 02:18:37

3739 Olivia Devost 02:19:04

3858 David Drames 02:19:55

3865 Kyle Grisham 02:19:57

3900 David Collins 02:20:14

3949 Carson Daughtrey 02:20:35

4283 Larry Lowton 02:23:07

4325 Jennifer Bivins 02:23:27

4370 David Bott 02:23:46

4414 Virginia Johnson 02:24:07

4695 Christopher Sheffield 02:26:12

4996 Philip McFarland 02:28:18

5024 Justin Hayden 02:28:26

5072 Laurel Click 02:28:51

5080 Kim McQueen 02:28:53

5279 Aretha Porter 02:30:22

5312 Steve Goldberg 02:30:37

5325 Gregory Fulcher 02:30:41

5390 Poorboy Breeden 02:31:11

5588 Michael Frickanisce 02:32:42

5643 Nadene Botsford 02:33:04

5644 Chris Peaden 02:33:05

5654 Cindi Wolfe 02:33:09

5655 Benjamin Anderson 02:33:09

5671 Michele Richardson 02:33:17

5691 Jennifer Opauski 02:33:23

5738 Lauren Burton 02:33:45

5883 Patricia Stewart 02:34:48

5904 Rency Yeatts 02:35:01

5911 Andrew Halmrast 02:35:04

5926 Jamie Abu-Absi 02:35:12

5980 Samuel Barone 02:35:38

6000 Marc Carmihael 02:35:49

6092 Fanita Morris 02:36:35

6213 Tonja Halmrast 02:37:35

6224 Jeannie Diaz 02:37:40

6270 Heather Morgan 02:37:59

6302 Jaime Robertson 02:38:14

6357 Paul Jahnke 02:38:39

6384 Samaria Hunter 02:38:55

6425 Matthew Roberson 02:39:12

6758 Jill Osborne 02:42:04

6798 Pamella Smith 02:42:24

6913 Brent Harris 02:43:26

6932 Tammy Manno 02:43:37

6961 Medina Doerr 02:43:51

6962 Lorena Garcia 02:43:51

7018 Allyson Braddy 02:44:13

7130 Ellen Drames 02:45:15

7175 Cynthia Dematteo 02:45:39

7200 Orlando Rivera 02:45:54

7201 Eileen Rivera 02:45:54

7301 Norm Kendrick 02:47:01

7427 Joshua Brown 02:48:03

7486 James Riley 02:48:41

7657 Rafael Diaz 02:50:18

7680 Daniel Baltz 02:50:31

7682 Amanda Wells 02:50:32

7684 Shane Loving 02:50:34

7716 Allison Harris 02:50:57

7717 Brooke Caballero 02:50:58

7769 John Payne 02:51:29

7858 Jeremy Goodwin 02:52:32

7914 Michael Clark 02:53:09

7944 Arnold Baldoza 02:53:24

8015 Michael Gaffney 02:54:21

8030 Airais McCoy 02:54:28

8207 Linda Terry 02:56:43

8451 David Robinson 02:59:21

8568 Maureen Mahoney 03:00:36

8578 Edward Matthews 03:00:45

8689 Bo Hamrick 03:01:50

8705 Jacob Masdanian 03:02:08

8880 Rosaria Schmelebeck 03:04:19

8995 Kristie Welliver 03:05:50

9072 Luis Suarez 03:06:59

9110 Catherine Baldoza 03:07:25

9131 Shawnt Eggleston 03:07:47

9146 Jason Harris 03:07:56

9174 Bryan Rice 03:08:15

9182 Amanda Phelps 03:08:28

9287 Kimberly Holston 03:10:06

9320 Lorna Gonwa 03:10:31

9405 Jeretta Dillon 03:11:49

9417 Martha Mackenzie 03:11:57

9491 Rob Froelich 03:13:06

9492 Leonard Leyden 03:13:07

9593 Sam Brown 03:14:56

9720 Theresa Jackson 03:17:16

9725 Chris Pearce 03:17:23

9726 Cheryl Lumbard 03:17:25

9733 Colleen Poteat 03:17:30

9771 Beth Ann Pearce 03:18:31

9899 Christine Hobbs 03:21:51

9935 Michael Brown 03:22:35

9936 Allyson Brown 03:22:35

9943 Meredith Beesing 03:22:58

10007 Sarah Brown 03:24:42

10145 Nancye Brown 03:28:01

10148 Stephanie Boone 03:28:05

10184 Holly Brown 03:28:54

10291 Joshua Nordmeyer 03:32:11

10515 Alan Nordmeyer 03:40:06

10525 Amy Nordmeyer 03:41:08

10692 Kristin Byars 03:49:30

10878 Barbara Adkins 04:04:16

10879 Debbie Price 04:04:16

10938 Donald Byars 04:18:47

Rock ‘n’ Roll Virginia Beach 2 Person Half Marathon Relay

Overall Place/Time/Team Name/Participant Names/Gender/Age

7th 1:44:15 SWO 2 GO — Xai Yang M-34, Terra Reber F-27 Annapolis, MD

99th 2:20:47 PAKED — Amanda Kregiel F-28 Suffolk, VA, Paul Della Torre M-37 Chesapeake, VA

100th 2:21:06 Cross & Croly — Antoinette Croly F-42 Suffolk, VA, Kate Cross F-33

211th 2:47:02 Sweet Feet — Kacey Harmon F-34 Suffolk, VA, Debbie Simmons F-63 Vinton, VA

254th 3:05:37 Team Speedy — Michael Rice M-51, Amanda Wells F-30 Virginia Beach, VA

Rock ‘n’ Roll Virgina Beach Half Marathon – Mini Marathon

33 William Palagyi 23:26

69 Christopher Errington 25:56

157 Tracy Uriegas 28:54

305 Dennis Conroy 32:04

323 Katelyn Benson 32:23

451 Shawn Devenney 34:20

603 David Pouleris 36:29

604 Ethan Pouleris 36:29

612 Becky Hamlin 36:34

688 Olivia Watters 37:46

802 Mary Keiser 39:24

917 Ty Herron 41:32

970 Nicole Hayden 42:45

1230 Laquisha Garrett 49:44

1300 Patti George 52:44

1301 Tom George 52:44

1327 Jeanne Fink 54:24

1328 Ann Florian 54:30

1329 Gina Lilley 54:31

1397 Rosemary Brown 01:00:22

1425 Angelique Mitchell 01:25:52

Rock ‘n’ Roll Virgina Beach Half Marathon – Team Hoyt

3 Marc Leber 01:48:57

10 Andrea Leber 02:01:38