Open Men Report
CIM 2001 -- HELL ON EARTH

Byline Daniel Shore

People usually describe hell as unbearably hot with little gremlins pulling flesh from bone, gouging eyes, etc., etc. -- the usual. I now know that hell is far worse -- a windy, wet, cold place where every stitch of clothing rubs against one's skin until it glows red and raw for hours on end. A place where fingers refuse to bend and 5:50 pace feels like 4:50. This was CIM (as Brian Mcguire so aptly put it "Could Involve Moisture").

Most of us tackling the marathon this year held out hope that the weather might not be as bad as forecasts were predicting. Maybe we'd run during a lull between systems, perhaps we'd just get a light rain, maybe it would be a bit breezy, but hey, at least it will be cool. Instead, we got all of the above and more -- driving rain, 30mph winds, and chilly 40 degree temperatures. At 7:00 am, standing at the start in heavy wind and rain, most of us realized that our time goals were beyond reach and simply finishing would be a big accomplishment. Pack running was the name of the game. If you were lucky enough to get into a good pack, the race became barely manageable. If not, you suffered the fate of early race leader Janko Bensa, who, along with many others, ended his day at approximately 20 miles with a case of hypothermia.

The Open Men finished admirably, but were no match for adidas's incredible 8-9-10 finish and WVTC's 5-11-14 finish. Dan Shore led the team with a final 10K charge finishing in 2:32:53, good for 13th place overall and 6th place in the PA (once again missing my sub-2:30 goal -- it's becoming my great white whale!). Unofficially, the race secured Dan an 8th place finish in the Long Grand Prix year-end standings. Jerad Crave, running a smart race and a brilliant debut, finished second for the team in 2:38:32 (27th overall, 12th or 13th PA). Jerad was followed by Matt Regan (2:57:27, 82nd), Mike "Is that REALLY you?" Regan (2:59:29, 92nd), Samuel Harvell (3:05:26, 126th), Dan Rhodes (3:07:13, 135th), and Manny Berston (3:24:07, 320th).  Congratulations to everyone for simply finishing the race! As always, Tyler apologizes for anyone I've missed.

It looks as though we finished the day third out of three full teams. Still, it earns us another $100 in the overflowing x-point kitty. One more race this weekend (Xmas Relays) and the year is OVER! Be sure to renew your PA and Club memberships now so you can start a new year at Cal 10 on January 13.
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Women, byline Susan Beck

With their ranks pared to four (due to sundry illnesses and injuries), the Hoys-Excelsior women's team lined up on a dark and stormy morning in Folsom on Sunday as Mother Nature played a cruel joke. The vicious wind and rain storm that had swept through Sacramento during the early morning briefly subsided, only to start up again 5 minutes before race time. For the rest of the 26.2 miles, the women battled driving rain and gale-force winds.  Considering the conditions, and the fact that all were running their first
marathons, the team did great. Kathryn Krieger had a fabulous race, finishing in 2:49:39, the seventh woman overall and the second PA finisher. Susan Beck crossed the line in 3:36:25, despite being struck with a killer side stitch at mile 21. (Anyone know a cure or prevention?) And Pat Reilly ran a very smart race, achieving her goal of a sub-4 hour
time, finishing in 3:58:51. Unfortunately Shelley Pierson was a victim of the bad weather; near hypothermia and hip flexors that didn't caused her to drop out in the final miles.

I'm sure this all sounds like loads of fun, so make sure you mark your calendars for December 1, 2002 -- next year's race. The weather can't be any worse.
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Old'uns Report

The masters pulled off another victory. Jesus Garcia, in his masters marathon debut, ran a sterling 2:39:20, good enough for 2d place master (besting Aggie master standout Dennis Rinde in the process) and a good payday. Jesus was followed by Tim O'Rourke (2:46:38, 4th master). Lloyd Stephenson rounded out the masters team in 2:54:31 (8th), with Peter Hsia (3:15:44) providing much needed insurance.

The seniors seem to have finished 2d to Tamalpa. Don Paul led the crew in 2:59:07 (3rd? senior). Jim Gorman followed in 3:10:10 (4th? senior), with Kenny Warde (3:31:07)  rounding out the team.

Warde First in Age Group at Silicon Valley

Congratulations to Kenny Warde on his age group win at the Silicon Valley Marathon. Yes, that's the same Kenny Warde who doubled back and saved the senior team at CIM. And thanks to Bob Darling for informing me of this.

__________________

Individual Grand Prix Ends

CIM marked the end of the individual grand prix. Final standings won't be out until the end of the week, but we've been able to piece much of it together. In the long circuit, Kathryn Krieger ended up 3rd woman--congratulations! This should earn KK around $280. Jen Major seems to have ended up 8th, which should earn Jen $50. Shelly Pierson appears to be closely following Jen in 12th place. All three women win free entries
next year.

For the men, Dan Shore seems to be in 8th--earning him the same $50 and free entries Jen should have. Brian Richter appears to be right behind Dan in 9th, which should earn Brian $45 and free entries. Chris Lundstrom, off doing New York and stuff during the multi-point races of Fall, still finished 11th on the strength of his Cal 10 3rd and Houlihan's victory, earning him free entries next year as well. Sounds like a pretty darn good reason to come back out of the cold! Finally, Craig Steinmaus, wisely avoiding CIM in  anticipation of His Big Day, still seems to have finished in 20th, just missing free entries.

For the old'uns, Lloyd Stephenson finished 2d master ($300), with Tim O'Rourke right behind him in 3rd ($150). On the strength of just three races, Jesus Garcia seems to have cracked the top 20, but not enough to break into the top 10 and earn free entries. Tim Geraghty should also finish in the top 20. Don Paul won the senior competition ($187.50), with Jim Gorman apparently finishing 5th (around $25). Both win free entries. Les Ong seems to have finished in 7th or 8th.

On the team front, there's one race left, but few divisions are still up for grabs. The one exception is the open women. We won't know until later in the week if we maintained our third place standing on Sunday. The open men are sitting squarely in third ($187.50), over thirty points behind second and at least forty points ahead of fourth, with only a 10-point
race remaining. The master men are in first by at least 15 points, so they've clinched first ($375). The senior men seem to have a three point lead going into the final race, so, with the Drop One rule, also appear to have clinched a grand prix victory ($187.50).

BTW, all dollar figures are minimums; they may increase by as much as 1/3 depending on the PA budget.

RUN TO THE FARSIDE - 11/25/01

Richter Wins Far Side 10

Brian Richter won the 10K at the Far Side Sunday, running 32:24 to beat second place Eric Bohn of Empire by a few seconds. This earned Brian a Gary Larson-signed poster and a free pair of SW Airlines tickets! Charlie Thompson finished first 50+ in the 10, running 36:28. Also running the 10 were Raymundo Cruz (35:03, 9th) and Mike Regan (3:30, 13th).

In the 5, Chris Phipps led the team in 16:09 (7th), followed by Cesar Guillen in a PR 16:23 (9th), Tim Wallen (16:27, 11th), Craig Steinmaus (16:44, 13th), and Dan Mancini (16:53, 17th). Kim Lilot won the senior title in 17:54, followed by Michael Gama in 18:08 (3rd 40-49), John Casey in 18:12 (42d), and Samuel Harvell in 18:31 (48th). Phipps was delighted by the fact that his 10K time either of the past two years, in which he hadn't placed better than 5th, would have earned him 3rd and a trip to the awards stand this year. To add insult to injury, he was second in the caveman division--carrot next year, Chris?

For the women, it was PRs all around. Jen Major PRed in the 5, running 18:30 for 4th place. Club friend Teresa McWalters ran what I believe was a PR in 19:02, 7th place. Lee D'Alessandro ran a PR 19:17 for 10th place, 2d in her age division. Finally, Patti Bershers ran 41:42 in the 10, good enough for 21st place and a 35-second PR.

Great job, everyone . . . but wasn't this supposed to be a rest week?

THANKSGIVING DAY RACE 10K - 11/22/01

Krieger Wins 92d Annual Thanksgiving Day Race

Kathryn Krieger, on a short vacation in Cincinnati and just 10 days before CIM, won the 92d annual Thanksgiving Day Race 10K. Kathryn ran 35:53 to apparently shock local star and multiple-time winner Jill Tranter, who finished just behind KK in 35:55. From what I'm told, Kathryn's head, RLX beanie prominent, adorned the front of the Cincinnati sports page the next day, and she received TV coverage as well!

>From the online version of the newspaper (paper headline was "Krieger Runs and Stuns"):

Newcomer wins women's race Krieger surprises Tranter

By John Fay, The Cincinnati Enquirer

First, Jill Tranter thought she had the Thanksgiving Day Race won. Then she thought she had been cheated. Finally, she decided she just had been beaten.

Kathrine Krieger clearly finished just ahead of Tranter. But Tranter was unaware that another female was even close to her. Because of confusion over the course -- about 25 runners took a wrong turn, adding about a half-mile to their run -- Tranter thought Krieger may have accidently taken a shortcut.

"I never saw her until the very end," Tranter said. "I don't know what happened."

It turns out the course error didn't affect the women's finish. Tranter, who had won the previous two Thanksgiving Day Races, simply was unaware that Krieger was close. When Krieger passed her, Tranter was caught off guard and didn't respond.

"It's my fault," Tranter said.

It's not surprising that Tranter didn't know Krieger was going to be a challenger. This was Krieger's first Thanksgiving Day Race -- and her first time in Cincinnati.

Krieger lives in San Francisco. She came to Cincinnati to visit the family of her boyfriend, Daniel Shore.

She didn't expect to win.

"This is the biggest race I've ever been in," she said. "I'm training for my first marathon, so I wasn't expecting to run very fast today. I had steak and wine for dinner last night."

She was aware that Tranter was ahead of her.

"I started out at a 5:50 pace," she said. "I kept that up the whole way. I was planning on running 6:10. But I felt pretty good."

She saw Tranter around the 4-mile mark and caught her just before the finish.

"I turned the corner and there was the finish," Krieger said. "I had a kick today. I usually don't have a very good kick."

Must have been the steak and wine. "Yeah, I might have that before my marathon," Krieger said.

You can find out more about the race at www.thanksgivingdayrace.com.

Cross-Country Grand Prix Results

Though there are a couple of appeals pending, the tentative final cross-country grand prix standings have been released.

Leading the team's charge were Kathryn Krieger and Monal Chokshi. Kathryn finished third ($200) in the open women's grand prix, just one-half! point behind second place team friend Michelle Hannaford. All this during her marathon training! Monal finished fifth ($100) in the grand prix, just six points behind 4th on the strength of just 4 of the 6 races that can be scored. Kathryn & Monal also earned free entries for next year's grand prix. Jen Major and Shelly Pierson finished high as well, in 14th and 20th places, respectively.

Competition on the men's side was much stiffer this year than last. Chris Phipps was our top finisher, tied for 23rd place. Brian Richter came right behind Chris in 25th. Also on the board were Pete Vicencio (31st), David Volk (40th), Craig Steinmaus (42d), Dan Shore (47th), Jim Sweeney (55th), and Ernie Stanton (60th).

For master's men, Hans Gouwens led us in 7th place, with Tyler Abbott rearing his I mean showing up at 26th. Kim Lilot won the senior men division for the second year in a row! Charlie Thompson finished 5th in the seniors. Finally, in women's masters, Kim Fanady finished 29th, Susan Beck 44th, and Whitney Stephenson 51st.

Congratulations all!

Team-wise, the women finished 4th ($200, possibly more) after Tamalpa narrowly defeated us last week, contrary to our preliminary calculations. Open men finished 5th, as feared, just out of the money. Masters men finished 8th on 4 races, senior men 6th on just one race. This leaves a lot of room for improvement next year, right Craig?

PA XC CHAMPIONSHIPS - 11/18/01

Open Men Byline Chris Phipps

The PA Cross Country Championships is arguably the most competitive non collegiate race held in Northern California every year. This year was no exception. The Nike Farm Team put on their annual show of just how much running talent they have in their stable taking the top 6 spots and placing 14 runners in the top 23. In the team competition, Nike was followed by Reebok and Adidas, with the sponsorless Humboldt Track Club a distant 4th. Our Hoy's Excelsior squad finished fifth, just ahead of Empire in the 11 team competition. The Hoy's men were led by 39 year young Craig Steinmaus in one of his last races as an open runner in 33:21 (37th). Craig was followed by Brian Richter (42nd, 33:36), who was throwing a 6 mile tempo run into his long run. Completing out the scoring were the mini pack of Chris Phipps (50th, 34:09), David Volk (52nd, 34:23) and Jim Sweeney (53rd, 34:29). Rounding out the A team were Bernard Bassil (57th, 34:34), and Dan Lilot (60th, 34:42). Our depth showed this week, as we were also able to field a strong B team with Dan Mancini (67th, 34:58), Mike Northrop (74th, 35:13), Tim Wallen (77th, 35:53), Raymundo Cruz (80th, 36:01), Dan Rhodes (82nd, 36:05), and Matt Regan (104th, 37:48). With our 5th place finish at the champs, we ended up 5th in the Grand Prix for the year, just out of the money. After three seasons filled with many team victories, and second place team finishes, the PA competition was definitely a few notches higher this year. Our team wasn't prepared for the resurgence in the team competition seen this year, but we showed by the end of the season that we could beat Humboldt and Empire when we were at full strength. With the club nationals being held in Rocklin next year, the team competition in the PA will be even greater. So I hope that many of you will choose Cross Country as your focus next fall, and together we'll show the rest of the PA, and the rest of the country just how good we can be. God Bless Hoy's Excelsior!

Women Byline Monal Chokshi

Golden Gate Park greeted the participants in the 15th annual Pacific Association Championships with a beautiful Sunday morning and a somewhat muddy cross country course. Thanks to some last minute additions (Kim Fanady, Jocelyn Friel, Lydia Siegel, and Kathryn Krieger (jumping in for a workout before CIM)), the Hoy's Excelsior women were able to field a full team for the race. As the women anxiously piled up behind the starting line for the delayed 10:15am start, one couldnít help but notice the wealth of fast runners poised to race over the two-loop course. The Nike Farm Team women took the race out at a quick pace and formidably led using a team-pack racing strategy. They, however, were not able to overcome the unheralded presence of one Kristin Harper, who arrived from L.A. to crush the field and set the meet record by one full minute (22:31)! Second place went to Karen Nilsson (23:32), another SoCal'er, traveling north to race some good competition before Fall Nationals. Then came the Nike Farm Team runners, who were the first PA runners to cross the finish line. Monal Chokshi led the Hoy's Excelsior team, finishing 12th overall in a time of 24:26. Kathryn Krieger completed her race-workout in 17th place (24:47), demonstrating that she is geared up for the Cal Intl Marathon in a couple weeks. Lee D'Alessandro capped a great cross country season running 27:20 for 62nd place (and a big PR). Kim Fanady and Patti Bershers raced to strong scoring finishes for the Hoyís team, successively crossing the finish line in 84th and 85th places (28:19 and 28:24, respectively). Lydia Siegel, who sacrificed her leisurely Sunday morning run through Golden Gate Park (I believe she was recruited to race for the team as she ran by team members at the course that morning!), finished strong for H-E as she came through in 91st (28:45). And, Jocelyn Friel and Christine Wang worked together to more strong finishes in 109th and 110th (29:52 and 30:06). Way to go Hoy's Excelsior women! The women's performances on Sunday assured the Hoy's team a great team finish -- hopefully enough to hold us in 3rd in the overall PA Grand Prix! Thanks again to the women who came to the team rescue at the last minute, and also to all those who came out and cheered (and served as backups)! It was a great way to end the 2001 cross country season.

Masters/Seniors:

We fielded a full master (or senior, but not both) team for only the fourth time this year. Hans Gouwens led us in a Bolivia-impaired 35:39 (13th in the separate masters race). Hans was followed with a strong race by Peter Hsia (37:50, 33rd). Michael Gama was third master in 39:52. Charlie Great to See You Out There Thompson led the seniors in 37:54 (2d senior), followed by Kim Lilot (38:48, 5th senior--but Kim ended up winning the grand prix!) and Tom Bennett (45:50). Great job guys--wait 'til next year!

Congratulations to the whole club on another great cross season.

CLARKSBURG 30K - 11/11/01

CLARKSBURG: KRIEGER 3RD, RICHTER 5TH

Open Men Byline Brian Richter

While Clarksburg has brought us plenty of hazards and maldies in the past, wind has never been one of them. Add wind and (relatively, for NorCal) high humidity to the mix and one has the makings of an already difficult race turned ugly. While many were bracing for cold and wet, Mother Nature brought us the surpise temperature increase and steady 10 - 15 mph winds by 10:00AM start time. This proved a real joy, especially the turn into the wind at mile 16.x.

Open men came through as well as to be expected, securing a solid third. This was in some doubt, as the Adidas B Team was well ahead of us as late as 13 miles. Leading the way was Brian Richter, securing 5th overall in 1:43:41, avenging defeats to several runners ahead of him at Humbolt. Craig Steinmaus secured a top ten finish running 1:46:23. At 39, Craig was over two minutes ahead of first master Dennis Rinde. Let the countdown begin! Dan Shore rounded out the A team with a 1:47:43, one place behind Craig.

B Team was led by Team HMB, namely Dan Rhodes, 1:56:51, 34th place and Chris Phipps, 1:57:24 one place back. Randy Guerrero finished the scoring for the Open Lads, running 2:03:36 (51st) and promptly falling asleep all the way home, for which I was bitterly jealous.

The race did claim one casualty for the Open Team. David Volk wisely shut it down when it became clear things were not happening. David assures us all is well and is ready for CIM. Happy healing.

Final individual race is California International Marathon in three weeks, followed by the hugely anti-climatic X-mas Relays a week later. Has anyone figured out if we really have to run?

[Ed.: Congratulations Brian on a great race. From my bike vantage point, I know Brian passed several Transports in the last 10K. Great job on a tough day!]

Women: First Payday!

At Humboldt, the women placed three runners in the top 10. They repeated this feat at Clarksburg: Kathryn Krieger finished 3rd (again), Jen Major 8th, and Shelly Pierson 9th. This wasn't good enough to win over a dominant Adidas Transports team (1st, 2d, and 6th), but it did earn the women their first ever second place road finish, and at least $100, their first team payday ever! Kathryn ran 2 1/2 minutes faster than last year, 1:59:01, on a much more difficult day (and she ran by herself almost the whole way, into that relentless wind). Jen and Shelly ran together most of the way, Jen finishing in 2:04:26, Shelly 2:05:47. For the women's B team, Kim Fanady jumped in the race at the last minute, "just for fun," and ran 2:23:19, good enough for 7th master. Kim was followed by Susan Beck in 2:29:03 (11th master and a 6 minute improvement over last year!), Christine Jegan (2:31:50), and Pat Reilly (2:35:05). Congratulations women!

Masters/Seniors: Double Gold

The master and senior men swept in Clarksburg, and put themselves both in great positions for GP wins. Tim O'Rourke led the masters in 1:49:01 (2d master), followed by Lloyd Stephenson (1:50:04, 4th) and Jesus Garcia (1:52:24, 6th). The Ags had a slight lead on us through 2, but Jesus put 2 1/2 minutes on their third to notch the victory. Tim Geraghty (1:55:21, 12th) and Jim Misener (2:08:29, 23rd) rounded out the masters.

For the seniors, Don Paul continued his string of victories, running 1:56:34, 3 1/2 minutes ahead of the runner-up. Les Ong (2:03:13, 4th) and Jim Gorman (2:03:49, 5th) wrapped up the team victory for the seniors. Ian Reid (2:11:19, 8th), Dan Ramos (2:21:17, 17th), and Allan Stanbridge (2:25:05, 21st) rounded out the senior team.

According to my calculations, the masters now have an 11.5 point lead, meaning the Ags would have to beat us by three places at each of the last two races to win. The seniors seem to have a 6 point lead, meaning Tamalpa would have to beat us by two places at CIM and by one at Christmas Relays. Great job gentlemen!

[Ed: Once again I have to add, Clarksburg is the one race I never feel bad about being injured for, and that brutal wind Sunday didn't make me miss it any less . . .]

NEW YORK CITY MARATHON - 11/04/01

LUNDSTROM 3RD AMERICAN AT NEW YORK!!!!!

Topping off a banner week for Hoy's Excelsior, Chris Lundstrom finished THIRD AMERICAN, 16th overall, at the New York City Marathon, the national marathon championship. Yes, THIRD AMERICAN! At the NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP! In addition to an $8,000 payday! this effort earned Chris an A QUALIFIER for the 2004 OLYMPIC TRIALS, the first in the club since . . . [Bob?]

Oh yes, his time. Chris ran 2:18:08, almost exactly what he planned to run, with amazingly even splits (yes, he did "slow down" to 5:22 pace over the last 10K). The results below show what a brilliant race Chris ran. He passed 26 runners (14 of them American) over the last half of the race, 14/8 over the last 10K.

Chris watchers will note that NY was a year to the day after Chris ran his first national road championship, the Delchamps 10K in Alabama, and in the interim he has made regular, steadily improving marks on the national stage, at fall & winter XC nationals and at the national 25K and half marathon championships.

Chris's splits:

10k - 32:12 (5:11) - 47th place - 20th US 13.1 - 1:08:32 (5:16, 5:13 cum.) - 42nd place - 17th US 20M - 1:44:49 (5:16, 5:14 cum.) - 30th place - 11th US Finish - 2:18:08 (5:22, 5:16 cum.) - 16th place overall!!! 3rd American!!

Go to the link below for a great shot of Chris proudly sporting his yellow RLX H-E shirt on the awards podium:

http://www.nyrrc.org/nyrrc/mar01/results/images/marm12.jpg

We're proud of you, Chris.

Chris is planning to visit us in the near future; look for an announcement later. In the meantime, if you'd like to send along your own congratulations, you can do so at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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It's Official

At a formal meeting of the Records Committee, Chris Lundstrom's NYC Marathon performance was acknowledged as the club marathon record. Also, according to the Rocket, Chris is the first club member to qualify for (or maybe the first to run, assuming he does) the marathon trials since Ernie Rivas in 1980.

TAMALPA XC CHALLENGE - 11/03/01

The Krieger Wins Ta-malpa! The Krieger Wins Ta-malpa!

Tamalpa bin beddy beddy good to us. Kathryn Krieger ran another great race to notch her second win of the year Saturday. And in the closest PA cross race in years, the men seem to have beaten Empire for the first time and Humboldt for just the second time (not counting single point Davis) this year. Details below . . .

Women's Report Byline Patti Bershers

The Hoy's women had a fine day at Tamalpa's China Camp race on Saturday. Leading wire-to-wire was Kathryn Krieger, winning her second cross country race this year in apparent defiance of the commonly accepted principle that training for a marathon saps one's speed. Kathryn posted a 27:30 time, 55 seconds faster than last year. Next up was Jen Major, who, after informing her flu bug that she, not it, was in charge of the day, ran a speedy 29:58 to grab the 10th place spot. Third was Patti Bershers, running 41st overall with a time of 32:04, improving on last year's 32:54. Close behind was Kim Fanady, jumping in at nearly the last minute and running a great race, 44th (12th master) with a time of 32:12. Wrapping up the scoring team was Kelsey Ziegler (63rd, 33:25), who continues to do well in her very first cross country season. Pat Reilly came out and helped us with some displacing, running 88th on a time of 36:04. Honorable mention goes to Kate "Tough" Toews--last weekend Kate had a little disagreement with some of the switchbacks at the end of the Headlands loop, ending up with some bruises and scrapes that didn't look too comfortable--but she was at China Camp and ready to run if we had needed her on Saturday. Thanks Kate, and heal up fast! The women now appear to have clinched 4th place in the grand prix (and $200!), and have a chance at third. On to Champs. Yeah!

Open Men Byline Chris Phipps

We knew before we arrived that this year's Tamalpa challenge was not going to be the Hoy's Excelsior intra-squad race that it had been for the last 2 years. The Aggies needed an open team win, and were dropping down 2 of their top masters to help them out. Humboldt and Empire were also there in force, trying to add to their point totals before the PA championships. We expected adidas to be there as well, but they could only get 3 men to the line. After a few choruses of "Wild Dogs of Tamalpa", the race was off. The pace was a bit quicker than the last 2 years, and there was much less yellow in the lead pack, but we had our 5th (and 6th) in before anyone else. Brian Richter led the team running a strong 24:29, good for 9th. He was followed by Dan Shore in 13th (24:59), Craig Steinmaus in 15th (25:08), and Chris Phipps in 17th (25:20). Dan Lilot (23rd, 25:38) edged out Jim Sweeney (24th, 25:40) for the final scoring spot and the extra 3/4 of an x-point. Tim Wallen (33rd, 26:14) completed the A team. We didn't have enough for a B team, but still showed our depth with Mike Northrop (35th, 26:26), Dan Rhodes (44th, 27:15), and Matt Regan (51st, 28:05). The scoring was pretty tight, and we didn't know for a while if we were 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th. As it turned out, it looks like we were 2nd behind the Aggies, just ahead of Humboldt and Empire (who look to have tied!). This was the first race this year where we beat strong squads from Humboldt and Empire. Great job team!!

We are still mathematically alive to win the PA grand prix, but will need to win the PA championships, and hope Humboldt is no better than 4th, Empire no better than 5th, and the Aggies no better than 6th. Yeah, it's a long shot [Ed.: read "pipe dream"], but if we can fly in some ringers, enough for a strong B team as well.......

[Ed.: One more winner this week. Kim Lilot, the only representative from the old'uns, won yet another senior race, his 28:20 beating WVJS's Bill Dunn by 18 seconds. Congratulations Kim!]

SHORELINE XC - 10/27/01

Chokshi 3rd!

Women's Report Byline Jen Major

At the Shoreline Invitational Meet last Saturday, the Hoy's Excelsior women proved smart and strong again! The women appeared to start out conservatively, but quickly moved up through the competitive pack. Monal Chokshi led our team, finishing third overall in an exciting chase after two Nike Farm Team runners. She finished the 5K race in an astounding 17:35, three seconds behind the winning 17:32 (three seconds away from $100!--she still ended up with $25). Kathryn Krieger finished next for our team in 18:26, in an effort to hold back and not RACE the course. Lee D'Alessandro finished in 19:47, setting a 1:20 PR for herself on the course! Good job, Lee! Rounding out the team was Kelsey Ziegler, who ran a quick 21:23, and Christine Wang, finishing in 22:17! Our women's team looked strong and fast! Excellent running, ladies! (Also congratulations to team (non-scoring) youngster Teresa McWalters on her 24th place finish, 19:20!)

Open Men Byline Daniel Shore

The H-E Open Men continued their perfect attendance record in the 2001 PA XC series by fielding another full team at Saturday's Shoreline Open. Unfortunately, we're still getting our butts kicked. This time it was The Farm Team, Aggies, Humboldt, and perhaps Empire that scored better. But it's not for lack of trying... Last weekend's Humboldt half marathon kept the bulk of our team on the sidelines for this race. Still, a number of diehards came out to give the team a lift.

David Volk proved that his marathon training is going well -- and not sapping his speed -- by leading the team in 23:05 (5:07 pace), taking 16th place overall. David was followed by Dan Lilot in 24:01 (38th overall), Jim Sweeney on his heels in 24:02 (39th), Dan Mancini with a 15-20 second course PR in 24:25 (52nd), Bernard "Last Minute" Bassil in 25:02 (68th), and Dan Rhodes in 25:38 (80th). Solid efforts from all.

If our team loss wasn't enough, Farm Teamer Josh Muxen bettered our own Chris Lundstrom's course record of last year by 3 seconds, lowering it to 21:54.

Next week's Tamalpa Challenge is historically a great race for us. Come out if you can.

[Ed.: For the older contingent, we had but two seniors. Kim Lilot won the senior race (again) in 26:54 (99th overall), and Tom Bennett finished in 31:24 (15th senior).]

HUMBOLDT HALF MARATHON - 10/21/01

Humboldt: Krieger 3rd-Major 9th-Pierson 10th!

Open Women Byline Susan Beck

The Hoys Excelsior women keep looking stronger with each race. On Sunday they claimed three of the top 10 spots and chalked up a bunch of big PRs. Kathryn Krieger was the third woman across the line in 1:19:36 (just a tad behind second), a 3-1/2 minute improvement over last year. Jen Major continued her dramatic rise (and cloning of Kathryn's 2000 year) by running a 6-minute (!) PR, finishing in 1:22:44, good enough for 9th place. New member Shelley Pierson followed in 10th place, running 1:23:05. Then Kim Fanady blasted home in 1:33:00, which gave her a 7 minute (!!) PR (5th master). Christine Jegan (running her first half marathon) and Susan Beck ran most of the course together, with Susan calling out splits and Christine yelling, "Too fast!" Christine pulled away in the last mile, finishing in 1:39:56 (PO), and Susan (gasping Tyler-style) followed in 1:40:09 (a 5 min. PR). Malinda Walker, cheered on by her father and sister in a homecoming race in her native county, ran 1:50:40. It looks as if the women took third place, behind Adidas and the Impalas. On to that bucolic bit of heaven -- Clarksburg!

Open Men Byline Brian Richter

Always a highlight of the PA year, Humboldt half marathon was Sunday, October 21. Open Men took to the roads looking to secure 3rd in PA standings and avenge a Paso Robles loss to Adidas (the, Ahem, B Team).

Race turned out to be one of the fastest ever, with Adidas and WVTC waging a battle up front. The Men took places 15 (Brian Richter, 1:10:04), 16 (Dan Shore, 1:10:29, PR), 17 (Craig Steinmaus, 1:10:31), 24 (Pete Vincencio, 1:13:40) and 26 (Chris Phipps, 1:14:40). Team was 3rd overall. B Team consisted of Raymundo Cruz (37, 1:16:42), Chris Evans (41, 1:17:21), Randy Guerrero (50, 1:19:29), Dan Rhodes (59, 1:20:56) and Matt Regan (64, 1:21:43). I believe the B team was 4th or 5th, but its tough to tell who is complete. Apologies to those I've missed.

Next up on the roads is Clarksburg. Three score, so we'll need 4 for sure, preferably 5. Please let me know if you intend to run. I'm in for sure. Ye-Ha.

Masters/Seniors

The masters did what they've done all year, somehow eking out out another win over a tough EBS/WVTC team (assuming Don Paul drops down). Tim O'Rourke led the masters in 1:13:31, 2d master, 23rd and 4th on the team overall. Great job Tim! Jesus Garcia and Lloyd Stephenson ran much of the race together, finishing well in 1:15:15 (4th master, 30th overall) and 1:15:33 (6th, 1st 45-49, 32d overall). Next master wasn't a master: senior Don Paul ran 1:17:19 to repeat his strong 2000 performance, placing 1st senior, 11th master, and 40th overall. With any luck we can drop him down to score master, depending on the senior results. Don was followed by Erling Eia (1:23:18, 74th overall), Genaro Diaz (1:25:44, 87th), and Michael Gama (1:30:46, 130th).

The seniors ran very well, but not well enough to beat a strong Tamalpa team, even with Don. Les Ong recovered amazingly quickly from his sprained ankle at Paso to finish in 1:19:39 (5th senior, 54th overall). Les was followed by Jim Gorman (1:22:51, 72d, 8th senior), Ian Reid (1:26:52, 94th, 11th senior), Dan Ramos (1:29:35, 120th, 15th senior), and Allan Stanbridge (1:30:07, 126th, 16th senior).

RACE FOR THE CURE - 10/21/01

Race for the Cure Courtesy Patti Bershers

The "non distance" women's contingent had a good day at Race for the Cure - Lee D'Alessandro ran 19:40, Patti Bershers ran 20:15 (a 34 second PR; I was trying to get under 20 but I'll take a PR of any kind, any day!), Rebecca Davis-Suskind ran 20:25 on a shin splint/possible stress fracture, and Kelsey Ziegler ran 20:49. All these times by our watches, not sure of the "official" results. I also saw Tim Wallen out there, not sure of his time.

COLUMBUS MARATHON - 10/21/01

Columbus: Still More PRs

Congratulations to Amy Hethcoat for a 13-minute PR at the Columbus Marathon Sunday! (Yes, I've now counted at least 7 PRs this weekend from the women's team!) From Amy . . .

I had a great day on the very flat Columbus Ohio course. The weather was perfect and the town is spectacular with the fall leaves coming down and sweet brick houses. The friend I was running it with wanted to run 9:15 minute miles, but encouraged me to run it faster. I went out at an 8:30 pace and held that until about mile 16. Then I slowed a bit and ended up finishing in 3 hours, 45 minutes. I shaved 13 minutes off my marathon PR. I was hoping to qualify for Boston, but based on my training runs, it's amazing I hit 3:45.

And from the Sign Him Up! files, congratulations to Tom Shore (Dan's father), who at age 62 completed his 22nd straight Columbus Marathon. His 3:56 in Columbus's 70 degree heat on Sunday continued his streak of 49 marathons under 4 hours. He has never DNF'd. He is one of only 19 men to have run every Columbus Marathon and finished 5th in his age group on Sunday.

SIERRA COLLEGE (ROCKLIN) XC - 10/13/01

Open Women Byline Patti Bershers

Six H-E women made the drive to the hot and dusty Sierra College 5-K X-C course to see if the blue ribbon luck would continue to hold. With our "Secret Weapon" leading us again, we found ourselves (we think) in a tightr ace for a 3rd place finish with strong performances throughout. Shelly Pierson led the charge, placing 7th in 19:13 while coaching her Diablo Valley girls at the same time. Close on her heels was Jen Major, placing 11th in1 9:29. Lee D'Alessandro ran a strong 21:04 to place 35th, with Patti Bershers following in 42nd (21:37) and Kelsey Ziegler in 49th (22:14). Special recognition/appreciation goes to new team member Beth Pfefferle, who came up and ran 52nd (22:19) despite plans to fly later that day to the East Coast for her wedding next weekend!

Open Men Byline Chris Phipps

5 is Enough

This year we have had 37 different runners run for our open men's team in at least one race. At the first double point cross country race on September 8th, we had our best turnout of the year with 18. For some reason though we were barely able to field a complete team of 5 at last Saturday's Sierra College Challenge in Rocklin. Yeah Rocklin is a little further than Golden Gate Park for most of us (about 200 times as far for me), but the race was double points, and I knew that if our team could place in the top 5 we would help improve our season score. As expected, Adidas and the Aggies were in full force, and Humboldt TChad their top team too. Empire was there, and West Valley looked to have a good team as well. I was thinking that we could very well end up 6th, but then I noticed that I hadn't seen all of the usual Empire guys warming up. Empire was in the same boat as us with only 5 guys, and they were missing their 1-2. I told our team "OK, we only have 5 today, so everyone has to finish. But Empire only has 5 as well, so if we can all beat our Empire counterparts, we can beat them." The gun went off, and we all went off in a cloud of dust on the hot & dry course. Empire already had 3 in front of me, so it didn't look like we would be able to beat them. Two of them had gone out too hard though and I was soon about 30 yards behind their first man, Eric Bohn, where I would stay all the way to the finish. I ended up 27th in 22:05, behind Bohn's 25th. I was really afraid that we would lose to them by a point or two, but Tyler assured me that their 5th man was way back. In fact, he was so far back that he apparently never finished. One of their guys seemed to have pulled a hamstring as Dan Lilot was going by him. I hadn't looked back at all during the race, and as I caught my breath in the chute, I looked back to see how we were doing. I was relieved to see Dan Lilot (34th, 22:23 great race!) finish before the next Empire runner, then Ernie Stanton (39th, 22:38), and Tim Wallen (40th, 22:42) came through, just ahead of West Valley's 3rd, and also Empire's 2nd. Jake Furber (49th, 23:04) made our team complete and assured us of a 4th place finish behind Adidas, the Aggies and Humboldt. Good job guys!

Since the team scoring in Cross Country is the team's best 6 races, our 14 points for 4th will replace our lowest point total of 10 at Aggie invite. As it stands now, we are in a 3 way tie for the lead with Empire and Humboldt, as we each have 73 points. Adidas is just behind us with 67, and the Aggies have 49.5. Unfortunately this is not as good as it sounds because Adidas and the Aggies have only scored in4 races so far, and Empire has 5. Once these teams have 6 races, they will likely be way ahead if us. Too bad we don't get any money for being tied for the lead with 3 races to go!

Ed.: The masters didn't try to field a full team, but Hans Gouwens neverthless came up and had an excellent race, finishing 10th (and 2d non-Aggie; 23:16). Kim Lilot also had an excellent race, apparently finishing 2d senior in 25:19.

PRESIDIO XC CHALLENGE - 10/06/01

Our third annual Presidio Challenge went off with nary a hitch Saturday. I want to congratulate all of us for putting on such a fine race. Special kudos go out to Chris Phipps, who channeled his race directorship anxiety into his best cross performance of the season, 1st on the team and 7th overall. I received compliments on all aspects of the race--course, management, prizes--people really seem to like it. Thanks also to Polo for supplying our non-cash prizes. Congratulations everyone!

Open Men Byline Chris Phipps

After a stressful last few days of getting everything ready for the Presidio Challenge it was time to race. I didn’t get in a real warm-up, but must have done a couple of miles while marking the course, and showing the volunteers where to go. I barely had time to put on my flats and make it to the line. Once the race started I felt relieved and during the first lap was paying more attention to the course markings and monitors than to who I was racing. The course monitors were doing a great job, and the course was very well marked (thanks to all of you who helped!). Now I could relax and get into the race. The lead 6 had separated themselves early from the rest of the pack and were not going to be caught. In the lead group were 3 HTC, 2 Empire and unattached Kalid Abdalah who would go on to win the race. It looked like we would be third again unless we could put about 14 Hoy’s Excelsior finishers in front of HTC’s and Empire’s 4th & 5th Men. In the chase pack we had 6, but there were a couple Empire runners and a HTC runner as well. I used my free fall technique on the steep downhills to move to the front of the chase pack, then extended it a bit on the last downhill before the finish. I was running scared feasring that I would be reeled in by the 2 Empire runners on my tail over the long flat stretch to the finish, but managed to hold them off. I finished 7th in 20:08, beating my time from last year by 5 seconds (yea!). Close behind were Pete Vicencio (11th, 20:15) and Dave Volk (13th, 20:19) running in his first XC race for us. Completing the scoring team were Jim Sweeney (16th, 20:33), and Dan Shore (17th, 20:37) (doing some tempo in the middle of a long run). Right behind Dan was Craig Steinmaus (18th, 20:39), ahead of Empire’s 5th, and Dan Mancini (25th, 20:58) ahead of HTC’s 5th, yet both Empire and HTC managed to beat us due to their strength up front (we need Lundstrom!). We also scored a complete B team for the 3rd time this season, which finished 6 out of the 9 complete teams with Jake Furber (27th, 21:10), Tim Wallen (31st, 21:16), Dan Lilot (33rd, 21:26), Ryan Gallagher (37th, 21:47), and Yurik Riegel (52nd, 22:58).

Team Scores 1 Empire 40 2 HTC 46 3 Hoys A 55 4 Tamalpa A 117 5 Wolfpack 119 6 Hoys B 135 7 Slug CC 184 8 Pursuit/DTC 190 9 Tamalpa B 238

Good job to all who ran and helped make the race a big success for the team! We had about 60 more finishers than last year, and as far as I know not a single problem!

Thanks again for all of your help!  Chris

Women Byline Monal Chokshi

First of all, thanks to several Hoy's women who showed up bright and early at the Presidio Saturday morning, to volunteer their time to the Hoy's Excelsior-sponsored Presidio Challenge XC race. We had a beautiful morning-- overcast, dry, cool--perfect for racing. At 10am, after the open and masters men raced, ten Hoy's Excelsior women were ready to ride the dirt rollercoaster of a 3.55 mile cross country course surrounding the Julius Kahn playground. Although these blue hair-ribboned grrlz were missing their captain (Kathryn, on the sidelines resting her calf), they came equipped to the line with a secret weapon in newcomer Shelly Pierson. The race took off with the leaders setting a surprisingly reasonable pace (much unlike the men's race) for the very hilly double-loop trail ahead. But much support for the Hoy's runners was evident, as with each bend and turn of the spectator-friendly course, one could hear cheers of encouragement for our runners (Thank you! We needed it on those hills!). The support helped carry the Hoy's women to running very smart races, with many of them working together throughout the race. One instance of this was Monal Chokshi and Shelly Pierson, who ran together for much of the race, and pushed each other to 4th (23:03) and 6th place (23:14) finishes, respectively. Just two places back, Jen Major finished in a strong 8th (23:41), putting three Hoy's Excelsior runners ahead of the second Impala runner! Lee D'Alessandro was next for the Hoy's team, crossing the line in 32nd (in a PR 26:11), with Patti Bershers and Kelsey Ziegler just behind in 37th (26:22) and 41st (26:45), respectively. Newcomer Beth Pfefferle finished hard with a 27:05 in 45th place, while Christine Wang crossed the finish line at 28:11 in 55th. Amy Hethcoat sprinted in the last 100 meters to finish 65th in 29:03, and newcomer Danielle Hauptman finished the race in 96th at 34:06. Congratulations to all runners for rising up to the challenge of the Presidio hills, and many thanks to all those who volunteered their time and cheered. The blue-ribboned women will strike again!

Ed.: For the masters, Hans Gouwens started to return to his 1998 form with a 3rd place finish in 21:00. Hans was followed by Kim Lilot (23:05, 26th, 1st senior), Peter Hsia (23:07, 27th), Michael Gama (23:44, 32d), Jim Misener (24:30, 40th), and Tom Bennett (27:38, 72d). Good job gentlemen!

PASO ROBLES 10K - 9/30/01

Krieger and Shore stole the spotlight Sunday at Paso Robles. Kathryn Krieger ran a breakthrough 3-minute! PR 35:07 to finish 4th in the extremely tough field (when was the last time we saw two PA women break 34 minutes?). Yes, 35:07! This beat 3/5 of the men's B team! 35:07 would have won many PA 10Ks. I'm guessing this has to be a club record. Rocket? On the men's side, Dan Shore led with a PR 32:07, finishing 21st in the extremely deep men's race (when was the last time three runners broke 30 minutes in a PA 10K championship?). (See below for Dan's open men's saga.)

And to add joy to ecstasy, Kathryn won a dream Central Coast vacation at the raffle!

The women's team had a great race overall--they all ran PRs or near-PRs! Monal Chokshi continued to show us the speed she exhibited at GGP and Bananaman, running what probably would have been a club record had it not been set 55 seconds earlier. Monal ran 36:02--also a three minute PR--finishing four places behind Kathryn. Great job Monal! Jen Major followed Monal in a 10-second PR 37:49 to finish in 17th place, an effort that earned Jen, along with Kathryn, free entries in the short circuit next year! Kim Fanady came next, running a near-PR 41:44 to finish 36th, 7th master. Patti Bershers followed Kim in 43:30 (48th, PR I think), with Susan Beck (PR 44:49--though she swears it was half a minute slower--56th, 15th master) and Malinda Walker (45:57, 58th) rounding out the team. The women's team seems to have taken third place in this most important race--congratulations women!

For the masters, Lloyd Stephenson finished 3rd, 37th overall, in 33:21. Lloyd was followed by Tim O'Rourke (33:50, 46th, One person, Hans Boy were we glad to see you at the start! Gouwens (34:10, 49th, 9th), Tim Geraghty (34:42, 57th, 16th), Tyler Abbott (36:08 ouch, 77th, 27th), Michael Gama (38:21, 99th, 34th), and Jim Misener (38:49, 10th, 36th). For the seniors, Don Paul led, cramps notwithstanding, in 35:25 (68th, 2d senior), followed by Jim Welcome Back Gorman (38:45, 103rd, 7th). Les Ong, running around 5:40 pace until he sprained his ankle--yes, sprained his ankle!-- in the fourth mile, still finished the race for the team, in 40:02 (112th, 8th). Inspirational, Les. Thank you. The masters seem to be third, seniors second or third.

To relate: I ran most of the race about 5 seconds behind Monal. As we came to the final turn, Dan Shore, fresh from his cal, "Go encouragement Monal, Tyler's just behind you!" Then as I came by Dan, he yelled, even louder, "Go Monal!" Thanks, GO MONAL

Open Men Report Byline Daniel Shore

OPEN MEN'S RACE With triple points, great weather (mid-50's) and a flat, fast course, Sunday's Heritage Oaks Bank 10K promised PRs and giant leaps in the PA standings. While the Open Men were raring to go, every other team saw the same opportunity and brought out the big guns. In one of the year's more competitive races, Adidas fielded an extremely deep, talented team and took the win over second place WVTC. Transports had enough depth to field a B team, displacing the HE-men's A team to fourth (we still get $125 though - yay x-points!). Unless Adidas or WVTC opts not to field a team for the marathon, we have a sure lock on third for the year.

Up front overall, the difference between first ($2,200) and third ($800) was just 6 seconds, with Janko Bensa (non-PA, 29:44) outkicking Peter Gilmore (29:46) and Mike Dudley (29:48) for the win. A bit farther back came the yellow storm. Dan Shore led the team with a PR of 32:05 (21st overall) and won $100 in the Open Team pool (thanks guys!). He also squeaked in at lucky #15 in the Short Grand Prix year-end standings to earn free race entries for next year - wahoo! Craig Steinmaus followed close behind in 32:23 (25th), having pushed Dan hard for much of the race (thanks Craig!). New team member David Volk, who took pace-setting duties in the early miles, finished in 32:31 (27th) with Pete Vincencio on his heels at 32:34 (28th). Chris Phipps rounded out the A Team scoring in 32:54 (32nd). The HE-men B Team was led by Ernie Stanton in 33:38 (40th), with John Trevithick (34:37, 56th), Jesus Garcia (35:10, 65th -- get some rest!), Randy Guerrero (36:24, 82nd), and Yurik Riegel (38:05, 96th) rounding out the scoring.

As always, Tyler apologizes for anyone I've missed. Next up on the road circuit is the Humboldt Redwoods Half Marathon on October 21 -- a fun, fast 1.5 points race for anyone who doesn't suffer from allergies. And, of course, our own Presidio Open XC race is this Saturday.

________________

[Ed.: It was great to see the yellow storm on the out and back section of the first lap. Great team effort!] A Short Series RePaso Robles marked the end of the PA short grand prix. For the women, both Kathryn Krieger and Jen Major finished in the top 15, earning them free entries next year. Jen missed two of the six races, and Kathryn ran only two. Monal, on the basis of just one race, JUST missed free entries. Kirsten Wilde, running just two single point races, also placed well.

Women's 10K Club Record

Bob Darling confirms that both Kathryn Krieger (35:07) and Monal Chokshi (36:02) smashed the women's 10K club record of 36:30, set by Pearl Anit in 1983. Congratulations women!]

DAVIS XC - 09/22/01

Men Win at Davis: Hoy's Team Captures First PA Win of 2001

For the first time since last year's Tamalpa Challenge, the Hoy's Excelsior open men's team won a PA race, picking up $50 in team prize money in the process. In the mostly collegiate UC Davis Aggie Invite the H-E men placed 4th overall behind UC Davis, Cal, and Santa Clara (who edged us by 4 points), but we were the first PA team, as we defeated Humboldt TC, who placed 9th in the 25 team field. Individually, we were led by UC Davis alums Craig Steinmaus (42nd overall, 6th PA, 26:45), and Chris (no kick) Phipps (45th, 8th, 26:46). Close behind in this densely packed field of 241 runners were Ernie Stanton (56th, 11th, 27:07) and Pete Vicencio (59th, 13th, 27:13). Two more UC Davis alums battled it out for 5th man with Jim Sweeney (74th, 16th, 27:30) edging out Danny Lilot (81st, 18th, 27:34). Also displacing for the open men was Danny's father Kim, (175th, 30:48 ­ Second Senior).

     -- Tyler Abbott

BANANAMAN 5K CHASE II - 09/16/01

Bananaman II, or 221 Smoothies Byline Tyler Abbott

Monal Chokshi continued her progression through the local ranks Sunday, finishing ahead of all but one Farm Teamer in the second annual Jamba Juice Bananaman 5K Chase. Monal ran 17:33, which has got to be a modern club record--Rocket et al, any faster times in the 70s or 80s? Monal was followed by Kathryn Krieger, hot off her previous day's victory, in 4th place (18:00--sorry, KK, that's what the results said). Because they were in the top 25 women, Monal and Kathryn each received 26 Jamba Juice coupons; as second place finisher, Monal also received 13 Jamba Juice soup/salad coupons. Finishing just out of the top 25 women were Lee D'Alessandro (19:58, 27th), Rebecca Davis-Susskind (20:04), and Kelsey Ziegler (20:17 PR-congratulations!). Jennifer Hood also ran, accompanying her soon to be sister-in-law.

On the men's side, as usual we dominated the 20s. Craig Steinmaus led us in his fastest 5K in a while (15:39, 15th). Craig was followed closely by (actually Craig followed closely, until the last step--ouch!) David Volk (also 15:39, 16th). Pete Vicencio finished next in 15:55 (21st), followed by Chris Phipps (15:56, 22d), Dan Shore (16:04, 24th), and Jim Sweeney (16:07, 25th--last Jamba Juicer!). All these men received 26 free Jamba Juices. Don Paul finished as first senior in 16:53 (36th overall). Don was followed by Mike Regan (17:05, 39th), Doug Rosenberg (17:12, 43rd), Les Ong (17:25, 52d), Matt Regan (17:41, 59th), Bernard Bassil--welcome back! (17:45, 61st), John Casey (17:48, 64th), Charlie Thompson (17:57, 72d), Michael Gama (18:13, 85th), and Dan Ramos (18:58, 103rd). I apologize for anyone I've left off, but congratulations everyone!

Open Men Byline Chris Phipps

For those who didn't get enough racing in Saturday and for Craig Steinmaus who decided he'd rather savor the glory of beating a guy in a banana suit than help out his team, there was the 2nd annual Bananaman 5k. Even though the prize for the top 25 was reduced from 52 to 26 Jamba Juice Smoothie gift certificates, the field was even stronger than last year. I have not seen the results on line, so these are from memory. Leading the way for the Hoy's banana crushers, Craig ran an impressive 15:38 good for 15th (I think) and just barely outkicked possible new member Dave Volk. Also finishing in the top 25 and winning the coveted smoothie certificates were our top 4 from Saturday, Pete Vicencio (21st 15:54), Chris Phipps (22nd 15:57), Dan Shore (24th 16:02), and Jim Sweeney (25th 16:07). Four of the last 5 certificate winners, gotta like that!

I apologize for anyone who I missed in the preceding summaries.

CRYSTAL SPRINGS XC - 09/15/01

Krieger Wins Crystal!

Coming off another in a long series of high mileage weeks, Kathryn Krieger notched her first Pacific Association victory Saturday, at the Crystal Springs cross-country meet. Kathryn was right off the leader after the first loop, then used her strength and base to move ahead, eventually putting almost twenty seconds on the field. More in the women's article below, but congratulations Kathryn!

Open Men Byline Chris Phipps

At the third of ten races in the XC series, the Hoy's men finally showed their numbers. We had 19 men toe the line, enough for full A and B squads with 5 runners to spare (too bad they don't let us score a C team) [Ed.--along with 9 masters/seniors, this made for quite a showing!]. Leading the way for us was Brian Richter, covering the tough 5K course in 16:18, good for 20th in the strong field of over 250 runners. Just 5 seconds behind Brian was Pete Vicencio (16:23, 23rd). Showing signs of life, the Hoy's pack is starting to make its return with Craig Steinmaus (16:29, 28th), Chris Phipps (16:31, 31st) and Brian Mulrey (16:41, 36th) rounding out the scoring five. Then our depth really started to show with Danny Lilot (16:45, 42nd), John Trevithick (16:45, 43rd), Ernie Stanton (16:57, 51st), Jim Sweeney (17:07, 58), Dan Mancini (17:07, 59), Dan Shore (17:10, 61), Tim Wallen (17:11, 63), Charlie Brenneman (17:14, 64), Jake Furber (17:17, 70), Ryan Gallagher (17:27, 80), Dan Rhodes (17:33, 65--outkicking Tyler), Brian Schultz (18:24, 116), Joe Keene (18:44, 129), and Yurik Riegel (18:59, 137). Our A team finished just out of the money in 4th behind Adidas, Reebok, and Empire. But even if we had been 3rd, there's not much you can do with $25 split 19 way's (maybe half a beer each?). Or B team finished 6th overall, with just WVTC between our 2 teams. There were 5 teams behind our B team.

This week it was Crystal Springs, always one of my favorite courses, and this was my 38th race here over the past 16 years (man I'm getting old!). Chico State dominated the race with 10 of the top 18. Lucky for us they're not a PA team. After my traditional lead down the hill, Pete (Vicencio) went by me to lead the team finishing in 21:54, good for 24th. I managed to fight off countless attacks by Benji Whalen and Jeff Hongo to finish 26th in 21:58, just my second time ever under 22:00. Training through another high mileage week, Dan Shore was our 3rd man (22:32, 42). Also in the scoring 5 were Jim Sweeney (22:41, 49), and new to the team Mike Northrop (22:48, 52). Rounding out the A team were Danny Lilot (22:53, 57, and Tim Wallen (23:32, 70). Showing our traditional depth, we were able to again field a B team with Jake Furber (22:33, 71), Ryan Gallagher (23:41, 78), Dan Rhodes (23:52, 81--outkicking Tyler [Ed.--but then who didn't?]), Brian Schultz (25:10, 110), Yurik Riegel (25:40, 116), and Joe Keene (26:15, 128). This week our B team helped us by displacing Adidas's 5th man who finished 115th, but I'm afraid it wasn't quite enough as it looks like Adidas, with 4 ahead of our first man, edged us for third. Humboldt and Empire were the first 2 teams.

Well here's the scoop after 4 races. While we are currently in second as a team, it's only because, of the teams who have been beating us, only Empire has fielded a team at every race. This weekend at Aggie won't effect anything team wise, because even if we win, the 10 points that we would get are still lower than our score at any of the other races. At this point, as long as Adidas fields a team at 6 races, they will win, and Empire should be second as long as one of their top 4 doesn't get hurt, though if we put together our best team, Empire is definitely beatable. It will be interesting to see if they run Ty Strange in the open race or masters race at double point Sierra.

So, that leaves us in a battle with Humboldt and the Aggies for third in the PA. The Aggies have the talent, but they have only fielded a good team at one race so far this year, though there are still plenty of races left for them to get their 6. Humboldt like Empire is beatable if we field our best team, and they drop off real fast after their 4th guy, so they may not be able to stay at the top for a whole season.

If we want to have a chance at 3rd, we have to field strong teams at 4 of the final 5 races; definitely at double point Sierra and PA champs, but also at our Presidio race and Tamalpa, which have traditionally been good races for our team.

Let's get out there and race!

Open Women Byline Patti Bershers

The H-E women had another excellent X-C outing on Saturday at Crystal Springs. The team was led by Kathryn Krieger's VICTORY in the women's race over the 2.95 mile challenging and hilly course. Kathryn ran a smart race, starting out conservatively and then blowing by the pack to win in 17:24 (5:53 pace). Following up in a close bunch in the middle were Lee D'Alessandro (45th place, 20:11), Patti Bershers (52nd place, 20:30, and outkicked by a 17-year old), and Kim Fanady (53rd place, and 10th master, at 20:31). Patty Riley's last-minute decision to run proved helpful, as she came in 75th (22:17) to complete the scoring team. Malinda Walker (79th, 22:30) and Amy Hethcoat (82nd, 23:09) also ran strong races, with Malinda beating her time from last year on the same course, and Amy continuing to get stronger and stronger. Many thanks to "injured reserve" team member Jen Major who came out to cheer, take photos, and even cool down a little. We look forward to Jen's return as soon as her pesky achilles cooperates!

Editor: The master and senior men mustered one team between them. Hans Gouwens again led the masters in 22:55 (10th master, 58th overall), followed by Tyler Abbott (23:54, 15th, 82d), senior Kim Lilot (25:14, 2d senior, 111th), Jim Misener (30th master), and senior Tom Bennett (29:51, 20th senior). We are unlikely to field a team at Davis, so next we're on the roads: Paso Robles!

GOLDEN GATE PARK XC - 09/08/01

Open Women Byline Monal Chokshi

Saturday morning at Golden Gate Park welcomed almost two full teams of Hoys Excelsior women, ready to overcome pothole-ridden grass fields and swarms of blood-sucking mosquitoes. (But at least there was some cool and cloudy racing weather!) As the eleven PoloSport-clad women toed the line, they were unsuspecting of the BYU contingent of elite runners who, much like the mosquitoes, sucked blood on their flight up to the front of the pack and left victims itching in their wake. Fortunately, Monal Chokshi (18:44, 13th overall, 5th PA), Kathryn Krieger (18:48, 16th overall, 7th PA), and Jen Major (19:00, 22nd overall, 12th PA) of the H-E team, working together for much of the race, were able to overcome a few of them before finishing the 3.1 miles, and in the process, out-raced most of the Impala women! The Hoy's Excelsior team also had strong finishes from Lee D'Alessandro (21:17), Kelsey Ziegler (21:25), and Patti Bershers (21:33) who finished within 6 places of one another at 52nd, 56th, and 58th overall, respectively. Christine Jegan (22:22) finished in 78th overall, with Christine Wang (23:12), Amy Hethcoat (23:34), Malinda Walker (24:04), and Whitney Stephenson (24:18) coming through just after that in 89th, 91st, 95th, and 98th, despite the backup and chaos at the finish line. (Who ever said that technology was efficient!?) All in all, it was a tremendously successful day for the Hoy's Excelsior women, who faced some of the toughest competition they'll see all season, and who walked away with no broken ankles (but maybe a few itchy bug bites!). Way to go ladies!!!

Editor: The master and senior men also fielded full teams, for the first time this season. Hans Gouwens led the masters in 17:11 (12th master, 61st overall), followed by Tyler Abbott (17:36, 23rd, 89th), Peter Lewandoski (17:57, 30th, 106th), Pete It's About Time Nowicki (18:22, 33rd, 114th), and Jim Misener (19:28, 47th, 155th). Continuing where he left off last season (and at Santa Cruz), Kim Lilot led the seniors in 18:36 (2d, 125th), with sight for sore eyes Charlie Thompson just behind in 18:55 (5th, 131st), and Allan Stanbridge (20:39, 16th, 183rd) and Tom Bennett (21:52, 26th, 212d) rounding out the team. I don't think we can hope for better than third for the masters, probably same for the seniors, but it's a start. Next up Crystal!

EMPIRE CROSS XC - 09/01/01

Empire Cross Byline Brian Richter

The Open men again took to hill and dale (and rocks, and dust, and heat) at the second race in the cross country series Saturday, hosted admirably by a newly competitive Empire Track Club. Empire came away with a narrow win over Humbolt Track Club with Hoy's-Excelsior in third. There is some scoring controversy brewing so stay tuned. Results are at:

http://www.pausatf.org/data/2001/XCEMP01.html

The Open men were led again by Brian Richter, who finished 9th and avenged defeats to a couple of harriers at Santa Cruz. Alas, Brian was still beaten by three Empire and two Humbolt, so there remains work to be done. A trio of Hood to Coast brave souls followed on weary legs: Chris Phipps was 13th, Pete Vincencio 15th and Ernie Stanton 18th. Absent at Santa Cruz, they proved to be the difference in knocking off a pesky West Valley Team. Tim Wallen followed with his second consecutive scoring effort, finishing in 27th. Jim Sweeney (37th) and Dan Rhodes (41st) rounded out the Magnificent Seven.

Next up GG Park I, double points and no doubt a loaded field. See you then.

Editor: The other teams had spotty attendance. The women decided long ago to skip this one in the best 6 of 10 scoring. Jen Major came up anyway to get her cross-country legs wet, and finished a strong eighth place (27:32) just one week after Hood to Coast. Jen continues to establish herself as one of the fastest women in the PA. We had 4 masters (incl. one senior), just one shy of a full team. Hans Gouwens finished a strong 4th in 24:30, with Tyler Abbott just behind in the Aggie-free field in 6th (25:01). Erling Eia finished 19th (26:38), with senior Tom Bennett rounding out the older group in 57th (32:25).

SANTA CRUZ XC - 8/25/01

 -- MEN Byline: Brian Richter

The men's team scratched together 10 runners for the inaugural UC Santa Cruz Challenge. Cross Country Santa Cruz style meant a course with stairs, some perhaps questionable mile markers (most covered the last two miles in under 9 minutes) and a thorough beating put on the Hoy's Excelsior Men. We did not have enough for a senior or masters team, so everyone ran for the open team. It appears we were either fourth or fifth, far behind winner Adidias Transport (sweeping top four spots), Empire Track Club (host of next week's Cross Country race in Windsor), West Valley and perhaps the Aggies (depending on how they score certain individuals). Results are at:

http://www.pausatf.org/data/2001/XCSCruz01.html

Brian Richter was top finisher in 26:33 on the nominally 8K course, taking 12th overall. Dan Mancini followed in 25th (27:28), Hans Gouwens in 30th (27:37th, 5th master overall, first PA race in God knows how long, welcome back), Dan Lilot 37th (27:55, outkicking former National Champion Jamey Harris), and Tim Wallen 40th (27:13) to round out the scoring 5.

Tim was followed by Mike Northrop in 42nd (28:16) and Dan Shore 45th (28:20, in the middle of a 20 mile day, next week we'll just drop Dan in Rohnert Park and let him warm up to Windsor).

Part II for team Lilot, Dan's father Kim captured the senior division by over a minute, running 30:12 (66th overall) and showing similar form to his superb fall campaign of 2000. Kim was followed seven seconds later by master Earling Eia (70th) and Yurik Riegel (88th) in 31:30.

 -- WOMEN Byline: Kathryn Krieger

While the majority of the team was battling the elements at Hood to Coast, five courageous members of the girl's team made the trek down to Santa Cruz for a fun-filled Cross Country season opener.

Leading the team was Kathryn Yay-I'm-Healthy Krieger in 19:50 over the long (that was only a 5K?), hilly course. (Editor's note: Kathryn went out "easy" in mid-pack and picked it up over the second half to finish second overall -- just 12 seconds behind winner and 2001 World Championships marathoner Rachel Cook. A truly impressive performance, Kathryn!).

Crossing the finish line next was Lee There's-no-WAY-that-was-only-a-5K D'Alesandro in 24:43. Susan Beck was hot on her heals (Lee's), finishing in a strong 25:01, while new-comer Amy Hethcoat followed closely in 25:32 in her first Cross Country race in a long while (I don't know exactly how long but I know it's been "a long while"). And, rounding out the squad (and the runner with the bad-assest kick of the day), was Whitney Stephenson in 25:42.

Great job ladies! See you either at Empire this weekend or in GG Park in two weeks. -- kk

HEADLANDS 50K - 8/25/01

Congratulations to H-E mountain goat Cliff Lentz on his performance at Saturday's Headlands 50K race. Despite having never run a marathon, much less a 50K, and "bonking" at 25 miles, he still finished an impressive 7th overall (4:30:09), just ahead of world-renowned female ultra runner Ann Trason. Congrats Cliff!

1. 3:59:34 Carl Andersen 2. 4:07:46 Michael Loney 3. 4:09:35 Tim Monaco 4. 4:13:00 Mark Richtman 5. 4:25:55 Carl Johnson 6. 4:27:16 Tom Lyons 7. 4:30:09 Cliff Lentz 8. 4:30:16 Ann Trason 9. 4:36:17 Chase Duarte 10. 4:37:35 Ken Gregorich

HOOD TO COAST RELAY - 8/24/01

Despite a few wrong turns, our Hood to Coast teams finished exceedingly well again this year and, most importantly, made it back to SF in one piece (yay!). The Santini Extra Virgins submaster team won its division in 18:40:10 -- nearly 50 minutes ahead of the second place team -- and placed 9th overall (out of 978 teams!). The Santini Popeyes & Olive Oils mixed open team finished in 19:05:31 -- nearly an hour and a half faster than the second place team -- and good for 12th place overall. Congrats HTCers!

More information -- including times, stats, race charts, race leg analyses, pie charts, global positioning, geologic surveys, wind plotting, genome mapping, and handwriting samples -- will be provided by Professor Abbott later this week (see below).

~~~~~

As mentioned last week, we sent two teams to Hood to Coast, and both won their divisions (men's submaster and mixed open, 2 hour 21 minute combined margin of victory) and both finished in the top 12 (of 1000) overall. Was it the novice coed team, with three years combined Hood to Coast experience, that made three wrong turns, suffered through three injuries, and missed an exchange, or was it the submaster team, with 85 years combined experience? To find the answer to this and other fascinating questions, including insight on Pete Vicencio's built-in homing device, feel free to contact me for a copy of the press packet and, yes, reams of statistics. Congratulations on excellent efforts to Dan Rhodes, Chris Phipps, Dan Rhodes, Tyler Abbott, Ernie Stanton, Jesus Garcia, Juan Torrealba, Peter Hsia, Craig Steinmaus, Pete Vicencio, Pete Nowicki, Brian Mulry, Jen Major, new member Charlie Brenneman, Ryan Gallagher, Monal Chokshi, Chris Lundstrom, new member Brian Keane, and honorary team members Scott Steinmaus, Tony Fong, David Volk, Michelle Hannaford, Katy Hollbacher, Alexandra Newman, and Carol Keller. And a million thanks to the several people who offered to fill in at the very last minute!

And finally kudos to the Aggie master team, which beat our submaster team by 43 minutes, breaking both the master course record by ten minutes and the magical 18 hour barrier in the process.

     -- Tyler Abbott

HOOK & LADDER 10K - 8/19/01

Hook & Ladder: 35 Brunches!

Last year we placed 6 of the top 7 at Hook & Ladder. This year we didn't overwhelm the top quite as much, but our depth improved. We placed 3 of the top 5, 7 of the top 10, and 16 of the top 30! The women ran well also, with 2 of the top 3 and 9 of the top 30 (see below). We beat last year's record 26 Cliff House brunches by 9--should be quite a party after Presidio cross! ("Hoy's Excelsior, party of 35 non-paying runners"--I'm sure they can't wait!)

Having lost the visiting Lundstrom to Parkersburg, Brian Richter led us in a fine off-season time of 32:51, in second behind winner and 2:14 Swiss runner Jurg Stalder. This must be a relative PR for Brian: just 42 seconds behind a 28:14 10,000 meter runner projects Brian's 10K potential at around 29 flat! Brian was joined in the top 5 (2 brunches each) by Chris Phipps in 3rd (33:45) and Dan Mancini (34:33, 5th). Andy Chan (35:31, 8th) and Mike Regan (35:32, 9th) rounded out our scoring team (5 brunches). The masters men also won the title (and five brunches), sweeping the top 3 (two brunches each) with Hans Sight for Sore Eyes Gouwens at 34:57 (7th overall, 1st master), new member Luis Sanchez (35:49, 10th overall, 2d master), and a coming back Tyler Abbott (35:58, 12th, 3rd master). Jim Misener (38:45, 30th) and Tom Bennett (44:45, 90th) completed the masters team. Other men running included Mark Ford (36:22, 13th, 4th master), Peter Hsia (36:48, 16th, 5th master), Matt Regan (37:14, 18thh), new member John Casey (37:26, 20th), Andy Sobozinsky (37:38, 24th, 6th master, 2 brunches for fire/police finish), and Charlie Thompson (37:50, 25th, 1st senior--two brunches).

For the women's team, courtesy Susan Beck:

The Hoys Excelsior women's team confidently dominated the Hook & Ladder 10K in Golden Gate Park on Sunday, winning the women's team prize, capturing 6 of the top 20 spots, and walking away with a slew of Cliff House gift certificates. In her first 10K outing Jen Major won the women's race with a crisp 37:59, and was 26th overall . Next came new member Kim Fanady, running a big PR of 41:10 -- the third women over the line and winner of the master's top prize. Christine Jegan ran a strong 44:26. Then the trio of Malinda Walker, Christine Wang, and Susan Beck battled it out for the next three spots, with Christine surging at the end to beat Malinda by 4/10 of a second. Christine's time was 45:48.3, with Malinda at 45:48.7. Susan followed five seconds later in 45:53 (a PR). The rest of the team ran good races, with Pat Reilly in 46:49, Sharon Melman in 47:49, and Jocelyn Friel -- rejoining the team after a stint in NY -- at 47:54. Sharon in particular ran a brave race, with her leg still bruised and bloodied from a Dipsea spill. A fun time was had by all.

OTHER RACES:

Congratulations to Mike Mahurin on his 2:45 win Sunday at the Puget Sound Marathon.

     -- Tyler Abbott

NATIONAL HALF MARATHON CHAMPIONSHIPS -

Parkersburg: Lundstrom 14th at National Championship!

Chris Lundstrom went to Parkersburg looking to do us proud, and do us proud he did. Chris finished 14th in the loaded field at the national half marathon championship (read: money!), running 1:07:14 on the difficult course. The results look like a veritable who's who of US distance running: Dan Browne, Keith Dowling, Rod DeHaven, Chad Johnson, Clint Verran, Steve Spense, and, just ahead of Chris, John Sense. Behind Chris were Phillimon Hanneck, Eddy Hellebuyck, and a host of other fine runners. Congratulations Chris!

     -- Tyler Abbott

ALAMEDA RUN FOR THE PARKS 10K - 8/05/01

Five runners from the Hoys-Excelsior team visited Alameda a couple weeks ago to test their conditioning in a 10K.

Dan Ramos, who just recently began competing again after a two plus year layoff, won his senior age division with a 37:39. This also placed him in 40th place overall.

Brian Schultz found training with the open team is starting to pay dividends as he ran a respectable 37:55. This placed him 8th in his age division and 44th overall.

Manny Bernsten, who has been in seclusion with his new son, realized that his current training technique of pushing around a baby stroller is not conducive to fast times as he ran an unspectacular 38:37. However, this was still good enough for 11th in his age division and 54th overall.

Gary MacPherson, just coming back from an injury, is getting back in race form. He was 5th in his senior age division with a time of 42:55... which was 141st overall.

Congratulations all!

(The 5th is presumably writer Les Ong, who slyly omitted his own results!)

     -- Tyler Abbott

SKYLINE 50K - 8/05/01

Steinmaus Wins Skyline 50K!

For the first time in the history of Hoy's Excelsior we fielded a team at a PA Ultramarathon. Craig Steinmaus, Neal Gottlieb, Peter Hsia and I toed the starting line at Lake Chabot Marina along with the other 200 or so runners for the hilly 31.1 mile Sunday long run. A short 3 hours and 50 minutes later, Craig returned to the marina and crossed the finish line in first. I meandered across the line about 24 minutes later (4:14) to finish 7th. Craig passed me at mile 24 to move into 4th, and ended up beating me by 24 minutes over the last 7 miles. Needless to say, I was doing a lot of walking in the last 10K. Neal, training for a 100M (that's 100 MILES!) race, was the team's next finisher coming through in 4:38 for 18th. Fresh (?) off his run at the Western States 100 Mile in June, Peter finished in 4:43 (around 22nd place). I apologize for anyone I missed who still may be out on the course.

Quotes

Craig - "If I got a $1000 or a trip to Hawaii for winning I'd consider racing ultras."

Neal - "More importantly, no girls beat me!"

Peter - "I can't believe I ran 31 miles and I'm not even gonna be an official scorer for the team!"

Phipps - "I will NEVER run an ultra again.....except for maybe the Quad Dipsea"

Editor's additions: Chris Lundstrom and I went out for an Sunday jog in the park/death march (his perspective/my perspective) around Lake Chabot while the race was going on. After running almost two hours, we caught the last 3.2 miles of the race, from the last aid station down to the finish. Craig came to that final aid station some two minutes behind the race leader (Tamalpa's John Edgecomb) and immediately started his kick down a hill that would have been fun if there'd been some old cardboard lying around. Once he hit the asphalt path that marks the last mile and a half of the course, Craig had John in his sights and dropped down to the low sixes to pass him and create his thirty-second margin of victory. Congratulations, Craig! An inspiring effort!

     -- Tyler Abbott

WHARF TO WHARF - 7/22/01

Congratulations to Chris Phipps (31:50 on the 6 mile course, 31st), Pete Vicencio (32:10, around 40th), Parker Kelly (32:30, around 55th), and Patti Bershers (40:43, well inside the top 100 women, a one minute 10K PR after adjusting for the distance) for their efforts at Sunday's Wharf to Wharf.

Other Races

Congratulations to new member Kim Fanady on her 5th place finish (44:45) in the Run to the Lake 10K a week ago.

     -- Tyler Abbott

NATIONAL TRAIL RUNNING CHAMPIONSHIP - 7/15/01

Congratulations to Cliff Lentz on his 14th place finish at the national trail running championship in Colorado Springs Sunday. Cliff ran 1:47 on the brutal 6,500 to 10,200 foot course, six miles straight up, six miles straight down.

     -- Tyler Abbott

SF MARATHON RELAY - 7/08/01

The men repeated for the fourth year in a row as winners of the SF (Chronicle) Marathon Relay Sunday, running 2:27:46 on the difficult course. Pete Vicencio led off with a strong 33:40 on the hilly first 10K leg, and finished well in the lead of the race. The only tense moment for the team came in leg 2. Dan Rhodes, running his third race in a week, cramped up, and ended up running his 11K leg in about 41 minutes. Dan was passed by the first marathoner and finished his leg about one minute behind. Jesus Garcia took over from there, however, running the next 11K leg (including the LONG run up 16th and Haight streets) in about 39:00, passing and putting some distance on the marathon leader. Chris Phipps anchored in 33:48 (10K), sealing the victory (three minutes ahead of the first marathoner, eight minutes ahead of the next relay team).

The women fielded two teams, and ended up in 2d and 4th places! Monal Chokshi led the first team with the fastest women's leg of the day, running 39:45 in the hilly first 10K. Malinda Walker followed with a 51-52 minute 11K. Jen Major took the third leg, the hilly 11K up 16th & Haight, in 46 minutes, with Pat Reilly anchoring the final 10K in 46-47 minutes. The team finished in 3:05:25, less than three minutes behind the 1st place team. The second team consisted of newcomers Christine Wang, Christine Jegan, and Kayma Croker-Liburd, with long-timer Donnell Borash anchoring. The Christines led off with a 49 minute 10K and a 51-52 minute 11K. Kayma ran the hilly Haight Street leg in 53 minutes, and Donnell finished in 49 minutes. The team finished in 3:05:25, just 2.5 minutes behind the third place women's relay team. (Times are almost all estimates, so I apologize if they are off (they add up more or less).) Congratulations, women! And special thanks to Malinda Walker for coordinating the two teams, including all twenty-seven iterations thereof.

Also running in the Marathon for Hoy's Excelsior was Mike Mahurin who was 21st in 2:57:54. This was another of Mike's training marathons leading up to CIM in December. Good job Mike!

Finally, congratulations to Lee D'Alessandro for her win in the accompanying 5K (20:43 on the difficult course, 10th overall); to Neil Gottlieb and Eric Yan on their 3:16 (unofficial) and 3:34 marathon finishes; and finally, to club friends Christine Brighton and Shelly Pierson, who finished 1-2 in the half marathon (1:26:55 & 1:27:26, 15th-16th overall). I apologize to anyone I've missed.

OTHER RACES

Congratulations to Cliff Lentz on his fastest scratch time at the Double Dipsea two weeks ago. Cliff ran a PR 1:40:38 on the course, the fastest time on the course in several years (course is about two minutes shorter in each direction than the Dipsea race course). Cliff's going off to run the national trail running championship (12 miles) in Colorado Springs this weekend, so wish him luck ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it )!

Congratulations to Mike Regan and Malinda Walker on their 4th of July wins at the Firecracker 5 Miler in Pacifica on the 4th, and to Andy Chan on his second place finish in the same race.

     -- Tyler Abbott

FLEET FEET CAPITOL MILE - 7/01/01

Milers We Ain’t

The first half of the 2001 PA racing season came to a close this Sunday with the Fleet Feet Mile, the shortest and flattest race on the circuit. My brief summary of the race is that it was too short, too flat, too hot, and too short. Running in the “4:30 or faster A heat”, the team was led by Dan “Spee-D” Shore in 4:32.29, good for 12th. A few seconds and places later came the “pack” with Pete Vicencio in 4:36.09 (16th), Jerad Crave 4:36.89 (17th), Chris Phipps 4:38.01 (18th), John Trevithick 4:44.33 (20th), and Hector Gonzales 4:45.45 (21st). The rest of our team decided not to lie about their times and ran in the “B” heat. Raymundo Cruz, with a sharp haircut thanks to his new sponsor, ran 4:39.68 for 2nd. Following him were Dan Rhodes 4:42.58 (4th), Jesus Garcia 4:42.98 (5th), Cesar Guillen 4:43.66 (7th), Andy Chan 4:53.10 (16th), Brian Schultz 4:57.10 (18th), new team member Joe Keene 5:03.58 (21st), and Yurik Riegel 5:08.32 (23rd). The races will be combined for overall placing by time. It was fairly easy to figure that we placed 3rd again, behind Adidas and West Valley’s “team” of the week.

Now it’s time to take a break from racing and think about the season ahead. We’ve got 2 months to put in the base before cross country and the longer road races begin. See you in the Headlands!

     -- Chris Phipps

Open Women

Jen Major continued to improve her grand prix finishes this Sunday at the Fleet Feet Capitol Mile, finishing 7th. This follows a 25th place finish at Houlihan's, 11th at Zippy, and 10th at Shriner's last week. This should put her in good position in the short grand prix going into the last event, the 10K in Paso Robles September 30. For the complete report . . .

The Shriner's Capitol Mile proved to be fast and furious this Sunday. Jen Major led the squad in 7th pace running a blistering 5:22 in the even more blistering heat. She was followed by Malinda Walker in 6:25, and Susan Beck in 6:52. Donnell Borash ran her last race in a while for us in 6:56 -- wish her well on her travels to India as she'll be there for 3 months. The team was completed by newcomer and saver of our team's butts, Ellen Ward in 7:20. (Times approximate pending posting of results.)

     -- Kathryn Krieger

MASTERS/SENIORS UPDATE

The Grand Prix road circuit reached the half way point this Sunday at the Fleet Feet Capitol mile. During the past two months, our men's master and senior teams have labored hard in a roller coaster season. Our team depth has kept us in first place. We will need a united effort from all masters and seniors to win both team titles. Stay healthy and run as fast as you can. Here is a recap of the spring races.

Compaq 10K (Cupertino)

The masters team finished second to the Reebok Aggies on warm day. The course seemed flat but had four shorts hills to slow you down. Lloyd Stephanson ran a quick 33:40 to lead the way. New member Andrew Sobozinsky ran a 37:55 in his debut as a master. Veteran Kevin Grady ventured pass 5K to test his fitness. He ran 38:04. The seniors edged out rivals Tamalpa easily. We were able to drop down Don Paul (34:31) to help the masters. Jim Gorman ran a solid 35:08.

Masters

Lloyd Stephenson 33:40, Tim O'Rourke 34:26, Don Paul 34:31, Tim Geragthy 35:06, Mark Ford 36:13, Andrew Sobozinsky 37:55, Kevin Grady 38:04, Tom Fox 39:46

Seniors

Jim Gorman 35:08, The Rocket 37:00, Les Ong 37:18, Al Stanbridge 46:29 (injured)

Big Sur 5K (Carmel)

The annual trek to lovely Carmel saw nine masters help score a team victory. Lloyd ran a fantastic time of 167:02 over the hilly/tough course. Our next four finishers came in closely together in a pack. The gap from Tim O'Rourke to Jim Gorman was only 21 seconds. New member, John Hale debut in 17:59. Our fearless leader, Tyler Abbott is now a master. He ran a 19:15. We welcome him to the ranks. He will run faster as he starts the comeback trail after being injured for a long time. The seniors finished second. Les Ong edged the Rocket, as he ran a good tactical race. He out kicked 4-5 people in the last 400 meters!

Masters

Lloyd Stephenson 16:02, Tim O"Rourke 17:12, Tim Geragthy 17:17, Mark Ford 17:30, Jim Gorman 17:33, John Hale 17:59, Jim Miesner 18:50, Tyler Abbott 19:15, Mike Gama 19:35

Seniors

 Les Ong 18:05, The Rocket 18:09, Al Stanbridge 20:55, Bob Stanger 21:07, Craig Edwards 21:32

Zippy's 5K (San Francisco)

The twisting course still yield good times for the conditions .An abnormal head wind greeted our runners for the first mile on JFK Drive in Golden Gate Park. Lloyd lead the team to second place. Tim & Tim ran another consistent race. Kevin surprised many with a quick 17:30. He improved greatly since the Compaq race. Tyler also ran well. The seniors continued to win as Jim Gorman ran a great 17:10 (5:31 avg) Les Ong also ran well.

Masters

Lloyd Stephenson 16:07, Tim O'Rourke 16;38, Tim Geragthy 16:57, Kevin Grady 17:30, Jim Hannawaldt 17:32, Tyler Abbott 18:02, Tom Fox 18:47, Mike Gama 19:04, Wayne Plymale 19:34

Seniors

 Jim Gorman 17:10, Les Ong 17:42, The Rocket 17:55, Tom Bennett 20:42, Craig Edwards 21:45, Bob Stanger 21:55, Stan Yasuhara 21:56

Shriners 8K (Sacramento)

The warm, but not as hot as last year weather greeted our runners in the flat point to point course. The masters got second to the Silver State Striders. We did beat our closest rival West Valley Joggers & Striders. We continue to stay in first overall! Consistent Lloyd finished second overall in 26:05. Tim ran a fast time. Tyler finally got in the top five. He continues to improve. Mike, Tom and Jim finished close together. The seniors saw Don blaze a fast time of 27:13 to win his division. The team won the senior title to continue to stay in first place overall. Returning member Dan Ramos ran well. Tom Bennett continues the comeback trail.

Masters

Lloyd Stephenson 26:05, Tim O'Rourke 26:36, Mark Ford 28:52, Tyler Abbott 29:10, Mike Gama 30:27, Tom Fox 30:29, Jim Miesner 30:46

Seniors

Don Paul 27:13, Les Ong 28:56, Dan Ramos 30:16, Bill Knapp 31:41, Tom Bennett 34:41, Bob Stanger 35:43

Fleet Feet Capitol Mile

O'Rourke runs quick time/Cabrera and Lilot provide support.

The annual Fleet Feet mile saw Tim O'Rourke fly to a quick 4:36 mile. He was closely followed by Lloyd Stephenson in a good time of 4:41. Jose Cabrera showed up after a one year absence to help the team. The great Aggies were too strong as we finished 4th. The team remains in first place overall. The senior team edged out the Tamapla team for victory by only 5 seconds. Don Paul ran a quick 4:53 for third place. Les Ong started out quickly on sub five pace, but faded in the last 200 meters. The mile will do that to you. For most of the team its the only short race they run all year. Kim Lilot provided team support as he ran his first race in many months. The seniors remain in first place overall.

Masters

Tim O'Rourke 4:36, Lloyd Stephenson 4:41, Jose Cabrera 5:02, Tyler Abbott 5:13, Mike Gama 5:26

Seniors

Don Paul 4:53, Les Ong 5:02, Kim Lilot 5:12, Bill Knapp 5:28

     -- The Rocket

SHRINERS 8K - 6/24/01

U-G-H! Without Lundstrom way out in front and many of our top runners either not competing or having off days, we got our collective booties kicked by Adidas and WVTC.

Fresh off his Dipsea Domination, Chris Phipps led the H-E men in their new snappy yellow singlets. Surging ahead of the chase pack just past two miles, Phipps maintained a strong pace and finished in just under 26:00 (25:59, 5:13 pace and good for 13th overall). An indication of how our day went... Chris points out his 5:13 pace earned him 4th Open Team man at Compaq 10K, while it earned him 1st Open Team man at a race 2K shorter than Compaq.

Behind Phipps came Jesus Garcia (26:15, 20th overall), running a strong race despite minimal training since taking TWO jobs that keep him busy from roughly 8am - 11pm. Pete Vicencio (26:18, 22nd), [BARELY outkicking] Dan Shore (26:23, 24th), and Jerad Crave (26:41, 32nd) rounded out the scoring team. Other Open runners included Raymundo Cruz (27:01, 35th), Mike Regan (27:08, 39th -- Welcome back Mike!), new team member Scott Kennedy (27:32, 48th), and Yurik Riegel (30:28, 98th).

Oh yeah, Mike Dudley (WVTC, Fila, Army, Oregon, Team USA, Eritrea, UN, etc.) ran away just past the first mile to win in 24:09 (4:51 pace), 33 seconds ahead of second place finisher Bill McMorran of Adidas Transports.

Next weekend's Fleet Feet Mile is the final race of the first half of the Grand Prix. Hopefully, we'll have EVERYONE running (it's just a mile!). I, for one, look forward to the base building in preparation for fall!

     -- Dan Shore

Open Women

The women's team continues to improve as seen this Saturday at the Shriner's 8k. The H-E Women were lead again by Jen Major. She continued her string of impressive runs by finishing 10th overall in 30:06. Next up for the girls was Lee D'Alessandro in 33:02, good for 28th place. She was followed by Patti Bershers (34:59) and Patti's friend, newcomer Kelsey Ziegler (35:31). Welcome back Susan Beck! After nursing achilles problems for the past few months, she returned with a strong 39:59. Jennifer Lee came out after a long absence as well, running 40:27. Great job ladies! See you at the mile.

     -- Kathryn Krieger

ALICE 5 MILER - 06/17/01

Major Third at Alice!

Jen Major continued her string of strong races with a third place finish and $100 payday at the Alice 5 miler Sunday in Golden Gate Park. Jen ran 30:44 to finish 40th overall in the large field. On the men's side, we lost our two-year string of second place finishes, but the team was well represented anyway. Scott Kennedy led the men in 6th place (26:25), with Dan Shore (26:30, 8th) close behind, followed by Tim Wallen (28:32, 19th), the Rocket (29:21, 25th), and Michael Gama (30:36, 36th).

Lundstrom 2:23:28!

Congratulations to Chris Lundstrom on his 15th place finish at Grandma's Marathon Saturday. In his marathon debut, Chris ran a strong 2:23:28 (5:28 pace), just over a trials qualifer, with the qualifying window opening next year (and at New York this year). Congratulations Chris!

Lentz Wins East Bay Triple Crown!

Cliff Lentz continued his blaze through Bay Area trail races with a second place finish at Woodminster Sunday. Cliff finished just behind Rosemarie Lagunas in the handicapped race. Following his second place finish at the Tilden Tough 10 and win at the Lake Chabot Half, Cliff earned the coveted "East Bay Triple Crown." Congratulations, Cliff.

D'Alessandro Wins First Steeple!

Byline Dan Mancini. Battling sweltering midday heat and drawing on her impeccable hurdling technique from past years as a sprint hurdler, Lee D'Alessandro scored an impressive victory in her debut 3k steeplechase at the PA Track Champs. in Sacramento on Saturday.

Great job, Lee!

     -- Tyler Abbott

DIPSEA - 06/10/01

PHIPPS FASTEST AT DIPSEA, LENTZ SECOND!

49:27. Thirty second PR. Forty-eight seconds ahead of record eight-time fastest finisher Mike McManus. Fastest time since 1998. Third place overall. Chris Phipps ran one of the greatest races of his life Sunday at the Dipsea.

49:58. Thirty second PR. Seventeen seconds ahead of Mike McManus. Faster than last year's fastest time. Eighth place overall. Also one of the greatest races of his life. Cliff Lentz gave Chris a run for his money.

Chris, Cliff, and Mike all started in the same one-minute handicap wave (men 31-37). Mike charged up the stairs, passing yours truly (2 minute handicap) near the base of the third flight and completing the stairs in 5:25. Chris was about fifteen seconds back, but slowly gained on Mike, catching him on Suicide. Chris tailed Mike for about five minutes through Muir Woods and up Dynamite, then took the fire road half way up Dynamite, Mike the trail. Chris never saw Mike again. He continued his blitz up to Cardiac, reaching the top in 33:39. Chris caught up to 3-minute handicapper and downhill expert Bruce Mace at Cardiac, and the two of them ran to Stinson together most of the rest of the way. Chris ran down in 15:48, passing everyone but Dipsea legends Shirley Matson and Russ Kiernan, to finish third, the highest finish for a low-handicap man since Mike McManus's second place 1998 finish.

Cliff ran a very different race. He apparently used meditation to levitate himself to Cardiac (I never saw him go by) in 35:05, well off his PR, but then he seems to have sprouted wings, as he flew down the mountain to Stinson in 14:53, a wicked fast time, also passing Mike McManus along the way.

Congratulations Chris and Cliff!

A slew of other club members ran the age and gender handicapped race. Jim Sweeney missed a black shirt (top 35) by just 24 seconds, running 53:21 (scratch) for 38th place (8th fastest time). Jim was followed by Matt Metzger (52d, 54:30, scratch, 12th fastest time), Tyler Abbott (63rd, actual time 57:37, 2 minute handicap--clock time 55:37, 30th fastest time), Chris Ross (120th, 59:44 actual, 1 minute), David Moulton (131st, 1:00:02 ouch, 1 minute), Randy Guerrero (627th--runner's section, 1:03:19, 2 minutes), Patti Bershers (641st--runner's section, 1:10:50, 8 minutes), Marcy Akard (662d--runner's section, 1:13:17.6, 8 minutes), Michael Gama (334th, 1:08:18.1, 3 minutes), and Jim Misener (345th, 1:07:32, 2 minutes).

Special thanks to all the team members who came out to cheer us on: Bernardo Bassil, Susan Beck, Jerad Crave, Donnell Borash, Kathryn Krieger, Dan Shore, Brian Schultz, Craig Steinmaus, Pete Vicencio, and Tim Wallen (as well as several spouses etc.). As always, I apologize to anyone I've missed.

Congratulations to Ernie Stanton on his 2:41:18 finish at the Sunburst Marathon in South Bend, IN. 10th place, 5th non-Kenyan or Ethiopian. 1st in 35-39 age division.

Thanks to Tom Bennett for filling me in on Lloyd's 5000 win last weekend. The race was in the Mark Grubi Seniors Track Meet at Berkeley 6/3. Tom believes his time was 15:57. Tom himself ran 20:10 for second place in the 50-54 division. Tim Geraghty ran the 8 and 15, but unfortunately Tom didn't have his times. Good job all!

     -- Tyler Abbott

STATUTO 5 - 06/03/01

Statuto: H-E Sweep!

Congratulations to Dan Mancini, Lee D'Alessandro, and Michael Gama for their victories in the Statuto 5 mile race this past weekend, in the open men, open women, and masters men divisions. Dan defended his 2000 title (he's won other years as well, if I remember). It took a "withering" kick from Lee to garner the win--margin of victory was one second!

Congratulations to Cliff Lentz for his win in the Lake Chabot Half Marathon Sunday. Time 1:20 on the extremely hilly course.

Congratulations to Lloyd Stephenson for winning a track 5000 this past weekend. Details very sketchy . . .

Congratulations to Tyler Abbott, BION, on his win in Sunday's DSE Practice Dipsea. We don't have to go into the time or anything (56:57 on the course two minutes shorter than the real thing), but suffice it to say a win's a win. Believe me, he was as shocked as any of you. Special thanks to Chris Phipps and Cliff Lentz for their absence.

     -- Tyler Abbott

Zippy 5K - 05/28/01

OPEN MEN: LUNDSTROM WINS!

The PA Circuit celebrated Memorial Day, Hoy's-Excelsior-style with our own Zippy 5K in a blustery Golden Gate Park Monday. The race appeared to out-draw Northern Rival Pacific Sun, but surely both races hurt one another. Let the 2002 race date discussions begin.

Chris Lundstrom continues to amaze. Buffeted by strong headwinds over the first mile, Chris towed the pack through in 4:50 and then dropped the hammer, running a 4:45 second mile, thereby dispatching of the two finishers ahead of Chris at last years version. All that remained was to chalk up one Mike Dudley on Chris' list of Oregon runners laid to waste. Mission accomplished with a 4:45 third mile, cruising to a comfortable (looking) 3 second win. Chris takes his show to Minnesota and the Grandma's Marathon in three weeks. Best of luck - it's hard to imagine Chris not meeting and exceeding all his goals.

Unfortunately, the rest of us were unable to overcome Adidas (1st) and West Oregon (2nd). Then men were third (again). After Chris (way after) was Brian Richter (15:39, 15th), Cliff Lentz, looking very sharp as he readies for Dipsea (15:53 PR, 21st), Chris Phipps (15:57, 24th) and John Trevithick (16:12, 30th).

As usual, we were deep, fielding a full second team consisting of Jesus Garcia (16:15, 31st), Raymundo Cruz (16:26, 39th), Hector Gonzalez (16:37, 50th), Jerad Crave (16:39, 53rd), and Dan Mancini (16:45, 58th). The team's 30 second 1- 5 gap will likely earn a fourth spot.

Mike Regan, making a successful comeback, debuted in 16:55 (63rd). Tim Wallen, also on the comeback trail, finished in 17:16 (74th). Tim was followed by newcomer Brian Schultz (17:45, 98th) and Eric Yan (18:26, 113th), and Yurik Riegel, preparing for his Zippy Costume, rounded us out at 18:34 (117th). Congrats all, and being done "on-the fly" this AM, my apologies to those I missed.

The PA circuit next takes advantage of Sacramento's ideal summer racing conditions by running twice in late June and early July. Shriners 8K is next, 6/23.

     -- Brian Richter

WOMEN: JEN MAJOR 11TH!

This years Zippy 5k saw some fast and furious times from our growing women's team. This time around the team was lead by Jen Major in 11th place running 18:39 over the 5k course. Following close behind was our own Oregonian Kirsten Wilde in 18:59, good for 14th place. Coming across in 46th place was Lee D'Alessandro in 20:29, followed by Patti Bershers in 57th place running a P.R. 20:49. New members Patty Reilly, Sharon Melman & Katie Nason came in in a tight pack in 22:29, 22:30, and 22:47 respectively. Nicola Robertson ran a strong race in 23:01. Kate Toews & Malinda Walker came in at 23:16 & 23:47. Jennifer Lee, Helen Wang, and Elaine Yutan completed the team running 25:05, 25:19 & 25:27. For the second time we scored two teams!

Great job ladies! See you at the Shriners 8k.

     -- Kathryn Krieger

BAY TO BREAKERS - 05/20/01

Lundstrom 9th at Bay to Breakers!

For the second year in a row, Chris Lundstrom was the first San Franciscan (and, this year, first Bay Arean and first American!) at Bay to Breakers. Chris ran 37:28, twenty or so seconds faster than last year's effort, just a few seconds off Chris Ashfield's 1999 club record.

We didn't quite repeat last year's effort (2 in the top 10, 3 in the top 13, 28 in the top 100), but we still had a strong showing. Dan Shore, running his B2B PR, finished 17th overall in 39:48 (second San Franciscan to Chris). Dan was followed by four of our own who were recruited at the last minute by the Microsoft 'pede and ran 40:54: Chris Phipps, Pete Vicencio, Jerad Crave, and Hector Gonzales. Would have been a good year to do a centipede . . . The 'pede was followed closely by Jim Sweeney, 41:02 (42d) and John Trevithick (41:11, 45th). Eight of the top fifty. After John came Greg Koniowka (42:36, 53rd), Bernard Bassil (43:27, 68th), Mike Welcome Back Regan (44:09, 75th), Jim Hannawalt (44:14, 76th), new member Brian Nice Picture Schultz (45:17, 97th), The Rocket (45:27, 99th), and Mike Mahurin (45:35, 100th). Fifteen of the top 100.

In the second 100 came Chris Ross (45:54, 107th), Erling Eia (46:40, 122d), Eric Yan (47:02, 145th), Tyler Abbott blocking for the lead women's Red Hook centipede (47:09, 150th)--welcome back Tyler!, David Moulton (47:11, 151st), Kathryn Krieger leading the Red Hook centipede (47:16, 153rd)--great job KK, Jim Misener (47:36, 168th), and Thom Fox (47:50, 188th). As always, I apologize in advance for anyone I've missed.

Other Races

Jim Sweeney also won the Marin Human Race 5 miler on Saturday 5/12. Congratulations Jim!

Congratulations to new member Kirsten Wilde, who placed second in a Portland-area 8K over the weekend, in a time close to her formidable PR (remaining details lacking I'm afraid).

     -- Tyler Abbott

DEVIL MOUNTAIN 5K/10K - 05/06/01

At the Devil Mt. Run 10k in Danville, Scott Kennedy (33:53 - 4th) and Jerad Crave (34:02, 5th) braved the heat and uphill first two miles. Former Cal star Richie Boulet won his second race in two days and the $500 first prize. After running first half mile in 2:45(!), Scott decided enough was enough and pushed the pace to keep everyone honest.

The 5k saw the Boy's in Yellow go 1-2. By late in the first mile Craig Steinmaus informed Brian Richter that "it's just me back here" and it became only a question of what order the two would finish. Stride for stride through 3 miles, Brian eased away over the last 0.1 to claim victory in 15:41 to Craig's 15:46, his first sub 16 in "many moons". Congrats to both.

     -- Brian Richter

BIG SUR 5K - 04/29/01

Open Men

After 2 weeks of e-mails, faxes, phone calls and other headaches, we managed to get numbers for all of those who wanted to run in the Big Sur 5K. Thanks to Dan Shore for going to the expo early to get all of the numbers we needed (and then some).

The Adidas Transports showed up in their usual full force, but West Valley was looking a bit vulnerable this week. With only Dan Nelson able to get through the agricultural inspection at the border, West Valley was going to have to rely on their Bay Area runners to complete their scoring squad. The race began with a false start by many that was not called back and Nelson, the Adidas pack, and a couple Ags leading the way, with our own Dan Shore right behind (4:58 in uphill first mile). I was thinking, "What's Dan doing, he never goes out hard?". But in a race just over 3 miles with a good portion on a narrow trail, going out hard is the way to go. Dan held on to finish 12th in 15:46. Pete Vicencio and I worked together to close the gap in the last mile, and picked off a few runners in the process finishing just behind Dan in 13th (Pete 15:48) and 14th (Phipps 15:50). The usual pack of yellow came in shortly after with Craig Steinmaus (24th 16:07) and John Trevithick (25th 16:10) rounding out the scoring team, followed by Jesus Garcia (26th 16:18), Cliff Lentz (28th 16:21), Jim Sweeney (32nd 16:32), Raymundo Cruz (39th 16:46), Tim Wallen (welcome back from the IR, 51st 17:19) and new team member Genaro Diaz (97th 19:08).

With 5 men ahead of our first, Adidas easily took the team title, followed by West Valley, just 20 seconds ahead of us (unofficially), so I think that makes it 4 in a row that we have been 3rd. Just wait until Zippy!

Also, it was great to see (and hear) Tyler racing again, making his masters debut [19:16-ouch -Ed.]! And he apologizes for anyone I missed.

     -- Chris Phipps

Women

Cooler temperatures and a confusing start were not enough to dampen the spirits of the H-E women this weekend in the Big Sur 5K. The team was led by Kathryn Krieger, who finished in 18:12, good for 6th place. She was followed by newest team member Kirsten Wilde. Kirsten came across the line in 14th place running a strong 18:47. Lee D'Alessandro followed in 20:57, and Patti Bershers continued to improve, running a 21:06 P.R. Malinda Walker rounded out the top 5 finishing in 22:08. Donnel Borash and Helen Wang completed the team, running 23:43 and 27:57 respectively.

Congrats, ladies! See you at Zippy!

     -- Kathryn Krieger

Editor's notes: All times above are as posted after the race; the consensus was that these times were two-three seconds slow. Also, a big thanks to Chris Phipps for coordinating all the race entries, many of the motel rooms, meals, etc. (Tyler Abbott)

COMPAQ 10K - 04/22/01

The open men took to the streets of Cupertino yesterday for the debut of the Compaq Up N' Running 10k on the PA Short Circuit. The team title was decided early as team Oregon swept the top 3 places and added a fourth in the top ten. Adidas Transport took second, although it showed a much weaker team than at Houlihan's. Our 5th was actually ahead of AT 5th by some 30 seconds. At this point depending on what the Aggies do with Tim Minor (and who the Ags 5th would be without him) the H-E men will be third or fourth. Normally having 5 in the top 22 produces better than fourth but this race again proved just how top heavy the PA races have become. Just four of the top 25 men did not come from one of the four teams mentioned, and a couple of them don't seem to be PA.

The yellow charge started at 15th place (Brian Richter - 32:15) and over the next minute plus, took 9 of the next 16 spots. The A scoring team was comprised of Brian, Dan Shore (32:20, 16th), Craig Steinmaus (32:27, 19th), Chris Phipps (32:28, 20th) and Ernie Stanton (32:45, 22nd), who did early pacesetting chores for the pack. The fact that our youngest scorer is 31 (I'll let you guess who) speaks to the fact we need another injection of youth!

In a repeat of Houlihan's, H-E shows the most depth in the PA. The B team will likely take 5th overall. Pete Vicencio (32:48, 23rd) continued the yellow wave, and was followed by Scott Kennedy (33:13, 27th) making his racing debut for the H-E men. Scott's arrival in Adidas sweats caused some pre-race panic, but that was all cleared up after just a brief post-race brawl. Close behind Scott were John Trevithick, fresh of his Nicky's win (33:17, 29th) and Jerad Crave (33:22, 31st). Jesus Garcia finished at 33:52 (39th, after a torrid early pace) and continues to count days until B'Day #4-0. Cesar Guillen (34:34, 53rd), Raymundo Cruz (34:46, 54th) and Yurik Reigel (38:49, 137th), testing a bum foot for his first race in many moons, finished out the lads in yellow. As usual, Tyler apologizes for anyone missed.

-Brian Richter

Two comments from the editor: The race gave us a great example of pack running, with six yellow jerseys running stride for stride at the midway point (5:12 pace): Shore, Craig, Phipps, Ernie, Pete, and John T. And to put things in perspective, at Pac Sun we only had three under 33:00--and two of those were Lundstrom and Ashfield!

The women showed a lot of the same camaraderie the men did. Patti Bershers and Malinda Walker started the race together, coming through the first mile in 6:45. Patti ended up leading the team in 44:53, with Malinda next in 46:11. New member (she innocently--or naively?--showed up for the first time at the Saturday morning run!) Sharon Melman and Whitney Stephenson also started out together, Sharon finishing in 47:03, Whitney in a 47:52 PR. Donnell Borash completed the team in 51:18. Congratulations women!

     -- Tyler Abbott

BOSTON MARATHON - 04/16/01

Congratulations to Mike Mahurin (2:45:09), Dan Rhodes (2:51:34), and Jen Hood (3:50:49) on their excellent performances at Boston. I understand Greater Boston had a slew of strong performances, including, I believe, Jim Pawlicki (who ran with us last spring)--congratulations to them as well. Haven't been able to find Jim Hanawalt online--Jim, if you're out there, let me know how it went. And haven't seen any team results yet.

     -- Tyler Abbott

MISC. RACING RESULTS

(Courtesy Dan Shore) Congratulations to John Trevithick for the defense of his 10K title (just fast enough to win) at Nicky's Rainbow Run. Andy Chan won the 3 mile. Photos and results on BARN.

Congratulations to Tim O'Rourke on his Juana Run? 8K victory April 1. Tim joins some of America's great runners as winners of this race (it's true, I just can't remember who right now).

Also congratulations to Brian Richter for his 31:49.86 (PR?), 9th place at the Duke Invite. From Brian: "I've discovered the secret to the sub 32 10K. Fly all day, stopping in San Diego and Austin, arrive in Durham 45 minutes before race starts, warm up about 1000m and off you go at 11:15pm EDT! Make sure its about 70 degrees and 80% humidity." Whatever works!

     -- Tyler Abbott

STANFORD INVITATIONAL - 03/31/01

LUNDSTROM RUNS 29:33 AT STANFORD!

Chris Lundstrom continued his amazing ways Saturday night at the Stanford Invite, running 29:33 in the 10,000 (B heat, believe it or not), breaking the club record of 29:48 he set last year at the same meet. Chris was on pace to run in the low 29s when a cramp slowed him down (to 71/72 second quarters!) at lap 16. We should all be so slowed down. Congratulations, Chris ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it )! Get some rest.

Special thanks to the TWENTY-ONE club members who came out to cheer Chris on!

     -- Tyler Abbott

HOULIHAN'S 12K - 03/25/01

LUNDSTROM EDGES NELSON AT HOULIHAN'S!

Byline Daniel Shore, San Francisco. The mighty Chris Lundstrom notched his first 2001 PA victory at his Houlihan's debut on Sunday, outrunning WVTC's Dan Nelson for a two-second victory. Lundstrom's winning time was 37:21, just two seconds ahead of Nelson's 37:23. Apparently (I was too far back to see), Chris and Dan ran neck and neck from the gun on a picture-perfect Sunday morning. At the Fort Mason hill, Chris surged and opened a small gap but Nelson quickly closed. With less than a half mile to go, Chris turned it on again and made a back-jarring, knee crunching, foot pounding, teeth-rattling "run for dear life" down the final hill to earn his two second victory. Running Houlihan's as a "tune up" for this weekend's Stanford Invite 10K, Lundstrom has shown that he's ready to challenge the 29:00 barrier -- good luck Chris!

Unfortunately, the rest of the Open team couldn't challenge the Adidas juggernaut, which placed six men in the top 10 and seven men before our second. Oish! To make matters worse, WVTC pulled in runners from up and down the west coast (hence, the "west" in West Valley), to finish ahead of us as well. Still, the Open men took third and, with over 20 runners competing, look to have taken fourth as well (under 2001 rules, clubs can score a B team).

Second on the Open team -- and ONLY 2:11 behind Lundstrom -- was Speed-Dee Shore, 15th overall in 39:32. Two places behind Dan in 17th was Brian Richter, having an off day but finishing in 40:05. Fourth on the team was Ernie Stanton in 40:19 (19th overall), and rounding out the team was Chris Phipps in 40:41 (23rd overall).

Then came the yellow swarm, starting with new member Juan Torrealba (recently rescued from the dark side) in 40:56 (26th). Following Juan were Craig Steinmaus (40:59, 28th), master Lloyd Stephenson (41:01, 30th overall and first 45-49), Cliff Lentz (41:04, 31st), Pete Vicencio (41:07, 32nd), Parker Kelly (41:22, 35th), master Tim O'Rourke (41:43, 39th), Jesus Garcia (41:56, 41st, still recovering from the LA Marathon), Hector Gonzalez (42:03, 42nd), John "I don't know how to run without a baby stroller" Trevithick (42:14, 43rd), new member Matthew Metzger (42:41, 51st), Jim Sweeney (43:02, 58th), Bernard Bassil (43:06, 60th), Greg Koniowka (43:14, 63rd), Raymundo Cruz (43:22, 66th), Dan Rhodes (43:32, 68th), Michael Mahurin (43:41, 71st), and Randy Guerrero (45:48, 112th). Tyler Abbott apologizes for anyone I've missed. [Editor: If you're counting, that was 15 of the top 43, or 15 of the 48 Bay to Breakers seeded qualifiers! Of the twenty-nine 15th-43rd place finishers, 14 wore yellow. We got depth.]

Next up is the Compaq 10K on April 22 (and Big Sur 5K 4/29). Until then, speed, speed, speed!

Women Score Double at Houlihan's

For the first time ever, we scored TWO women's teams at a PA race--twelve women ran Houlihan's! New member Jen Major led us in a very strong 49:23 (25th--GP point territory, in her debut). It seems like that's right around where Kathryn was a year ago . . . (speaking of whom, Kathryn is out with plantar fascitis--get better, KK!). Patti Bershers ran a PR 52:53 (69th), followed by new member Marcy Akard (53:59, 78th) and Lee Don't Race 3000M on the Track the Day Before You Run Your Longest Road Race D'Alessandro (54:47, 88th), with Malinda Walker rounding out the A team in 57:00 (120th). Susan Beck led off the B team in a 4-minute PR of 57:15, followed by Pat Reilly (58:50), Whitney Stephenson (59:22), Kate Toews (61:49), Elaine Yutan (64:16), and Stella Balmoria (65:02). Jennifer Lee also ran, but I'm afraid I missed her time.

 Congratulations women!

     -- Tyler Abbott

Master and Senior Men Teams Win at Houlihans!

A bright sun, high humidity, and the tough Houlihans 12K course did not deter both of our older teams from team victory. The team scoring was close in each division. The seniors were doubling back from last weeks 8k victory at Stanford. Our team depth enabled Don Paul to drop down and score for the masters, while Jim Gorman used this race as a tempo run for this weeks Carlsbad 5K race in San Diego. The seniors won by only 9 seconds over rival Tamapla. The masters were lead by Lloyd Stephenson and Tim O'Rourke. We edged out Tim's former team West Valley J&S by only 43 seconds. Both victories keep our older teams undefeated so far in the Grand Prix series. We have had good participation this year. We welcome Jim Hannawalt and Greg King to the masters ranks. The masters team is rebuilding its depth. Its time to recover from this leg pounding race, then prepare to double again next month in a fast 10k and a slow 5K. Please let me know if you are going to race for the masters or senior team. Stay flexible and allow more recovery time!

Masters
 Seniors
 
Lloyd Stephenson 41:01 Bob Darling 45:26
Tim O'Rourke 41:43 Les Ong 45:57
Don Paul 43:12 Jim Gorman 46:02
Tim Geraghty 43:36 Bill Knapp 49:18
Jim Hannawaldt 44:10 Ian Ried 49:50
Peter Hsia 44:13 Robert Stanger 56:07
Greg King 54:15  

 --Ciao! The Rocket

50 PLUS ASSOCIATION 8K - 03/18/01

GORMAN LEADS TEAM TO CHAMPIONSHIP VICTORY

The annual 50+ Association 8K race at Stanford University took place last Sunday. All the senior participants (from 50-90 years old) ran from outside the football stadium and took a large twisting route around the campus before finishing on the track inside the stadium. The sun broke through the overcast fog as the action was fast from the start. Don Paul and Jim Gorman surged to the front and hit the first mile in 5:23. Don then easily moved away to a seven second lead through 2 1/2 miles. Jim was running with Mike Dove, when all of a sudden Don felt lousy. He was having an extreme off day. Jim and Mike caught up to Don. They all stayed close until 1/2 mile to go. Jim put in a surge and ran down the hill to the track. He sprinted around the last 300 meters to a surprise five second victory. The top three finished within nine seconds. Jim averaged 5:35 per mile in running 27:43. Our team scored an easy victory. We had nine runners participate in the event. A great turnout for this event. Its time to recover/rest for the upcoming Houlihan's 12k race. Older people take longer to recover! We will see you all there.

Results

Jim Gorman-27:43-1st
Don Paul- 27:52-3th
Bob Darling-28:46-7th
Les Ong- 29:39
Kim Lilot- 29:49
Bill Knapp- 31:00
Ken Warde-3?:
Craig Edwards-3?:
Bob Stanger-3?:

   --Ciao! The Rocket

MERCURY NEWS 10K - 03/11/01

Some of us H-E were there:

Lloyd Stephenson 33:37 for 5th 40-49 and 20th overall

Tim Geraghty 34:57 for 35th overall

Jim Gorman 35:04 for 1st 50-59 and 41st overall

Patti Bershers 43:20 PR! for 28th women overall

     -- Jim Gorman

LA MARATHON - 03/04/01

Congratulations to Jesus Garcia, 21st place man at the LA Marathon Sunday,
2:37:07. Just six months shy of 40, Jesus would have been top master.
We--I can't believe it's we now--can't wait, Jesus!
     -- Tyler Abbott

RUN FOR THE SEALS - 03/03/01

H-E had a 4-5-6 finish at the Run for the Seals 4 miler Saturday. Chris Phipps finished in 20:48, with Pete Vicencio and Scott !!! Kennedy close behind. Good job, gentlemen, and welcome back to racing, Scott. Congratulations also to Susan Beck, who finished just out of the age-group money in around 30 minutes.

Kim Lilot was 2d senior. Jim Sweeney and newcomer Bernard Bassil also finished highly. Good job, all of you.

     -- Tyler Abbott

OSAKA HALF MARATHON -

Lundstrom at Osaka

Congratulations to Chris Lundstrom for his 9th place 1:06 finish in last week's Osaka Half Marathon. Chris was sent there (with Taj) by the City of San Francisco because of his top San Franciscan finish in Bay to Breakers last year (Osaka is a sister city). Thanks to Brian Richter for pointing the city folk Chris's way (and not going himself--long story). Competition was tough (two ran under 1:03), but as always, Chris represented us well. In Chris's words (he may follow this up with a longer story):

RACE: 1:06:52, 9th place. Strong field. Post-Nationals head cold :-( SUSHI: Good, in moderation. JET LAG: My best friend.

Met Eric Wainaina (Kenyan Silver medalist in marathon in Sydney). He was seventh in 1:06:03. Must have been a training run for him. Made friends with some other international runners (Russians, Australians, Brazilians, etc.) Great, but exhausting trip.

     -- Tyler Abbott

MUIR BEACH 12K - 3/25/01

Congratulations to Phipps, Pete Vicencio, and Dan Rhoades for their 1st-2d-4th place finishes at last Sunday's Muir Beach 12K!

     -- Tyler Abbott

USA NATIONAL XC CHAMPIONSHIPS - 3/18/01

LUNDSTROM ROMPS AT NATIONALS

Chris Lundstrom continued to amaze us Sunday, running 36:58 in the x-c national championship 12K in Vancouver, Washington (4:57 pace on the relatively flat but still cross-country course, with several mud patches), good enough for 19th place among the best in our country. Chris beat everyone in the PA except Greg Jimmerson (who finished 5th and will represent the US at worlds), including Peter Gilmour, Jason Balkman, and Dan Nelson. The race was a testament to his strength: in 30th after lap 1 of 6 around the 2k loop, Chris gradually passed people the whole way. Just think about that time for a moment on a course definitely tougher than Bay to Breakers . . .

More race coverage from Dan Mancini (I apologize to those who've already read this):

On Sunday, Chris Lundstrom, Brian Richter and Dan Mancini competed against the nation's best harriers on a muddy & challenging 12km X-C course in Ft. Vancouver, WA . The H-E squad's hopes of fielding a scoring team were dashed in the 11th hour when word arrived that Chris Ashfield would be unable to compete due to injury. Chris himself was unable to deliver the message directly to us, but rather relayed the bad news to Tyler, who, showing no more than his usual team dedication (fanaticism), promptly boarded a plane to deliver the message personally to us 30 minutes prior to the start of the race. With singlet and racing flats in hand, Tyler was ready, injury notwithstanding, to take one on the chin (or in the groin) for the team. But reason prevailed, and as the gun went off, he assumed his recent role as team photographer.

106 runners negotiated the tight turns and muddy conditions of the 6 x 2k loop course. Brian Richter, throwing caution to the wind, blazed an opening 3k split of 9:18 (Ouch), rivaling the madness of his opening 2 mile split during a recent track 5k - only now he had 9k to go (Ouch!!!). Meanwhile, Dan enjoyed(?) the dubious distinction of running the race AND sharing in the glory of the leader's sprint finish, as he battled winner Meb Keflezighi down the final 200m, then continued on to finish his last 2k loop. But on a day that saw the deepest national XC field in years - including 9 Olympians - a field so talented that Bob Kennedy, predicting victory, could manage no better than 5th, the real story was the 19th place finish of Chris Lundstrom. Chris avenged his 2nd place PA Champs. finish to "West Valley's" Dan Nelson, by dispensing with Dan, but also defeated all Farm Teamers but one, as well as the likes of Olympians Mark Coogan & Dan Middleman. Chris' final time of 36:58 was particularly impressive on a tough, messy and technical course. Brian finished in 73rd place with a strong time of 40:15 (73rd), while Dan rounded out the team, just 320 ticks of the clock behind Chris in 42:19, good for 88th place. Next year's race will again be at the Ft. Vancouver course, so mark your calendars now everyone - I know a few of you REALLY wanted to run this year, but "forgot that they had something else planned instead"...

     -- Tyler Abbott

CHINESE NEW YEARS RUN - 02/04/01

Johnny T leads Hoys Excelsior team to a sweep!

John Trevithick started off his racing season with a suprise victory in the Chinese New Year Run 10K sponsored by the Chinatown YMCA. It not how fast you run sometimes, but being in the right place at the right time. When he crossed the finish line in 33:07, he assumed he was second. A new young unofficial runner from the East Bay Striders had crossed the line ahead in first. But he had no race number. He had gotten to the race late and had no time to enter. Hence the victory went to John. He earned one round trip ticket any where on South West Airlines. This is a great way to start your season! He was followed by three teammates. So we finished 1,2,3,4. In second was the first master, Lloyd Stephenson in 34:01. Then came Tim Geraghty edging out the first senior Jim Gorman, 35:27 to 35:30. As the race director, I had the honor to pass out the awards to my follow teammates. Other club members seen in the 5K were Mike Gama, Bob Stanger and Jennifer Lee. Race volunteers were Don Paul, Les Ong and Jenifer Lee! I appreciated everyone's help in making our run a success.

We had some other club members run the Chinese New Year run 10K. Charles Thompson-37:55 (2ND 50+). Peter Hsia-37:57, Wayne Plymale-45:05, Jeff Wall-52:12.

     -- The Rocket

LAS VEGAS HALF MARATHON - 02/04/01

Congratulations to Donnell Borash for her 1:46 at the Las Vegas Half Sunday, on the anniversary of Tom Caruso's death. Great job, Donnell! You were in our thoughts.

     -- Tyler Abbott

CAL 5000 - 02/03/01

Chris Lundstrom won the 5000 at Saturday's all-comer's at Cal in 14:29.33 (by his own watch), a one-second if unofficial PR. Chris was followed closely by Bill McMorran of Adidas, with two other Transports finishing under 15. Brian Richter finished in 15:49 (after an ouch 9:52 split), with Dan Shore, about to embark on the Spring of Speed, close behind in 16:03. Thanks to Adidas's Ben Turman for organizing.

     -- Tyler Abbott

SAN FRANCISCO HALF MARATHON - 01/28/01

Congratulations to Chris Phipps, who, with a monster kick, finished 3rd in the SF Half Marathon Sunday in a time of 1:12:15. Pete Vicencio was 7th or 8th in 1:14:30 or so. Other team members running included new member Dan Rhoades (sp?--sorry Dan) in 1:18, Peter Hsia, Jim Hannawalt, Cesar Who Me? Guillen, Jim Misener, the Rocket, Malinda Walker, Elaine Yutan, and Katie Malinda's Friend. Raymundo Cruz finished 5th in the 5K in 16:22. I apologize to those I've inevitably missed.

     -- Tyler Abbott

CALIFORNIA 10  - 01/07/01

Another cold day in Stockton. Chris Lundstrom began the season in good form, finishing third overall in 51:34 (5:09). Chris's time would have been quite a bit faster were it not for an unscheduled and unfacilitated but not unwitnessed stop just past mile 7. Chris was followed by Mr. Comeback himself, Brian Richter, in a ninth place of 52:40 (5:16). Welcome back, Brian! Craig Steinmaus followed Brian with a fine race of his own, running 53:24 (16th). Chris Phipps ran most of the way with Craig, finishing just back at 53:52 (17th). To complete the scorers, Parker Kelly began a comeback of his own with a fine 54:38 (26th). Parker was followed by John Trevithick (55:12, 34th), Jesus Garcia (55:51, 40th) and Dan Shore (57:12, 57th). Can anyone guess who just ran Cal International? It was a fine team effort, but we finished third a minute and a half behind a Dan Nelson-led West Valley, with Adidas in first by two minutes over WV.

On the women's side, Kathryn Krieger picked up where she left 2000 off with a very strong 1:00:16 (6:02), just behind sixth place Tenaya Soderman Adams. ALMOST under an hour. Malinda Walker finished next in a fine 1:11:57 (65th). Malinda was followed by new members Nicola Robertson (1:17:35, 83rd) and Elaine Yutan (1:26:22, 113th), with an ailing Donnell Borash (1:23:20, 103rd) sandwiched in between. Great job women!

     -- Tyler Abbott

The seniors seem to have started out 2004 with yet another win, though it was a squeaker. Don Paul led the team in 59:41 (3rd). Don was followed by Tom Bernhard (1:01:33, 5th), Les Ong (1:04:25, 9th 50-54), Kevin Grady (1:05:36), Kim Lilot (1:05:49), and Bob Darling (1:05:56). Ian Reid rounded out the team in 1:06:50, good enough for second super senior and only 50 seconds behind first place Robert Gormley.