Wednesday, June 8, 2022

Masters Milers Conquer Challenging Course in Rochester, Part II-Women’s Age Division and All Team Contests

 June 7, 2022. The first report covered everything from new American Records to Overall Champions to Age Grading and Men’s Division Championships. As noted in that report it was a sultry evening in Rochester NY but the forecasted showers held off until later in the evening; conditions for fast milers were just fine, thank you! But there was lots of excitement! First are the details on thrilling Women’s Division Championships and then the highy competitive team races!

AGE DIVISION   

WOMEN

40-44 Jennifer Bigham, Melissa Johnson-White and Allison Carr took 1-5-7 in the Overall contest and went 1-2-3 in this division. Bigham scored her second Overall win of the season, adding this to her Half Marathon win in Syracuse. Johnson-White, from Fairport NY, a suburb of Rochester represented her home city well. 

Melissa Johnson-White captures 2nd place in 40-44 in her hometown of Rochester at the 2022 USATF 1 Mile Road Championships Photo Credit: Pam Fales. All photos in this article received a final crop by the author.

 Carr improved considerably on the 5:51 she ran on April 10th in the Greater Buffalo Track Club's 1 Mile Run.

Jennifer Bigham 5:06.    Melissa Johnson-White 5:28 Allison Carr 5:36

45-49 Amy Armstrong and Sara Girotto went 3-5 in the Overall contest and 1-2 in this division. I had difficulty finding results for Armstrong before the race. Now, after the fact, I see that she had, most likely, a 19:20 5K in February and an 18:42 5K in early April, both at altitude, suggesting the potential for a strong mile effort. A 19:00 5 Km effort is age grade equivalent to a 5:26 Mile. She ran a good deal faster than that, partially due to the altitude effect and the rest, perhaps to adrenaline, and running as part of a fast field. Girotto has been running impressively since Masters LDR National Championships started up last September, after the Covid-induced hiatus. Girotto took 2nd in the Age Division at the 12 Km Championships and followed that with a division win in Atlanta, clocking 19:05 for 5 Km. She ran to her potential here.  

Heather Patterson claims third in the 45-49 division at the 2022 USATF 1 Mile Road Championships Photo Credit: Pam Fales

 

Not able to keep pace with Armstrong, she ran her own race and finished well ahead of the rest of the division field. A hundred meters back, Heather Patterson was able to pull away from Jo Rupp to claim third by 5 seconds in 5:55.

Amy Armstrong 5:13     Sara Girotto 5:27     Heather Patterson 5:55

50-54 Abby Dean has been a top Masters runner for the past decade. She ran in the top 5 for much of the race and finished 6th overall. She won the 50-54 division with room to spare. Her 5:33 left her more than 20 meters clear of the field. It was a total battle for the other two podium positions. Hortencia Aliaga, Mary King, and Amy McMahon came in with strong credentials. Aliaga won the 45-49 division at the 12 Km Championships last September, and ran a 19:30 5K on New Year's Day. King ran a 5:45 in the Millet Mile in Plano TX last June. McMahon, formerly Fakterowitz, turned in a 6:04 at the Greater Buffalo TC Mile in April. King was able to separate herself from the others, claiming 2nd in a mad dash to the finish. Her time of 5:40 gave her a 5 meter gap on Aliaga who followed her across the finish line in 3rd. 

Hortencia Aliaga crossed the finish line just ahead of Amy McMahon to claim third in the 50-54 division at the 2022 USATF 1 Mile Road Championships Photo Credit: Pam Fales

 

One second back was McMahon, who was just off the podium in 4th but had the satisfaction of knowing she had run 24 seconds faster than in Buffalo 6 weeks earlier..

Abby Dean 5:33     Mary King 5:40     Hortencia Aliaga 5:42

55-59 Michelle Rohl and Lisa Veneziano took 1-2 in Age Grading overall. Naturally they went 1-2 in this division, cementing their position as two of the very top 55-59 year old LDR specialists in the nation.  Suzanne La Burt, an outstanding runner in her own right, had to settle for 3rd in 5:58.  

Suzanne La Burt claims third in the highly competitive 55-59 division at the 2022 USATF 1 Mile Road Championships Photo Credit: Pam Fales

 

Kris Huff, the anchor of Atlanta’s 50+ team, came next in 6:06. Laura DeLea, coming back from challenges that interrupted her training, ran well, as expected. Taking 5th in a national championship and helping her team to a top finish is a fine outcome.

Michelle Rohl 5:12     Lisa Veneziano 5:40     Suzanne La Burt 5:58

60-64 Lorraine Jasper has been unstoppable this season at distances 10 Km and below. Her Greater Philadelphia teammate, Doreen McCoubrie, is also running well, but Jasper was on fire in the Mile, running faster than the American Record! McCoubrie, who was almost 30 meters behind Jasper, had an even bigger gap on the third place finisher. Mary Cass who finished 2nd at the USATF Masters 5 Km Championships in Boston last fall, and ran 21:36 in Atlanta, was able to separate from her Liberty AC teammate, Lauren Leslie, who finished 9 seconds behind her at Atlanta. 

Mary Cass lands her spot on the 60-64 podium at the 2022 USATF 1 Mile Road Championships Photo Credit: Pam Fales
 

Leslie claimed 4th in 6:23, as she held off a strong finishing kick from Mary Swan, a second back.

Lorraine Jasper 5:43     Doreen McCoubrie 5:50     Mary Cass 6:17

65-69 Kitty Musante came up from Florida in late February to take the 65-69 honors at the 5 Km Masters National Championships in 22:20, suggesting she should be able to run well under 7:00 for a mile. One of her rivals in the Mile Run, Susan Stirrat, ran 26:09 in that race and ran 7:35 at the Fifth Avenue Mile in NYC last September. Alda Cossi finished 3rd in Atlanta with a 24:55, and ran 7:13 to win the 65-69 division at the Masters Indoor Championships. Everyone ran well. Musante took the win in 6:31, finishing a good hundred meters ahead of the division field. 

Kitty Musante strides to the 65-69 Division Win at the 2022 USATF 1 Mile Road Championships Photo Credit: Pam Fales

Cossi, in turn, had almost as much of a gap over Stirrat who finished 3rd. Helene Myers finished 4th in 11:51.

Kitty Musante 6:31     Alda Cossi 7:07     Susan Stirrat 7:32 

70-74 Jeannie Rice, the American 70-74 Record Holder for the Mile and every distance between the Half Marathon and the Marathon, entered as a strong favorite. This is her last year in the 70-74 division and the 2019 USATF Masters Athlete of the Year wants, no doubt. to go out on top! Corinne Steinbach would give her a real challenge if anyone can. Steinbach won the Eastern Regional Indoor Mile this year with a 6:58 and matched it with a 6:29 1500 Meter Run at the Masters Indoor National Championships; that converts to a 6:59 Mile. The race for third would be between Norma 'Nonie' Hudnall, and Barbara Sauer. It promised to be a dandy; Hudnall had run her 5K's in the 27:20 to 29:30 range, suggesting a mile time in the low to mid-8 minute range should be within her grasp. Hudnall's Indoor Mile time was 8:32 but Masters National Championship track times can be deceptive as athletes often run multiple events. The time can be slow, either because an earlier race took some pep out of the athlete's step, or because the athlete is saving something for a later race. The 5k equivalent time may have been a better indicator. Sauer, for her part, had run a series of 5K's in a narrower range from low to mid-27's. She also ran 8:06 at the Greater Buffalo Track Club's (Road) Mile Run. Rice had no trouble; she took it out hard and Steinbach could not stay with her. Rice crossed the finish line in 6:50 with a gap of over 80 meters. Steinbach outdistanced all others, claiming 2nd in 7:14. 

Coreen Steinbach claims 2nd in the 70-74 Division at the 2022 USATF 1 Mile Road Championships Photo Credit: Pam Fales
 

In a much tighter race, Hudnall was able to kick away from Sauer to take the final podium spot in 8:01; Sauer was just two seconds back in 4th!

Jeannie Rice 6:50     Corinne Steinbach 7:14     Norma Hudnall 8:01

75-79 Catherine Radle took the 75-79 5 Km Championship at Atlanta in 36:09, 39 seconds ahead of her Atlanta TC teammate, Andrea McCarter.  

Catherine Radle takes 2nd place in the 75-79 Division at the 2022 USATF 1 Mile Road Championships Photo Credit: Pam Fales

 

The shorter distance seemed to work for McCarter, who was able to edge Radle by 5 seconds for the win! 

Andrea McCarter 10:52      Catherine Radle 10:57

80-84 No entries

85-89 As reported in the first recap posted last week Edna Hyer notched her third victory of the year and

Edna Hyer crosses the finish line, claiming a new American Record and claiming first place in the 85-89 Division at the 2022 USATF 1 Mile Road Championships Photo Credit: Pam Fales

 

established a new American 85-89 Record of 12:07!

Edna Hyer 12:07   

TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS  Gun Time; all times rounded up to next full second.

MEN  40+ The Garden State Track Club had not made much noise yet this year in this division. Just inside the top ten at Club Cross, Garden State next competed in the 10 Km Championships at Dedham, landing top five. They were looking to move up. The Genesee Valley Harriers came in with just an 8th place finish at Dedham. The Checkers AC were outside the top 15 at Club Cross but roared back at Syracuse with a 3rd place finish. All three were looking to move up in the standings with this Road Mile competition. They would have to get past a newcomer to Masters LDR National Championships, the Shadow Project Track Club out of the Potomac Valley Association. Kevin Shirk and Chuck Schneekloth got Garden State off to a good start, finishing 1st and 3rd with 4:31 and 4:41. Jared Herter finished between them at 4:35 to get GVH on the board. There were a few seconds of anticipation and then a bunch came rocketing across, Mark Walchinsky gave Shadow Project their first score at 4:47; Christopher Hernandez added his 4:48 to Herter's 4:35 for GVH; and James Coates clocked 4:50 for Shadow Project. When Shawn Wiliams crossed the line at 4:52, that gave GSTC three runners in and a total of 14:04. GVH had 2 runners in and a total of 9:33, with Shadow Project at 9:37 with 2. Neither could match GSTC; Garden State had the win! Then Scott Page got Checkers on the scoreboard with 4:53. Marco Cardoso and Jason Timochko showed Garden State's depth by taking the next two spots at 5:04 and 5:14. A stride behind Timochko came Mark Neff dropping down from 60+ to add a vital score to Shadow Project's total and give them a narrow edge over GVH for 2nd place. Prem Kumar provided GVH their 3rd scorer, allowing them to take third ahead of Checkers. Checkers made it tough on GVH as their 2nd and 3rd runners, Joe Silliman and Matthew Dore came in ahead of Kumar, but Kumar's time was good enough to give GVH the edge they needed. Checkers took 4th with a cumulative time just 25 seconds slower than GVHs.

Garden State Track Club 14:04 4:41.3 avg.      Shadow Project Track Club 14:51 4:57     Genesee Valley Harriers 15:18 5:06

50+ Ten teams were contesting this division championship! The Greater Springfield Harriers have been the 'Big Dog's' of this division for the last few years. Injuries and wavering commitments have hampered them lately and the Garden State Track Club has been coming on strong. This year, GSTC took 2nd to West Valley at Club Cross and took the Division win at Syracuse and Dedham. The Atlanta Track Club, Central Mass Stiders,and Genesee Valley Harriers would fight them al the way. The established veteran, Nat Larson 59, battled the newcomer, Terrance Armstrong 50, for top honors. In the end they came away with the same time for their teams, Greater Springfield and Garden State, respectively. Six seconds later, Mark Andrews  clocked 4:56 for GVH's first score. GSTC's hopes rose with the arrival of Mark Segaloff 9 seconds later, putting GSTC in the lead. Tim Van Orden got the Central Mass Striders started with a 5:07, three seconds ahead of Greater Springfield's Alejandro Heuck. GSTC had a 5 second edge with two runners scored for each team. Next came CMS's Scott Grandfield, a stride ahead of Atlanta's Chip Owens, although both were credited with a 5:11. That put CMS in 3rd, 18 seconds behind Greater Springfield. Four seconds later it was Francis Burdett digging deep to get close enough to Atlanta's Mike Strickland to get the same 5:15 time. Burdett closed off Greater Springfield with a total of 15:15. They would take the win unless GSTC could get a runner finishing in the next 5 seconds. Chip Hawkins was right behind Burdett, clocking 5:16 to close Atlanta off at 15:42. Four seconds later it was Dave Dunham closing out CMS's scoring at 15:38. They had edged Atlanta by 4 seconds. 

Alejandro Heuck right and Chip Owens left fly to the Finish Line giving their all for team glory for Greater Springfield and Atlanta respectively at the 2022 USATF 1 Mile Road Championships Photo Credit: Pam Fales
 

But until GSTC's third runner came in, it was uncertain if it was for 2nd and 3rd or 3rd and 4th. Four seconds later John Hogan scored for Garden State, closing them off at 55:19. Despite his best effort, GSTC finished 4 seconds back from Greater Springfield in 2nd, but 19 seconds ahead of CMS. GSTC would take the 90 Grand Prix points for 2nd place! Mike Nier and Dale Flanders closed things off for GVH at 5:38 and 5:40. They would normally both be faster. Nier is coming back from a hamstring injury. Flanders may also have had some issues affecting his training. Venelin Tchamov and Wayne Crandall also competed for GVH. Atlanta's 15:42 total left them in 4th, with GVH 5th in 16:14. Checkers AC John McMahon, James Ciliberto, John Duffy was 5 seconds back in 6th, followed by Shore AC 16:43 Jeff Conston, Christopher Rinaldi, Scott Linnell; Greater Philadelphia TC 18:09 Matthew Cutrona, Tim Conheady, Michael Rohl; GVH-B Stephehn Ruchil, Anthony Crilly, Keith Scott; and Potomac Valley Track Club 21:29 Craig Chasse, Eugene Myers, John Elliott.

Greater Springfield Harriers 15:15 5:05 avg.     Garden State Track Club 15:19 5:06.3     Central Mass Striders 15:38 5:12.7

60+ Six teams from 4 different Clubs contested this division. 'A' teams from the Atlanta Track Club, Colonial Road Runners, Genesee Valley Harriers and Shore Athletic Club contested for the podium; the 'B' teams of GVH and Shore demonstrated the depth of those clubs. It was all Joe Mora could do to get past Rick Lee and Henry Notaro along Broad Street and up to the 'top of the bridge' finish line. He did get past them and logged the first score for GVH at 5:05. But Lee was only one second back and Notaro three, giving Shore AC the early edge. Atlanta was heard from next with Casey Hannan and Ken Youngers crossing the line within a second of each other at 5:29 and 5:30. Robert Whitaker got Colonial on the board with a 5:35. But before Whitaker's teammate, Stephen Chantry could add his 5:41 to their score, Michael Salamone zipped across the line in 5:36 to close off Shore's scoring and give them the win! A stride behind Chantry, but nailing the same 5:41 time was GVH's John Van Kerkhove. Four seconds later, his GVH teammate, Tim Riccardi, added his 5:45 time to Van Kerkhove's and Mora's; that gave them a total of 16:31 and second place. A few seconds later Scott Lucking closed off scoring for Atlanta while clocking the same 5:48 as Shore's Kevin Dollard. Lucking's contribution assured Atlanta of a place on the 60+ Team podium at 16:47.  

Scott Lucking left and Kevin Dollard sprinting all-out for the finish line and valuable seconds for their teams, Atllanta and Shore, respectively at the 2022 USATF 1 Mile Road Championships Photo Credit: Pam Fales

 

Casey Carlstrom 5:51 and Mark Rybinski 6:14 also competed for GVH 'A' to insure a good team score and Grand Prix points! Richard Grant's 6:29 completed the scoring for Colonial, giving them 4th place on 17:45. GVH's 'B' squad won the Battle of the 'B's, beating Shore AC's 'B' team by 53 seconds: GVH B 20:32 Rory Gumina, Tim McMullen, Gene Jensen ; Shore AC B 21:25 Harold Leddy, Harry Pino, Reno Stirrat.

Shore Athletic Club 15:50 5:16.7 avg.      Genesee Valley Harriers 16:31 5:30.3     Atlanta Track Club 16:47 5:35.7

70+ Five teams were contesting the division. The Atlanta Track Club, the Boulder Road Runners, and the Syracuse Track Club have been leading the way lately. Boulder has wins at the 5K and 10 Mile, Syracuse at the Half Marathon, and Atlanta at the most recent event, the 10K in Dedham. Jerry Learned got things started by coming across the finish line 1st in the 70+ Team competition, with a sterling 6:06, holding off Boulder's Doug Bell by 2 seconds! James Foster gave Syracuse their first score in 6:16. Twenty seconds later Atlanta's Dave Glass held off GVH's Jim May 6:37 to 6:38. That put Atlanta in the driver's seat, but the edge did not last long. 

Dave Glass holds off Jim May to help his Atlanta Track Club to victory in the 70+ Division at the 2022 USATF 1 Mile Road Championships Photo Credit: Pam Fales

 

Boulder got their 2nd score ten seconds later when Rick Katz crossed at 6:48. Boulder also had two runners in and just 13 seconds more time on their clock. Spider Rossiter put Shore on the board with a 6:50. Five seconds later Keith Yeats turned in GVH's 2nd score at 7:05, a step ahead, but with the same time as Boulder's John Roeske. Roeske's finish was significant because it gave Boulder three runners in and a cumulative time of 20:01. Atlanta had 2 runners in and a cumulative time of 12:43. They needed their 3rd runner, who was out on the course, to cross the line before the clock showed 7:18. It was going to be close! After Tim Leonard gave Syracuse their 2nd scoring runner at 7:08 and Jim Glinsky gave GVH their 3rd score and a cumulative total of 20:54, Allen Joyce rescued Atlanta with the 7:17 they needed for the win! One second slower and it would have gone to a tie-breaker (that Boulder would have won-fastest #3 runner). That was the closest team contest of the day! Glinsky closed off GVH's scoring so the clock was now ticking for Syracuse. They needed their 3rd runner, still out on the course, to finish in 7:29 or less to land on the podium and bump GVH off. Douglas Wood was up to the task, clocking 7:15 for a total of 20:39; they beat GVH by 14 seconds. Przemek Nowicki clocked 7:24 to give Shore their 2nd score, before Liam Finnigan 7:54 and Roger Salmons 7:55 provided insurance for GVH should they have needed it. James Miner 8:08 did the same for Syracuse before Harold Nolan completed Shore's score with an 8:07 for a 22:21 cumulative time. Atlanta took home their 2nd straight win!

Atlanta Track Club 20:00 6:40 avg.     Boulder Road Runners 20:01 6:40.3     Syracuse Track Club 20:39 6:53

80+ Right now, the Atlanta Track Club is the only 80+ team that travels to road races. They defended their home turf in Atlanta at the 5K, winning the title, and here they were again in Rochester NY to challenge all comers! Except that no one else came, so they took the win in a cakewalk. Adrian Craven 10:45, Andrew Sherwood 10:50, and Sid Davis 14:29 'tripped the light fantastic' on the main roads of Rochester, waltzing to a well-earned victory!

 Atlanta Track Club 36:04 12:02 avg. 

WOMEN

 40+ The Genesee Valley Harriers were defending the Rochester home roads against regional rivals out of Buffalo NY, the Checkers AC and the Greater Buffalo Track Club. The main battle was between GVH and Checkers. Greater Buffalo, with only one team member under 50 and others 58, 62 and 74, were quite happy to run their own race and enjoy a podium finish. Although, to be frank, the Checkers team consisted entirely of runners in their 50's. Perhaps they felt they could finish higher in the 40+ than in the ultra-competitive 50+ division? In any case, Amy McMahon, formerly Fakterowitz, took 1st in the competition at 5:43 for Checkers. Twelve seconds later, Heather Patterson answered for GVH with a 5:55. Fifty seconds later, Sandra Gregorich and Murphee Hayes arrived within a second of each other at 6:45 and 6:46 to pretty much wrap things up for GVH. Checkers could only win if they had two runners within 6 seconds of Hayes. Judy Arlington finished 9 seconds later. Even though Joann O'Loughlin was only 17 seconds behind Arlington, they could not accomplish the near impossible task. GVH had the win at 19:26, 24 seconds ahead of the Checkers cumulative total of 19:50. Greater Buffalo, as noted, enjoyed scoring runs from a 62 year-old, a 49 year-old and a 74 year-old, with Susan John 7:40, Yang Qu 7:59, and Barbara Sauer 8:03 for 23:42 and third place. Christine Klein finished 8 seconds later for GBTC. If the goal is to come home with the highest possible finish from this Championship, Checkers had the right strategy. They got Silver Medals in the 40+ division but would not have finished that high in the 50+ division.

Genesee Valley Harriers 19:26 6:28.7 avg.     Checkers AC 19:50 6:36.7     Greater Buffalo Track Club 23:42 7:54

50+ This tends to be the most competitive division. Four teams contested the Championship. All but one had a lower cumulative time than the fastest 40+ team. Recent history had the Shore Athletic Club winning the 10K and Half Marathon Championships and finishing 3rd in the 5K. The Greater Philadelphia Track Club took the 5 Km crown but did not contest the HM, 10 Miler, or 10 Km. The Atlanta Track Club had a 4th at the 5 km, but had not contested the other Road championships. The Garden State Track Club finished 3rd at Club Cross but had not entered any of the Road championships this year. Greater Philadelphia got off to a great start with Michelle Rohl and Abby Dean going 1-2 in 5:12 and 5:33. Not only did they have the top two finishers, their combined time of 10:45 would give them a huge lead over any other team, once the others had two scoring runners finished. Garden State's Hortencia Aliaga zipped across the line 9 seconds after Dean to put GSTC on the board. Her teammate, Kimberly Aspholm, edged Shore AC's Suzanne La Burt by a single second, 5:57 to 5:58. Aspholm's score combined with Aliaga's gave GSTC a two runner cumulative score of 11:39. They were almost a minute behind Greater Philadelphia but they were ahead of everyone else! La Burt's 5:58 put Shore on the board and nine seconds later, Kris Huff put Atlanta on the board with her 6:07. Alexandra Marzulla gave Shore their 2nd runner to finish. Her 6:09 combined with La Burt's time to give Shore a two-runner cumulative time of 12:07, over a minute behind Greater Philadelphia but less than half a minute back from GSTC. The next runner in was Garden State's Kathleen Beebe; she made GSTC the first team to have a complete scoring unit of three and a cumulative time of 17:54. That guaranteed GSTC at least a 2nd place. The only team that could still beat them was Greater Philadelphia and the clock was ticking. The pressure on the third runner out on the course for Greater Philadelphia was not high yet with 54 seconds to play with, but that would shrink quickly. Four seconds after Beebe completed GSTC's scoring, Laura DeLea completed the scoring for Shore and put them, temporarily, into 2nd. When 6:30 went by without a runner from GPTC, they had just 39 seconds to finish things off. Anabelle Broadbbent and Betsy Stewart took care of business for GPTC, finishing in 6:43 and 6:46. Broadbent's 6:43 gave GPTC a cumulative total time of 17:28 and the win! Had Broadbent faltered in any way, Stewart's time would also have been fast enough for the win. It is nice for GPTC to have that kind of depth! That sorted the podium with Greater Philadelphia, Garden State and Shore going 1-2-3. Fourteen seconds after Stewart, Katharine Serrano gave Atlanta their 2nd scoring runner at 7:00. Maria Hybinette came across the line at 7:11 to give Atlanta a final cumulative total of 20:18. Like Greater Philadel[hia, their 4th runner was just a few seconds back; Christina Liao finished at 7:16.

Greater Philadelphia Track Club 17:28 5:49.3 avg.     Garden State Track Club 17:54 5:58     Shore Athletic Club 18:26 6:08.7

60+ Three teams were contesting the 60+ division. The Greater Philadelphia Track Club has won every event they have entered this year. There was no reason to think they would falter. They were running their top 3 of Lorraine Jasper, Doreen McCoubrie, and Mary Swan; they had Cheryl Bellaire, a top track athlete and a very solid performer at XC and on the roads, along for extra insurance. The Liberty Athletic Club, the oldest Women's running club in the USA, has a very strong team; they finished 3rd at the 5 Km Championships and 2nd at the 10 Km Championships. But they cannot quite match up with GPTC's star power. Checkers Athletic Club essentially became the home team when GVH did not enter a team in this division. But they had no ilusions; they would compete hard and run their best but it would take a major meltdown on the part of the other two teams for them to rise above third. But landing on the podium at a National Championships is a performance that very few teams can aspire to, much less attain! Everything went according to expectation, except that Jasper not only won the team race, her 5:43 was under the current American Record. Her teammate, McCoubrie, was only 7 seconds behind her. Their two-runner total of 11:33 made it almost impossible to imagine anyone would beat them. But Liberty gave it a terrific effort. Their top two runners scored next. Mary Cass clocked 6:17 to put Liberty on the board before GPTC had a complete team score. Six seconds later, her teammate, Lauren Leslie edged GPTC's Mary Swan by a single second, 6:23 to 6:24. Swan's 6:24 completed the scoring for GPTC giving them an unbeatable cumulative score of 17:57! Fourteen seconds later, Victoria Bok closed off Liberty's scoring with a 6:38 for a cumulative total of 19:18. Cheryl Bellaire finished next for GPTC in 6:54. She was the perfect insurance runner. Had any one of the first three, even Jasper, run into problems. Bellaire's time would have been sufficient for GPTC to still win the division. Alda Cossi performed the same role for Liberty; had any of their first three faltered, Cossi would have provided the time to keep them in 2nd place! Checkers AC had Colleen Newman 7:23 leading the way, followed by Ann Moore 8:36 and Patricia Baker 10:17. Their cumulative total of 26:16 put them on the podium in third.

Greater Philadelphia Track Club 17:57 5:59 avg.     Liberty Athletic Club 19:18 6:26     Checkers Athletic Club 26:16 8:45.3

70+ Oregon's Team Red Lizard has travled to Club Cross in Tallahassee, to San Diego for XC Nationals, and to Sacramento for the 10 Mile Championships. So far they have not made a cross country trip for a road championship. That left the field open for the other 70+ team that travels, the Atlanta Track Club. This was their first trip out of their region and they were unoppposed. They went home with the win and the 100 Grand Prix points that go with it! Norma 'Nonie' Hudnall 8:01 led the way, followed by Andrea McCarter 10:52 and Catherine Radle 10:57. 

Atlanta Track Club 29:50 9:56.7 avg.    

 ***************************************************************

A special tip of the hat to Reno Stirrat who ran despite a hamstring injury that should have kept him off the roads. But then Shore's 60+ B team would not have been complete. That is dedication from a runner who is usually a key player on the 'A' team. I was also told that Liam Finnigan ran despite injury; I am sure there were many others I did not hear of, both Men and Women. That kind of team dedication is remarkable, and a part of what makes Masters LDR so special!

 

Some Mid-Race Action Shots -- Courtesy of milebymilephoto:

Women's Race 

From Right: Amy Armstrong, Abby Dean, and Allison Carr

From Right: Jennifer Bigham, Michelle Rohl, Amy Armstrong, Abby Dean and the field

From Left: Sandra Gregorich, Anabelle Broadbent, and Mary Swan

From Left: Joann O'Loughlin, Judy Arlington, and Alda Cossi

From Left: Alexandra Marzulla, Jo Rupp, and Kris Huff

From Left: Murphee Hayes, Laura DeLea, and Lauren Leslie

Men's Race:

Liam Finnigan and unidentified competitor

From Left: Dale Flanders#142, Michael Salamone background #20_ showing, Casey Hannan, Dave Dunham #138, and Michael Strickland #222

From Right: Reno Stirrat, Gene Jensen, and unidentified competitor

From Right: Jerry Snider #218, Jaret Herter, Terrence Armtrong sunglasses, just visible behind Herter, Matthew DiPretore #134and Chuck Schneekloth #210

From Left: Steven Segaloff #112, Rick Lee just visible behind Segaloff, Alejandro Heuck #158, Jason Timochko, Mike Nier #186, Craig McAllister #179, and Francis Burdett

From Left: Prem Kumar#16_ showing, Scott Siriano, Mark Andrews, Jason Timochko just visible behind Andrews, Steven Segaloff just visible ahead and to right of Timochko, John Borthwick #112, and Craig Chasse

From Left: Jason Timochko #224, Mike Nier, Marco Cardoso#117, Francis Burdett, Dale Flanders sunglasses just visible behind Burdett, Kevin Ostenberg front and right of Flanders, and Tim Van Orden edge of photo

 

Kudos to the Genesee Valley Harriers for putting on their first of a three-year series of Road Mile Championships. If this first outing was any indication, the next two years in Rochester will be superb! 

 


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