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EXCELSIOR Running Club Results - 2006 
Christmas Relays - 12/17/06
Bronze Bronze Bronze
An intense end to a long racing year came at Sunday's Christmas Relays. With nothing at stake in the grand prix standings, all three of our teams (open men, masters, and seniors--the women took a well-deserved bye)
finished third. Details . . .
Open Men
Byline by Dan Rhodes
The open men had an interesting week leading up to the Christmas relay with the competitive spirit between our two relay teams leading us to nearly forget about racing other teams and just focusing on our inter club rivalry between A and B teams.
Unfortunately by race time one of the prime instigators of all the trash talking and betting was sidelined by injury,
and another simply showed up to hungover to defend his claims.
In the end there was to be no beer relay or nakedness to be seen which was probably a relief to all the other participants. We had to settle on just running hard and placing our A-Team in 3rd overall 2 minutes faster than our effort last year despite having 3 men returning from the marathon 2 weeks ago.
Dan Rhodes led the 1st lap in 24:41, Brian Gilliss ran the 2nd in 24:50, Chikara Omine blazed a 23:47 (Just 1 second off his PR) and Jin Daikoku sobered up enough to do a lap in 25:01. For a team time of 1:38:20.
As for the B-Team I didn't get a clock on them and no one is fessing up what their time was plus I haven't seen the results posted yet but I believe we were 6th open and 18th overall with Oliver Chan, Matt Hinde, Matt Patout, and Dan Rhodes returning for a second lap after running leg 1 on the A-Team.
Congratulations guys! If anyone wants an extra trophy mug let me know I ended up with 4 of them. Stay tuned for the season end wrap up report.
Masters Men
Vitas Ezerskis led the masters off with a fine post-marathon 25:30. Jeff Dewey returned to club racing after running his own fall marathon to run the second leg in 27:32. Tim Wallen, who'd promised himself he'd be running tempo pace, broke his promise to run the third leg in the second fastest club time of the day in 24:16, moving the team up several places and setting up anchor Cliff Lentz (24:48) to pass two masters teams and give us a third place masters/eighth place overall finish. Time was
1:42:16 (yes, 10 seconds of phantom time).
Senior Men
Byline Rocket Darling
We finished in 3th place. The senior team splits were:
1. Rocket: 29:39 (6:38 avg)
2. Jim Gorman: 27:39 ( 6:11avg)
3. Brock Hinzman: 29:44 ( 6:39 avg) (Welcome back from retirement)
4. Tom Bernhard 26:18 ( 5:53 avg) (great anchor leg)
USATF National Club XC Championships - 12/10/06
The open men and women suffered from some CIM-itis (affecting the depleted entry list more than the fine performances), the masters men faced some tough luck in an unprecedentedly deep field, and the senior men fell just short of a full team, but we saw some great efforts from the likes of Bigelow, Major, Kimple, Nelson, and Wallen, just to name a few, and hey, everyone had a great time at Saturday's National Club Cross Country Championship.
Special thanks to the Asics Aggies and to our own Tim Wason for putting on such a great event. And I'm saying that even after missing the party! When can we do it again?
Open Men
Byline Dan Rhodes
The open men were a bit depleted for nationals with many of our regulars recovering from CIM but still managed to get 8 men across the line.
Leading the way was our import Bret Kimple visiting from OR and running a 33:40 on the muddy course. Next in we had Ben Chaffee running well in 35:43 with Jin Daikoku close behind in 35:58 making his long-awaited
return after a Spring injury.
Parker Kelly waited all year to join us but has been a big help in the last 2 XC races and finished next in 36:06. Papa Shore was our 5th man running 37:16 with what I would guess to be little to no sleep. Then we had a couple of marathoners out for recovery runs with Matt Patout recovering well in 37:21 and Dan Rhodes not so well in 38:43 but I had fun and didn't get lapped!
Ron Gutierrez rounded out the team with a 39:59 ultra marathon speed workout. Yurik Riegel also came out to run but wisely dropped out when he knew this wasn't his day as opposed to me who never received that memo. Good job guys.
Women
Byline Allie Bigelow
On a picture perfect cross country day in San Francisco (also known as
overcast, rainy and MUDDY) 9 brave Excelsior women took on their first
National level competition. Everyone went in with the idea to have fun and it sounds like we all accomplished that mission.
Despite an incredibly crowded course (248 women!) and a LOT more mud than a few weeks ago at PA Champs, everyone ran well. First across the line for the team was Allie, who ran 23:12 in brand spanking new shoes [ed: a 20 sec. course PR, despite the adverse conditions!]. Next up was Jen M. who tore in in 23:36, finishing strong after working hard to not start too fast. Hot on her heels was Stacey in 24:13. A perfect minute later Helen came in, in 25:13.
Next in the train of pink was TRACY, who ran an impressive 25:41, despite working on her swimming much more than her running as of late. Lee and Megan came through next in 26:57 and 27:22 respectively. Next was Gerry in only her second XC race ever, finishing in 29:06. And last but far from least was Julie H, who enjoyed herself thoroughly and finished in 31:03.
[ed: Jen and Helen capped off a very long 2006 racing season, competing in pink in an incredible number of road races (PA and otherwise), cross country meets and even a triathlon!)]
Thanks to everyone who raced and to our fabulous cheering squad of Jamie, Carin, Tanja and Julie M, as well as our enthusiastic men's teams. The support was fabulous and well appreciated!
Old'uns
Byline Dan Mancini
The rain soaked fields of Golden Gate Park held host to the National Club
Cross Country Championships on Saturday, greeting a mammoth pack of some 450 runners in the Masters Men's race - the largest National Masters XC field ever assembled on the planet. And the competition was ferocious.
The stampede across Speedway Meadow literally shook the earth as the
runners jockeyed for position. By the time they reached the mile, Dan
Nelson had firmly established himself in the leading group. The lead pack
was a veritable who's who of former National class runners from the mile
to the marathon.
Dan showed his pedigree by holding his position amongst the best Masters runners in the country throughout the race, ultimately finishing in a terrific 8th place (33:24) and defeating the 2002, 2003 & 2004 Champions in the process.
Meanwhile, the rest of the squad was doing their best to earn a top-5 team placing. Tim Wallen, running his best race in 3 seasons, finally showed some grit with an excellent 35th place performance (34:56). Cliff Lentz showed a wrestler's tenacity in the final miles to score a strong 56th place finish (35:36), while Dan Mancini spewed out a 71st place showing (35:54), followed closely by Iain Mickle who was suffering a side stitch, but hung on gamely for 74th (35:57).
Mike Slavin, suffering from knee problems, was forced to run defensively,
but still managed a solid 82nd (36:11). Pete Vicencio started out
conservatively, but stormed home late in the race, passing runners by the dozen to grab 90th (36:20). Hans Gouwens, in the final race of his career, but also hobbled by knee problems and virtually no running since PA Champs, ran bravely for 95th in 36:28, and cross country perennial John Spriggs rounded out the team in 40:27 (243rd).
Though the injury setbacks conspired against the team achieving its goal of a top-5 placing, they nonetheless represented themselves admirably with an 8th place finish (and just seconds from 6th place) among some 25 teams.
Due to a little miscommunication, our seniors fell just short of a full
5-man (national rule) team. Captain Allan Stanbridge led the four in 44:20 (20th 55-59), followed closely by Dave Schmidt (44:20, 87th 50-54), Kim Lilot (44:30, 21st 55-59), and Tom Bennett (57:29, 37th 55-59).
Pictures:
Mike Shwe forwards a series of great pictures he took at nationals . . .
And Tom Bernhard forwards this link to 553 pictures . . .
Les Ong and Tom Bernhard have uploaded a bunch of nationals pix of our runners to:
And Tom points out that there are also a slew of pictures at:
California International Marathon - 12/03/06
VITAS, MASTERS WIN!
Vitas Ezerskis capped off another fine year of racing with his first win
of the year. Vitas ran 2:42:08 to finish 48th overall. Unfortunately, he
seems to have fallen shy of the long grand prix win by just ouch two
points.
Thanks to new member Tim Sheeper and Ian Hersey, the masters also
seem to have won the race--thereby vaulting them back into the grand prix lead, by just one point going into Christmas Relays. Among other teams, both the women and the open men had great performances and great turnouts. Details . . .
Women
Byline Tanja Tamguney
On a cold but sunny day we had a team of six women running the 26.2 miles from Folsom to Sacramento: Donna, Jocelyn, Heather L, Julie M, Carin and Tanja.
Tanja had lots of fun running her first marathon and crossed the finish line after 3:08:45 (7th F25-29), closely followed by Carin who ran steady and finished strong in an excellent 3:12:13 8th F25-29). Although fighting cramps Heather L was the next to come across the line in a great 3:20:53 (11th F25-29), closed in by Julie M in awesome 3:21:27 (12thF25-29).
Jocelyn looked amazingly fresh when she came into the finish after great 3:26:17 (27th F35-39). Donna was troubled by a rib she cracked two
weeks ago falling during a training run, but nonetheless fought her way
through to complete the 26.2 miles.
Great job everybody! All this would of course not have been possible without great support from others: Big thanks to Helen, who gave 'warm' last minute advice (heating pads etc) and was on the course 3+x times to cheer people on.
Shelly, Brenda (running alongside Donna and helped her fight the pain to finish) and team friends Charlene Bayles, Carol and Cheryl Shwe were also cheering on loudly, as was the Alex & Alex support team on bikes. Thanks a lot everybody!
[Ed: Tanja's husband Erdem also finished his 3rd marathon of 2006!
Phenomenal!]
Open Men
Byline Dan Rhodes
The open men had a strong showing again with 8 men in this years CIM.
Leading the way was Chikara Omine in a PR? of 2:36:03/6th PA. George
Metronome Torgun rounded out a great season with a very smart and well paced race to finish next in 2:39:48/9th PA, followed by Brian Gilliss who after a late season injury scare has returned to run well finishing in
2:53:50.
Next in was Craig Riebersal in 3:00:02 Ouch! just missing the 3:00 barrier. Rounding out the team were Oliver Chan 3:05:48, Matt Patout
who was earning brownie points by running with Heather finished in
3:20:35. And Matty Green rounded out the team with a 3:21:18.
As for myself I was soon reminded why this is my least favorite of distances when after the 1st 10 miles in 59:25 (on pace for my goal time) I proceeded to set a PR for the longest death march of my life! to finish in 3:01:19.
Good job to everyone it is great to see so many teammates out there and I am sorry for the lack of commentary about your race but I was in no shape after the race to find or talk to anyone.
Old'uns
As mentioned above, Vitas Ezerskis won the race, finishing strong in a
tactical 2:42:08. New member Tim Sheeper followed in 2:48:13 (8th?)--welcome Tim!--and Ian Hersey fought the calf problems that have
sidelined him for most of the period since Humboldt with a fine 3:05:52. I
believe Kenny Warde was the only senior running; Kenny finished in 3:34:50.
Run Wild - 11/26/06
[Kao]
Excelsior women did New Balance proud at Sunday's Thanksgiving tradition race. No longer called 'Run to the Farside' because of losing Gary Larson and his familiar comic characters, the race was somewhat smaller and less costume-d than previous years.
Perhaps the impending rain scared away runners as well. But on Sunday, Jen Major and Helen Kao braved the cold for a fun 5K. Jen placed 2nd overall in 18:30 and picked up a medal and gift certificate. Helen, a straight minute behind Jen, finished 4th overall in 19:30 (testament to the smaller field)--relieved to finally have a PR and finish an otherwise crumpy year with a good race.
In the 10K race, Kim Fanady finished 3rd overall (1st age group) in 41:26. Fortunately for everyone involved, the rain did not pour until after the race was well over.
Ed.: Among men, Tim Wallen tuned himself up for Nationals with a fine
second place 16:13 finish in the 5, followed by Chikara Omine doubling
back from Thursday, not to mention the previous Sunday (16:36, 3rd),
Oliver Chan (17:10, 6th, also doubling back), Andy Chan (17:10, 9th),
Agustin Cruz (17:56, 16th), and Stan Yasuhara (22:52, 9th 50-59). In the 10, David Moulton ran 40:25, 38th, followed by Brian Schultz on the
comeback trail 40:41, 43rd. I apologize to anyone I've missed . . . .
Seagate Elite 5K - 11/23/06
Byline Dan Rhodes
The open men had a Thanksgiving surprise this year when the Seagate Elite 5K snuck onto the schedule (for open men only). What better way to spend your holiday than running 4 laps in down town San Jose in fear of being lapped by a pack of Olympic runners!
Needless to say it was a bit hard to talk 5 guys into running this one and the PA as a whole had only a small group of around 30 men entered.
Leading in our men was Chikara Omine who's legs are showing signs of life after running his 100 miler and finishing in 31st/16:25. Ben Chafee also running well finished in 34th/16:41. Oliver Chan out to take one for the team was next in 40th/17:16.
From here things get a little fuzzy as some runners were apparently not given timing chips and the results may be a bit off. Robin Hart ran +/- 41st/17:20-17:30 while narrowly avoiding being caught by the leaders, and Yurik Riegel who has been out 5th man and savior many times this season showed up again to contribute a +/- 42nd/19:05. Good job guys and thanks again for coming out on the holiday.
Pacific Association XC Championships - 11/19/06
PA CHAMPS: DYNASTY!
The masters men won their third straight PA Championship in dominating
fashion, with the PA winner, the entire scoring team in the top 10, and 8
of the top 15. All that with two non-PA members in the mix (so in the PA
we had 8 of the top 13!).
No other team had more than one runner within our top 8! Hey, if the D-word fits . . . . The women put forth a very strong team, the strongest we've seen all season, while the open men were similarly strong and the seniors scored a cross country team for the first time this year. Details . . .
Women
Byline Helen Kao
We fielded what I believe was our largest PA XC women's team in years
(ever?). There was definitely tight teamwork at play with pods of women running together--as evidenced in the photos and finishing times.
See the terrific photos from Lee's message below and Mike Shwe's link at the end of this e-news (if you scroll through Mike's photos fast enough it's almost like watching a movie!)
Jen Major, 55th, topped the team in 23:27 with her mother out on the field proudly cheering. Jenny Wong, 58th, kept a tight pace with Jen, finishing 23:31 after an exhausting week of work. Allie Bigelow, 60th,
post-marathon, passed off baby Zach to the cheering squad and raced with a tight achilles, 23:34. Stacey Schweighart, 67th, proves she fits in well with her new team, capping a stellar 23:49.
Tracy Hogan, 97th, enjoying a change from her usual triathlons, rounded out our top 5 scorers with 25:14. Helen Kao, 99th, had a blast on the new course and used Tracy to help pull her to 25:22. Heather Leutwyler, 102nd, preparing for CIM, kept pace with Tracy and Helen for 25:30. Lee D'Alessandro, 120th, continued her steady recovery from a tough year to finish 26:16. Jocelyn Friel, 135th, also in her taper for CIM, worked though a sprain mid-way in the race for 27:05.
Megan Thomas, 138th, also post-marathon, ran her first XC race ever, enjoying a 27:19 finish. Molly Newlon, 170th, single-handedly representing the NBEx masters and seniors proved its never too late to try new things; she had a lot of fun in her first XC race, as well, racing to 35:24
Open Men
Byline Dan Rhodes
This years PA Champs offered a great chance for a pre Nationals XC tune up and course preview and many of the area's best runners came out to play. Leading in the men was George Torgun showing the strength of his marathon training with a strong last 4K loop to finish in 34:13.
Next was Brian (back from the scrap heap) Gilliss running 35:48 only 3 weeks after injuring his hamstring and thinking his season was over!! Ben (don't ask me about oral hygiene) Chaffee was next in 35:54.
Parker Kelly making his 2006 debut ran well finishing in 36:13, not to be confused with Kelli Parker who finished a few places ahead? Matt Patout ran 37:02 to be our 5th man, with Chikara (badger of Babiak) Omine still recovering from his 100 miler finishing in 37:42, Dan Lilot 38:47, and Yurik Riegel beating the Schneid! in 41:02.
Ron Gutierrez our 50K trail specialist finished in 42:57 to round out the team as our 9th man. Good job guys!
Masters Men: Threepeat!
Byline Dan Mancini
The Masters men captured their 3rd consecutive PA Cross Country
Championship title, taking 5 of the top 10 and a phenomenal 8 of the top 15, in a team performance that ranks as one of the most dominant in PA Championship history.
Their team score of 22 (15 being the lowest possible) gave them a 56 point winning margin over the 2nd place team, and was a testament to the superb individual efforts by each member. In an effort to inject some competition into the race for the usually dominant Dan Nelson, the USATF flew in U.S. Marathon Olympian and newly-minted master Rod DeHaven. Though Dan ultimately finished 2nd, he earned his 3rd
consecutive crown as the first PA finisher in a fine 33:37 over the 10,026 meter course.
Behind Dan, the parade of NB Excelsior men followed in rapid succession - 7 men within 1 minute! - Tim Wallen 6th (4th in the PA) - 34:58, Iain Mickle 8th (6th PA) - 35:12, Mike Slavin 9th (7th PA) - 35:24, Cliff Lentz 10th (8th PA) - 35:32, Dan Mancini 11th (9th PA) - 35:44, Hans Gouwens 14th (12th PA) - 35:53, and Pete Vicencio 15th (13th PA) - 36:00.
Meanwhile, leading the B Team [and after shall we say a decent gap -Ed.], Tyler Abbott finished in 75th - 40:01, Andy Apfelbaum 81st - 40:20, and John Spriggs 86th - 40:46.
Tom Bernhard led the Seniors in a fine 39:53 good for 69th overall and
19th Senior, followed by David Schmidt 127th - 44:20, Allan Stanbridge
129th - 44:26 and Tom Bennett 176th 56:46.
Pictures
First from Mike Shwe, almost recovered from knee surgery . . .
Iain Mickle forwards masters pics form Zinsli:
and Lee D'Alessandro points out that pics for all races may be found at
www.zinsli.com, weekend results, PA and Western Regional Championships.
Finally, thanks to the many many runners (Helen mentioned at least eight women who came to watch in addition to the eleven racers) and blasts from the past who came out to watch and cheer. Among the latter were spotted founding modern men's open team member Antonio Corgas (almost 50, seniors!) and Chris Evans. I think someone said they spotted Sylvester Franklin lurking in the trees, but this was unconfirmed.
Davis Turkey Trot 5K - 11/18/06
[Kao] Nancy Vuong and Helen Kao trucked out to Davis on Saturday, Nov 18 for the annual Turkey Trot 5K. The weather was perfect and the race was impressively attended for a community event.
We each pulled the other along, crossing the finish line together in 19:10, 19:12 (on what we believe was a slightly short course), for 1st and 2nd Age Group and 4th, 5th overall.
CLARKSBURG 30K - 11/12/06
Open Men
Byline Dan Rhodes
We had a strong showing at the Clarksburg 30K this weekend with our top 3 finishing 3 in a row.
Dan Rhodes lead in the open men with a 50/50 effort = running my planed pace to the turnaround then gimping all the way back to finish in 14th/1:54:10.
Next in was George Torgun running his last long tune-up for CIM ran much smarter taking it easy one the way out and picking off loads of people on the way back in what he described as an "interesting run" finished in 15th/1:56:32 just catching Oliver Chan in the last 1/4 mile.
Oliver who also subscribed to the Rhodes racing method of going out hard and suffering all the way home finished 16th/1:56:32. Craig Riebersal rounded out the team with a 40th place 2:07:38 effort and
was reported enjoying a casual conversation with an undisclosed Impala
along the way!
Good job guys we look to have taken 2nd place as a team.
Women
Only two Excelsior women showed up in Clarksburg. Julie McGee and Carin Ward were pleased that the event was officially titled a "country run," as both used the morning to complete their final long run before CIM.
Carin finished in 2:16:17, and Julie in 2:27:22. They had fantastic
support from #1 fan/personal physical therapist/gear carrier/chauffer Alex.
Old'uns
Vitas Ezerskis and Cliff Lentz posted fine 5th-6th place masters finishes
at Sunday's Clarksburg 30K in 1:51:32 and 1:52:26, respectively. Tyler
Abbott ran ouch 2:13:22 to round out the team. Miraculously the team may have even pulled off the win there.
With two senior drops in the final 48 hours, Kenny Warde was the lone runner; Kenny finished in 2:24:05 (17th 50-59).
City of Trees Marathon - 11/05/06
From Allie Bigelow
Just a quick marathon report from beautiful Boise, Idaho...it was cold and rainy, but I paced my good friend Stacy to a solid 3:32 finish at City of Trees yesterday, so we are off to Boston in April.
Since that will be an even slower marathon I am thinking I might try to run a hard effort sometime soon just to see what I can do. But in the meantime we had a ton of fun, Boise is beautiful, and my 2 friends and I finished 11th, 12th and 14th women overall (yep, it is a small marathon).
US Half Marathon - 11/05/06
Helen Kao reports that new member Stacey Schweighart finished 3rd in 1:29 at Sunday's US Half Marathon. Team friends Kasia Tarantino and Amy Pearson ran 1:43 and 1:47. Helen thought Jocelyn Friel was running, but didn't have her result.
FLEET FEET XC - 11/04/06
Mickle Second!
After five straight third place finishes and a sixth in last week's stacked Tamalpa race, Iain Mickle broke through with a strong second place
finish in a deep field at Saturday's Fleet Feet cross country meet at
Ancil Hoffman Park in Rancho Cordova.
The masters seem to have just missed out on the win though, in spite of another strong effort by Cliff Lentz and Pete Vicencio's best race of the year (so far). The women and open men took well-earned byes for the out-of-town race, though Jenny Wong ventured up and finished a strong 8th in 22:40.
Details . . .
Old'uns
Byline Dan Mancini
In the final tuneup before PA Champs, the Masters men put in another
strong performance at the Fleet Feet Open in Sacramento on Saturday.
Leading the way for the team was Iain Mickle who blazed his way to a
stellar 2nd place finish - his best performance of the year - in a speedy
19:19 over the 3.63 mile course. Cliff "I'll Be Late To My Own Funeral"
Lentz followed in 5th place (19:53), with a fast-improving Pete Vicencio
in 7th (19:57) right on his heels.
Meanwhile, Dan Mancini used the first 3.5 miles as the warmup he never got, then kicked hard for 200m enroute to a 15th place finish (20:23), while Tyler Abbott continued his post-post improvement in 44th (22:19).
The team is primed for PA Champs in 2 weeks where they will field their first full squad all year in hopes of three-peating as champions.
And finally, Mike Shwe, moving quickly along the comeback trail, forwards the following pictures from the race . . .
Marine Corp Marathon - 10/29/06
Congratulations to Brenda Deperalta who ran an awesome 3:48 Marathon this past weekend in DC. She placed 51st in age group. WOW!
Lafayette Reservoir 10K - 10/29/06
Kim Fanady reports that she ran into Julie Huy while they were both out
racing this east bay 10K over the weekend. She wrote "Beautiful day, fun community event, great tshirt, and beautiful course around the reservoir but very very very very very very hilly.
Julie was 9th in her age group, 51:32, and I was 3rd woman and 3rd in my age group (first 4 women were all over 40--good day for us oldsters!), 23rd overall, 43:52." Congratulations!!
SF One Day Event (12/24 Hour) - 10/28/06
Congratulations I think to Chikara Omine on completion of his first 100
mile run, as part of a 24 hour run last weekend.
From Chikara via Dan Rhodes: "The race went alright. I didn't feel as good as usual, but at least my legs kept on moving. I originally planned to go for the entire 24 hours but by mile 80 I changed my mind. I psyched myself out, when I thought about how much sleep I will be missing out on and was satisfied with 100 since I've never gone that far before."
Tamalpa XC - 10/28/06
Nelson/Masters Win!
Dan Nelson led the masters in a dominating pre-Champs performance by the masters at Saturday's John Lawson Memorial Cross Country Meet, placing all scorers in the top 10 and 7 in the top 16. Details . . .
Women
Byline Patti Shore
Saturday was a great day for racing! Five NB-Ex women made up our full team for the John Lawson Memorial Challenge, over a 4.25 course at China Camp in Marin County.
The sun was bright but not too hot, and the course was challenging but not too much so. Jen Major was our first runner in, 28:03 for 15th place. Close behind, and with a scary-good kick, was new member Stacey Schweighart, 28:32 for 21st place. Stacey says she gets
that kick from playing soccer - going to have to try that.
Helen Kao showed that her ankle is really, truly getting better, with a fine 29:40 for 34th place. Heather Leutwyler was our 4th scorer, with a great 31:00 performance for 50th place.
Carin Ward gets the "taking one for the team" award for the day - Carin ran the race in the midst of her marathon-prep 22 miler. After a short warm-up, she ran a nice tempo effort 31:15 for 53rd place, and then took off on her long run.
We watched the masters men AND the open men before we saw Carin again. Nice work, Carin! Out cheering were Patti Shore and Larissa Polischuk - at least one of whom is desperate to start racing again. Great job to everyone who raced, and see you all at PA Champs.
Open Men @ Tamalpa
Byline Dan Rhodes
We did manage to get 7 open men to the line for this years Tamalpa XC
race. With no less than 3 men nursing mid week injury's we were a little
nervous about having a team but needing our 5th team score everyone showed up ready to run and tough out one for the team.
In years past this was a race that many teams would skip and was a great opportunity to pick up some easy points, but the secret must have gotten out and this year was vary competitive with most teams showing up in full force.
George Torgun once again led us in with another fine performance finishing in 17th/23:58. Dan Rhodes was next in 41st/25:11 with Brian Gilliss running conservatively on a sore hamstring close behind in 43rd/25:17.
Dan Shore making another appearance on his comeback tour finished in 26:16 just ahead of new team member Chris Faraday 26:23 who was running his first race in 5 years! welcome to the team Chris. Matt Hinde deciding to join us at the last minute to insure we would have 5 healthy runners cruised the course for 4 miles then dropped down to his 400 meter speed to pick off a handful of runners at the line finished in 27:33, and Yurik Riegel despite being plagued by calf and ankle problems all summer was able to run well finishing in 28:29 to round out the team. Good job everyone!
Editor's note: In a deep field, the open men tied on points for 5th with
GVH. With tiebreaker being the place of the 5th runner, we ended up 6th because GVH's 5th runner finished ONE PLACE ahead of ours. Ouch! And on the women's side, we missed 3rd place by exactly one point. Close races!
Old'uns
Byline Dan Mancini
For the 2nd week in a row, the Masters men's team dominated the top 10 and took 7 of the top 16 in a phenomenal team effort to claim another victory at the Tamalpa Challenge.
Dan Nelson, sharply attired in all black and looking well-rested and fit in his seasonal debut, took the overall victory in a comfortable 23:54. Tim Wallen and Iain Mickle followed in 5th (24:34) and 6th (24:35) respectively, with Mike Slavin in 8th (24:45) and Dan Mancini in 10th (24:49) following closely behind.
Hans "Eddy Merckx Jr." Gouwens cannibalized most of the field on his way to an impressive 12th place performance (24:59) in his 2006 XC debut on 2 day-a-week running, causing some to whisper "EPO" under their breath, and beating back a stunned Pete "H.S. Footlocker Finalist, but what-have-you-done-for-me-lately" Vicencio to 16th place (25:14).
Rounding out the fine team effort were John Spriggs in 54th (27:39), Tyler Abbott (humming the Heat Miser song) in 90th (29:41) and David Schmidt in 92nd (29:46).
Chicago Marathon - 10/22/06
From Helen Kao . . .
Congratulations to our petite but speedy duo Megan Thomas and Larissa
Polischuk who both ran PR's (at least I'm pretty sure they both ran PRs by several minutes) at Sunday's Chicago Marathon.
Megan ran a 3:25 with a faster 2nd half than her first (wow!). And Larissa bested her marathon time with a 3:23. Hope you both had a LOT of fun.
And on the men's side, Jeff Dewey reports that he ran a 12-minute PR in
3:04:08 in the cold (38F) and windy (but thankfully rain-free) conditions, and he believes Matty Greene ran 2:58 and change.
Shoreline XC - 10/21/06
The masters men had another strong showing, with four in the top 10, as they seek to improve their ouch 5th place current gp standing, the women managed a fine team effort with some last minute fill-ins to all but guarantee that they'll score six races and end up in a money spot, and the open men took the bye they earned by running Garrin. Details . . .
Women
Byline Jen Major
Five women ran the 5K cross country race in Mountain View. Thank you to everyone who came, especially Nancy and Donna who agreed to it Friday night in order to make a complete team! What dedication!
Despite everyone's commitment to run, not race, once the gun went off, we all hurried over the fast, hot (no shade to be found), dusty course as quickly as possible!
Jen Major finished in 19:03, followed by Nancy Vuong, 20:45; Tracy Hogan, 20:59; Lee D'Alessandro, 21:36, and Donna Chan, 22:13. Thank you all so much! It was a great race!
Old'uns
Byline Dan Mancini
Under a sweltering sun on Saturday, the Masters men circled the Shoreline landfill like vultures picking apart their prey enroute to a dominating performance, placing 4 in the top-10.
Iain Mickle led the team with a strong 3rd place finish - his 5th consecutive 3rd place of the season - in 24:14.3.
In rapid succession behind Iain were Cliff Lentz in 6th (24:48.8), Mike
Slavin in 9th (24:58.0) and Dan Mancini in 10th (25:04.2). Tyler Abbott
rounded out the scoring 5 with a 36th place showing (28:13.8), with Tom Bennett securing a 31st place Senior finish in 39:02.3.
Humboldt Half Marathon - 10/15/06
Mickle, Bernhard Silver
Iain Mickle ran 1:16:01 to finish second master (12th overall) at Sunday's Humboldt Half Marathon, and Tom Bernhard ran 1:22:15 for second senior. Details . . .
Open Men
Byline Dan Rhodes
The open men had a good showing at Humboldt this year. First of all just
getting 5 men to the start is a good sign after only having a 1 man open
team at last years race, and secondly with good racing weather we had
several PR performances.
Leading the way for the men were Dan Rhodes and Brian Gilliss running in a strong pack together for most of the race with Dan turning in a modest negative split for a PR of 1:15:09/9th place/1st 35-39, and Brian with a big PR of 1:15:43/11th. Next in for the men was Oliver Chan in his 1/2 Marathon debut of 1:20:11/27th/2nd 19-24, and rounding out the team were our Matt's with Matt Patout finishing in 1:21:11/31st and Matt Hinde in 1:25:35/47th. Good job guys.
Women
Byline Nancy Vuong
The women's team cut it rather close in just filling a full team of five.
Carin Ward led the way with a surprising finish of 1:28:04 despite battling a hamstring strain for the past month. She was overheard before the race to be happy to finish at 1:30.
Julie McGee was hoping for a cup of coffee mid-race to help her through the second half but was still able to reach her goal of running under 1:30 by finishing in 1:29:31. Nancy was hoping for the "This is great! I feel awesome!" feeling she had throughout the entire race last year but was not too far off with a time of 1:32:29.
Heather Leutwyler, PR'ing by at least 3 minutes, finished right after
Nancy in 1:33:18. At mile 10, Heather thought "at least I'm not having to study". Julie Huy rounded out the team of five with an enjoyable race
because "the air was so clean". She finished in 1:50:44.
Old'uns
Iain Mickle led the masters in a fine 1:16:01 to finish second master
overall. Vitas Ezerskis finished next in 1:18:26 (7th), with Ian Hersey
coming aboard at the last minute and following in 1:23:43 (13th). Tyler
Ouch! Abbott and Niall out with bronchitis all week Vignoles rounded out
the team in 1:35:04 and 1:49:43.
For the seniors, Tom Bernhard led in 1:22:15 (2nd), followed by Les Ong
(1:25:40, 8th), Jim Gorman (1:27:09, 11th), and Allan Stanbridge (1:35:49, 17th). The seniors seem to have finished second.
San Jose Rock and Roll Half Marathon - 10/08/06
[Kao] And congratulations to Brenda Gee Deperalta who finished 22nd AG in 1:43.54 at the San Jose RNR Half Marathon.
Primo's to Primo's Half Marathon - 10/08/06
[Kao] And congratulations to Jules Huy who doubled back from Saturday's Presidio cross to run Primo's Half Marathon as a training run the day after Presidio. She finished in 1:58.27. Helen Kao ran the accompanying 5K and finished an excellent 4th overall in 20:09.
Dick Collins Fire Trail 50 - 10/07/06
[Rhodes] Chikara Omine won the Dick Collins Fire trail 50 mile race
winning by nearly 30 minutes in 6:54:55. Congratulations, Chikara, but I
hope you saved a little for Humboldt!!
Presidio Challenge XC - 10/07/06
MASTERS SWEEP!
At our own 8th Annual Presidio Cross Country, the masters swept, with winner Tim Wallen, Cliff Lentz, and Iain Mickle running together in the lead the whole way and finishing within seconds of each other.
The open men put forth a strong (and young!) team in an unusually
deep field, and the women continued their cross country momentum with another fine effort.
Most importantly, big thanks to Carin Ward for her very capable race direction, and thanks to all of you who came out to help. Details . . .
Open Men
Byline Dan Rhodes
This year the competition was much deeper than in the past few years for our own Presidio XC race. The NBEx men won this race last year but look to have finished 4th or 5th this year even though our team time was faster this year.
Leading us in was George Torgun in 20th/20:21, with hill specialist Brian Gilliss close behind in 23rd/20:36. Ben Chaffee was next in at 7th/21:01, followed by Dan Rhodes in 31st/21:20, and Matt Patout "Pa-too" who is improving every week as he seams to be racing himself into shape finished 37th/21:51.
We had a Dan Shore sighting in 50th/23:07, and Yurik Riegel rounded out our 7 man squad in 56th/23:55. Also thanks to our open men who kept to the sidelines as race volunteers--Brian Schultz, Jin Daikoku, and Chris Bowler Phipps, who was given a "timeout" and forced to sit facing the bathroom wall for the entire race. Good job everyone!
Women
Byline Allie Bigelow
Buoyed by fabulous team support on our (challenging) home course, a small but hearty women's team took on the (challenging) beautiful Presidio course.
The first pink blur across the line was Jenny Wong in 24:15, who passed Allie Bigelow in the final stretch with enough energy left in her to yell encouragement during her kick. Allie Bigelow did not catch Jenny,
but followed in behind in 24:17.
Next up was Tracy Hogan, crossing the line in a stellar 25:29 in her FIRST XC race ever (Tracy, we promise that not all of the races are this challenging!). Hot on Tracy's heels was the indomitable Shelly Pierson, finishing in 25:39 despite her ongoing battles with both anemia and vertigo!
Heather Leutwyler flew in next in a strong 26:42, and last but certainly not least was Julie Huy, who looked impressively strong as she finished in 32:20.
A good race was had by all! (but did I mention that it was challenging?) Kudos once again to our fabulous race director Carin Ward...you did a fabulous job and it was great to have one of our own at the helm.
Ed.: The team results have just been released, and the women won!
Old'uns
Byline Dan Mancini
Continuing the domination that they have enjoyed at this race over the
last several years, the Masters men swept the podium spots with relative ease at the Presidio XC on Saturday.
Though 2-time defending champion Dan Nelson was absent, the triple threat of Tim Wallen, Cliff Lentz and Iain Mickle put a half-nelson on the field, exerting a stranglehold on the race by mile 2. By the time the 3 hit the baseball field all that was left to decide was who would win the battle over the final 400m.
In the end, it was Wallen's ferocious kick that brought him home first in 21:10, one second clear of Lentz (21:11), with Mickle a scant 3 seconds adrift in 21:14.
Early leader Pete Vicencio, hung on gamely to collect 9th place in 22:09. Next in was a still black and blue Tyler Abbott in 45th (25:34), with Alan Stanbridge, our only Senior, posting a fine 27:41 good for 62nd place.
Garin Park XC - 09/30/06
With the women and masters men taking byes this week, the open men were our only representatives at Saturday's second annual Garin Park cross country meet.
It was great to see such a strong team of twenty-somethings out there (but where are the thirty-somethings?), with token master Tim Wallen helping out. . . .
Open Men
Byline Brian Gilliss
After some last minute uncertainty as to whether we would field a full team, the open men brought out a solid group to Garin Park in Hayward to run a hilly 5K on a cool, overcast day.
The race began slowly across a muddy, gopher hole-filled field and onto a fast flat cinder road for the first 1/2 mile. A pack of Transports darted right to the front but then settled into a slower pace, causing the rest of the field to be bunched close behind.
As the run turned uphill, things began to spread out and the Excelsior men moved into position. Chikara Omine went out front first followed closely by George Torgun. Next up, Ben Chaffee and Brian Gilliss,
shadowed by Masters drop-down Tim Wallen, climbed ahead of Matthew Patout and Yurik Riegel who followed up the hill.
Reaching the midpoint of the course at the top of a ridge, George moved toward the front of the race with Brian chasing, and Ben, Chikara, and Tim picking off runners behind in a tight group.
Everyone more or less maintained position through to the end of the race, except Chikara and Tim, who kicked hard to reel in Ben, who had put in a small gap. Matthew finished next, remains uninjured, and seems to be improving week by week. Yurik will report on the relative success of his race after seeing the results and determining who he finished with.
Excelsior results:
George Torgun (15th-17:04), Brian Gilliss (21st-17:29), Chikara Omine (22rd-17:38), Tim Wallen (25th-17:45) (3rd Master), Ben Chaffee (26th-17:45), Matthew Patout (44th-18:39), John Spriggs (67th-19:42), and Yurik Riegel (78th-20:11). I believe we finished third, narrowly missing an opportunity to beat host WVTC, and not so narrowly behind the Transports. Great job guys!
Women
Byline Helen Kao
While the team took a 'bye' for Garin Park, fellow teammates HEATHER
LUETWYLER and JULES HUY forged ahead to compete in the XC race. Heather ran a super 22:05 in a tough pack of runners. And Jules, who reports her father has been slowly recovering from a long hospitalization and is doing better (our best still go out to him!) continues her return to racing with a 26:33.
Heritage Oaks 10K - 09/24/06
Fanady National Champ! Seniors National Champs!
At Sunday's Heritage Oaks Bank 10K National Masters Championship, Kim
Fanady ran 40:32 to finish first in the 45-49 age division (and 11th 40+)
to win her first national championship. Congratulations Kim!!!
It took a few days for the dust to settle, but it now appears that our
senior men became national champions yet again, this time at Paso.
Congratulations Tom, Les, Jim, Dan, and Kenny!
Among men, Tom Bernhard finished second in the 55-59 division. Details . . .
Women
Byline Kim Fanady
The NBEx women painted Paso pink yesterday at the Heritage Oaks Bank 10K yesterday! The team prepped with a fun dinner of Thai food -- chili, garlic & basil make you run faster -- on Saturday night at a very nice restaurant on the town square in pretty Paso Robles.
On Sunday everyone was ready to speed over the flat, fast course on a sunny, cool morning. Kim Fanady led the team in 40:32, 11th master overall and 1st! age group.
Next across the line was Tanja Tamguney in a sharp 40:43. Helen Kao followed in a strong 42:11. Julie Huy posted a 50:27 in her first team race in awhile -- good to see you back Julie -- and Nancy Wang rounded out the team in 50:37.
Team friends Chris Barberich (42:57) and Erdem Tamguney (43:17) livened up the team dinner and also ran very well
(although their S.O.'s dusted them, of course). Nice running everyone!
Open Men
Byline Dan Rhodes
The open team ran 35:18 and finished 13th! So what did you do this weekend?
Old'uns
The masters decided to use their bye this week, so only Vitas Ezerskis, in need of long grand prix points, showed up. Vitas ran 35:51 for 22nd place.
Among seniors, Tom Bernhard was the national championship runner-up,
leading us as he has all year, in 36:54 (3rd senior overall), followed by
Les Ong (38:44, 12th), Jim Gorman (39:01, 13th), Dan Ramos (41:03) and Kenny Savior Warde (43:46). Congratulations all!
Banana Man 5K - 09/17/06
Women
Byline Jen Major
This past Sunday, we had a great turnout for the Banana Man 5K! We had gorgeous, warm weather for the race, although it soon felt very hot after the start--many of us agreed we started out way too fast!
Personally, I could have used a water stop at mile one. After the first fast mile, everyone settled in and finished strong! Allie Bigelow led the women's team in a blazing fast 18:16 (14th OA, 6th AG), just one second off her PR from August!
Jen Major was behind her in 18:30 (20th OA, 5th AG). Our next four runners were very close together: newly-engaged Nancy Vuong ran
a 15 sec PR in 19:31 (10th AG); Shelly Pierson ran an amazing 19:35 (8th AG) despite being sidelined by illness for several weeks (more proof that lots of self-care and recovery are good for the body).
Kim Fanady ran 19:38 putting her solidly into 3rd for her age-group [Kao editorial: Kim--you're no longer allowed to bemoan your 'slow' times 'as you get older'  Happy.png ":)") ]; and new teammate Tracy Hogan fit right into the Pink Pack with 19:46 (11th AG).
Next came Heather Leutwyler who has been racking up a lot of Pink time in her 3rd race with NBEx in just 3 weeks with 20:22 (12th AG). clocked 21:13 during marathon training (13th AG).
New Senior runner Donna Chan reNB Ex fantastically with a 1st place AG run of 22:10. Fellow master Brenda DePeralta and senior Nancy Wang ran hard to field our final team count of ELEVEN runners in 22:56 (19th AG) and 24:10 (3rd AG).
Also, special thanks to Larissa Polischuk for coming to cheer us on and
watch everyone's stuff as she recovered from an exceptionlly long marathon training run. Chelsey Remington sent her positive vibes. And team friends Corrie Drakulich and Monica ran the 10K (with Corrie finishing 3rd OA). It was a great race with lots of fun and festivities! Oddly, we couldn't find any bananas at the expo! I highly recommend participating next year!
Open Men
Byline Dan Rhodes
The open men set out on a perfect day in chase of a few Bananas. Leading the charge was George Torgun running his best 5K since 99' finishing 22nd/15:54. Next in for the men was Jake Gilchrist running great in his return from injury posting a 34th/16:23 performance.
Dan Rhodes finishing hard to avoid being caught by the top Banana was 3rd NBEXOM in 41st/16:36, followed by Brian Gilliss in 51st/16:53. New member Oliver Chan contributing in his first team race as our 5Th man finished 55th/17:00 welcome Oliver.
We also had a full B-Team just for good measure with Agustine Cruz in 17:18, Robin Hart 17:40, Adam Lucas 17:52, Matthew Hinde 18:19, and Yurik Riegel 18:39.
Good job everyone, great to see everyone out running.
Congratulations to teammates Andy Chan on his 6Th place finish in the new 10K edition in 37:02, and Matty Green in 12Th/40:25. Sorry to anyone I may have missed in my scan of the results.
Old'uns
The masters struggled this week with only three (ouch!) runners. This race usually pulls people out of the woodwork, but not this year, at least not for the masters.
Tim Wallen led the group in an excellent (masters PR?) 16:06, good enough for 4th master in the loaded field. Cliff Lentz followed 17 seconds and 3 places back in 16:23, with Vitas Ezerskis completing the squad in 17:01 (16th).
Fortunately, however, the seniors did come out of the woodwork. Tom
Bernhard led the crew with a fine 17:36 performance (3rd, 1st in his new age group of 55-59). Les Ong announced his return in 18:31 (9th/3rd 55-59), followed by Jim Gorman (18:43, 11th/4th) and Dan Ramos (19:11, 13th/6th). Jim Remember Me? Tracy (20:04, 19th/10th) and Rocket Darling (20:18, 20th/11th) rounded out the team.
Yes, one does notice that every one of these six runners is in the 55-59 age group . . .
Golden Gate Park XC - 09/09/06
Wallen/Mickle Lead Masters to Win
The club was out in force for this traditionally strong race, led by Tim
Wallen and Iain Mickle's 2d and 3rd place masters finishes and a
dominating masters team performance. Details . . .
Women
Byline Carin Ward
The pink ladies were out in fine form on Saturday at the Golden Gate
Park Open. Ten women toed the line on a perfect morning for cross
country--foggy and cool.
Julie McGee led the team, finishing 15th 26:05 despite a tough week of marathon training and the beginning of a challenging semester in school. She was followed closely by Jen Major (16th 26:06), who claims "it was all Hood-To-Coast adrenaline" (Helen's note: before the race, Jen sandbagged by claiming she was still in pain from HTC and might be "jogging it.").
Allie Bigelow placed 20th 26:22, despite stopping to tie her shoe in the first 1/2 mile. She got mad, and proceeded to pass half the field. Jenny Wong was 26th 26:44,sporting some totally cool sea-blue shorts (preview of things to come in the uniform department?) and Carin Ward rounded out the scorers in 40th 27:30.
Heather Leutwyler had a fantastic race (her 2nd XC race ever), improving her time from last week, on a much tougher course in GGP, helping the team to 'displace' other runners by finishing 28:43. Nancy Vuong finished right on Heather's heels 29:01, incorporating the race into a longer workout for the day- she was later spotted sprinting through the park, when everyone else was barely moving on their cooldowns.
Jocelyn Friel, racing her first XC for the year, came in 29:29, followed by Lee d'Alessandro (29:55) and Gerry Kim (31:03). This was Gerry's first XC race of her career as well as first race with NBEx. Team friend Ann
Schulz was also out blazing through the course in 28:58. Congratulations!
The highlight of the race was definitely the fantastic crowd support
along the course: pregnant teammates, Patti and Molly screamed at the tops of their lungs, Jamie sprinted around to about 6 locations to maximize her cheering support [and she reports she is finally able to do very small runs in her road to recovery! yeah!], and Helen cruised around the course to encourage the pink on a not-so-spectator-friendly morning [trying not to twist more ankles]. Thank you, thank you, thank you teammates for giving us the extra push from the sidelines!
Open Men
Byline Dan Rhodes
The open men had a good showing at the GGP race with 8 men making the familiar 2 lap tour of the park. Leading us in was Chikara Omine running very strong over the 2nd lap to finish 28th/22:47, followed by Ben Chaffee running a great race for 3 miles and paying back over the last mile to finish 29th/22:49.
Brian Gilliss was next in 37th/23:19 with Dan Rhodes 39th/23:39 not so close behind. Matt Patout came across in 51st/24:51 to complete our top 5 scorers. Danny Lilot 54th/25:02, Adam Lucas 57th/25:15, and Yurik Riegel 64th/26:04 rounded out the team. Good job guys.
Old'uns
Byline Dan Mancini
The Masters men notched their first team victory of the XC season on the strength of placing 4 runners in the top 8 in a very competitive field.
The team was lead by the 2-3 punch of Tim Wallen (22:51) and Iain Mickle (22:53), followed by Cliff Lentz in 7th (23:12) and Mike Slavin in 8th (23:15), Dan Mancini (14th, 23:35), Pete Vicencio (16th, 23:49), John Spriggs (48th, 25:28), Senior runner Charles Griffin (60th, 26:02),
David Schmidt (88th, 28:08), and Senior Tom Bennett (132nd, 35:53).
Santa Cruz XC - 09/02/06
This is always a hard one to get people to, and we did manage to field three full teams there for I believe the first time ever . . .
Open Men
Byline Dan Rhodes
The open men were able to assemble a 5 man roster to take on the
challenging Santa Cruz course (both to run and to find!). Leading us in
with a great race was Brian Gilliss in 12th/22:22. Chikara Omine out for
a recovery run 7 days after running the Headlands 50K was next in
24th/23:17, followed by Dan Rhodes in 33rd/23:37.
Matt Patout finished in 39th/24:06 2 weeks after completing Triathlon then being out of town and not running, and to round out the team Cesar Guillen finished 52nd/24:45. Good job guys.
Women
Byline Helen Kao
I wasn't able to make the trip myself but I've heard from Carin that the
team had a lot of fun. Alphabetically: Lee d'Alessandro returned to
racing with a fabulous 29:05 after being sidelined for several months due to illness.
Heather Leutwyler ran her first XC race with NBEx in 28:33. Larissa Polischuk inserted a quick 30:02 into her marathon training schedule. New team friend Ann Schultz flew through the course in 27:28.
Carin Ward was thrilled to be out running XC again after years away from the sport to finish 11th in 26.15. Jenny Wong sorted out bridge traffic from the east bay to finish in 10th 26:09.
Old'uns
Byline Dan Mancini
At the UC Santa Cruz Challenge on Saturday, Iain Mickle paced the
Masters Men's XC team with a fine 3rd place finish in 22:46, followed by 4th placer Dan Mancini in 23:06, a fast-improving Pete Vicencio in 10th in 23:32, Charles Griffin - 8th Senior - in 25:25, and Greg King in 34th in 28:10.
[Ed.: And I think Cliff Lentz is still driving somewhere along the
Boardwalk . . . .]
Finally, Carin Ward forwards some photos from the men's race--thanks
Empire Open XC - 08/26/06
Wallen Wins, Mickle Third!
Tim Wallen continued to tear up the masters circuits, winning the Phil
Widener Empire Open in 19:13 (new course). Tim was tailed closely by Iain Mickle, just four seconds and two places back. Pete Vicencio made his master's debut in 20:48, good enough for 29th place in an unusually tight race.
On the women's side, I believe Jenny Wong was our only representative, finishing 10th in 21:34. With many race conflicts, all our teams decided to take byes at Empire--but hopefully we'll have strong team's at this weekend's Santa Cruz meet!
Headlands 50K Trail National Championship - 08/26/06
Lentz First Master, Bronze Overall!
Cliff Lentz won the master's championship and finished third overall at
Saturday's Headlands 50K Trail National Championship, running 4:12:34 on a course extended and made, if you can believe it, more difficult due to construction in Pirate's Cove.
Chikara Omine ran 4:37:14 to finish fourteenth, a few minutes ahead of new member Ron Gutierrez (4:53:26, 20th). Official team results are not out yet, but the team seems to have finished second to a Boston team. Congratulations all.
Hood To Coast - 08/25-8/26/06
Santinis Repeat!
The Santini Extra Virgins and Santini Popeyes and Olive Oils repeated as
Hood to Coast champions in the men's submaster and mixed open divisions (the latter being the largest division, with almost 1/3 of the field), the Extra Virgins for the tenth year in a row and the young'uns for the second year in a row and the third time in six tries.
Both teams faced unusually tight competition, with the margins of victory only 8-9 minutes (though apparently there was a penalty which made the Extra Virgins' official margin much larger) and those gaps only opening up in the last few legs.
The Extra Virgins ran 19:23:25, ten minutes slower than last year (but
only after losing 8-9 minutes with an injury on a course .4 miles longer
than last year) to finish 9th overall, just EIGHT seconds behind the
rapidly fading 8th place team, which wasn't even in our sights going in to the last two legs.
The Popeyes and Olive Oils ran 2:00:08 (ouch!) for 12th place overall. Statistics out soon--if you're interested and don't receive them by the end of the week, let me know. The teams featured current and former club members Dan Rhodes, Bret Kimple, Mike Mahurin, Tyler Abbott,
Jen Major, and Robin Hart.
Marc Boutillette led another club-related team, Pink Eye, to a 150th place finish. Team featured club members Marc, Helen Kao, Matty Greene, and club friend Susan Beck.
From Helen:
Helen Kao and Susan Beck joined NBExers Marc Boutillette and Matty Greene on the Pink Eye team (don't ask about where the name came from) to finish 150th. Turns out Jen (Major, of the Santini Popeyes & Olive Oils) and Helen were running the same legs (6, 18, 30) --which meant we both ran the first 2 legs in the pitch dark.
[I could have sworn I saw someone who looked just like Jen warming up at 4:45AM at the start of leg 18 but she was off before I even made it there from the port-a-potties.] It was a wild, fabulous run. The event was incredibly fun despite stinky sweaty vans, lack of sleep, and an overdose of chocolate-covered raisins and re-used water bottles.
Both Marc and Matty were tremendous sports in having to run an extra leg each due to manpower shortage on the Pink Eye team.
Hook & Ladder 10K - 08/20/06
S.F. Cliff House Here We Come!!!
Chikara Omine, Dan Mancini, and Jen Major led a good-sized New Balance Excelsior contingent at Sunday's Hook & Ladder 10K, a traditional club favorite returning after a one-year hiatus.
Chikara and Jen won the men's and women's races in 34:59.9999 and 39:07 to become the California State RRCA Champions! Dan Mancini finished next in third place overall (35:38) to become the California State RRCA Masters Champion, followed by Cesar Guillen (36:52, 4th) and Dan Rhodes (36:61, 5th).
In the first three ouch non-money spots came Adam Lucas (37:31, 8th), Matt Hinde (38:29, 9th), and Matty Greene (38:29, 10th), followed by Tyler Abbott (38:48, 11th/2d master), Jeff Dewey (39:12, 14th/3rd master), Tommy York (40:45, 17th), and Ian Reid (42:30, 22nd, 1st 60-69).
Even with the last minute cancellation of the team competitions, club members came away with 14 free Cliff House breakfasts . . . save 'em up for post Presidio???
Susan B. Anthony 5K - 08/13/06
PR's PR's PR's
Byline Jenny Wong
Eight brave NB ladies in pink woke up very early on Sat morning to race
the women-only Susan B. Anthony 5k. Everyone loved the fast, scenic
course through residential Sacramento featuring a police car esort (we also liked the cute pink shoe bags that they gave to everyone for goodie bags).
In an extremely competitive field, Allie Bigelow raced to a 15th place finish and an incredible 33 sec PR! in a time of 18:15--we have all noticed that as the number of sports bras/nursing bras has decreased (she was at an all time high of 3 bras during Across the Bay) Allie's times have gotten much faster. She may be on to something with her training regimine of sleep deprivation, marathon training and track workouts on the treadmill.
Carin and Allie ran most of the race together and Carin finished just behind Allie in 18:20 (also a PR since college). Julie McGee also had an
amazing 30 sec PR (even in the midst of serious marathon training) with an 18:23, but that may be from the training regime of long work days and running at 4:30 am during the weekdays.
Next was Jenny Wong in 19:19 (having worked way too much on Friday) and really wishing that Bender could have pulled her the entire way. Our favorite doctor, Helen Kao, finished in 20:22.
We were very excited to have fielded a masters team with Kim Fanady, also working way too much, finishing in 19:52. Brenda G, who studied the course the night before and noted the 16 turns, finished in 23:34 and Nancy W. who really enjoyed the course and the mild (for Sacramento) weather finished in 24:21. The team bonded during our warm down along the American River (complete with a miniature replica of the Golden Gate bridge).
Skyline 50K - 08/06/06
Congratulations to Cliff Lentz and Chikara Omine on their 2d and 4th
place finishes at the Skyline 50K a week ago. Cliff ran around 4:00, Chikara 4:15. They also managed to recruit new member Ron Gutierrez, who finished just behind Chikara and is a great addition right before the Headlands 50K National Championship!
NATIONAL MASTERS T&F CHAMPIONSHIPS - 08/03-08/06
DOUBLE GOLD FOR BERNHARD!
At the National Masters Track and Field Championships in Charlotte NC over the weekend, Tom Bernhard continued his torrid racing of the spring/summer and won the 55-59 age division in both the 5,000 and the 10, and Jim Gorman won silver in the 1500. Among younger age groups, Jesse McAlman finished 6th/5th in the 35-39 age group in the 800/1500. Their reports . .
Tom's Report:
For us old guys, it seems an all too rare occurrence when we are both
healthy and fit for a major national competition. As the running gods
were kind to us this year, Jim Gorman and I decided we would make it all
the way out to hot and humid Charlotte NC to try our luck at the
National Masters Track and Field Championships, Jim in the 1500m on
Sunday and I in the 5,000m on Thursday and the 10,000m on Saturday.
5,000m (50-54 and 55-59 age groups) Because of some delays in the earlier races, our heat (pun intended) did not start until about 10:30 AM and by that time the conditions were brutal, 95 degree temperature and 95 percent humidity.
After a relatively brisk first 3 1/2 laps (which I did in 4:54) the collective
plug was pulled on all the runners and the event became more of a
survival exercise than a race. For the last 7 laps I just tried to maintain some form and hold off the other 55-59 year olds.
Somehow I was able to throw in a kick the last lap, and hold off the #2 55-59 year old by 6 sec. End result - 18:18.88, 4th overall, 1st in the 55-59 age group. It was the slowest 5k I have ever run, but a National Championship nevertheless.
10,000m (50-54 and 55-59 age groups) After the awful 5,000m race on Thursday, I was dreading the 10,000m, but fortunately conditions were somewhat better with the temperature about 10 degrees cooler, the race began at about 9:00 AM which helped.
After a slow first lap, Mike Houar (a 50 year old from FF Sacramento) and I sped up and went into the lead. Mike really pressed the pace the first 2/3rds of the race and at one point had a 180m lead on me. I decided to run a more conservative race and just worry about the other 55-59 year olds.
In the last 8 laps however, I started to slowly catch up to Houar and
thought I might have a chance to win the race outright. By the end of
the 23rd lap, I had whittled his lead to about 50m. However, at this
point I didn't feel I had much left and didn't begin a real surge until the last lap. Mike still had a 40m lead with about 180m to go when I decided to give it all I had and went into a dead sprint.
Surprisingly, I made up a lot of ground on him very quickly and with about 30m to go I thought I might actually pass him. Unfortunately at that point, because of the crowd noise, he realized the situation and put in a bit of a surge and held on to win by about 7m.
End result - 37:32.10 (hey, it was still pretty hot), 2nd overall, 1st
in the 55-59 age group and a 2nd National Championship.
Jim Gorman's 1500m (55-59 age group)
The 1500 meters was a much more competitive event than the 5000 and 10000 meters, and Jim was up against the very fast David Salazar who runs for SoCal Track Club (even though he lives in Cedar Crest, NM).
As Salazar is a also a very good 400m and 800m runner, it looked like
Jim would need to take the lead and set a fast pace, which is what he
did. Jim went through 300m in 57sec with Salazar right behind. He
remained in the lead at 700m at 2:13 with Salazar in tow. The situation
was identical at 1100m with Jim coming through in 3:29 and Salazar in
lockstep a meter an a half back.
At this point I should mention that Jim had just flown in the night before, whereas Salazar had run an 800 heat on Thursday and the 800
final on Saturday. Just enough running to be sharp but not enough to be
worn out.
Jim continued in the lead until about 250m to go, when Salazar made a
decisive move and went on to win in 4:40.49 to Jim's 4:44.92.
End result - Jim Gorman 2nd place, men's 55-59 age group.
Jesse's Report
I was here in Charlotte, NC for the Masters Track Championships and it was sweltering most of my 5 days here. It was fun and the experience was great.
I ran the 800/1500 35-39 group and came in 6th place and 5th
respectively. Although I took my 800 out at 58, I believed in my ability
but the excessive humidity wouldn't allow me to finish strong but came
throught at 2:06.62 on Saturday.
I then ran smart in the 1500 and under the sweltering conditions at 4:27. I wasn't on the medal stands, however, earned 2 ribbons to take home to SF..
Alameda Run for the Parks 10K - 08/06/06
[Brenda Gee DePeralta] Donna Chan Wins Alameda!
In a terrific return from a 15 year hiatus from racing and hours of
dancing the night before, Donna Chan placed 1st in her age division at the Alameda Run for the Parks 10k yesterday with an overall pace of 7:30.
Cheering her on from waaay behind and hardly light on my toes, I came in 5th in my age division with an average pace of 8:22.
San Francisco Marathon/Half - 07/30/06
[Kao] SF Marathon: Bigelow Wins 5K!
Congratulations to the fastest Mom we know! Allie Bigelow ran a stellar 13 second PR in Sunday's 5K to win in 18:43. Many thanks to Molly Sear and husband Marc Boutillette for watching baby Zach (a little jogging stroller practice for the expecting couple).
For the accompanying half marathons, it was a beautiful (almost too warm) summer day for our team of 5 NB Excelsior women who had a blast in this local city race.
It was wonderful seeing Chelsey Remington out running again and enjoying the experience with new fiance Jonathan cheering her
on. She swept in with 1:48.27. Larissa Polischuk used the half as a
training run for the Chicago Marathon and ran a solid 1:42.20 (13th Divis) only to go on and run another 5 miles home!
Helen Kao had a blast for the first 11 miles, yelling and cheering for the full marathoners, until she hit the wall and bumbled along to the finish, 1:40:48 (19th Divis). Nancy Vuong kept a steady 7:30 pace in the heat (with Niall and their dog Flicker on the sidelines) to finish 15th Divis, 1:38:22. Thanks to Nancy who filled in for Jamie Chomas who was sidelined with an injury.
And, finally, a stunning 1st place Division finish by Tanja Tamguney who broke 1:30 to finish in 1:29:31. Tanja's husband, Erdem, ran his first marathon the same morning!
Among the men, Mike Shwe said hello to his 40s in 1:28:52, and Dan Ramos finished 6th "old guy" in 1:38.
Thanks to the following teammates and friends we spotted cheering and
running along with us: Tyler Abbott, Donna Chan, Jamie Chomas, Jocelyn
Friel, Brenda Gee Deperalta, Micha Lowe, Dan Mancini, Les Ong, Nancy Wang, and Jenny Wong. It was great seeing everyone out there!
[Kao] New Balance Excelsior Women Win SF Marathon/Half Marathon! "Better than the Marines . . ."
The New Balance Excelsior women's team placed 1st in the SF Marathon/Half Marathon team competition, outkicking 26 other teams including the Army, Navy, and Marines.
Last but not least, Chikara Omine ran a 2:55 SF Marathon speed
workout in training for next week's Skyline 50K, after being back, what, AT LEAST ten days from a May IT Band injury.
Vineman Ironman - 07/30/06
And Gary MacPherson forwards the results from his first triathlon, the
Vineman Ironman (1/2 Ironman Distance). He finished 11th in his age group:
Swim 00:36:03.5Ê T1 00:07:57.7Ê Bike 03:27:29.6Ê T2 00:07:16.1Ê Run 02:18:30.2 Finish 6:37:17.1
>From Gary . . .
I felt ok on the swim and bike. My transition times really are bad. And
having no legs for the 1/2 M my mile splits were almost exacly 12 minutes/mile (OUCH). But how sweet to finally cross the finish line. My left quad started to cramp just past the first 1/8 mile. I had to stop and massage/stretch it out. When I finally got running again, I just had to manage the pace to avoid re-cramping.
Western Regional Masters Championships - 07/22/06
Jesse McAlman reports that he ran the Western Regional Masters
Championships at Long Beach State in Long Beach, CA: "It was a sweltering humid 102 degrees that day and I ran the 800 meters. I've won my age group 35-39 in 2:07.76.
It was a combined group with the 40-45 year olds as well. I'm looking forward to the Nationals next week!"
Carneros Wine Country Half Marathon - 07/16/06
[Kao] Congratulations to Julie McGee (1:30:18 - 9th overall/2d age group) and Kim Fanady (1:39:29 - 5th age group) for their finishes in the Carneros Half.
DSE Legion of Honor Run - 07/16/06
Chikara Weren't You Hurt? Omine and Matt Patout finished 1-2 at Sunday's DSE Legion of Honor (4.3 mi. but extremely hilly) run, in 25:57 and 26:07. Congratulations!
Davis Mile - 07/09/06
BERNHARD, FANADY WIN AGE DIVISIONS
Tom Bernhard celebrated his 55th birthday by winning the 55-59 division at Sunday's Fleet Feet Davis Mile (5:04), and Kim Fanady (5:49) won women 45-49. The open women seemed to have finished second behind Adidas Transports in what I believe was their fastest overall time ever, and the open men, after needing masters drops last year, actually fielded two teams. Details . . .
Women
Byline Helen Kao
Stellar performances by our fleet footed team on Sunday--EIGHT pairs of feet to be precise! Another scorcher of a day in downtown Davis did not hinder the New Balance Excelsior women's team.
- Nancy Wang, recently off the San Diego Marathon, stoically ran the Mile to hold onto her 6th place Senior short course standings in the Grand Prix. She raced a fabulous 7:14 that didn't feel nearly as bad as she had thought it might!
- Kim Fanady ran next in the Masters heat. And hot it was! Despite not
feeling her best Mile, she placed 5th with 5:49 (1st in the 45-49 age
group)
The Open Women's A heat was an impressive picture with all 5 scoring team members packed tightly in a flash of pink.
- Jen Major's feet were turning over quick-time with a 5:26 (perfectly
even splits 2:43 at the half), just a couple secs off her PR
- Carin Ward also ran perfect splits in 5:27 (2:43.4) only to lose her
left shoe in the end-of-race clean-up and, thankfully, have it recovered
by Yurik Riegel
- Jenny Wong blasted out fast and furious; a long morning of working the New Balance tent forced a "slow"-down at ~900m but she still persevered to an impressive 5:30 finish
- Allie Bigelow, also coming off a hard week and with baby Zach ill all
weekend, kept in line with Jenny to finish 5:31
- Nancy Vuong ran her first Mile race with a PR 5:44!
- Helen Kao toed the B heat line on her own to close the Open Team in at 5:49 (another PR)
Open Men
Report to come . . .
Old'uns
As they have all year, the Same Four Masters led us yet again. Tim Wallen led with a fine 4:44, 5th place effort, followed by Cliff Lentz (4:49, 7th), Iain Mickle (4:56, 13th), and Vitas Ezerskis (5:05, 17th), with Tyler and the Knee pulling up the rear in ouch! 5:32 (29th) and believe me, that hurt me more than it hurts you.
Tom Bernhard led the seniors like he has all year in 5:04 in his first
race as a 55-59er (Happy Birthday Tom!). This earned him first in his new age division (4th senior), just ahead of 2d place 55-59/7th senior Jim Gorman (5:06). Lloyd Stephenson (5:35, 19th), Dan Ramos (5:40, 22d), and Les Ong (5:41, 23rd--welcome back Les!) rounded out the seniors.
DSE Coastal Trail Challenge - 07/09/06
Heather Leutwyler reports that she "ran the 1/2 marathon in Sunday's hilly DSE Coastal Trail Challenge in 1:44 putting [me] at 2nd overall in the handicapped race and the first female finisher. Matt Patout finished 6th overall with a time of 1:29." Congratulations Heather!
USA TRIATHLON AGE GROUP NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP - 07/08/06
[Kao] Congratulations to TRACY HOGAN who placed 6th age group in this weekend's USA TRIATHLON AGE GROUP NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP in 2:33:59. Awesome job!
July 4th 10K - 07/04/06
Kenny Savior Warde reports that he ran a one-second senior PR at a local 10K on the 4th of July in 43:23. He came in 46th out of about 300, 4th in the 50-59 age group. Congratulations Kenny!
DSE Lake Merced Run - 07/02/06
Congratulations to Matt Patout and Heather Leutwyler on their 26:08/29:55 second place man/woman finishes at Sunday's DSE Lake Merced Run.
PA Masters T&F Championships - 07/01/06
Byline Jim Gorman
Iain Mickle, Tom Bernhard, and Jim Gorman made the trek up to Sacramento for the PA Masters Track and Field Championships Saturday.
Iain ran 16:08 in the 5000 Meters for 2nd. in the 45-49 age category (Pete McGill ran 14:45! for a US 45-49 record). Tom ran a great 2:18.04 800 meters, 2nd 50-54. This was an all-time PR and better than he did as a junior high schooler. He came back to run another PR in the 1500 in 4:44:01 for 4th 50-54. Tom is ready for the Davis Mile.
Jim Gorman ran a surprising 4:38.59 in the 1500 for first 55-59 and a 90.09 % age rating according to his tables. Dan Mancini will have to verify Jim's first ever 90+% effort.
Jesse McAlman (Age 38) Age 30-39, 800, 2nd, 2:06.07 and 1500, 6th, 4:47.04 (ran out of gas in the heat!)"
Shriners 8K - 06/25/06
SHRINERS: MICKLE, BERNHARD, WALLEN, McGEE SHINE IN SACRAMENTO SUN!
At Saturday's rather warm Shriners 8K, Iain Mickle ran his best race of
the year to finish second master just ahead of teammate Tim Wallen, Tom Bernhard finished just seven seconds off the senior win, leading the
seniors to another victory, and Julie McGee ran her best race of the year to finish fifth woman. Details . . .
Women
Byline Kim Fanady
The Pink Pack roared through Sacramento Saturday as 10 intrepid women braved the 100+ heat and pre-dawn drive to run the Shriner's 8K. NBEx fielded full open and masters teams (team results not available yet, but we should have done well).
- Julie McGee was hotter than the weather, posting a fabulous 30:16 --6:05 pace --to finish 5th woman overall, 2nd in her age group. Awesome!
- Next up was another terrific run from Allie Bigelow in 31:36, cheered on by Baby Z from his stroller.
- Tanja Tamguney battled through Woodminster-induced fatigue and leg
cramps to finish in a fine 32:35, with an impressive kick over the last
400 meters.
- Kim Fanady experienced horrible flashbacks to the Boston Marathon Death March of 2004, dumping water over her head at every water stop, but managed to finish 6th master in 32:39.
- Nancy Vuong came home in a sharp 33:46, with Erin Brightwell right behind in 33:48.
- Shelly Pierson toughed it out through vertigo-induced dizziness and
nausea to finish in 36:22, when most people would have thrown in the
towel. Get better fast Shelly, you're amazing!
- Brenda DePeralta and Julie Huy finished together in 39:51, and Nancy
Wang, in another gutty post Westminster performance, rounded out the
masters team, 40:41.
- Fashion note: Brenda and Nancy V looked great in the boy shorts!
Great job everyone!
Men
A steadily getting-back-to-form Jake Gilchrist led the open men in his
best run for the club to date, finishing in 26:26 (18th). Eric Knackmuhs
finished next in 27:43 (33rd), followed by Agustin Cruz (28:48, 55th),
Robin Hart (31:17, 88th), and Matty Greene (31:21, 89th).
As mentioned above, Iain Mickle and Tim Wallen finished second and third, respectively (26:55, 27:04). Vitas Ezerskis finished a minute back in 28:04 (12th). After a nice leisurely gap came Tyler Abbott in
knee-recovery mode (31:26), Greg King (34:09), and Niall Vignoles (38:51). The team seems to have finished second to the Pacific Striders a minute or so ahead of the Aggies.
As he's done all year, Tom Bernhard led the seniors in a fine 28:38, just
seven seconds off team friend Fletcher Lesley's senior win. Jim Gorman
continued his recovery in 29:37 (7th), followed by Lloyd Stephenson
(30:47) and Dan Ramos (31:24).
Double Dipsea - 06/24/06
Cliff Lentz finished 5th handicapped (2d fastest) at this weekend's Double Dipsea. Cliff ran 1:47:21, but 9 seconds behind the fastest time, and 12:52! ahead of the next fastest time (only two runners broke two hours, which would make this the slowest overall Double in my memory).
After Cliff, Jeff Dewey finished 50th overall in 2:17:52 (4 minute handicap), John Spriggs finished 52nd (2:23:33, 9 minute handicap), and Larissa Polischuk finished 60th overall (2:30:20, 12 minute handicap). I apologize to anyone I've missed . . .
Pacific Crest Marathon - 06/24/06
Congratulations to Heather Leutwyler on her marathon PR this past weekend.
From Heather:
I just got back to my hotel from running the pacific crest marathon in
Oregon. A little worn out but I am very happy with my results. I was the 2nd overall woman, first in my age group (25-29), and ran a PR with a 3:19 overall time! I think it's time sit by the pool with my dog and a beer.
Woodminster 9 Miler - 06/18/06
Wong Repeats East Bay Triple Crown Win!
Byline Helen Kao
Congratulations to repeat Triple Crown champion Jenny Wong, following up on her Dipsea Black Shirt, as well as Tanja Tamguney who maintained their stellar 1-2 in the east bay trail series.
Jenny finished first Open woman in 1:08. Tanja blazed into the finish in 1:12. Men's team member Dan Ramos traversed the Up-Down-Up-Up-Up-(and Up again)-the Down-Down-Down course in 1:16.
Helen "OK, I was walking those hills again" Kao had one of the most fun experiences of her racing career in 1:17. Nancy Wang, who was talked into running her first trail race (on a long and hillier than hilly course) by Dan, also had a great intro experience in "80 and change".
Team friends Gina Gillich and Susan Beck were also seen at the race. Even Tanja's husband, Erdem came out for a 'jaunt' on the beautiful wooded course. Nice job team!
Dipsea - 06/11/06
Six Black Shirts!
With Tim O'Rourke skiing and Lloyd Stephenson crashing spectacularly in
the latter downhill stages, we didn't quite have last year's record eight
black shirts (to top handicapped 35) in Sunday's Dipsea, but we did come away with a respectable haul of six.
We also ended up with six of the fourteen fastest times and some eighteen runners all told.
Cliff Lentz led us again in place (9th) as well as time (52:12/2 minute handicap, 9th handicapped place/3rd fastest time), followed by Hans Gouwens (55:25/4, 14th/12th fastest time), Adam Hersh (52:46/1, 18th/4th), Chris Where's My Bike? Phipps (53:28/1, 22nd/6th), Iain Mickle (56:49/4, 25th/18th), Brian Gilllis (53:12/scratch, 2d runners section--so no black shirt, this year/5th),
Jenny Wong (1:01:15/8, 29th/3rd fastest woman), Ben Chaffee (55:40/scratch, 50/14th), Jen Major (1:05:58/8, 79th), Dan Rhodes coming off injury (59:58/1, 103rd), Todd Greenhalgh (1:02:42/3, 123rd), Dan Shore also off injury (1:01:12/1, 135th), Tyler Bum Knee Abbott (1:04:44/4, 153rd), Carin Ward (1:09:11/8, 20th runners section),
George Torgun also also off injury (1:02:26/scratch, 31st runners section), Jeff Dewey (1:04:37/2, 32d runners section), David Moulton (1:04:48/2, 201st), and Mike Shwe (1:06:14/2, 262d). I apologize in advance for those I missed--sorry!
Lake Chabot Half Marathon - 06/04/06
WONG WINS LAKE CHABOT HALF!
Byline Helen Kao
The New Balance Excelsior team packed quite a pink punch on Sunday--even the Bay Bridge closure and the sizzling heat couldn't keep us away.
Jenny Wong, in a pre-Dipsea tune-up (are tune-ups supposed to be longer than the goal race??) zipped to 1st overall woman with a 1:38, only a couple minutes off her Chabot PR. She managed this despite not having run 13 miles in months and being terrorized by the persistent itch of total-body-poison-oak.
Tanja Tamguney continued her trail running peak performances with 3rd woman overall, 2nd age-group, 1:42. Helen Kao dragged in the tail end in a less-than-sizzling performance with a 1:52 (after deciding that walking all the BIG hills, and gosh they all started to seem like Big Hills--was the way to go). Surprisingly, this time was still good enough for 2nd age group, 9th overall.
Men's team member DAN RAMOS, took 1st age group with 1:45 [and John Spriggs finished 26th overall in 1:44:19 -Ed.]. Congratulations to everyone!
Statuto 8K - 06/04/06
VUONG WINS STATUTO 8K!
Byline Nancy Vuong and Wayne Plymale . . .
At Sunday's Statuto 8K, Nancy Vuong finished first woman (5th overall) and won $100 and $100 gift certificate from Sports Basement. "Oh I can't forget the 2 foot trophy that they made me take home as well. It was so cheesy and hilarious."
Lee d'Alessandro was racing as well and came in second (7th overall). Jeff Dewey came in third overall man and first in his 40-49 age group. I think Matty Greene came in fourth first in his age group 30-39.
Wayne Plymale finished 6th overall in 33:39 (3rd in the 50-59 age group!). We stuck around for the raffle and got some prizes there too.
It was a blast and I would definitely do it again next year. [Doing the
math, it looks like we finished in third through seventh places! -Ed.]
MARIN MEMORIAL DAY 10K - 05/29/06
WALLEN 2d, MASTERS/SENIORS WIN!
Tim Wallen ran a post-age 25 PR 33:12 at Monday's Marin Memorial Day 10K (fka Pac Sun) to lead the masters to their fourth consecutive victory. And with Jim Gorman strongly on the comeback trail, the seniors seem to have picked up their first victory of the year.
Among other teams, the open women fielded two strong teams, our masters women team made its post-2004 debut, and the open men almost held off the masters. Details . . .
Open Men
Byline Dan Rhodes
The open men's team had a strong showing of 11 runners at the
(formerly known as Pac Sun) Memorial Day 10K. Leading the way was Jake Gilchrist in 34:04/18th. Eric Knackmuhs, recovering from a cold, finished next in 35:20/36th, followed by Dan Rhodes returning from an injury layoff with a PW 35:59/49th. Agustin Cruz was close behind in 36:08/54th, and returning member Matt Patout rounded out the A-team scoring in 36:25/57th.
The 6-member B-Team all piled in just over a one minute span with
Robin Hart leading the way in 37:35/77th, with Dan Shore close behind him in a Dipsea tune up of 37:40. Adam Lucas was next in 37:52. Then we had our next 3 men in rapid succession with Matthew Hind in 38:35, Mike Shwe just behind in 38:38, and new teammate Craig Riebersal also returning from injury in 38:41 to complete the B-Team.
It is great to see so many guys out, we have been able to score a B-Team in each of our last 3 races. Next up on the Road Schedule is the Shriner's 8K in Sacramento (come out and celebrate Dan R's birthday with a 5 mile party!)
Women's Team
WOMEN @ MARIN MEMORIAL DAY 10K
Byline Carin Ward
The Pink Ladies turned out in fine form, with 15 women competing in
Monday's Marin Memorial 10K. Not only did we score an A and B Open team but score our first Masters team in a long while.
The 1-2 punch of Jen Major (38:42, 21st) and Julie McGee (38:50 PR!, 22nd) led the charge followed by the PA's #1 new mom, Allie Bigelow (39:12, 25th). Carin Ward (40:09, 34th) and Tanja Tamguney (40:18, 37th) rounded out the scorers. Shelly Pierson (41:40, 45th) was followed closely by Nancy Vuong (41:44--near PR! 46th) and phenomenal Master Kim Fanady (41:51, 12th master). New member Heather Leutwyler ran a 42:00 even (49th).
Helen Kao felt "less horrible" than she thought she would, finishing strong in 42:23 (53rd and relieved that she didn't throw up this year). Erin Brightwell (42:45, 57th) was close behind Helen, and new team member Larissa Polischuk ran a PR (45:10, 78th) in her first race in the pink. Brenda Gee Deperalta (23rd age group, 49:04), Nancy Wang (6th age group, 50:58) and Molly Newlon (11th age group, 1:01:28.0) rounded out the Masters women. Congratulations all!
Old'uns
Tim Wallen led the masters in a post-80s PR 33:12, finishing second master behind a rejuvenated Jose Aispuro. Cliff Lentz, glad that he showed up an hour early for what he thought was a 9:15 race, finished next in a strong 33:58 (4th), followed by Iain Mickle (34:41, 9th) and Vitas Ezerskis (35:00, 13th). Two minutes later Tyler Abbott completing the scoring team in 37:04 (29th), followed by Peter Hsia (38:43, 42d) and Jeff Dewey (39:07, 43rd).
Tom Bernhard continued his torrid racing with a 3rd place 36:03 effort to
lead the seniors to their first victory of the year. Lloyd Stephenson
(36:38, 5th) and Jim Gorman (37:13, 7th) finished next, with Dan Ramos
(39:50, 21st) completing the scoring. Allan Stanbridge (42:00, 25th) and
Wayne Plymale (44:43, 31st) rounded out the team.
More MMD
Tom Bennett reminded me that "a few of us ran the kids and strollers race, 2.5 miles, and a good time was had by all. I know that Stan
Yashamura(sp?) was right ahead of me and there may have been others. The perfect under the radar comeback race. Tom"
And new member Larissa Polischuk submitted this link of photos from the
race:
"By the way, I got this link to pictures from the Marin 10K. There are
some great ones of the team, the start, and every individual coming around the track. "
Thanks, Tom & Larissa!
Tilden Tough Ten - 05/21/06
From Helen Kao . . .
Five women from the New Balance Excelsior team raced the Tilden Tough Ten on Sunday (along with men's team members Michael Slavin and Dan Ramos).
Despite a very difficult spring shuttling between Oakland and LA to help
care for her mom, Jenny Wong led the way to a 2nd place women's finish in 1:08.48. Allie Bigelow, who decided to run 'on a whim' to help support Jenny, ran a not-so-whim-ish 1:11.08, 3rd woman. Tanja Tamguney pushed Allie in with 1:11.28, 4th women. Helen Kao tried to keep the race fun with a 1:17.46 (9th woman--and a bit more painful than fun in the last stretch) but had a blast chatting with Shelly about her son's recent qualifying to track state championships. Shelly Pierson ran a smart slow start, enough to rave about her son! and finished in 1:18.59 (15th woman).
Among the men, Mike Slavin finished 1st master/5th overall in 63:07, and Dan Ramos finished 6th senior/42d overall in 74:53.
Bay to Breakers - 05/21/06
Well, it wasn't exactly like the old days (didn't we put 3 people in the
top 10 or 12, 10 in the top 50, and 25 or so in the top 100 one year?),
but several club members still had fine races at Sunday's Bay to Breakers.
Without admittedly spending too much time looking for it, I haven't found overall results, so I'm just listing here the few club members I happened to see out there--for those I missed, write me and I'll include the results next week.
Tim Wallen was the first club member in 42:27 (63rd and one of the top
masters). Jake Gilchrist ran at least the second half of the race just
behind Tim and finished in 64th (42:29). Wayne Plymale (49:52, 188th),
Allan Stanbridge (50:52, 211th), and Kenny Warde (54:39, 364th) gave us a strong senior showing.
Bolinas Ridge Wild Boar 18K - 05/13/06
Daikoku Second in Bolinas Ridge Wild Boar 18K
In his first trail race ever, Jin Daikoku made two major wrong turns while
leading, but still pulled out second place (1:15:37) in Saturday's
(EnviroSports) Bolinas Ridge Wild Boar Run 18K. Congratulations Jin! Tyler Abbott finished sixth overall/first master in 1:20:02.
Devil Mountain Run 5K/10K - 05/07/06
Wong-Bigelow Silver-Bronze at Devil Mountain
In last weekend's Devil Mountain 10K (5/7), Jenny Wong place 2nd woman overall in 39:26 with Allie Bigelow right behind her in 39:40 (3rd overall woman). New team friend Jamie came in 5th overall woman at 40:07.
In the 5K, Shelly Pierson finished 6th in 19:52. Congratulations all!
DSE 40th Anniversary 5K - 05/07/06
Congratulations to Eric Knackmuhs on his 16:35 win in Sunday's DSE 40th Anniversary (certified?) 5K on the Marina Green/Crissy Field. I saw Eric at the turnaround (1.5 miles) in 4th or 5th place, well behind the leader, yet he went on to win by over half a minute. Eric's quickly becoming our top stealth runner.
Following Eric were Cesar Guillen in 3rd (17:20), Adam Lucas (18:09, 7th), Peter Hsia (18:30, 11th), and Tyler Abbott (19:23/behind 19:22.97 Tim, 16th). Good job all!
San Francisco Invitational - 04/29/06
Jen Major and Carin Ward ran the 5000 in the San Francisco Invitational
Saturday, and both PRed. Jen finished fourth (I believe) in 18:14, taking
a little off her previous PR. Carin ran a post-collegiate PR 18:42 to finish a few places behind Jen.
On the men's side, the New Balance distance medley team put together by Jin Daikoku and featuring Matthew Hinde along with a couple of Jin's
friends finished second, just behind USF (I believe) and ahead of WVTC, in 10:43 (unofficial). Matthew ran 2:04-2:05 (by my watch) in the 800, and Jin ran 4:17! (approximately) in the 1600. Congratulations all!
ZIPPY 5K - 04/23/06
FOUR OPEN TEAMS!
A great turnout Sunday for our own Zippy 5K, at least on the running side (volunteers were a little thin . . . .), as we fielded two full open men's and two full women's teams, with a couple each to spare.
All in all I think we had 36 runners out there, well over 10% of the (somewhat low) field! The masters and senior men, both facing stiffer competition than last year, both squeezed into second ahead of the Pacific Striders, the masters behind the Aggies, the seniors behind WVJ&S. Details . . .
Open Men
Byline Dan Rhodes
We had a strong showing for our own Zippy 5K with a full dozen open
men running + 2 resting/volunteering members = Thank you to Brian Schultz for calling splits and Chikara Omine for timing/results after running a 100K Saturday(ouch!).
Leading the way for the team was George Torgun finishing in 3rd/16:01, followed by one of our newest teammates Jin Daikoku 28th/16:22 welcome to the team Jin. Next in was Dan Rhodes 39th/16:37 with Brian Gillis close behind in a PR effort for 44th/16:41 and Jake Gilchrist also finishing in 16:41 for 45th place running tough while recovering from a sinus infection to complete the A team.
We also had a strong B Team led by Eric Knackmuhs 16:58, Ben Chaffee 17:02 in his first showing of the year, Chris Phipps also "RUNNING" his first race of the year in 17:19 despite a bad case of SWS (spandex withdrawal syndrome).
Next in was our other new member Matthew Hinde 17:41, closely followed by Robin Hart 17:43 to complete the B Team. Michael Shwe 18:21 and Yurik Riegel 18:55 rounded out the team to make it a full dozen. Great job everyone and thanks to all those who helped out with the pre and post race duties.
Women
Byline Jen Major
We had a great turn out and great performances from our women's team at Sunday's Zippy 5K! We were even able to score two teams! Runners
included Jen Major (18:28), Julie McGee (18:50, first in her age group and a PR by a whopping 30 seconds!!), Allie Bigelow, coming back very strong (19:15), Jamie Chomas, another fast mom (19:45), and Kim Fanady (19:47, first in her age group)!
Following close behind Kim was Erin Brightwell (19:58), Nancy Vuong (20:08), and Shelly Pierson (20:14 and still recovering from bronchitis- please feel better).
More New Balance runners followed shortly behind them: Helen Kao (20:36), Jocelyn Friel (22:02-welcome back and congratulations!), Nancy Wang (24:35) and Molly Newlon (28:24), in her very first race with us!
Thank you to everyone who ran in the race and to everyone who helped with the event. It was fantastic!
Big thanks and kudos to volunteers and sideline cheering squad: Lee,
Micha, Molly S, Tanja, and Bean.
Old'uns
Tim Wallen led the masters in a very strong 16:16 (2d master), followed by Cliff Lentz (16:21, 4th), Vitas Ezerskis (16:32, 10th), and Iain Mickle
(16:40, 12th). Then after a nice comfortable gap in came final scorer
Tyler Abbott (18:05), followed by Jim Misener (20:27) and Michael Gama
(20:41)--great to see you two out!
The Aggies beat us by exactly one place each 1-4 and by considerably more 5 to take the win, but we seem to have edged out Pacific Striders to keep our first place standing.
The seniors were led again by Tom Bernhard in an excellent 17:33 (3rd),
followed by Lloyd Stephenson (17:58, 6th) and Jim On the Comeback Trail Gorman (18:42, 13th)--good to have you back even if not full steam, with Dan Ramos (19:27, 20th) edging out Les Ong (19:32, 21st) for the last scoring position.
Congratulations all!
Boston Marathon - 04/17/06
From team savior Kenny Warde . . .
I just thought that I should let you know how Marlin Gilbert and I ran in
Beantown. Of course, you already saw that former Excelsior teammate, Chris Lundstrom, ran 2:19:37 and came in 16th overall.
Marlin Gilbert ran 3:52:01 and finished 11,483 overall (out of 20,117 starters). He also placed 3334 out of 7006 masters. He was pleased with his results given the amount of training that he did for Boston. I ran 3:32:35 and placed 6775th overall. I also placed 619th out of 3302 starters in my veterans age division (50-59).
Outside of strong headwinds and some sidewinds the conditions were very good compared to the last few years. Over the last 10K it was rather sunny and felt somewhat warm too. I am happy with my results because I consciously held back until Heartbreak Hill and then tried to push to the finish line.
I'm guessing that I passed from a few hundred to maybe 500 runners. My 5K splits were rather even throughout the race. I also feel that these results were good due to recently racing the 12K, 8K, and 10 miler. This was my 24th Boston of which I have 14 in a row.
Boston has always been a mystery as to how to run it; and that is what
keeps bringing me back. I did see and visit with my 95 year old friend, Edna Mullins, in Hopkinton. I think that next year she will allow us to rest at the starting line at her house again. Yes, she still has been recovering from the death of her son, David; but I feel that she is getting better.
Thank you all for cheering for us back there. Perhaps next year we can
field a complete team.
Respectfully Submitted,
Kenny
P.S. Congratulations also to Brenda Gee Deperalta who ran 3:54 and "had a blast."
DSE Ocean Beach 4 miler - 04/09/06
Helen Kao won the DSE Ocean Beach 4 miler.
JOHNNY MATHIS Track Meet - 04/08/06
Bob Darling forwards these results from Saturday 4/8's Johnny Mathis track meet at S.F. State:
Women's 5000- Jen Majors-18:35
Men's 5000- Chikara Omine 15:39, just behind team friend Josh Babiak 15:37
Men's 1500- Jin Daikoku (new member) 4:00.69, Jesse McAlman-4:26.5
Men's 800- Jesse McAlman-2:11.9
And chances are you'll enjoy these Johnny Mathis pictures, link forwarded
by Tom Bernhard . . .
Here is a link to a a site with over 400 pictures from the Johnny Mathis
meet. There are at least two pictures of Chikara Omine (page 15) and
many of Jen Majors (pages 3,4, 6 & 7).
Skyline Ridge Trail Half Marathon - 04/08/06
Tanja Tamguney finished 2d place woman/1st age group/11th overall finish at Saturday's Skyline Ridge Trail Half Marathon (2:08 with 1600 ft elevation change).
Pacific Trail Series 50K (Headlands) - 03/25/06
Congratulations to Chikara Omine on his 4:05 win at Saturday's Pacific
Trail Series 50K in the Headlands. In setting the 50 not a typo 50 minute
course record, Chikara won by some 53 minutes. In typical Phippsian form, Chikara came back Sunday to the Headlands training run, though due to Saturday's race he only beat me by TWO minutes up Bobcat.
ACROSS THE BAY - 03/19/06
WALLEN, BERNHARD LEAD MASTERS, SENIORS
Tim Wallen ripped a strong early season race in 41:15 ( 3rd master) at
Sunday's Emerald Across the Bay12K. Iain Mickle and Vitas Ezerskis
followed closely. On the senior side, Tom Bernhard ran 4th in 45:57,
followed by Lloyd Stephenson in 6th (46:43).
The women had a strong and pink showing with twelve! runners and a sprint down the Fort Mason Cliff determining the last scorer, and the open men making their best showing of the year, with two full teams not counting Brian Bibliss. Details . . .
Women
Byline Allie Bigelow
On a brilliant, sunny morning the New Balance Excelsior Women's "Pink
Train" steamed into San Francisco by way of the Golden Gate Bridge. We had an extraordinary 12 women toe the line in Sausalito for the hilly run to Aquatic Park.
JENNY WONG led the way in a stunning 48:30 (not bad for a girl who isn't training or sleeping much!). JEN MAJOR (a.k.a. the only woman on the team who can make our boy shorts look good) was hot on Jenny's
heels in 48:39. Next up was CARIN WARD in a solid 49:19, followed by ALLIE BIGELOW, who just squeaked in under 50 minutes in 49:54.
Chasing along and closing fast were PATTI SHORE in 50:03 and new team member JULIE McGEE in 50:06. Next up was stealthy MICHA LOWE, who crossed the line in 51:19 followed by a trio of new members: ERIN BRIGHTWELL in 51:58, TRACY HOGAN in 53:17, and JENNIFER COLLINS in 58:10. And last but certainly not least were the duo of BRENDA GEE DEPARALTA in 65:21 and NANCY WANG in 65:39....out for one of the most scenic training runs imaginable.
Welcome to all of our new members: Julie, Erin, Tracy and Jennifer, and thanks to everyone for coming out to represent the team. We are off to a great start this season! Next up, Zippy 5k, our team race, on April 23rd. For those who are new to it, the women run this mostly flat 5k seperate from the men, so it is a great time. I look forward to seeing you all out there!
Open Men
Byline Dan Rhodes
The Nuts Across The Bay 12K has always been a well attended race for
most clubs and this year was no exception. We had a full dozen open men at the starting line and leading the way was George Torgun running a great race finishing 25th/42:08, Jake Gilchrist racing himself into shape was next in 31st/42:47. Followed by the duo of Dan Rhodes 34th/43:03, and Chikara Omine 35th/43:10 both running well for the first 4 miles then
dragging pianos in from there (after racing 50K last weekend!). Next in
was would be 5th man "who needs a bib #" Brian "or a PA card" Gillis
"finishing" ?th in 4?:??. Eric Knackmuhs rounded out the A-Team finishing 72nd/45:32.
Then we had a rare showing of the nearly extinct Excelsior Open Men's B-Team led by Agustine Cruz in 72nd/45:39, Mike Shwe 116th/47:52, Matt Greene 123rd/48:14,and finishing together were Craig Riebersal and Brian Schultz in 166th/49:34 and 167th/49:35 respectively. Robin Hart rounded out the team in 174th/49:46 while nearly doubling his total mileage for the year! If not a running PR Robin still put in a strong PR effort by potentially recruiting 2 teammates at the race.
Great race teams, nice to see everyone out there and sorry to anyone I may have missed in the results.
Old'uns
Tim Wallen led the masters in an excellent 41:15, third master. What a
difference a week and ipod jamming make. Iain Mickle and Vitas Ezerskis
followed closely in 42:19 and 42:21 (6th & 7th, 1st & 2d 45-49).
Note that in the past three weeks these three have finished Ezerskis-Mickle, Ezerskis-Mickle-Wallen, and Wallen-Mickle-Ezerskis. Then just as Wallen and Co. were completing their cooldown in roared Tyler Abbott in 47:08, with Jeff Dewey close behind in 49:21. I don't want to make anyone Mancini out Steinmaus there Nelson feel Slavin guilty Zamczyk or Trevithick nothin' Vicencio, but note that these five are the only masters who have raced the last three weekends other than Cliff Lentz last weekend, and four of these five ran all three races.
For the seniors, Tom Bernhard led the way in 45:57 (4th), followed by
Lloyd Stephenson (46:43, 6th), Les Ong (49:40), Wayne Plymale (50:16), Allan Stanbridge (51:52), Dan Ramos (51:57), and Savior Warde (54:03).
Congratulations all, and I apologize to anyone I've missed.
Next race: Our own Zippy 5K, April 23--stay tuned!
Paul Spangler 50+/Lifetime Fitness 8K - 03/12/06
8K: Vitas, Stephenson, Bernhard 2-3-4
Vitas Ezerskis continued his strong racing with his second second place
finish in a row, this time a 26:59 in Sunday's Paul Spangler 50+/Lifetime
Fitness 8K on the Stanford Campus.
In the marquee senior race, Lloyd Stephenson and Tom Bernhard finished 3-4 in 29:11 and 29:48. Both masters and seniors are in tight races for the win, with both teams seeming to have just edged out their competition. The open men and women both look to have taken third, with a very impressive performance for the debut of the Pretty Fast in Pink look, the five women scorers all finishing in a very pink 30 second span. Details . . .
Women
Byline Kim Fanady
NBEx put on a very strong showing at the Fitness for Life 8K, the newest race on the PA circuit and first race of the 2006 Short Grand Prix. Nine valiant women in pink came to run on a very chilly, rainy morning which magically turned clear and cool by race time.
Returning new mom Allie Bigelow led the pink onslaught in 32:16 with baby Zachary gurgling encouragement from the sidelines. Welcome back Allie, you’re fast as ever! Tanja Meyer was next in 32:37 despite fighting leg cramps all the way; her next, pain-free race will be even more awesome! Shelly Pierson and Patti Shore, out for a tempo run, wound up third and fifth in 32:42 and 32:45, sandwiching Jamie Chomas, fourth in a very nice 32:44.
Kim Fanady underestimated the hill in mile 2 and overestimated herself on a cold day early in the season, losing touch with the pink pack but enjoying a scenic tour of the lovely Stanford campus in 33:47. New member Megan Thomas and team stalwart Julie Huy followed right behind Kim at 34:25 and 40:19.
Nancy Wang also had a sharp run in the preceding Paul Spangler 8K and
stayed to cheer the rest of the team to the finish. Thanks also to Helen
Kao and Bean Wrenn for coming out to cheer and watch the kiddies. Nice running, everyone!
Open Men: Report to Come
Old'uns
Vitas Ezerskis and Iain Mickle again led the masters, in 26:59 (2d) and
27:23 (6th), respectively. Tim Wallen followed close behind in 27:31
(7th), with Cliff Lentz (28:07, 13th) and new master Don Hogue (29:58)
closing out the scoring. Tyler Abbott (30:48, 26th) and Jeff Dewey (31:39, 28th) rounded out the team.
Like the masters, the top two seniors were again the same as last week,
though in reverse order, with Lloyd Stephenson and Tom Bernhard finishing 3-4 in 29:11 and 29:48. Les Ong (31:27, 16th), Dan Ramos (32:11, 25th), and Kenny Warde (34:19, 44th) rounded out the team.
Tom Caruso Memorial 5K - 03/12/06
Congratulations to Jen Major on her first woman/fifth overall 18:46 performance at Sunday 3/12's Tom Caruso Memorial 5K, and to Mike Shwe on his 3rd overall 18:44.
Way Too Cool 50K - 03/11/06
Congratulations to Chikara Omine on his 3:54 7th place finish at last week's Way Too Cool 50K. Not bad considering he started late and spent the first 28 miles trying to catch up.
DSE Rainbow Falls 5K 2.9 Miler - 03/05/06
And congratulations to Chikara Omine for doubling up on Sunday to win the DSE Rainbow Falls 5K 2.9 Miler in 16:16.
Other club members running included Peter Hsia (18:13, 3rd), Adam Lucas (18:36 in the middle of a 20-miler, 7th), Mark Ford (19:21, 10th), Tim Abbott (20:04, 14th), Tyler Abbott (20:04.1, 14.1st) and Samuel Harvell (20:16, 17th).
John Frank Memorial 10 Miler - 03/04/06
Omine 8th, Bernhard 3rd, No Traffic Tickets!
Chikara Omine ran a breakthrough 54:21 (8th place) on the difficult NorCal John Frank Memorial 10-Mile course, setting every PR above 5K along the way.
I guess there is life after ultras. Among the old'uns, Vitas Ezerskis and Iain Mickle duked it out with Jeff Mann for the masters win, finishing
2-3, and Tom Bernhard ran a strong 1:00:45, finishing third behind two
freshly-minted seniors. The women had our strongest showing, with seven runners, while the men squeaked by with the minimum in all age divisions, and even that thanks to senior drop downs. Details . . .
Women
Byline Patti Shore
The PA opened the 2006 Spring season with the NorCal 10 in Redding,
California. The women fielded a full team and then some, with 7 women
showing up to run 10 miles along the Sacramento River in cold,
occasionally windy weather.
First in for NB Excelsior was Jen Major, running a fine 1:05.28 (13th place). Patti Shore came in next, with a 1:06.55 not-quite-but-close-to-PR effort, good for 15th place (the race results also lowered Patti's age from her actual almost-40 years old to 25 - excellent!).
Carin Ward was close on Patti's heels, running 1:06.17 for 16th place. Micha Lowe nipped under 70 minutes with a solid 1:09.50 effort, for 21st place.
Closing out the scoring team was Erin Brightwell in her first race for our team, running 1:11.01 for 28th place. Next in were Megan Thomas, also in her first race for the team, with an excellent early-season effort of 1:12.48. Julie Huy also had a fine day, with a 1:25.05.
Nice work, everyone, and thanks to all for making the effort to get all the way up to Redding for this race.
Open Men
Byline Dan Rhodes
The 2006 PA Road Seres started off with a tough 3 weeks of racing
starting at Redding last Saturday. It is always hard to get a full team up
to this one but this year we were (barely) able to get 5 open men to the line.
Leading the team was Chikara Ultra Omine showing his strength with a
PR of 54:21 finishing 8th overall. Next in and far far behind was Dan
Rhodes finishing 23rd in 58:23, followed by new club member Jake Gilchrist in 35th 59:51 welcome Jake! Agustin Cruz finished next in 63rd 1:03:xx, with Matt Greene close behind in 70th 1:04:51.
Good job guys and hope to see you all the next 2 weekends.
Old'uns
Vitas Ezerskis and Iain Mickle led the masters in 56:22 and 56:29
respectively, just behind Jeff Mann's winning 56:16. Tyler Abbott finished next in 1:03:45, followed by Jeff Dewey in 1:05:10.
Among seniors, Tom Bernhard led the way in 1:00:45 (3rd), finishing just
ahead of Lloyd Stephenson (1:01:15). Les Ong (1:06:20), Allan Stanbridge (1:10:28), and Kenny Warde (1:11:51) rounded out the team.
Congratulations everyone!
2006 USA Cross Country Championships - 02/18/06
[Mancini] Winter Nationals!
Nearly 20 years after making his Cross Country Nationals debut on the
storied Van Cortlandt Park course in the Bronx, NY, Dan Mancini returned
to the site on Saturday, seeking a measure of revenge on a course that so demoralized him as a young post-collegiate runner.
Competing in a field of 165 Masters runners on a chilly 25 degree morning, Dan finished 31st in a time of 28:20 over the 8km distance; a decidedly more satisfying result than his first bite of The Big Apple all those years ago.
Sadly missing among the several other Californians in the race, were the rest of the NB Excelsior men who apparently must have inadvertently boarded the subway to Brooklyn by mistake...
Kaiser Permanente (SF) Half Marathon & 5K - 02/12/06
At last Sunday's (2/5) Kaiser Permanente Half Marathon, Tim Wallen led the team in 1:14:38, 9th overall and 2d master (to Jeff Hongo). Tim was followed by Adam Hersh (1:15:14, 12th), Brian Gillis (1:17:04, 24th), Matt Patout (1:23:06, 71st), Jerry Lee (1:24:35, 101st), Matty Greene (1:25:30, 127th), Mike Shwe (1:26:20, 153rd), Jeff Dewey (1:27:04, 34th 40-44), Wayne Plymale (1:41) and Victoria Osman (1:41:36, 22d 40-44).
In the 5K, Dan Mancini led our crew in 16:46 (6th overall, 1st master), followed by Agustin Cruz (17:00, 9th), Carin Ward (18:42, 3rd), Dan Ramos (19:00, 26th, 4th 50-59), Jamie Chomas (19:45, 4th), Brenda Gee (22:56, 5th 40+), and Nancy Wang (23:20, 3rd 50+).
Congratulations all, and as always I apologize for anyone I've missed, and sorry for missing these results last week!
Davis Stampede 10K - 02/05/06
Wong Wins
Congratulations to Jenny Wong for her win in the Davis Stampede 10K a
couple weekends ago (38:xx).
Jed Smith 50K - 02/04/06
Omine Wins
Congratulations to Chikara Omine for his win at the Jed
Smith 50K. Great job!
Chinatown YMCA 5K/10K - 01/29/06
In the 5K, Tim Wallen finished third overall in 16:34, Jesse McAlman ran
17:30 for 8th, and Dan Ramos and Wayne Plymale finished 1-2 seniors (12th /13th overall) in 19:30 and 19:31.
On the women's side, Nancy Wang won the seniors in 24:32, and Brenda Gee finished second master in 23:23. In the 10K, Peter Hsia ran 39:35 for 14th and Jeff Dewey ran 40:46 for 19th. Congratulations all!
DSE Embarcadero 10K - 01/15/06
Congratulations to Wayne Plymale on his 9th overall finish (I believe
first senior) at Sunday's DSE Embarcadero 10K (40:52).
DSE Lake Merced Run - 01/08/06
Congratulations to new member Tanja Meyer Tamguney on her first place woman/4th overall finish at Sunday's DSE Lake Merced Run. Tanja ran 28:02 on the standard Lake Merced course--great job! Dan Ramos ran a fine 28:45 to finish first senior.
CAL 10 - 01/08/06
MICKLE WINS, WONG SECOND
Jenny Wong finished second woman (1:05:22) and Iain Mickle won the masters competition (7th overall; 57:16) at last Sunday's Cal 10. Jeff Dewey (1:05:53) and John Spriggs (1:07:48) finished 5th and 6th 40-44. Congratulations all (and I apologize to anyone I've missed).
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