EXCELSIOR Running Club Results - 2002

2002 Road Grand Prix Roundup

In 2002 Hoy's Excelsior boasted one of the top senior teams ever in the Pacific Association (and the country?). They dominated the road grand prix. Led by Don Paul, Les Ong, and Jim Gorman, they won all but two of the grand prix events before skipping CIM due to having clinched the title and to their focus on cross-country nationals the following week (which they also won!). And they would have won the other two races (Compaq, Big Sur) if they hadn't been so kind as to drop their top runners to score as masters.

The women had a fabulous year. The open women came from fourth place last year all the way up to second in this, just their third year of existence, well ahead of third place and not too far behind the first place Impalas. The big story of the year was the masters women, who, boasting all of five runners, came from nowhere last year (no team) to second place this year! Because of the small size of their team, I believe they may end up with more money per runner than H-E team ever. Congratulations to all the women!

For the open and masters men, 2002 was a fine year but one in which they faced superior firepower. After winning the grand prix in 1998 and 1999, for the third year in a row the open men finished third behind Adidas and WV. The only particularly close race among all our teams was the masters men's race, in which H-E fell to third from first last year. The Aggies dominated the division, but the race for second was close. The masters men are still whining about their one second loss to EBS/WVTC at the Heritage Oaks Bank 10K, which created an eight-point swing and pushed us from second to third.

With one first place finish, two second place finishes, and two third place finishes, all five teams we fielded in 2002 finished in the money--congratulations all!

Among individuals, the biggest story of the year was Don Paul. Don won the senior diision, in so doing dominating it like his team dominated its competition. Don skipped just two races--Zippy, at which race directing prevented him from racing, and CIM, which, like his team, he skipped in favor of cross-country nationals the following week (and at which he finished second, nationally). Of the other eleven races, Don won ten; only his second place finish to our own Tom Bernhard at the other race, the Fifty-Plus 8K, prevented a perfect record. Don also finished 19th in the masters division.

Kathryn Krieger also had a wonderful year, finishing second to a strong Melanie Cleland in the open short division, and putting herself in position to be a favorite in each division in 2003. Monal Chokshi was close behind KK in 4th on the open short circuit.

Other club runners to earn free entries (and, for many of them, money) in the 2003 grand prix were: Les Ong, 3rd senior (also 30th master); Lloyd Stephenson, 5th master (also 30th open short, 42d open long); Jim Gorman, 5th senior (also 36th master); Tim O'Rourke, 6th master (also 68th open short, 12th open long); Shelly Pierson, 6th open long; Dan Shore, 7th open long; Kim Fanady, 7th master (also 67th open short, 46th open long); late season addition Brian Spangenberg, 8th open long; Christine Brighton, 8th open short and 10th open long; Tim O'Rourke, 12th open long; Tom Hadfield, 16th open long (unfortunately unusable free entries due to TO); Patti Bershers, 16th open long (free entries due to Maria & Diana). It should also be mentioned that Lisa Murphy, 24th open long, would also have earned free entries, barring PA registration problems at Clarksburg.

Other H-E runners on the Big Board included Tom Bernhard, 8th senior (also 50th master); Craig Steinmaus, 12th master (also 21st open short, 32d open long); Allan Stanbridge, 16th senior (also 70th master); Chris Phipps, 19th open short; Bob Darling, 20th senior; Susan Beck, 20th master; Dan Rhodes, 22d open long; Shelly Pierson, 24th open short; Tyler Abbott, 24th master; Dan Shore, 26th open short; Chris Phipps, 26th open long; Kathryn Krieger, 26th open long (on the strengthof just one race); Hans Gouwens, 27th master; Whitney Stephenson, 27th master; Eric Ollila, 28th open short; Dan Ramos, 28th senior; Pete Vicencio, 31st open short; Jesus Garcia, 31st master; David Volk, 35th open long; Samuel Harvell, 36th master (also 66th open long); Monal Chokshi, 36th open long (also on the strength of just one race); Darrin Rohr, 37th open short; Brian Richter, 37th open long; Jen Major, 38th open short; Stephen Donahue, 40th open short; Kenny Warde, 40th senior; Lydia Siegel, 43rd open long; Michael Prutz, 44th master (also 60th open long); Kim Lilot, 46th senior; Charlie Thompson, 48th senior (also 93rd master); Jen Major, 49th open long; Ian Reid, 50th senior (also 89th master); Cliff Lentz, 51st open long; Wayne Plymale, 52d senior; Jenny Wong, 53rd open long; Tim Geraghty, 54th master; Diana Harlick, 55th open short; David Volk, 56th open short; Jody Heyman, 56th master; Erling Eia, 57th master; Brian Mulry, 60th open short; Ali Mann, 60th open long; Cliff Lentz, 64th open short; Darrin Rohr, 66th open long; Jerad Crave, 68th open long; Lee D'Alessandro, 70th open short; Kelly Murphy, 71st master; Jim Tracy, 78th senior; Peter Lewandowski, 81st master; Paul Skokowski, 88th master; Craig Edwards, 89th senior. In all, some 57 club members placed--congratulations all!

Congratulations Lloyd!

At the USATF national convention earlier this month, Lloyd Stephenson was named 45-49 USATF Outstanding Athlete of 2002 (nationally!).

USATF NATIONAL XC CHAMPIONSHIPS - 12/14/02

SENIORS CHAMPS!

Open Men Byline Chris Phipps

USATF Fall XC Nationals, Rocklin, CA 12/14/2002 Weather - About 50mph winds and rain! Whoo hoo! Course conditions - Lot's of Mud!

The top 25 (for the most part) club teams in the USA met in Rocklin on Saturday to settle the question of who was the best club in the country. The competition and conditions were fierce, with lots of thick mud and brutal winds slowing the field over the 5 loop 10,000 meter course. Hanson's again showed the Farm Team and everyone else that they are the tops in the US, placing 5 in the top 11! Not tooo far behind, the Hoy's Excelsior men ran strong to finish 18th. We placed our top 4 within 10 seconds, led by XC skier Stephen Donahue in 34:20 (94th). Just missing the top 100 were Jim Sweeney (34:27, 101st), Paul Wellman (34:29, 107th) and Chris Phipps (34:30, 108th). Completing the scoring team was Eric Ollila (151st, 35:45), followed by Pete Vicencio (171st, 36:40), Dan Mancini (174th, 36:50), and Dan Lilot (190th, 37:48).

Seniors National Champs!

Led by Don Paul and Jim Gorman, the senior men won their first national title! Don finished second senior in 38:12, with Jim close behind in 4th, 38:26. Les Ong and Kevin Grady followed in 16th/40:54 and 17th/41:08, respectively, with Bob Darling finishing the scoring in 42:21 (31st). The team came from behind to edge out Greater Lowell Road Runners by a couple minutes--Greater Lowell had a small lead after four runners. Congratulations gentlemen!

Everyone Else

Hindered by injury, CIM, and irresistible Hawaiian business trips, the masters men finished 14th of 21 teams. Cross-country stalwart Hans Gouwens led the crew in 36:24, 37th place. Luis Sanchez continued his fine late-season running in 38:41, 82d. Soon-to-be-senior Charles Griffin finished next in 39:41 (8th), with Ian Hersey (41:19, 133rd) and Tyler Abbott breaking a 5-week layoff (43:18, 174th) finishing the scoring. Michael Gama (44:01, 181st) and Greg King (51:11, 243rd) rounded out the team, with Greg's brother Alan flying in at the last minute for the festivities, running 40:52 (120th).

Hindered even more by injury and CIM, though without Hawaiian distractions, the open and masters women failed to field teams. Christine Brighton and Carmella Schaecher represented the team, with Christine running a strong 24:55 (72d) on the 6K course, and Carmella finishing in a fine 28:43 (119th). Great job both of you, and thanks!

In the Battle of Polo, our open men edged out Greater Boston Track Club by a couple places. Their women's team of course beat our absent one. New York's Warren Street also sent a couple women, but I failed to see how they finished.

CAL INTERNATIONAL MARATHON - 12/08/02

Open Men Byline Daniel Shore

Unlike last year, this year's CIM dawned perfectly -- cool, overcast, and, most importantly, dry and calm. It was a great day to run fast times and the Open Men delivered well, placing two in the top 5 PA.

New team member and late-season MVP Brian Spangenberg continued his strong running from Clarksburg to lead the Open Men, running a spectacular PR of 2:27:40 to earn a 4th PA spot and 16th overall. Dan Shore, desperately trying to chase the fast-flying Spangenberg over the last 10K, finished just behind in 5th place for PA and 17th overall. His 2:28:47 clocking was nearly a 4-minute PR. Following Dan and rounding out the scoring team was Tom Hadfield, another PR in 2:37:19, good for 37th overall, and close to top 10 PA. Dan Rhodes followed Tom recording a strong PR of 2:43:34 for 50th overall.

With two scorers in the top 5 and the third easily in the top 15, it looks as though we likely won the team competition! That's $275 towards the x-points fund and a great way to end the year. Congratulations to all! Next up is Fall XC Nationals and then a new year with Cal 10 in January. 

Women

Chasing their Olympic Marathon Trials qualifiers, Kathryn Krieger and Shelly Pierson both suffered from the downright bad luck that lurks behind every marathon. Kathryn started strong, maintaining a perfect goal pace of 5:55 through 13 miles. Running well within herself, a back problem that has plagued her all year decided to rear its ugly head, steadily tightening and finally incapacitating her at 13 miles when she bent down to pick up a water bottle. Trying to manage the pain and continue on, her pace quickly dropped as her hamstrings refused to flex and she was forced to step off at 17 miles to prevent further injury. A program of stretching, massage, and chiropractic adjustment should get her back on track this spring. Still, a tough day when the mind says go but the body says no.

Shelly Pierson had a similar run-in with bad luck. Running a perfect race through 20 miles at 6:18 pace, Shelly was beset by serious gastro-intestinal problems and was forced to stop at a port-a-potty. As any marathoner knows, getting started again is nearly impossible after stopping anytime after 18 miles. With time already lost and legs that tightened up during the break, Shelly was unable to get back on track for her qualifier. Nevertheless, she resolved to finish and ran as best she could over the last 10K to finish her first marathon in 2:59:41 -- good for SECOND PA! She'll certainly get her qualifier next time out!

Among the rest of the open women, Lisa Murphy ran a strong 3:06:04, for perhaps 4th place PA--a great effort, though not quite a PR (2:56). All the other women ran PRs. Patti Bershers came in a little behind Lisa in 3:08:25, possibly 9th PA, another big PR. And Lydia Siegel rounded out the team in 3:17:40, yet another PR.

Among masters women, three runners . . . three PRs. Kim Fanady ran a great debut in 3:18:44 (unfortunately age division results are not yet available). Susan Beck ran 3:30:33 to just miss her 3:30 goal, but still set a PR. And Whitney Stephenson ran right at her goal of 3:50, running 3:50:13 unofficially (sub-3:50 when official results are released?). 

Old'uns

For the masters men, Tim O'Rourke was 2d master in 2:37:40, a 3-minute lifetime PR. Lloyd Stephenson didn't run his masters PR of 2:25, but he did run a strong 2:48:30, a great effort considering recent injuries. New member Michael Prutz ran a PR of 2:50:33, with Sam Harvell just behind him in 2:51:08, I believe a masters PR.

Among senior men, Allen Stanbridge ran 3:17:44 and Kenny Warde ran 3:21:36. I thought Gary MacPherson was going to run, but I couldn't find him in the results. If there was a third finishing senior, let me know--otherwise the team won't score (though they've already clinched the grand prix title).

CONGRATULATIONS ALL!

HOLIDAY PARK CHALLENGE - 12/07/02

Revenge of the Nerds! Byline Dan Mancini & Chris Phipps

On Saturday, Chris Phipps, Jerad Crave and Dan Mancini - competing as the Polo Wearing Dorks - took on 42 teams of the best puzzle solving geeks that San Francisco had to offer in the Holiday Park Challenge. The competition consisted of solving 6 mindbending puzzles while running 5-1/2 miles through GGP to various checkpoints. 

The team got off to a bad start, spending the 35 minutes stupefied by the first puzzle, before we finally called in for the answer and took our 20 minute penalty. After that, we were off and running, to the first checkpoint at the dog training area just to the northwest of the polo field. From there we had to go to the second checkpoint at Metson Lake on the opposite side of the polo field about a mile away. When we got there, we encountered a locked box with the next 2 puzzles inside. The problem was that we didn't have the combination to the lock. 

It was at this point (nearly an hour into the competition) that we decided to read the one page instruction sheet. We quickly discovered that the combination to the box at checkpoint 2 was written on the bottom of the pole at checkpoint 1. D'oh!! I was designated to sprint back across the polo field to the first checkpoint and retrieve the combo. After this, things went pretty smoothly, and the Polo Wearing Dorks laid waste to all challengers, finishing 1st in the Sport Division with a 30 minute winning margin, and finishing 3rd overall out of 42 teams from all divisions. Though we were beaten by 2 WALKING teams! Their course was 2 miles shorter, only about 3 1/2 miles long, but I'm sure the winning team could have walked the extra 2 miles in the 40 minutes they beat us by. I'd say this race was about 10% running ability and 90% puzzle solving ability. 

Special thanks to Mike and Sara Northrop, who were competing in the Elite Puzzle division, but made themselves available to help our mentally challenged team.

RUN TO THE FAR SIDE - 12/01/02

Silver Silver

Monal Chokshi and Jim Sweeney both placed second at the Far Side in Golden Gate Park Sunday, Monal in the 5K and Jim in the 10. A withering kick left Jim just ONE second behind first place and Southwest Airline tickets. Monal, on the comeback trail, ran 17:29 behind a very fit Melanie Cleland (16:25). Jim ran 32:36.

Other top 10 finishers included Eric Olilla (3rd in the 5 in 15:18--great race!), Craig Steinmaus (5th in the 5, 15:31), Chris Phipps (5th in the 10--see below--32:55), Pete Vicencio (6th in the 5, 15:36), Raymundo Cruz (8th in the 10, 34:11), Lee D'Alessandro (10th in the 5, 19:10 PR), and Tim Wallen (10th in the 5 in 16:07, just over his 15:59 goal). Top age-group runners were Craig Steinmaus (1st master in the 5), Bob Darling (1st senior in the 5, 18:01), Jody Heyman (2d master in the 5, 20:26, just FOUR SECONDS behind first--welcome back Jody!), Lloyd Stephenson (2d master in the 10, 35:08), Kim Fanady (8th master in the 10, 43:00), Peter Lewandowski (9th master in the 5, 17:32), and Andy Sobozinski (9th master in the 10, 37:43)

Other club members running the 5K included Agustin Cruz (16:41, 16th), Jesse McAlman (16:57, 21st), Samuel Harvell (17:46, 41st), Steve Petto (18:09, 54th), Todd Greenhalgh (18:09, 55th), Michael Gama (18:18, 63rd), Jen Major (20:08, 13th), and Stan Yasuhara (21:22, 175th). In the 10 we also had Chris Becker (36:44, 24th), Brian Schultz (36:47, 25th), David Moulton (38:17, 54th), and Thom Fox (42:04, 172d). I apologize to those I've inevitably left off (couldn't find your name, Manny!).

And yes, once again Chris Phipps came away empty. From Chris: "Well, it happened again, for the unpteenth time I was the first runner to get nothing! I was 5th in the 10K, and 4th in the 30-39 age group! In the 5K, Pete won that age group, and Wallen was 2nd! (I was ahead of Wallen at the split). So, again, I chose the wrong race! Though if I had decided to do the 5K before the race began, I probably would have been near Craig at the split, and seeing no one ahead in the 10, may have tried to hold on."

RUN TO FEED THE HUNGRY 5K - 11/28/02

Paul Wellman won the Run to Feed the Hungry 5K in 15:27 in Sacramento Thanksgiving Day. For details: http://www.runraceresults.com/Results/Overall.asp?R_ID=26590

KRIEGER REPEATS AT THANKSGIVING DAY RACE!

In a replay of the 2001 race, Kathryn Krieger beat local Jill Tranter in the Thanksgiving Day Race in Cincinnati. Kathryn ran this CIM tune-up in 35:22 for her second straight win. Whereas last year she just edged out Tranter by two seconds, this year she won by almost a minute. Dan Shore finished 7th among the men in 32:32. Patti Bershers forwards this link:

http://www.cincypost.com/2002/11/29/race11-29-2002.html

AMERICAN RECORD FOR O'ROURKE!

Tim O'Rourke broke our own Charlie Thompson's eight-year old M 44 single age 30K American record at Clarksburg three weeks ago. Charlie (are you out there?) ran 1:46:18 at the same race in 1994, with Tim besting that by almost a minute (1:45:21). The record is currently pending with the Road Running Information Center and should be official soon. Congratulations Tim!

PA CROSS COUNTRY ROUNDUP

As mentioned last week, both Hans Gouwens (masters men) and Kim Lilot (senior men) won their respective age divisions in the PA cross-country grand prix. Unlike what was reported last week, this was Kim's THIRD straight grand prix title, not second--congratulations! Also finishing in the top 10 were Chris Phipps (10th open) and Craig Steinmaus (4th master). Other team members on the Big Board, in place order, were Paul Wellman (11th open), Stephen Donahue (12th open), Kathryn Krieger (13th open), Tyler Abbott (14th master), Shelly Pierson (15th open), Gene Gilligan (15th super senior), Eric Ollila (19th open), Monal Chokshi (24th open), Jenny Wong (25th open), Pete Vicencio (25th open), Jim Gorman (29th senior), Kim Fanady (31st master), Bob Darling (35th senior), Christine Brighton (44th open), Whitney Stephenson (44th master), Peter Lewandowski & Tim O'Rourke (49th master, tie), Dave Volk (51st open), Lee D'Alessandro (53rd open), Jesus Garcia (55th master), Susan Beck (57th master), Dan Mancini (59th open), Kelly Murphy (68th master), Dan Shore (69th open), Diana Harlick (71st open), Tim Wallen (75th open), Patti Bershers (77th open), Dan Rhodes (77th open), Dan Lilot (78th open), Carmella Schaecher (83rd open), Liz Moore (85th open), Ian Hersey & Luis Sanchez (85th master, tie), Jerad Crave (93rd open), and Matt Regan (98th open). Congratulations all--a great season!

On the team front, our open teams swept!!! . . . Third. The women JUST edged out WVTC by beating them by two places (with Impala B team in between) at Champs. The masters men finished second, just 1/2 point ahead of River City and four points ahead of EBS/WVTC, after beating the latter by one place at Champs (a four-point swing). The senior men only ran two races and finished 6th, while the masters women ran only one and finished 7th.

PA XC CHAMPIONSHIPS - 11/24/02

Champs!

It's been a long cross-country season, and while we still have nationals to look forward to, the PA grand prix finished up this Sunday. Perhaps the highlight for the team was Craig Steinmaus's three-round battle with four Aggies--details below.

Women Byline Monal Chokshi

Yet another beautiful Sunday morning at Golden Gate Park awaited many women of the Hoyís Excelsior Running Club. But this time it was not for just another routine easy long run in the park; it was for the Pacific Association Western Regional Cross Country Championships! Among the many familiar PA teams and faces, there were quite a few others lined up to race, some traveling great distances to compete against the best in the west. Unknown runners uniformed in hot pink and black from Montana, women of Fila Track West coming up from Los Angeles, and of course, the Champs-ubiquitous Farm Team members were just a few of the groups present and ready to raise the level of competition at the meet.

But the H-E women were ready for them. Leading the team in 23rd place for the 4 mile race was CIM-bound Shelly Pierson in 24:48 (38 seconds faster than her performance at the GGP meet in September!). Next in 33rd and 34th places were Christine Brighton (traveling all the way down from Bend, Oregon) and Diana Harlick (showing great signs of recovery!), in 25:31 and 25:35, respectively. Lee D'Alessandro showed some guts by "feeling bad" but finishing in a huge PR, 26:55, good for 57th place. And Patti Bershers, on her way to CIM, had a great finish in 70th at 27:33 -- almost a minute faster than her time last year! Just 8 places back was Micha Lowe, running a solid 27:58, with Eimear Martin following in 89th with a 28:45. Amy Pearson (Hethcoat) finished in 98th going sub-30 with a 29:36, and Jocelyn Friel ran 30:23 (111th) for the two-loop course.

Also of note, team friend Teresa McWalters ran a very fast 23:33 on the course for a 6th place finish, and former Hoy's member Ali Mann (now living down south and running for Track West in LA) placed 13th in 24:15.

Congrats to everyone for a great effort and finish to the regular X-C season. Final cross country team standings to be announced soon. Next up... CIM, and then Cross Country Club Nationals in Rocklin!

Open Men Byline Chris Phipps

The PA Cross Country Championships is arguably the most competitive non-collegiate race held in California each year, and this year's 17th annual was no exception as the PA's best runners showed up in force. Up front, the Nike Farm Team showed their dominance, taking the top 3 places, and 6 of the top 10. Just a bit behind the lead pack, Stephen Donahue led the team finishing 36th in 32:41. Second man for us was Jim (where have you been all season?) Sweeney in 45th (33:03). The next 7 in the Hoy's pack were separated by just 42 seconds, led by Paul Wellman in 50th (33:31), followed by Chris Phipps 52nd (33:42), Peter Vicendio 55th (33:49), Tim Wallen 57th (33:59), David Volk 60th (34:03), Tom Hadfield 65th (34:08) and Dan Mancini 66th, (34:13). Marathon Training Dan Rhodes (87th, 37:26), just edged out trackster Jesse McAlman (88th, 37:29). Brian Schultz (100th, 38:40) on the comeback trail, Eric Yan (101st, 39:02) making his XC debut, and David Moulton (111th, 41:00) back in town for Thanksgiving, all came out to be sure we had a complete B team. On the team side, this was also the most competitive race of the year. The Nike Farm Team dominated the race, and if they choose to score a B team, could take second as well. They were followed by the adidas Transports, Reebok Aggies, and West Valley Track Club. We were next and for the first time since the GG Park race in September, we beat Humboldt Track Club, with a raw score of 238 to 271. Our B team had a raw score of 406, which should place ahead of a few PA clubs. For the year, we finished in 3rd in the Grand Prix, earning the team $300, to give a little more value to those X points, which is much better than last year's 5th place ($0.00). For the season, we had 23 guys who ran at least one XC race, which may be a club record!

Next up for the XC guys is Nationals in Rocklin on December 14th! So far we have a full team of Donahue, Sweeney, Wellman, Phipps, Vicencio, Mancini, Ollila, and Lilot. If you would like to run, let me know ASAP, since I am entering the team. Also, those who are entered need to fill out an entry form and get it to me soon! I have entry forms from Sweeney, Vicencio, and Mancini. The rest of you need to contact me to get an entry form. ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ). 

Old'uns

This was by far the most exciting battle of the year for the masters. After the first lap (10:36!), Craig Steinmaus was leading the lead pack of Danny Gonzales, Kevin Ostenberg, Jose Aispuro, and Tim Minor, Aggies-all--Craig the bright yellow light in the sea of black and gray. At the end of the second lap (completed almost faster than any of our open runners ran the two-loop version in September!), Jose and Tim had fallen off a bit, and it was a three-man race. Ostenberg and Gonzales then put a small gap on Craig, who held on for a strong third in 32:54--beating all the open men except Donahue's 32:41 After a few more Aggies and a couple River City Rebels came Tim O'Rourke, in his post-collegiate cross-country debut (that's what he said!) and Hans Gouwens, in 11th and 12th places (34:15, 34:28). This finish sewed up first for Hans in the XC Individual Grand Prix!!!

Now for the team battle--about as close a battle, both for the race and the grand prix, as you can imagine. Going in, we were in 4th, but because we had only run 5 races, and the two teams ahead of us had already run 6, we could leapfrog them by beating EBS/WVTC and by being within one place of River City (under "best 6" scoring). Suffice it to say, the next couple of minutes were tense, as the other two teams finished their scoring and we waited for our 4th-5th. Luis Sanchez came in next, in 37:20 (36th), followed closely by Charles Griffin (37:41, 41st). If you add up the raw places, River City scores 99, EBS/WVTC 102, and Hoy's Excelsior 103. Believe it or not! From these totals we stay in 4th place on the grand prix. HOWEVER, at least two of the runners just ahead of our 4th/5th were unattached, so don't count in the team scoring, and another couple runners for WVJS, which did not seem tto have a full team. SO, adjusting the scores for these four runners gives River City 95, Hoy's Excelsior 96, and EBS/WVTC 102 (still). Thus we seem to have stayed within one place of River City and seem to have beaten EBS, giving us second on the year! (It's about TIME we won a close battle.)

Our masters team was completed by Kevin Grady (38:21, 52d), John Hale (38:35, 59th), Ian Hersey (38:37, 60th), and Michael Gama (41:24, 95th). Congratulations all.

For the seniors, Jim Gorman ran his 2002 x-c debut in 37:43, good enough for 3rd. Jim was followed by Kim Lilot in 39:17, 10th--Kim won his second straight cross-country grand prix! Rocket Darling (39:48, 13th), Gene Gilligan (42:00, 4th 60-69), and Gary MacPherson (43:02, 27th) rounded out the senior team--only the second time we've had a senior team all year. But watch out seniors--both Griffin and Grady are soon turning 50!

FARM TEAM OPEN - 11/15/02

Krieger, Men Second at Farm Team Cross Meet

Kathryn Krieger finished second at the Farm Team Open (6K) last Friday, just a couple seconds behind winner and Farm Team member Sarna Becker. Team friend and new 18-year old Teresa McWalters was a close third.

The men finished second, though to be fair it wasn't much of a team race. Stephen Donahue led the men in 19:38 (27th). Old Man Steinmaus came in next in 20:06 (41st), with Jim Who? Sweeney close behind in 20:10 (43rd). Chris Phipps edged out Dan Mancini, 20:43 (51st) to 20:49 (53rd), with Dan Lilot (21:10, 54th) and Ian Hersey (23:49, 74th) rounding out the team.

CLARKSBURG 30K - 11/10/02

Tim O'Rourke ran a great 1:45:21 at Clarksburg Sunday to take second place among the masters (9th? overall--results aren't completely out yet). Don Paul continued his interminable string of senior wins with a calf-impaired 2:00:36, half a minute ahead of second place senior Les Ong (2:01:08). For other age groups, newcomer Brian Spangenberg ran 1:44:29 (7th? place); Christine Brighton led the women in 2:02:40 (4th place); and Kim Fanady led the masters women in 2:21:34 (9th). On the team side, senior men seem to have won, open and masters men seem to be third, and open and masters women seem to be either second or third. Note: our masters women were in CLOSE competition for second with WVTC and Tamalpa, and as far as I can tell we beat them both (if the other two even had teams).

Unfortunately, there have been some snafus with the results, and official results haven't been posted yet.

Open Women Byline Christine Brighton

Clarksburg not only shared the beautiful scenic course, competing high school groups cheering and local spectators - but once again Clarskburg reminded us that - 'yes this is the rainy season in California'. For all who ran this was character building. Who would have guessed the "hopeful" tail wind for the second half of the race would change directions to be a side wind then an in-your-face wind! Despite the weather and a rather slippery course a great job was done by all--'let's go'-Lisa (Murphy), Persistent-Patty (Bershers), 'Sunshine in the rain'-Susan (Beck), 'Let me out of residency for one morning' -Lydia (Siegel soon to be M.D.), 'Whittey and wonderful'-Whitney (Stephenson), 'Keep the good times coming'-Kim Fanady. The Hoy's ladies were consistent in pace and spirit. Keep up the great work for CIM. Next year we should definitely have a hot tub party after this race!

[Ed.: Christine was forced to write this without the benefit of the very tardy and quite recalcitrant results. Christine led the team in 2:02:40 (4th). Lisa Murphy finished next, in 2:12:25 (14th), followed by Patti Bershers (2:15:02, 17th) and Lydia Siegel (2:21:50, 25th). Masters' times are below. The open women seem to have finished third.] 

Masters Women Byline Kim Fanady

The masters women were out in force at Clarksburg! We fielded a full team of 3 and overcame rain, wind, cambered roads, the open women's efforts to poach us, advancing age, and general crankiness to post a very fine showing. Susan (2:28:28) and Kim (2:21:34) both set PR's, with Whitney valiantly fighting through a sore hip to come in at 2:38:23. Special team thanks to Jim Misener for finishing kick inspiration. We're headed for CIM--come cheer for us! [Ed.: Again, the masters women seem to have been second or third, but more importantly seem to have beaten both WVTC and Tamalpa, which would put them in second place, and even more importantly, it wasn't clear that either of those clubs even had teams out there. If this is the case, the masters women would have all but clinched second, with only an appearance at CIM necessary.] 

Open Men Byline Dan Rhodes

The Open Men's Team took to the road again to enjoy all of the finest weather, wind, rain, and crowned roads the the Clarksburg 30K had to offer. As a team, we were a bit thin only managing to field 4 open men. Luckily, we only needed 3 to score and it looks like we took 3rd behind Adidas and WVTC. Team new comer, Brian Spangenberg, led the way with a strong race finishing 7th at 1:44:29, followed by Tom Hadfield in13th at 1:49:31, and Dan Rhodes in 16th at 1:50:04. Jarad Crave rounded out the team, finishing ouch 26th at 1:55:35. Now we are down to CIM for the last PA road race for the year with only a little speed bump along the way (PA XC Champs), so lets hope for better weather this year. How often does it snow in Sacramento?

Old'uns

As reported earlier, the masters team was led by Tim O'Rourke, running a brilliant 1:45:21, good enough for second place master and ninth place overall [Ed.: To be fair, it was actually Tyler's marathon flats that ran 1:45:21--Tim left his shoes at home--that should definitely be taken into consideration when the money's divided up!]. Lloyd Stephenson (1:59:37, 12th master, 32d overall) was our second finisher, with Tyler Abbott (1:59:52, 14th master, 34th overall) limping in close behind. Samuel Harvell made what I believe was his masters debut for the team, running 2:01:44 (19th master, 40th overall). Jim Misener (2:21:44, 117th overall) rounded out the team. The team seems to have ended up third behind the Aggies and EBS/WVTC. We need to beat EBS/WVTC by two places at CIM in order to finish second on the season.

The seniors won yet another race. Don Paul continued his string of wins (when was the last time he DIDN'T win a PA road race?) with a calf-impaired 2:00:36, 37th place overall. Les Ong followed just 32 seconds back in 2:00:36 (39th overall, 2d senior). Jim Gorman, trying to avoid having to run CIM, finished next in 2:07:44 (7th senior), with Allan Stanbridge (2:19:12, 17th senior) rounding out the team. With this victory the seniors did in fact clinch the grand prix title. Congratulations on a great year, and on to Nationals!

RUN FOREST RUN 5K - 11/10/02

While some of us were dying on the Clarksburg Plains, Chris Becker won the Run Forrest Run 5K a weekend ago, in 17:30. Congratulations Chris!

DONAHUE WINS PRESIDIO 10 - 11/10/02

Stephen Donahue continued an impressive string of races with first place at the 21st Annual Golden Gate Bridge-Presidio 10 Miler. Stephen ran 54:39 to take the win by almost a minute. Thom Fox placed second master at 1:06:22 and Ian Reid was second senior at 1:07:28 (13 seconds behind first). Congratulations all!

US HALF MARATHON - 11/03/02

Hadfield US Half Marathon Champion!

Well, sort of. In a time as blistering as it was fictitious, on Sunday Tom Hadfield ran a course official-assisted 1:07:51 to win the inaugural "U.S. Half Marathon" in San Francisco. And yes, for the second week in a row we had a race in which the lead cyclist shaved off significant portions of the course. Do we need to start certifying lead bicyclists? From Tom:

"Yes, either I'm in 2:25 shape for CIM or the "US half" fell someway short of 13 miles - unfortunately I think the latter explanation is correct.

"It was clear after about 800m that this was not going to be a super competitive race, and a few miles later it became apparent that the lead cyclist wasn't so confident about which way the route went. So coming back along marina green at slower-than-marathon pace it seemed like I'd cut short the route by more than a mile - fortunately for me my true time and pace are lost to posterity. They hadn't bothered to put out any mile markers either, which is just too lame.

"Still, it was a beautiful day, nice run back and forth across the golden gate bridge, good prizes, and wearing my lucky cast, the first time I've ever won a race. If they manage to iron out some of the little errors - like actually making us run the correct course - it'll be a nice race. I expect you to refer to me as "US Half marathon champion" from now on -

"Other notable Hoys performances - Bernard Bassil, in his first competitive outing since Dipsea, came in 5th or 6th (I think)."

TAMALPA XC - 11/02/02

Open Women Byline Amy Pearson

Saturday's weather couldn't have been more perfect for one of the last PA x-country races this year. Christine Brighton came down from Oregon to get in some more miles and finished in 11th place at 29:21. Kathryn Krieger was one second behind her, finishing in 12th place and Shelly Pierson took 15th place in 29.27. Lee D'Alessandro and Patti Bershers weren't far behind with Lee taking 29th place (30:55) and Patti securing 34th place (31:11). Christine Wang ran a strong race, finishing in 33:15 for 56th place. Amy Pearson finished in 68th place with Kelly Murphy very close behind. Thanks to all the women for coming out and thanks to Whitney for being there to take photos and cheer us on. 

Open Men Byline Chris Phipps

The Tamalpa Challenge certainly has become more challenging over the last 2 years. Back in our glory days of 1999 and 2000 we placed 7 runners in the top 9 places at this race, but the competition is a bit tougher these days. Stephen Donahue led the team running 24:35 to finish 13th. His time was 22 seconds faster than the winning time in 2000! Chris Phipps was next in 15th at 24:48 (13 second PR), just ahead of Eric Ollila in 17th (24:54). Pete Vicencio (21st 25:11) showed off his finishing kick as he sped by Jeff Hongo in the final 100M, and Tim Wallen (26th 25:29) edged out our first Dan. Dan Mancini (27th, 25:29) led the Dan team, with Dans Lilot (31st, 25:49), Rhodes (35th, 26:09), and Shore (37th, 26:29, 6th Dan overall) close behind. Team Dan was followed by Jesse McAlman (49th, 27:34) and Brian Schultz (58th, 28:38). 

Old'uns

The masters men had their best outing of the year, though competition was quite tough and we seem to have ended up fourth behind the Aggies, EBS/WVTC, and River City Rebels. Craig Steinmaus returned to cross with a second place 24:56, just eight seconds behind nemesis Tim Minor. Hans Gouwens surged into the grand prix lead (with likely grand prix victory!) with a 25:47 fifth place finish. Luis Sanchez came out for the first time in a while and ran a strong 27:35 (25th), one place ahead of Tyler Abbott (27:37). Newcomer (and 49 year old!) Charles Griffin (28:28, 41st) was the fifth scorer. Kim Lilot finished next in 28:47 (2d senior), with Ian Hersey (29:01, 48th) and Tom Bennett (38:23) rounding out the team.

SHORELINE XC - 10/26/02

Women Byline Lee D'Alessandro

Thankfully the women not only managed to field a team but also avoided the chaotic controversy of the wrong turn taken by the leaders. After the dust settled, our best finish came in the Masters Division with Kelly Murphy taking 15th place as well as our highest point scorer of the day! In the open race, Lee D'Alessandro ran 19:36 (26th) and working together Eimear Martin ran 20:06, Carmela Scheacher 20:07, Micha Lowe 20:11, and, in her first race for the team, Helena Kimball 20:14, with the group finishing 35th through 38th. Club friend and unfortunately for us Irish resident Claire Quinn ran 18:24 for 15th. Great job ladies!

Open Men Byline Dan Mancini

The Open Men's team consolidated its 3rd place overall team position this weekend at the Shoreline XC course. Leading the team in another fine effort was Steve Donahue (15th) 23:11, followed closely by Eric Ollila (18th) 23:20, then came the 4 Dans: Shore (29th) 23:44, Mancini (40th) 24:15, Rhodes (41st) 24:19, and Lilot (43rd) 24:30. Rounding out the scoring was Jesse McAlman (61st) 26:28, and Brian Schultz (68th) 26:55. As a side note, team & Phipps nemesis Jeff Hongo finished 20th in 23:22, while former member Jake Furber was 27th in 23:39.

Old'uns

I'm afraid we were one shy of a full team. Team stalwart Kim Lilot came out and again took first among seniors, running 27:20 on the not-really-4.6 mile course. Odds are good for Kim to repeat as grand prix champion! Gene Gilligan continued his warmup for nationals with a third place 60+ finish, running 29:30, finishing right with Jim Misener (29:31, 23rd master). Tyler Abbott was the other scorer, running 25:56 for 8th place master, his highest finish (and largest point haul in spite of it being only a 1.5 point race) of the year.

HUMBOLDT HALF MARATHON - 10/20/02

Humboldt: Krieger Second, Craig, Don Win Divisions

Congratulations to Kathryn Krieger on her strong 1:16:56 second place finish (behind 2:32 (?) marathoner Magdalena Lewy) at Humboldt Sunday. And kudos to Craig Steinmaus and Don Paul for their master and senior wins. Details below . . .

Open Men Byline Daniel Shore

Phew! For the first time since 1996, the men's Open Team was in danger of not fielding a team for a PA road race. However, thanks to the heroics of Phipps and Vicencio, we scored a team, took third at Humboldt, and moved into third place for the year. Making a huge sacrifice, Chris and Pete left at 3:30am to drive the 4+ hours to Humboldt, run, and return home that same day. For their efforts, the Open team earned more money for the year -- making YOUR x-points worth more. Be sure to thank them!

Humboldt is always run in perfect conditions and this year was no different. Cool, shaded under the canopy of the redwoods, and relatively flat, Humboldt often yields fast times. Transporter Steve Moreno took advantage this year, finishing first in 1:06:41. Three of his adidas teammates followed meaning -- you guessed it -- adidas took the team title again. WVTC took second with the H-E Men third.

Leading the men's team was Dan Shore, finishing 10th in 1:11:31, having the great misfortune of running completely alone for the first 8 miles. Second for the team and 18th overall was early-bird Phipps, running a strong 1:14:20. Cliff Lentz finished third in 1:15:05, good for 22nd overall. Dan Rhodes was fourth man, running 1:16:20, good for 26th. And finally, Pete Vicencio, claiming he was just out for a tempo run, barely edged out Kathryn Krieger to finish 30th in 1:16:55.

Our scoring at Humboldt moved us past the Aggies and into third for the year. Two more road races remain -- Clarksburg 30K on Sunday, November 10 and the marathon on Sunday, December 8. Let's make sure we score at BOTH races to at least retain third place for the year, or better yet, move into second past WVTC. If you can run either race -- even as a tempo run -- be sure to let Dan Shore or Chris Phipps know immediately. Let's not have another situation like this weekend.

Thanks again Chris and Pete!!!!

Open Women Byline Amy (Hethcoat) Pearson

The open women were strong and determined at the half this weekend. Under the great redwoods on the Avenue of the Giants, Kathryn Krieger ran an excellent race in 1.16:56 (second woman!). Close behind was Shelly Pierson, finishing in 1.22:28 even with a nasty cold. Working together and placing 3rd and 4th for Hoy's was Lydia Siegel who ran a very strong 1.34:38 and Christine Wang who had a HUGE PR and finished in 1.34:40. Eimear Martin ran a very smart race and pulled ahead at mile 8 to cruise in at 1.36:25. Amy was next in 1.39:06, followed by Malinda in 1.58:59. Way to go ladies!

Masters Men Byline Tyler Abbott

Craig Steinmaus led us off with a strong 1:11:50 to easily take the master's win. After that there was a GAP, with Tyler Abbott coming in next in 1:19:49 (12th master) and Lloyd Stephenson and Erling Eia following close behind in 1:20:13 (13th) and 1:20:53 (16th). In spite of having but four runners and only having one of those under six minute pace, if we drop down Don (1:18:09) we seem to have won, by just 25 seconds!

Masters Women @ Humboldt Half Byline: Susan Beck

Hoy's Excelsior Masters Women--in second place after Paso--went to Humboldt trying to cling to their lofty spot. Kim had a (relatively) off day, but still led the pack with a respectable 1:36:12, the 9th master. Both Susan and Whitney PR'd, with Susan at 1:39:00, and Whitney at 1:46:44. There's a slim chance we can hold on to second, but only if WV and Tamalpa make some nutty scoring choices. We'll keep our fingers crossed.

Senior Men Byline Allan Stanbridge

The club's seniors were the only group to have a surplus of bodies on the line this past Sunday. Maybe at our age this is a good thing. Jim Gorman and Jim Press, who reportedly is getting into shape for the XC Nationals in December, came down with the flu and had to cancel. This still left five stalwarts, and as it turned out, we were the only club in the race with a complete senior team. Don Paul again led the way in winning the division, 35th overall, in 1:18:09. Les Ong was close behind, 3rd Senior, 40th overall, in 1:20:37. Rounding out the scoring was Al Stanbridge, 73rd overall 8th Senior, 3rd in the 55 to 59 age category, in 1:27:54. Ian Reid was next 90th overall, 9th senior, 4th in the 55 to 59 division in 1:30:12. Dan Ramos finished 121st, 18th senior in 1:36:24. With one more victory at Clarksburg, the old ones can clinch another title, and not have to score at C.I.M.

CHICAGO MARATHON - 10/13/02

Volk 2:28 at Chicago!

David Volk set a big PR running 2:28:31 (2:28:26 chip) at Chicago Sunday, only the second non-Chris modern open team runner under 2:30. Congratulations David . . . 2:25's just around the corner.

Primo's Run for Education Half Marathon - 10/13/02

Byline Matt Regan

A few Hoy's runners made the trip to the East Bay on Sunday morning to race the Primo's Run for Education Half Marathon. Last year this race had a little hiccup and the course only measured 12 miles, so this year in an effort to compensate they made most of us run 14. The lead pack of Richie Boulet, Josh Small and our own Darrin Rohr are the only 3 in the field I believe who ran the correct 13.1 mile course, and finished in that order. Matt Regan was 5th overall and runner up to a very angry guy from Tamalpa in the 14 mile version of the race and Manny Berston was 8th overall (4th in the 14 mile race) Last reports were that they were still looking for one pack of runners who were making their way slowly towards Walnut Creek.

Sierra Challenge - 10/12/02

Open Men Byline Chris Phipps

With Cross Country Club Nationals in Rocklin this year, many runners have shifted their focus this fall from the long road races to the trails. Last Saturday's Sierra Challenge in Rocklin gave PA runners a test run on the same course that will be used at nationals (minus one 2K loop). The course was a deceptively difficult 4 looper, and was slower than we would have thought after warming up on the loop. Chris Phipps and Pete Vicencio led the open men finishing in 29th (26:53) and 30th (26:56), and were the first 2 finishers over 30 in this young field with many Stanford, UC Davis, and Chico State runners. Stephen Donahue, had a problem with a side stitch, but managed to finish a strong 39th (27:15). Dan Mancini 46th (27:44) and Tim Wallen 47th (27:48) rounded out the scoring 5. Danny Lilot 49th (27:50) and Dan Rhodes 58th (28:43) were our 2 displacers. On the team side, Transports adidas again led the way, and were followed by the Reebok Aggies who put together a strong team for the first time this season. HTC beat us pretty easily for third, but because they were 3rd and not second, we can still tie them for the year if we can beat them at Tamalpa and PA champs, and even beat them if they finish 5th or worse at PA champs.

Can't wait until nationals, when we get to run another loop and will likely have do deal with mud as well!

Women Byline Lee D'Alessandro

Unfortunately after exhausting all options, the Hoys Excelsior women were unable to field a full team this weekend. (With the best six of ten scoring, it probably won't make any difference.) Two members, however, did run the course for a preview of the fall nationals: Lee D'Alessandro with a time of 25:06 (36th place) and Hillary Alberts in 26:13 (53rd place). Also running was team friend and Irish national Claire Quinn, up in 10th place (23:17). Let's get back in there at Shoreline!

For the Old'uns, it was just Tyler and Kim. Tyler ran 29:58 for 18th place in the Aggie-heavy masters field, with Kim Lilot coming in as 2d senior, 30:52.

Presidio Challenge - 10/05/02

 The 4th Annual Presidio Challenge was again a huge success for the club thanks to the help of all of the club members, friends, and family who came out to help! We had a record of 271 total finishers in the 3 races.

Thanks again to all who were able to come out and pitch in! [Ed.: Special thanks to co-race directors Brian Richter and Chris Phipps for another outstanding job!] 

Crunch Time for Open Men Byline be Chris Phipps referring to himself in the third person

We desperately needed a win over HTC this week on our home course to keep our hopes of a top 2 finish (behind the dominant Transports who easily won placing 5 in the top 9) in the PA Grand Prix alive. Our team time for our top 5 was 8 seconds faster than HTC's! Unfortunately though, what counts in cross country is sum of places, and HTC got us by about 4 points [Mancini reports it as 2--just switch two places and . . .!]. Leading the Hoy's pack on his favorite course was stressed out co-race director Chris Phipps finishing 10th in 19:56, a 12 second PR! Right behind him was Paul Wellman, who just barely dipped under 20 minutes to finish 12th, and scored enough points to move up from 4th to 2nd in the individual PA Grand Prix. Right behind him was Pete Vicencio in 13th at 20:09. Dan Mancini had team nemesis Jeff Hongo in his sights, but couldn't quite kick him down, finishing in a strong 18th place in a PR 20:39. Dan Shore (20th) edged out Tim Wallen (21st) for 5th man in 20:55 to Tim's 20:59, and Jerad Crave (25th, 21:28), running in his own back yard, won the battle for 7th man over Tom Hadfield (26th, 21:31), both were over 30 seconds ahead of HTC's 5th man. New club member Will Chase ran 25:57 for 56th.

HTC can now clinch 2nd place over us for the year if they beat us just once more. We, on the other hand must beat them at the 3 remaining double points races (Sierra this weekend, Tamalpa, and PA champs), to finish second. HTC only has 8 guys, but they're able to get the right 5 guys down to the bay area when they need to. If we can just get our top 7 guys to these last 3 races we can beat them!

This Saturday is the Sierra College race in Rocklin, a preview of the Nationals course. Anyone who is planning to run XC Nationals should be there to get some experience on the course. Hope to see you there!

Open men who plan to run Nationals, please e-mail me ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ), so I can enter you on our team.

Women Byline Jen Major

Saturday, the Hoy's Excelsior women raced quite well on the Presidio Challenge course. Not only did they face the challenge of the tiresome terrain- steep hills, both up and down, with stretches of sand and squishy dirt, but San Francisco's Indian Summer had arrived in full force by the start of the women's race. Shelley Pierson led the women's team finishing 7th overall in a speedy time of 23:23. Elizabeth Moore followed her, finishing 25th in this competitive field, in 25:15. Not far behind her was Patti Bershers, 25:23, then Lee D'Alessandro, 26:11, and rounding out the A-team, Eimear Martin, 26:22. Leading the B-team was Carmella Schaecher, 26:45. She was followed by Hillary Alberts, 27:06, Jocelyn Friel, 27:36, Christine Wang, 27:36, and Amy Hethcoat finishing in 29:55. Great job ladies! Thanks for coming out and running well!

Old'uns

Our one-two cross punch of Craig Steinmaus and Hans Gouwens made its real debut Saturday. Craig stayed with winner Tim Minor most of the race, eventually finishing 2d in 20:30, thirteen seconds behind Minor but outkicking Joe 4 Minute Fabris along the way. Hans followed in 4th, 20:50. Tyler Abbott had his best race for this recovery period, running 22:13 for 13th. Kim Lilot (23:33, 32d, 1st senior) and Ian Hersey (24:02, 39th) rounded out the scoring team, which seems to have finished third behind the Aggies and the River City Rebels. Gene Gilligan (25:40, 61st, 3rd super senior) and Jim Misener (26:09, 69th) completed the team.

PASO ROBLES 10K - 9/29/02

Paso Paso Paso

Kathryn Krieger improved on last year's club record 35:08 with a new PR and club record 34:46 at the Heritage Oaks Bank 10K in Paso Robles Sunday. This earned Kathryn 7th place overall, 4th place PA, and over $400 between the open money and PA money. Monal Chokshi ran a PR 35:23 for 10th place (thanks to a monster kick), the third fastest H-E time ever I believe, and the last open money spot. Much congratulations to both of you! Details below . . .

Women Byline Kathryn Krieger

The Heritage Oak's Bank 10K was fast and furious for the second year in a row. With bigger prize money up for grabs, everyone was keyed up for a rockin' race. On the girl's side there were a few PR's, and loads of fun was had by all. Leading the Lady H-E girls was Kathryn Krieger. She set a nice PR running 34:46 and placing 7th overall. Next in was Monal Chokshi also running a PR. She had a MAD kicking duel with Rachel Cook from the Aggies and came up the victor in 35:23, good for 10th place and some cash! Monal also won a weekend in San Simeon in the raffle! Shelly Pierson was next across the line for the H-E girls, running a post-baby PR of 37:11 (18th place). Chris Brighton made the trip down from Oregon and came home in 38:50 (27th place). Jenny Wong was nursing some hamstring problems but still came out and took one for the team, running a strong 40:12 (40th place). Close on Jenny's heels were Patti Bershers and Kim Fanady, running 40:56 and 40:57 respectively. Micha Lowe made the trek down and clocked a fine 42:31. Eimear Martin was in next clocking a solid 43:58. Susan Beck came in at 45:48, with Amy Hethcoat running a respectable 46:46 on a still healing ankle. Whitney Stephenson rounded out the team coming home right behind Amy in 46:49.

Also of note, newest team friend Claire Quinn ran an impressive 35:53 for 12th place.

Great work, ladies! See you at the next cross country race . . . Presidio!

[Ed.: The women seem to have finished second, some 3 minutes behind the Aggies, 1.5 minutes ahead of the Impalas, and 5 minutes ahead of Adidas. This earned them their biggest payday yet, $400. Congratulations!]

Open Men Byline Daniel Shore

The most competitive race of the season -- and, with quadruple points on the line, the most important -- began with a perfect day, 50 degrees and sunny with little wind. Sadly, nearly EVERYONE in the PA came out to enjoy the race! With 9 guys under 30:00, 24 under 31:00, and 40 under 32:15, earning points was difficult. Check these stats (courtesy of Phipps, Abbott & Partners)...

Most concentrated minute of finishing for men: 32 (17 runners ran 32:xx). Second most concentrated: 30 (15) Third most concentrated: 33 (13) Median open male time: 32:40 Median male time: 36:55

With 9 guys ahead of our first, breaking the adidas stranglehold on the year-end title is now nearly impossible.

Still, we gave it a great shot. The Open A Team finished within 33 seconds and 8 places of each other, scoring two runners under 32:00. New(ish) member Eric Ollila led the team with a strong 31:44 finish, good for 33rd overall. Dave Volk, proving he's ready for a great marathon in Chicago later this month, finished 5 seconds later (31:29) for 34th place and a 20-something second PR. Another great addition this year, Stephen Donahue, took it out hard and finished in 37th place with 32:07 (tying our first man's time from last year). Phipps and Shore had another great battle (both dreaming of quadruple x-points!), with Phipps outkicking Shore over the last quarter to finish in 32:15 (39th), over Shore's 32:17 (41st).

Leading the B Team was Pete Vicencio, finishing in 32:46 for 47th overall. Coming in 59-61st overall, were Tom Hadfield (33:42), Dan Rhodes (33:45), and Matt Regan, posting a huge PR in 33:48. Rounding out the B Team was new member Chris Becker (93rd, 36:55).

The team seems to have finished fifth, in spite of the fastest average time ever by the modern open team (32:02, compared to 32:32 at the Pac Sun a couple of years ago with Ash & Lundstrom, the second fastest in recent memory).

Next up on the Road circuit is the Humboldt Half Marathon on Sunday, October 20. Of course, don't miss Presidio XC this Saturday!!! 

Old'uns

Tim O'Rourke led the Venerable Ones in a stunning 10-year PR of 32:58 (5th master). Something about altitude training . . . An injured Lloyd Stephenson ran 34:39 (14th) for second on the team, with Jesus Garcia (35:48, 23rd), Tyler Four Times Zero Equals Zero Abbott (36:06, 26th--first non-scoring position--ouch!), Michael Gama (40:02), and Jim Misener (40:09) completing the team. The seniors were led by Don Paul (35:17, 1st), with Jim Gorman (35:21, 2d) just behind him. Les Ong (36:09, 4th), Bob Darling (38:40, 12th), and Gary MacPherson (42:13, 25th) rounded out the team.

TWIN CITIES MARATHON - 09/29/02

Lundstrom @ "TCM (aka Black Sunday)"

Our Chris had a disappointing Twin Cities Marathon, the national marathon championship, this past Sunday, due to injury. Feel free to write Chris at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . Excerpts from a letter from Chris . . . 

Thanks to all of you for the support leading up to and during this past weekend's Twin Cities Marathon. I wanted to let you know I appreciate it. For those of you who were out on the course, thanks for all the positive support. It made an otherwise grim experience worthwhile. And for those of you who weren't there, you may have been wondering if I ran and finished since my name was buried pretty deep on the results list. So I wanted to let you know what happened.

I finished in 2:28. Obviously, it wasn't my day. I felt okay for the first 5 miles or so, running slightly slower than I planned too, but optimistic nonetheless and heading up a nice pack of quality runners. I was feeling a point of pain in both my right and left legs, where the hamstring attaches to the butt. By 10-12 miles, that pain was starting to radiate up into my back and down to the back of my knee. I hit halfway in 1:09 something and I knew it was going to be a long ride home.

The shooting pain and tightness is something I've experienced before in races and training, but never in a marathon. I felt it during my last long run, 3 weeks prior to the race, and again after some faster stuff in the couple of weeks before the race, but I did some stretching and figured that rest would allow everything to heal. I had felt much more banged up before New York, so I didn't think much of it.

Briefly, between miles 15-16, I attempted to shift up into race pace again, but I was unable to increase my stride length without experiencing some really serious pain. I was expecting to see Taj and my friend Eric at the Lake St. bridge at 17.5, and as I approached that point, I thought about stepping off the course and calling it a day. Before I got there, I had resolved to keep going, if only to avoid the risk of making a habit of dropping out. It turned out that they had chosen a spot further along the course anyway, so I just kept running. I also did some mental calculating and figured that I would probably finish somewhere between 2:25 and 2:30. While I had done numerous 15-20 mile training runs at a much faster pace, I was able to step back and realize that I'm lucky to be able to do that on a really awful day. So, from 19 miles on, I looked at it as long run. Crossing the bridge to St. Paul, I was in very familiar territory and I just felt as though I were running home on a very bad day of training.

AGGIE INVITE  XC - 09/21/02

After last year's success at Aggie (1st place team), seven of us went back this year hoping for a repeat. It's the only single point race in the grand prix, so with the best 6 of 10 format it's unlikely to make any difference in the final team standings, but it's always fun to run in hot dust. Unfortunately we quickly saw three members of Adidas Transports, and saw two more soon thereafter, so we figured we'd be fighting for second. Eric Ollila led us in 26:20 on the hot dusty 8K course which still managed to feature long stretches of soggy grass, good enough for 24th place overall (college invite), approx. 10th place PA. Paul Wellman ran a very even 26:29 for 27th/11th place, just behind Eric. Paul was followed by Dan Lilot (27:14, 47th/13th), Dan Rhodes (27:37, 63rd/15th), and Matt Regan (28:19, 75th/22d). Brian Richter (28:37, 82d/26th) and Tyler Abbott (29:37, 104th/38th/12th master) displaced, earning Tyler his first x-points since ? ? ? The team ended up 3rd, approx. 3 points behind WVTC. Also, congratulations to team friend Teresa McWalters, winner of the women's race!

CRYSTAL SPRINGS XC - 09/14/02 

Krieger Wins (Again)!

For the second week in a row and the second year in a row, Kathryn Krieger won, this week at the Crystal Springs cross country meet. At 800 meters Kathryn was lying back in 15th place. By the mile she was in 8th, and shortly after cresting the hill at 1.2 she was in 3rd, hot on the trail of two Aggies. She passed these two after the course disappeared, and by the time we saw the leaders again, she had an impressive lead. She won easily in 17:07, the 4th or 5th fastest open time ever on that course! Congratulations again KK!

Women's Team Runs Tough! Byline Kim Fanady

A small but strong contingent of Hoy's women turned out for Saturday's race over the fabled, beautiful, and mercifully short Crystal Springs course. Leading the team was Kathryn Krieger, who posted her second XC victory in a row at 17:07. Hoy's women (Kathryn and Monal Chokshi) now have 3 wins and a second in the first four XC races!

Hot on Kathryn's heels were always terrific Shelley Pierson, 18:35, 15th; exponentially improving Patti Bershers, 19:44, 29th (about 50 seconds faster than last year!); road stalwart and XC newcomer Micha Lowe, 20:31, 40th; Kim Fanady, 20:39, 43rd and 8th masters (hey, the old girl's still got a kick--ran down 3 opponents in the last 50 yards!); Whitney Stephenson, 22:19, 68th and 21st masters (sleep? who needs sleep? she worked the night shift, got off at 8 AM, and came direct to the race!); and Amy Hethcoat.

Amy wants everyone to know that she has lots of excuses: she just got back from her wedding and honeymoon (congrats!), she hasn't been running (that's not to say she hasn't been working out), and her ankle is sore (well, she says it's her ankle). Special mention and a Purple Heart for a really valiant effort to Lee D'Alessandro, who showed up despite fighting vertigo and charged through the first hilly mile before dropping out. Good running, everyone!

Open Men Byline Chris Phipps

The open men ran well this week, but for the second time in 3 weeks were edged out of second place by the Humboldt Track Club. HTC had 2 in front of our pack of 4, then managed to get their 3-4-5 in ahead of our 5th. The Hoy's pack was again led by Stephen Donahue in 12th place with a 21:37, followed by Paul Wellman (13th, 21:46), Chris Phipps (14th, 21:49), and Pete Vicencio (15th, 21:53). Dan Lilot finished just out of the points and was our 5th scorer (26th, 22:51), just ahead of Dan Rhodes (28th, 22:56). Jerad Crave (33rd, 23:07) and Matt Regan (41st, 23:19) completed the team. We still remain in 2nd place for the season, but in order to stay ahead of Humboldt, we will need to beat them at 2 of the 4 remaining double points races on the schedule. The next double point race will be our own Presidio Challenge on October 5th! We hope to see all club members out there racing, volunteering, or both!

Old'uns

Hans Gouwens led the 8 old'uns with another strong race, finishing in 3rd to two Aggies in 22:49 (25th overall). Craig Steinmaus and Tyler Abbott both passed the mile in about 5:50, but before Tyler's delusions of grandeur could grow much their paths diverged, with Craig finishing 9th master in 23:18 (5:34 pace), while I maintained the 5:50s to run 24:25 (16th). Kim Lilot finished next in 25:50 (4th senior), with Jesus Garcia rounding out both the scoring team and a 60+ hour work week in 25:57 (27th master). Ian Hersey (26:07, 28th) and Jim Misener (28:21, 41st) were the displacers, with Greg King finishing in 32:19. Great job everyone--we've now scored in three of the maximum six races.

TURKEY DAY 10K - 09/13/02

Thanks to Hans Gouwens for culling Chris Lundstrom's victory in the Turkey Day 10K in Worthington, Minnesota, 9/13. Chris ran 30:18 to win easily. Results are available at http://www.turkeyday10k.com/results2002.htm Congratulations Chris! It's going to be cold out there pretty soon . . .

And from Matt Regan . . .

Check out Runners World online [9/23]. A brief chat with........ Chris Lundstrom. http://www.runnersworld.com/home/0,1300,1-0-0-ZNEWS----09-23-2002,00.html 

GOLDEN GATE PARK XC - 09/07/02

Krieger Wins!

Shortly into the third mile of the fabled two-lap four mile Golden Gate Park cross country course, Kathryn Krieger ran away from the Farm Team's Chris Lundy to notch her first victory of the year, in her first cross-country race of the year. The men put forth an impressive effort; no one in the top 10, but TWELVE runners within 1:01 of our leader Stephen Donahue, and with the full scoring team under 22 minutes for the first time in modern history. 

Another historic moment, the first time the women's masters team has scored in a cross-country race! Kim Fanady led the women in 28:26, followed by Whitney Stephenson (30:52) and Kelly Murphy.

More below . 

Women: Krieger First! Byline Kathryn Krieger

After accumulating the results I'm not quite sure where to begin! Yes, the turnout for the Open Women's team at the 16th Annual Golden Gate Park Open Cross Country Meet was that impressive. It was a near perfect day for a cross country meet; cool, overcast, no wind, and there was even some MUD! Woo hoo! The girl's race was hastily started after a grueling photo session (gotta look GOOD for those cameras!). The race was taken out by the threesome of Chris Lundy of the Farm Team, unattached runner Ana Martinez (did anyone from our team track her down?), and me. I was quite surprised to see this new girl up there with Chris and me . . . yet it was quite refreshing to have some new faces out there! In fact, we had a few of our own newbies. Here's how the times and places were broken down . . . After putting on a serge at the top of the hill coming out of the meadow I took the lead and came home in first in 23:59. Our number two girl was just one of our newest faces, Jenny Wong. She crossed the line in 10th place in 25:15. Hot on her heals was Shelly Pierson. She's looking great in her marathon training, coming in 15th in 25:21. Next in for the H-E Girls was Diana Harlick in 26:03, good for 22nd place. Patti Bershers (44th) ran a strong 27:26 . . . a PR of 59 seconds on that course! Lee D'Alessandro came out to play and ran a solid 27:30. Another newbie was next . . . Lara "yeah I got a kick" Morris ran a strong 28:33 (she put the hammer down on about 4-5 girls -- that rocked!). Carmella Schaecher was next in 28:39. Hillary Alberts, Lydia Siegel and Jocelyn Friel ran in a great pack finishing in 29:27, 29:28, and 29:48 respectively. Rounding out the Open Team was Christine Wang in 30:28.

Open Men Byline Chris Phipps

PA runners turned out in droves for the traditional start of the Cross Country season on the familiar 2 x 2 mile Golden Gate Park loop. The men's race, open and masters combined, had 228 finishers. We had our largest turnout of the year with 16 open men competing. Stephen Donahue led the Hoy's pack finishing in 14th place in 21:34, with Chris Phipps (15th, 21:36), Paul Wellman (16th, 21:39), and Pete Vicencio (18th, 21:46) close behind. Eric Ollila was the 5th scorer finishing 25th in 21:55. Ryan Gallagher made it 6 under 22 minutes for the team in 27th, (21:59), with Dan Mancini (31st, 22:11) holding off Brian Richter for the final varsity spot. Brian led the JV team finishing in 33rd with a 22:16, followed by Tom Hadfield (37, 22:23), Dan Rhodes (39, 22:24), Tim Wallen (47, 22:34), Dan Lilot (48, 22:35), Jerad Crave (57, 22:49), Matt Regan (69, 23:35), Andy Anglemeyer (79, 23:53), and Brian Schultz (120, 25:16).

There were at least 10 open teams competing, and again it was adidas winning easily with 5 of the top 10 finishers. It looks like we just edged the Reebok Aggies for 2nd thanks to our depth (we had our 10th man ahead of their 5th), so our team will remain in second behind adidas in the season standings. Good job to all who came out to run or to support the team! This week it's Crystal Springs, hope to see you there! 

Old'uns Report

In our biggest masters cross-country showing in years, Hans Gouwens again led the masters, in 22:46, 5th master (54th overall). Hans was followed by a re-energized Craig Steinmaus in 23:10 (6th master). Peter Lewandoski (24:02, 11th) followed, with Jesus Garcia returning to action (24:05, 13th) and Tyler Abbott (24:17, 18th) filling out the scoring team. Luis Sanchez (24:48, 23rd), Pete Nowicki (25:57), Ian Hersey (26:05), Michael Gama (27:06), and Jim Misener (27:31) rounded out the team. The masters finished either second or third, with an outside shot at first, depending on how the Aggies drop down. The seniors also fielded a team, with Kim Lilot (25:31, 5th senior), Bob Darling coming off injured reserve in 26:21, and Tom Bennett (31:29). Congratulations all!

PARK FOREST SCENIC 10 MILER - 09/02/02

Congratulations to Chris Lundstrom on a fine 50:15 at the Park Forest Scenic 10 Miler. For more info, try http://www.chicagoaa.com/news/Parkforest9202.html

EMPIRE XC - 08/31/02

Hans First, Monal Second!

Women: Chokshi Second! Byline Patti Bershers

Thanks to the efforts of three new team members (and with a fourth in the wings), the Hoy's women fielded a full team at the dry-and-dusty Empire Open 4.1 M race on a holiday weekend. Leading off was Monal Chokshi who is off to an excellent start in the 2002 XC GP, following up on last week's 1st with a 2nd place to Chris Lundy here (25:50). New member Jenny Wong, who will start scoring for us next week, showed off an encouraging return from injury with a sixth place 27:27. Patti Bershers and second new member Liz Moore worked together for their 20th (28:53) and 23rd (29:07) place finishes, respectively. Another pack of Hoy's women rolled in not far behind, with third new member Hillary Alberts, yes, fourth new member Lara Morris, and Jocelyn Friel going 42nd, 44th, and 46th respectively (31:24, 31:34, and 32:04). Have to wait for team results . . . perhaps third. Great job, everyone, and see you at GGP!

Open Men Byline Chris Phipps

The 2002 Cross Country season really got rolling this weekend with the first double points race of the year at Foothill Park in Windsor. I found the Dipseaesque course to my liking as I used each steep downhill to move up a place and finished 9th overall in 22:58 (45 seconds faster than last year!). Right behind me was Paul Wellman in 10th (23:03), followed by Eric Ollila in 13th (23:09). Marathon training Dave Volk was next in, 17th (23:14) and Jim Sweeney, fresh off Hood to Coast last week was our 5th scorer in 22nd (23:53). Dan Rhodes, also coming back from the Hood finished 25th to pick up the last 2 PA points. Right behind in 26th and 27th, Dan Lilot edged out Tim Wallen for 7th man finishing 24:18 to Tim's 24:20. As a team, Adidas had 5 guys, which was just enough for them to win. We lost a close battle to Humboldt Track Club for 2nd (just 3 points or so), and finished 3rd, but remain in second for the season just half a point behind Adidas.

Old'uns: Gouwins!

Hans Gouwens woke up Saturday morning with an email from me saying we probably wouldn't have a full team. He just about went back to sleep, but finally decided to go to the race after all. Good thing he did. The masters race started out slow, and Hans was just off the lead at the mile. He soon passed the leaders and never looked back, winning his first cross-country race by approximately 1/2 a minute. Hans ran 24:28. And it turned out we did have a full team. Hans was followed by Tyler Abbott in his first top 10 finish in approximately 364 days, finishing 9th in 25:46. After Tyler came Ian Hersey and Kim Lilot in 27:29 (24th) and 27:33 (26th). Greg King (35:08) and Tom Bennett (35:51) rounded out our first scoring masters team in quite a while. We appear to have finished 3rd or 4th in a deep seven team field. Hopefully we can keep up the momentum next week at GGP, though running with the opens and the aggies will make that race much tougher on the ego! Where's OMS?

SANTA CRUZ XC - 08/24/02

WOMEN: CHOKSHI WIN S. CRUZ! STEPHENSON FIFTH MASTER Byline Susan Beck

The women's cross-country season got off to a smashing start as Monal Chokshi handily won the Santa Cruz race on Saturday, beating runner up Rachel Cook --last year's Santa Cruz winner and PA X-C Champion--by a whopping 31 seconds. Her time was 25:15 for the very hilly 4-mile course. (We're waiting for the day when Monal's name is pronounced correctly at an awards ceremony. "Monay" was Saturday's version.) Lee D'Alessandro cracked the top 20, finishing 19th overall in 28:30. New member Carmella Schaecher helped out the team with a 25th place finish, in 29:18. Whitney Stephenson ran a strong 32:02 and was the fifth master in the field and 39th overall. And bringing up the rear was Susan Beck, who found out at 6:30 that morning that the team needed a fifth runner. Trying not to aggravate a barely recovered achilles, Beck finished the race in a time and place that really need not be disclosed. It's not clear yet how the team will score. Aggies and West Valley likely beat us. It didn't appear that the Impalas or Adidas fielded teams.

Open Men Byline Dan Mancini

The Open Men's team kicked off the XC season with a strong 2nd or 3rd place showing at Santa Cruz. Continuing to impress with his early season form, Steve Donahue paced the team with a 4th place finish, covering the approx. 4.2 mi. hilly course in 22:03. Paul Wellman was next in 8th place (22:21), followed closely by new member Eric Ollila in 9th (22:26), Dave Volk in 15th (22:41), with Dan Mancini in 21st (23:01) rounding out the team scoring. The B team was led by Brian "Parker" Richter in 30th (23:39), Tim Wallen in 36th (23:55) and Dan Lilot in 41st (24:23). Our lone +40 runner, Kim Lilot, was 2nd Senior across the line with a fine time of 26:30 (71st overall).

National 50K Trail Championship - 08/24/02

Lentz 9th at National Championship

The National 50K Trail Championship was held Saturday in the Headlands. Cliff Lentz, after a disappointing finish in last year's race, returned to run some 21 minutes faster (4:05) and finish 9th in the elite field. Congratulations Cliff!

HOOD TO COAST - 08/23/02

REPEAT DOUBLE GOLD!

The Santini Extra Virgins and the Santini Popeyes and Olive Oils returned to Oregon and repeated as winners of the submaster and open coed divisions, respectively, in spite of somewhat slower times than last year. This was their sixth and second consecutive victories, respectively. Club members among the Extra Virgins included Matt Regan, Peter Hsia, Dan Rhodes, Chris Phipps, Tyler Abbott, Pete Nowicki, Tim Geraghty, and Pete Vicencio, while the coeds included Lisa Murphy, Andy Anglemyer, Jim Sweeney, Jared Crave, and Chris Ashfield. Thanks also to the Impalas, Empire Runners, Tamalpa, West Valley, and especially Adidas Transports, for providing runners; the latter provided four Olive Oils and one great Popeye--Bill McMorran. The submasters placed sixth overall, their highest finish in nine years of running the race.

Statistics and stories to come . . .

Hook & Ladder 10K - 08/18/02

Hook & Ladder bin beddy beddy good to us. We broke edged out last year's total of 35 Cliff House brunches this year with 39. We comprised 7 of the top 10, 10 of the top 15, and 15 of the top 29. Club winners of brunches for two were first place woman Christine Brighton (37:4x), fifth place woman Micha Lowe (40:1x), top three masters woman Whitney Stephenson (missed time), third place man Stephen Donahue (32:13), 4th place man Chris Phipps (33:0x), first place master Tim O'Rourke (33:09), second place master Tyler Abbott (36:18), first place senior Don Paul (34:5x), second place senior Les Ong (36:20), third place senior and club newcomer (or not quite yet comer) Joachim Bechtle (36:42 at age 58), first place young'un Matt McCarron (34:4x), and first place master fireman Andy Sobozinsky (37:xx).

Among teams, we swept men's, women's, and master men's (the only non-fire adult teams in the competition!). After Donahue and Phipps, the men's team was Tom Hadfield (PR 33:xx), Pete Vicencio (33:50), and Dan Mancini (33:5x), with Dan Rhodes (34:0x) and new member Andy Anglebert (37:xx). For women, after Brighton and Lowe came Patti Bershers (PR 40:19), Lee D'Alessandro (40:3x), and Christine Jegan (PR 43:2x). The master's men team included O'Rourke, Paul, Abbott, Ong, and Ian Hersey (36:3x), Bob Darling, with Jim Misener pushing a jogger and Tom Bennett rounding out the team.

Great job everyone! As always, I apologize for anyone I missed. Mark your calendars for the post-Presidio brunch 10/5 at the Cliff House!

5K Gift of Life & Concourse Mile - 08/11/02

Chris Phipps swept the City's second most competitive Mile/5K double event Sunday at the 5K Gift of Life & Concourse Mile, comfortably winning both races, and earning several gift certificates in the process. Great job Phipps!

ALAMEDA RUN FOR THE PARKS 10K - 08/04/02

Shelly Pierson took a big chunk out of her 10K time Sunday at Alameda Run for the Parks. Shelly ran 37:37, almost two minutes under her Pac Sun time, for 5th place in the former grand prix race. New member Carmella Schaecher ran 41 something in her first race for the team. Congratulations!

WHARF TO WHARF 6 MILER - 07/28/02

Dave Volk ran a tough 30:33 (approx. 31:36 10K equivalent!) at Sunday's Wharf to Wharf, good enough for 15th place in the extremely competitive field. Base building Chris Phipps ran 32:10, 34th place. On the women's side, Diana Harlick ran 38:46, 39th place.

SF CHRONICLE MARATHON - 07/28/02

This year's Chronicle Marathon was marred by a major snafu on the course. After the first few runners turned correctly at one critical intersection, the next 100+ went the wrong way and cut off a half mile or so. This destroyed Tim O'Rourke's lifelong dream of leading the entire first 10K of a major marathon; Tim was in the lead at the crucial turn, only to find himself in 15th place or so after the two routes came back together!

RELAY SWEEP!

In spite of the course mix-up, the club won all three relay divisions at Sunday's Chronicle Marathon and 25.7 miler--men's, women's, and coed! Tim O'Rourke led off for the men's team, running the hilly first 10K leg in 35:48. Matt Regan ran the next leg, 6.89 miles, in 39:57. Dan Rhodes finally passed the last of the shortcutters on his 33:40 5.81 mile steady climb up through the Park. Jerad Crave had a minute lead and never looked back, running the 7.29 miles from Hoy's to the Ferry Building via Potrero Hill in 40:41 to cross the finish line first. The team finished in a combined ouch 2:30:06, a minute and a half in front of first place and first time marathoner and club friend Nate Bowen (congratulations Nate!), and a few minutes ahead of the next relay team.

The women's team of Lee D'Alessandro, Patti Bershers, Kim Fanady, and Shelly Pierson also won easily, finishing in 2:57:06, 9th relay team overall, though a few minutes behind women's winner Magdalena Lewy. Lee ran the first leg in 39:13, Patti the next in 49:31, Kim up through the Park in 41:15, and Shelly anchoring the long downhill leg in 47:07.

Finally, the coed (at least one of each gender) team also won its division, finishing in 2:41:19, third relay team overall. Jim Sweeney led off in 37:03 on the confusing first leg. Coed Dan Shore then caught up to man Matt Regan on the second leg, running 38:43 and creating the memorable site of Matt and Dan in bright yellow sprinting side by side to the second exchange as hundreds of expectant half marathoners looked on. Eimear Martin ran the up-the-Park leg in a very strong 41:00, and Tyler Abbott anchored in 44:33. Tyler started a minute behind marathoner Craig Steinmaus, caught up to him in the steep downhill first two miles and put 5 seconds on him, then maintained that exact 5 second lead the rest of the race, paralyzed by visions of OMS's withering kick.

THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS!

There were great successes on the individual side as well. Craig Steinmaus placed 6th overall in the marathon (place will probably move down after results become official), and appears to be both the first master and the first San Franciscan, titles good for $1,000 EACH. Peter Hsia finished 30th overall (place is likely to go WAY down when results are finalized; Peter was one of the first to notice the course error and run the correct course) in 3:00:58, with Dan Lilot setting his 25.7 mile PR just behind Peter.

Among the women, last year's marathon winner Micha Lowe finished 5th in 3:10:02; as first San Franciscan, Micha also appears entitled to $1,000. 2000 winner Lisa Murphy finished just behind Micha in 3:10:25, 6th place. Whitney Stephenson ran the marathon in 4:30:01.

In the half marathon, Kathryn Krieger had an off day and finished 4th in 1:23:38. Tom Hadfield finished 6th in 1:15:27, with Paul Wellman 7th in 1:17:16 and Doug Rosenberg 12th in 1:20:17 and Lydia Siegal ran 1:39:59.

Congratulations all!

FLEET FEET CAPITOL MILE - 07/07/02

KRIEGER TAKES SILVER AT MILE!

Days after returning from an extended vacation and months after her last track workout, Kathryn Krieger ran a blistering 5:05.94 to take second at Sunday's Capitol Mile. Kathryn surprised us all by going out in second (72-73 first quarter). She then maintained her position the entire race, fending off a hard-charging Midori Sperandeo over the last 100 yards. On the men's side, Don Paul continued his unparalleled string of senior victories, running 4:59 on a day he didn't think he'd be running at all. Details below . . .

Open Women Byline Lee D'Alessandro

Women's Masters Fielding a full team of three, Kim Fanady (5th, 5:45.52) lead the Hoy's team in excellent time followed by Whitney Stephenson (11th, 6:27.25) and a strong finish by Kelly Murphy (12th, 6:33.30).

Women's Open Just one runner short of a full team (no comments please), the open women had a fantastic start with Kathryn Krieger (2nd, 5:05.94) running well. The team was rounded out by Lee D'Alessandro (5:46.46), Christine Jegan (6:22.99) and Malinda Walker (6:29.42).

Old'uns

The masters men were led by Tim O'Rourke. Tim always seems to run well at the Mile, and Sunday was no exception. Tim ran 4:36.25, good enough for 6th place in the extremely competitive Aggie-dominated masters field. Lloyd Stephenson finished eight seconds and five places back in 4:44.60, followed by Hans Gouwens (4:51.4, 14th), Tim Geraghty (4:57.73, 17th), and the man who kept me from utter embarrassment, new member Paul Skokowski (5:01.16, 25th). The masters seem to be second, though it looks to be a close battle with the Aggie B team.

The seniors dominated yet another race. Les Ong followed Don Paul's victory with a second place finish of his own, 5:05.91. Allan Stanbridge (5:40, 18th) finished the scoring for the seniors.

Open Men Byline Chris Phipps

The long spring racing season came to an end last Sunday with the Capitol Mile. Only 7 open men made the long trip to the Capitol for a race that would be run in under 5 minutes. I believe that this is the first time that both the Reebok Aggies and Transports Adidas had more open runners at a PA race than we did. New club member James Timbrell started the day for us finishing 4th in the young men's race with a 4:37.66. In the open men's race we were led by Stephen Donahue who finished 8th in 4:28.22. It sure is great to see some youth on the team! Dan Spee-D Shore was next with a 4:35.98 good for 18th. About 5 seconds later Dan Rhodes and I crossed the finish line simultaneously, yet they timed me in 4:41.69 and Dan in 4:42.87. Unfortunately this race is hand timed and when groups come across the finish line in tight packs it's tough if not impossible for the timer to push the button as fast as people cross the line. But a 1.18 second difference for 2 guys crossing the line at the same time? Dan and I thought we were closer to 4:39, so that's what we'll say we ran if anybody asks. Fortunately though he was quick enough to time Matt Regan in a sub 4:50 PR of 4:49.33, and Andy Chan under the 5 minute barrier with a 4:59.47. As a team, we got smoked by ________ (insert PA teams of choice here). It looks like we were 4th, and will lose a bit more of our lead on the Aggies and WVTC. The road racing season will take a break now for almost 3 months before the quadruple point Heritage Oaks 10K in Paso Robles on September 29. We definitely need our strongest team possible there if we expect to maintain 2nd place in the road Grand Prix.

So, now's the time to take a short break from running if you need one (I know I do!) before starting that big base for cross country (season starts in less than 7 weeks!) or CIM!

SAN BRUNO HALF MARATHON - 07/07/02

Lentz First at San Bruno

Cliff Lentz ran the fastest time at Sunday's San Bruno Half Marathon, a race at which we've fielded large teams in the past. Cliff ran 1:27 on the extremely difficult course to finish second overall to Russ Kiernan in the handicapped race.

DSE LAKE MERCED RACE - 07/04/02

Team Dominates 4th of July Lake Merced Race

Several of us spent 4th of July morning at the DSE Lake Merced race, and we almost swept the top 5 men's spots. Chris Phipps won the race in very comfortable fashion, followed closely by Agustin Cruz (Raymundo's brother). Andy Sobozinsky finished next in the race and for the team, followed by Tyler Abbott in 4th. Jim Misener and Tom Bennett rounded out the team.

We also won on the women's side, with Amy Hethcoat picking up the victory. Kelly Murphy finished in the ribbons in 5th.

GARRY BJORKLUND HALF-MARATHON - 06/29/02

Our own CHRIS LUNDSTROM placed 2nd at the Garry Bjorklund Half-Marathon in Duluth, MN last Saturday in about 1:05:10. He raced even with the winner through 6 miles, had his shoelaces become untied and had to stop around mile 7, and continued despite his laces untying again. He sounded happy with his result and effort.

DOUBLE DIPSEA - 06/23/02

Lentz Fastest at Double Dipsea

Cliff Lentz ran the fastest time Sunday at the Double Dipsea for the fourth? fifth? time. I haven't seen official results yet, but I heard he ran 1:41 something, which might very well be a PR. If anyone out there can pass on complete team Double Dipsea results, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Other Races:

Congratulations to Christine Wang on her 3:56:31 performance at her inaugural marathon, the Mayor's Midnight Sun Marathon in Anchorage, Alaska (55th woman). Sounds beautiful, but a tough first marathon! 

Junior Track and Field Nationals: 

Team friend Teresa McWalters had a great day Friday at the Junior nationals, running a 4:43.93 1500. The mark tied Teresa's PR at this distance, and placed her 24th in her first competition at this level. Great job, Teresa!

SHRINER'S  8K - 06/22/02

Open Men Byline Brian Richter

On paper the Men's Open team look to field a pretty good team, only Dan Shore missing from recent scoring threats. Alas, the race was run on the roads and we got spanked.

Dave Volk led with a fine effort, running 25:34 for 18th place, his defection to NOPA will have a Jim Jeffords-like effect on the GG Park axis of power. Pete Vicencio was four places behind in 25:50 and all was well. Note at this point Adidas A and half a B was in and WVTC and the Ags had 3 in as well. Things went downhill from there. Dan Lilot ran a solid 26:18, showing again he will be a consitant scorer thoughout the upcoming cross country season, Chris Phipps followed in 26:31, and kept hoping more yelow shirts would pass him by. Alas, they didn't. Cesar Guillen rounded out the scoring in 51st with a 27:06.

Dan Rhodes led off the B team with a 27:27, pride getting better of him to outkick the first woman (Heather Tanner of Palo Alto). Brian Richter had no such pride, suffering an ignominious 27:40 and goes back on IR. He takes some consolation in his 11th place finish in the LetRun.Com US Champs Prediction contest and is now considering becoming the team Swami. Brian Schultz followed in 29:45 (113th), Sam Harvell in 30:32 and we'll take credit for "Unkown Runner" in 34:03.

Women Byline Patti Bershers

Painfully early on Saturday morning, and after a very interesting start, 10 Hoy's women took off in unseasonably cool Sacramento weather for the Shriner's 8K race. Thanks to it NOT being 90 degrees out, several women had very good days. Monal Chokshi led the way in her return to racing from some nagging injuries to bag a 5th place finish in a speedy 28:33. Following close behind was the always-strong Chris Brighton, with a 29:16. Shelly Pierson had a major breakthrough on her comeback trail, running 30:23 to place 18th. Lee D'Alessandro didn't let jet lag get in the way of her 39th place finish in 32:03. Patti Bershers managed to squeak onto the scoring team with a 33:15, good for 53rd place. Close on her heels was new team member Eimear Martin, placing 57th with a 33:25. Amy Hethcoat wrapped up the open women's team in 35:05, good for 68th place.

The masters women also had a great day. Kim Fanady led our masters team with a 33:20, good for 55th overall, and 15th master. Susan Beck, returning to form post-Boston, ran a 36:49 for 79th place overall and 25th master. Whitney surprised herself (but not the rest of us, who knew she had it in her) with a 37:02 time, good for 82nd place overall and 27th master.

Great job everyone, and up next - Capitol Mile!

Old'uns

With the exception of a weary OMS, the masters had their best race in a while, and almost challenged the open team straight up. Lloyd Stephenson led the crew in 25:48 (3rd), just 14 seconds behind the open leader Jeffords Volk. Feeling the effects of a spring racing season that's been going on since his 31:4x at Mercury News, a burned out Craig Steinmaus ran 26:26 (6th). Following closely on Craig's heels were Tim O'Rourke in 26:35 (9th) and, beginning to return to '99 form, Hans Gouwens (26:39, 11th). There was then a big of a gap before the second half of our masters team: Randy Guerrero (29:25, 39th), Tyler Abbott (30:05, 47th), Jim Misener (31:27, 64th), and Michael Gama (31:52, 70th). The Aggies easily won again, but we seem to have come in second.

For the seniors, Don Paul won again, running a 27:16 time that put him within 10 seconds of scoring for the open team! Jim Gorman in training mode ran 29:53 (7th). Allan Stanbridge rounded out the scoring team in 31:10 (12th), with Dan Ramos close behind in 31:39 (18th).

In intra-team competition, the women edged out the men 124-133. In their last race with the Dave & Monal show, SOPA was done with its cool down by the time NOPA came in, and boy is SOPA enjoying it while it can.

WOODMINSTER 9 MILER - 06/16/02

Lentz Fourth at Woodminster

After running the fastest time and placing second overall in the handicapped Woodminster 9 Miler last year, Cliff Lentz finished fourth overall in this year's edition of the Dipsea-esque race. Hoy's Excelsior placed three among the medal winning top 15: in addition to Cliff, Pete Vicencio in 7th and Dave Volk in 13th. This run also served as our Sunday run, and several other team members ran the race or at least the course: Stephen Donahue, Gary MacPherson, Tim O'Rourke, Susan Beck, Andy Chan, Malinda Walker, Christine Jegan, Monal Chokshi, Lisa Murphy, and Tyler Abbott. I apologize to anyone I missed.

DIPSEA - 06/09/02

Phippsea, Lentz Again 1-2 at Dipsea!

Chris Phipps and Cliff Lentz repeated last year's 1-2 fastest time finishes at Dipsea Sunday. Under the hottest conditions in years, Phippsea ran 50:16--45-50 seconds slower than last year on a day when most people were at least a minute slow. Chris was 4th in the handicapped race. Cliff finished in 51:04, around a minute slower than last year, but, as an indicator of the conditions, Cliff ended up two places higher than last year, in 6th.

Other indicators of the extreme heat included the five people taken to local hospitals during the race, four of them by helicopter.

Race highlights included team friend Teresa McWalters finishing first in the Dipsea Runner section. Teresa very graciously thanked the club during the awards ceremony. Congratulations Teresa, and thank you!

Among other club members, Pete Vicencio, after being sick most of the week, still finished in the black. At 32d (54:59, less 1 minute handicap), Pete received one of the last of the 35 coveted black shirts. From there the team fell off quite a bit in our attempt to challenge Tamalpa. In a year in which many of our top runners were running their first Dipseas, in the Dipsea Runner section, the fourth team finisher in the invitational section was Tyler Abbott, in 1:00:42 (2 minute handicap--58:42, 101st! place--ouch--the top 100 receive their places on their bib numbers next year, a Dipsea status symbol). Tyler was followed closely by three more team members: Kim Lilot in his first Dipsea (1:04:56-58:56, 103rd); Jim Sweeney (59:16, scratch, 109th), and Patti Bershers (1:07:43-59:43, 121st, 3 or so minute PR). Other invitational runners on the team included David Moulton (1:02:10, 1 minute, 166th), Manny Berston (1:05:54, 2 minutes, 257th), Randy Guerrero (1:06:03, 2 minutes, 261st), Michael Gama (1:11:15, 3 minutes, 413rd), Jim Misener (1:10:53, 2 minutes, just squeaking in under the 2003 invitation cutoff of 450th in 449th!), and Mike Dipsea's Too Easy, So I Think I'll Add a Mile or Two Northrop (1:13:46, scratch, 569th).

After Teresa in the Dipsea Runners section, we placed 5 of the second 6, all finishing within a little over a minute of each other: Christine Brighton (1:03:40, 8 minutes, 7th), Bernard Bassil (56:12, scratch, 9th), Matt Regan (57:34, 1 minute, 10th), Tom Hadfield (56:46, scratch, 11th), and Dan Rhodes (56:55, scratch, 12th). Dan was followed by Sarah Northrop and Jocelyn Friel, who ran much of the race together (1:12:42, 8 minutes, 51st, and 1:12:58, 8 minutes, 54th, respectively). All these runners qualified for invitational next year.

In terms of the team battle, we got clobbered. However, for the first time we won the fastest time team battle, by my calculations by almost six minutes, 4:29:17 to 4:35:15! (I probably missed a Tamalpan or two, but it's unlikely to make a six minute difference.)

The Marin IJ always has a ton of Dipsea coverage, and this year was no exception. A couple links: (1) from last week, about the team competition: http://www.marinij.com/news/stories/index8002418.html ; and (2) about the heat and medical problems: >http://www.marinij.com/news/stories/index1003292.html .

Speaking of the Marin IJ, Patti Bershers picked up over 20 copies of Monday's paper, which included extensive Dipsea coverage. She has enough for everyone who raced. If you'd like one, just send your postal address to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and she'll mail it to you.

Congratulations all! And thanks to Tim Wason for bringing out the canopy, tables, etc.--we had the best setup out there. Wait 'til next year . . . Don?

And BTW, SOPA beat NOPA by quite a bit.

ALICE RUN 5 MILER - 06/06/02

 Chokshi 2d at Alice

After laying low for a few weeks with minor injuries, Monal Chokshi visited the cherry orchard Sunday with a 2d place finish at the Alice 5 Miler. Monal ran 29:28 to take second behind Maria Trujillo and earn a $100 (at least) payday!

In addition, two of our runners won their divisions. Peter Lewandoski was 1st master, 11th overall, in 28:28, and Bob Darling was first senior in 31:16. Great job gentlemen.

We've traditionally had a big showing at Alice, but it's never conflicted with Dipsea before, and I only found four other team members in the results. Monal was followed by Luis Sanchez (29:58, 22d), Kim Fanady (33:09, 9th woman, 2d master), and Bob Stanger (37:04, 137th).

PA TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS -  06/01/02

D'Alessandro Repeats as PA Steeple Champ

For the second year in a row, Lee D'Alessandro won the 3000 meter steeple chase at the PA Championships, this year in Sacramento June 1. Congratulations Lee!

Hit the Road Jack 10K - 06/02/02

Kathryn Krieger won the Hit the Road Jack 10K Sunday in Sonoma. KK ran 36:20 something to easily win the women's race (and finishing in the top 10 overall!). This performance won her $200, a night at the Sonoma Mission Inn, and a pound of cheese! Amy Hethcoat was our second woman, running a PR 43:53. Dan Shore finished third man in 32:46 to win $50 and another pound of cheese.

PACIFIC SUN 10K - 05/27/02

Women Byline Kathryn Krieger

This Memorial Day was marked by warm sunshine and a stellar turnout of H-E Girls at the Pac Sun 10K in Kentfield. The open girls were lead by Kathryn Krieger in 4th place in 36:00. Christine Brighton followed next in 37:32, good for 8th place. Next in was Diana Harlick in 38:45 (18th place). Shelly Pierson ran a strong 39:11, as did Micha Lowe in 40:17. The B team was lead by Patti Bershers, running a 48 second PR in 40:48. Cristine Wang followed in 43:26 being persued by Jocelyn Friel in 43:36. Amy Hethcoat (44:08) and Malinda Walker (50:07) completed the open team.

The Masters were lead by Kim Fanady in 42:33 (11th Master). Whitney Stephenson ran a great 49:06. And Kelly Murphy also ran a strong 49:42.

Great job, Ladies! See you all at Shriners!

Open Men Byline Daniel Shore

(TOO MUCH) PACIFIC SUN For many of us, Pacific Sun was the third race in as many weekends. On a slightly hot but beautiful morning, the Open Men kicked themselves into high gear again to take on the flat, curvaceous Marin county course. Yet again, we took second behind the adidas crew (it's getting to be too much) finishing our five A Team scorers within 1:30 of each other. Overall, Kalid Abdalah took the win (again) in 30:16, having put the screws to runner-up Richie Boulet (30:34) just past four miles.

Chris Phippsea, showing that he's in prime shape to WIN Dipsea and set a course record in the process (!!!!), led the Open Men with a 10K PR, finishing one GIANT second under the elusive 32-minute barrier (31:59, 16th). Way to go Phipps! Following Chris was Dan Shore, finishing just two seconds off his PR set at Paso last year (32:09, 18th). Third on the team was Pete Vincencio (33:01, 24th), followed by new member (and HUGE asset) Stephen Donahue (33:14, 26th), with Cliff Lentz rounding out our top five in 33:24 (29th) -- also showing he's ready for a fine Dipsea!

The B Team was lead by Dan Rhodes, finishing in 35th place (33:51). Following Dan was Raymundo Cruz (34:09, 39th), Cesar Guillen (34:11, 41st), Tim Wallen (34:13, 42nd), in a rare road performance, Dan Mancini (34:22, 46th), Agustin Cruz (35:20, 62d), and Manny Berston (37:28, 92d).

Next up is the Shriner's 8K in Sacramento on June 22. Come out and trip over the tiny men in tinier cars and funny hats! Before then though, I encourage everyone to come out and watch/cheer Dipsea on Sunday, June 9. It's truly one of the best spectator events around!

Old'Uns

The masters ran a much deeper team than the past couple of races, thanks to the timely return of Hans Gouwens, Peter Lewandoski, and Mark Ford. Lloyd led the group in 32:45 (4th master). Tim O'Rourke followed in 33:55 (11th). Hans Gouwens returned to racing in 35:17, followed by Peter Lewandoski (35:33), Randy Guerrero (37:39), and Mark Ford (37:41), with Tyler Abbott (38:35) rounding out the team in his return to racing. In spite of a fine effort, the masters seem to be third.

The seniors dominated yet again. Don Paul led all 50+ers in a strong 34:45. Jim Gorman was second senior in 35:37, with Les Ong 5th in 36:54. Dan Ramos (39:16), Allan Stanbridge (39:39), Gary MacPherson (40:49), and Bob Stanger (46:55) completed the team.

BAY TO BREAKERS 12K - 05/19/02

BAY TO BREAKERS: WINDOWS XPEDE CRASHES

The first big news from Bay to Breakers this year was the crash of the Microsoft Windows XPede (if that's not the official name of the Microsoft 'pede, it should be) within 70 yards of the finish, just as it was about to beat the first woman for the first time in years. This centipede, which featured our own Chris Phipps, Dan Shore, and Old Man Steinmaus, with Dave Volk as alternate, led the first woman going into the last zag around the finish cones, when the Ags' Sean Phillips and OMS tripped each other. The TV cameras were right there and caught the lead men's heads jerking back as the 'pede came to a dead stop in the middle of its blistering kick (last .46 of the race covered in 2:28 even after stopping at least 10 seconds)--and as our Craig skid along the ground 20 feet. The centipede still won the centipede competition by almost 6:00, finishing in 39:20 (first centipeder was 15th overall in the race).

On the women's side, the Red Hook Centipede (do NOT call them the Red Hookers), this year featuring four of our top women--Kathryn Krieger, Christine Brighton, Jen Major, and Shelly Pierson--beat the Aggie-filled Microsoft women's centipede, 47:18 to 48:01. Leading the charge, Kathryn positioned the team right behind the Aggies going onto the Hayes Street Hill, then passed them up the hill, never to look back. Thanks to Matt Regan and Jim Misener for blocking.

With many of our top runners either running in centipedes or skipping the race which this year fell smack dab in between two PA races, we didn't have the top 100 presence we've had some years (one year 28 of the top 100, if I remember correctly). However, there were still some excellent non-centipede performances. Pete Vicencio led us in 39:53 (31st overall, but 15th man in a separate listing in the paper!). Pete was followed by Tom Hadfield, 41:22, 39th; Tim Wallen, 42:31, 49th; Michael Northrop, 42:38, 51st. Bernard Bassil, 43:57, 64th; Chikara Omine, 44:25, 72d; John Hale, 44:27, 73rd; Manny Berston, 45:08, 95th; Luis Sanchez, 46:41, 112th; Mike Regan, 47:05, 117th; Matt Regan, 47:16 blocking for the women, 129th; Sam Harvell, 47:29, 146th; Bob Darling, 47:49, 160th; Wayne Plymale, 48:06, 182d; Jim Misener, 49:11, 213rd; Al Stanbridge, 49:18, 217th; and Bob Stanger, 57:47, 736th. On the women's side, the first non-pede women's team member I saw was Ali Mann (49:29, 224th), followed by Kim Fanady (53:20, 369th) and Patti Bershers running in the Hulapede and finishing in 57:40. Congratulations to all! Last I'll mention Hans T.A. Gouwens, who definitely had an off race and may have set the record for Slowest Finish By a Top 100 Bib Number, in 57:39. These are all I caught under an hour--as always I apologize for those I've inevitably missed.

And btw, congratulations to two club friends: Kalid Abdalah, 37:27, 11th, and new friend Patrick Nthiwa of Kenya, 36:01, 7th. Patrick actually came to the open men's team wet barbecue Sunday afternoon, thanks to a Don Paul connection.

ZIPPY 5K - 05/12/02

Zippy The Race was highlighted by Craig Today's the Day Steinmaus's third consecutive masters victory, Jim Gorman's first senior win this year, and, among open runners, Kathryn Krieger's 7th and Dan Shore's 10th. Details below . . .

Open Men Byline Daniel Shore

OPEN MEN ZZZZZIP TO SECOND Conditions for this year's Zippy 5K were perfect -- overcast, cool, and nearly windless -- making for fast times. The Open Men faired well at the club's own race, finishing a likely second behind the adidas juggernaut, which placed 5 of its runners in the top 10, including winner Richie Boulet (14:46).

Sneaking into the top 10 for the first time in many moons, Dan Shore led the Open Men with a 10th place 15:24 on the 5+K course -- good for a 5K road PR and a 1 minute Zippy PR (yay!). On his heels were Old Man Steinmaus (15:30, 12th -- not really Open but runs like it), Chris "I'm gonna destroy" Phippsea (15:32, 13th), and early race leader (!) Pete Vicencio (15:45, 17th). Cliff Lentz put in his usual strong performance to clock 16:04 (24th), with Raymundo Cruz rounding out the A Team scorers in 16:20 (34th).

The yellow swarm then arrived with our B Team scorers all finishing within 19 seconds of each other. Leading the swarm was Tom Hadfield (16:24, 37th), coming off a fine London Marathon performance. Three seconds behind Tom was Cesar Guillen (16:27, 40th), then Dr. Dan Rhodes (16:33, 42nd), Tim Wallen (16:41, 48th), and the elusive John Trevithick (16:43, 49th). Rounding out the Open Team were Samuel Harvell (18:45, 113th) and Brian Schultz (18:55, 119th).

All in all, a good day for the Open Men. Next up is the Pacific Sun 10K in Marin on May 27. Let's bring out a great team! See you there!

Women Byline Malinda Walker

The women fielded two open teams, and one master's team.

Kim Fanady led the master's team in 19:44 (50th place, 11 second PR) followed by two of the 5:30 A.M. helpers. Whitney 'Paris was great' Stephenson, followed in a 10-second PR 22:55 (94th). Susan 'Papparazzi' Beck, jumped in to the race to round out the team in 23:40 (102nd).

Katherine 'Princess' Krieger earned her crown by leading the open women's A team in 18:02 (7th overall, 3rd place age group winner). Christine 'sure I can lift and carry that polka dot throne' Brighton followed in 18:21 (13th overall, 3rd place age group winner). Not far behind were Diana Harlick (19:05, 29th), Shelly Pierson (19:07, 33rd) and Lee 'What nothing to hurdle?' D'Alessandro (PR 19:12, 34th).

Patti Bershers lead the B team in 19:37 (38 second non-slalom PR, 7 second PR anyway, 1:12 faster than Zippy Da 2). Beth Pfefferle zipped across the finish line next in 19:47 (51st). Amy 'sure my mom and I can come help out at 6:00 A.M.' Hethcoat ran a PR 20:39 (69th). Lydia 'safety pins in sets of 4' Siegel pursued in 22:08 (88th). Finally Malinda 'all bowling pins and automobiles should be covered in recycled CD's' Walker finished out the B team in 23:53 (106th).

[PR count for the women: at least 5! -Ed.]

Old'uns

The seniors dominated again. As mentioned above, 53-year young Jim Gorman won the race in 17:13, with Tom Bernhard finishing 3rd in 17:38. Tom was followed by Les Ong (17:58, 6th), The Rocket (18:50, 11th), Dan Ramos (19:04, 15th--and thanks for the kids!), Allan Stanbridge (19:16, 16th), Gary MacPherson (19:39, 19th), Stan Yasuhara (21:38), and Bob Stanger (21:58). Great job gentlemen!

On the masters side, we had some great runs: winner Craig Steinmaus (15:30, 12th overall), Lloyd Stephenson (15:46, 3rd master, 19th overall), and Tim O'Rourke (16:26, 10th master). Randy Guerrero, on the comeback trail, ran 18:30. However, for the first time in memory we didn't even field a full team, though we've dropped seniors in order to score. Hans & Jesus--get well!

The men seem to have beaten the women 71-116. And NOPA edged out SOPA by 72 seconds.

AVENUE OF THE GIANTS - 05/05/02

From Matt Regan . . .

STOP THE PRESSES!!! MULRY COMES FROM BEHIND TO WIN AVENUE OF THE GIANTS HALF MARATHON.

Brian Mulry ran 1:12:41 to win the Avenue of the Giants Half Marathon by almost a minute...this despite missing the start..Portapotty????... and having to negotiate the whole field on his way. 

Matt Regan placed second in the marathon in 2:42:55..beaten only by a guy Mulry brought along...is there a club fine or something for that ????

LILAC BLOOMSDAY 12K - 05/05/02

Congratulations to Christine Brighton on her 46:14 at the Lilac Bloomsday 12K Sunday, good enough for 20th woman in one of the more competitive races in the country.

SACRAMENTO SPRING FESTIVAL TRACK MEET - 05/04/02

D'Alessandro Breaks Club Steeple Record Byline Dan Mancini

On Saturday, at the Sacramento Spring Festival Track Meet, Lee D'Alessandro smashed the elusive 12 minute barrier, her PR and her own club record with a 14 second PR in the 3K steeplechase, running an inspired 11:48 solo effort for the win.

STANFORD INVITATIONAL - 05/03/02

Chris Lundstrom ran 29:09 at Stanford Friday night, just a few seconds off his recent PR in spite of suffering from a severe stomach cramp, in the same meet in which Deena Drossin cut some 29 seconds off the US women's 10,000 record, and several other 2002 American and world bests were set. Great meet, and great job, Chris!

BIG SUR 5K - 04/28/02

Our masters team went one-two at the Big Sur 5K. Craig Steinmaus, Lloyd Stephenson, and Aggie Tim Minor were neck and neck with 1000 meters to go. Craig then pulled away with, in his own words, his best kick in years (though Phipps still managed to outkick him!) for the masters win (10th overall) in 15:44, with Lloyd in second at 15:53 and Minor third in 15:56. More about the masters below . . .

Women Byline Monal Chokshi

Bright (not so much) and early (much too much) Sunday morning, nine women from the Hoys-Excelsior team arose to run the Big Sur News 46 5K in beautiful Carmel. Not even a pair of Jen Major glovesô could compete with the cloudy skies and bone-chilling breezes that awaited them as they arrived at the starting line on Highway 1. At 7:15am pink noses began to line up and streak back and forth from the starting line, attempting to defrost before the 7:30am start. Then, at 7:30am, the pink noses began turning red, while the course volunteers performed a final ìsafety checkî on the course. Finally, at 7:50am, the gun shot and off the 2200 rudolphs flew towards the Pacific. The hills, wind and tight muscles, however, did not hinder the unfaltering group of Hoyís women, who ran as quickly and gracefully as reindeer would fly over the challenging 3.1 mile loop of asphalt and dirt trails. Leading the Hoyís women in 5th place was Monal Chokshi with a time of 18:02 (5:48 pace), closely followed by Christine Brighton in 9th place at 18:33 (5:58 pace), and Jen Major in 12th place at 18:42 (6:01 pace). Lee DíAlessandro was fourth for the team (33rd overall), breaking 20 minutes at 19:49 (6:22 pace), and Shelly Pierson rounded out the Hoyís ìAî Team scorers with 36th place in 20:09 (6:29 pace). There werenít enough women to score a Hoyís ìBî team, but there were some more great performances by Patti Bershers (20:25, 6:34 pace) and Kim Fanady (20:43, 6:39 pace), who followed in 39th and 41st places, respectively. Lydia Siegel (21:38, 6:57 pace) and Kelly Murphy also turned in great races, coming in 53rd and 123rd, respectively. Unfortunately, Patti's (and Hoy's team) friend and Oregonian Kirsten Wilde (7th, 18:27) does not score for us. But it was a great team effort with great individual performances! It was definitely a tough day on a tough course--way to go, and thanks for coming out! Next up--ZIPPY!!! 

Open Men, or "Big Sur Fun K 5 jog" Byline Chris Phipps

With just a week between races, this seems like cross country! The short distance of the race, the hills, and the trails on the course made it even more like cross country! And the way that it hurt right from the start, are you sure this isn't cross country? No, it was just the short K, I mean 5K "fun run" that accompanied the Big Sur MARATHON in Carmel.

It was a cold morning at 40 degrees and the start was delayed by 15 minutes, which certainly didn't help. The open men were a bit shorthanded, but still managed a strong team race. A good sized pack took it out hard, going through the tough first mile in just under 5 minutes. Things spread out on the trail a bit, with the lead pack of 9 pulling away, and I found myself right behind the top 4 masters, with our own Craig Steinmaus and Lloyd Stevenson leading the way in the chase pack. The race became tactical in the last mile, with no one really wanting to lead our pack into the wind. Transport Derek Schueren set the pace down the hill, and the rest of us followed. After a few assorted surges and lead changes, Craig dropped the hammer with about 400M to go. I found a gear I never knew I had to outkick Craig for the first time ever and finished 9th in 15:42, just ahead of Craigís 15:44. Lloyd, who always has a good race here held of aggie Tim Minor to finish second master, and 14th overall in 15:53. Pete Vicencio was next for the team winning the 35-39 age group finishing 17th in 16:10. Brian Mulry had his best race for us yet with a 16:17 for 20th. Dave Volk, still a bit flat from Boston picked up the last PA point, finishing 25th in 16:34. He was closely followed by John Trevithick (28th, 16:44), Dan Mancini (31st, 16:51), Dan Rhodes (33rd, 16:58), and Tim Wallen (35th, 17:02). Team scoring in a very tight race for 2d through 4th at first glance gave us 4th behind adidas, the aggies, and WVTC (by THREE SECONDS!), pending drop-down possibilities.

Masters/Seniors

As reported above, the masters were tough up front, going 1-2 with Steinmaus and Stephenson. Tim O'Rourke ran strong to finish 7th master, 16:47. Randy Guerrero (18:32, 25th), Michael Gama (18:57, 27th), and Jim Misener (19:06, 28th) rounded out the team. The team seems to have finished second a minute or so behind the Aggies.

The seniors dominated again, going 1-3-4. Don Paul continued his impressive string of races, in spite of a late drive down, running 17:06 for the senior win. Following an impressive 17:48 by 55-year old Don Porteous of Tamalpa were Les Ong (17:58) and Kim Lilot (18:46). The final two seniors were long-lost Jim Tracy (21:18, 17th) and Craig Edwards (21:52, 18th).

As always, I apologize for those missed.

On other fronts, SOPA defeated NOPA by a minute. The women beat the men in cross-country scoring by at least 66 to 70. Full cross-country scoring results:

Women 5-7-9-12-33: 66 Masters women incomplete Men 9-10-14-17-20: 70 Open men 9-13-16-20-22: 80 Masters men 1-2-7-25-27: 62 Senior men 1-3-4-17-18: 43

COMPAQ UP & RUNNING 10K - 04/21/02

The big news at Compaq was Craig "Old Man" Steinmaus's PA master debut. Craig ran 32:05 to take 11th overall and win first master by forty seconds over Aggie Carmelo Rios (we won't mention that OMS's soon-to-be-nemesis Danny Gonzalez ran 31:01 for second!). Craig also took top Hoy's Excelsior man honors overall, finishing a couple places ahead of first place open man Chris Phipps. More on the masters below . . .

Open Men Byline Chris Phipps

Considering the fact that our top runner is now scoring for the masters team, two of our other top runners were absent recovering from fine performances in Boston, the guy who should have been our top runner had an off day, and 3 of our scoring 5 had hammered the Dipsea course on Thursday night, we did OK. It looks like we picked up $100 for the team with 3rd place finish behind Transports and WVTC. Craig Steinmaus led the way with a 32:05 to finish 11th. Too bad for us open guys he's scoring for the masters team. I was next in for the team at 32:27 for 13th. I ran much of the race with Darrin Rohr (14th, 32:39), and Dan Shore (16th, 32:42) who finished right behind me. Next came my fellow Thursday night Salmon runners Pete Vicencio (22nd, 32:59), and Cliff Lentz (32nd, 33:43). Making his way back to the racing scene, Parker Kelly (54th, 34:37) led the B team, followed by Matt Regan (35th, 34:43), John Trevithick (57th, 34:45), Dan Rhodes (71st, 35:30), Brian Schultz (157th, 39:22), and Samuel Harvell (161st, 39:27).

Masters/Seniors

After Craig, Lloyd Stephenson finished third among masters men, in 33:02. Tim Geraghty was next in 35:01, followed by Andy Sobozinsky (37:48) and Michael Gama (39:42). For scoring we'll probably drop down at least one senior, and should end up 2d behind a tough Aggie team (whose 5th runner was 10th master overall).

The seniors had another stellar outing. Don Paul led all seniors in 34:21, 40 seconds ahead of the competition. Tom Bernhard was 3rd senior overall, in 35:09. Jim Gorman was 4th senior overall (35:42), followed by Les Ong (37:02, 8th), The Rocket on the comeback trail (39:20), Dan Ramos (39:45), Allan Stanbridge (39:48), and Wayne Plymale (46:43). Great job, Seniors!

As always, I apologize for those missed.

On other fronts, NOPA seems to have used SOPA's injuries and absences to eke out its first win ever. And unless my math is wrong, the men beat the women in cross-country scoring by just one point--76 to 77!

Women, byline Jen Major

The Hoy's Excelsior women had a big turn out for Sunday's 18th annual Compaq 10K. What a race! Two of our phenomenal runners placed in the top ten: Kathryn Krieger finished 8th in 36:55, followed by Monal Chokshi, 3 seconds later, and good for 9th place in the women's division. Following 3 more seconds later was Christine Brighton, in 11th place, 37:01. Excellent team strategy, ladies! Team friend Theresa McWalters, (unfortunately, but fortunately, college bound) finished next in a time of 38:43, but was unable to score for us due to eligibility rules. Jen Major and Diana Harlick rounded out the A team, running strong! Leading the B team in a string of close finishes was Micha Lowe, with a time of 40:22. She was followed by Beth Pfefferle (41:48), Patti Bershers (42:10), Amy Hethcoat (44:03), and Jocelyn Friel (44:51). Great running girls! Congratulations to all of our runners!

In a very tough team race, the women seem to have come in third, behind the Aggies and Impalas and ahead of Adidas Transports.

The masters women team continued to develop, as the women scored in their second straight race (and second race ever!). Kim Fanady led the crew in 42:04 (9th in her 5-year age division). New member Jody Heyman came in a minute back, 43:10 (11th). Whitney Stephenson and Kelly Murphy rounded out the team.

WOODY WILSON RELAYS - 04/20/02

The Rocket forwards these results from the Woody Wilson Relays held on Saturday, April 20 at U.C. Davis: Men's 5000- Dan Lilot 15:55 (approx 20th) Cesar Guillen, 16:36, women's 3000 Steeplechase, Lee D'Alesandro 12:02 ( Club record).

MT. SAC RELAYS - 04/19/02

Lundstrom runs 14:10!

Dan Shore forwards this item . . .

At the Mt. SAC (San Antonio College) Relays on April 19, Chris Lundstrom was 5th in the men's 5000 meter. Chris set a PR as well with a finishing time of 14:10 - his previous best was 14:29.

BOSTON MARATHON - 04/15/02

Richter 2:27:57/Volk 2:30:49 at Boston!

Brian Richter set a 4-minute PR at Boston today, running 2:27:57 (5:39 pace; splits 1:11/1:17). This placed Brian as 44th man, 16th US, and 1st Californian. Brian chased WVTC's Chad Worthen for much of the race, finally passing him just after 30K.

Most importantly, Brian become the first of our open pack to break the elusive 2:30 barrier (no, Ash/Lundstrom aren't part of the pack). What was the bet ? ? ?

Dave Volk also PRed, in 2:30:49 (5:46; 1:13/1:18), 14 seconds faster than his January San Diego effort. Dave was 60th man, 23rd US, 3rd Californian.

Mike Regan was our third runner (and last placer) in 3:10:40, with Kenny Warde just behind him in 3:17:56. For the women, Susan Beck ran 3:41:04, Donnell Borash 3:53:43.

On the team front, I haven't seen final results, but we seem to have edged out our Polo sister club Greater Boston Track Club by a scant 3:26. Our own Jared Crave seems to have been GBTC's first, running 2:43:13 (1:17/1:26) in his second marathon.

More!

Patti Bershers passed along this piece about OUR Oregonian Kirsten Wilde . . . you can congratulate Kirsten in person--she's planning to come down for both Big Sur and Zippy.

"Our own Oregonian won last weekend (4/15) - the race was the Bridge to Bridge 5K & 10K Run & Walk in Portland, and Kirsten won the 5K! It was a windy and cold day (thus the 18:20 winning time), and she had to run most of it by herself, which is pretty hard to do."

Then this past weekend . . .

"Kirsten raced again this past weekend in the Portland Race for the Roses 5K. Her 17:40 time was good enough for second place."

Great job Kirsten!

Patti then mentioned something unintelligible about NOPA.

Even More!

Speaking of London Marathon, Matt Regan pointed out to me that hot on Khalid Khannouchi's heels in London was our own Tom Hadfield in 2:42:02. A 6 minute PR I think for Tom. Dan Mancini pointed out that Tom was 3rd American (Tom--are you a US citizen?) behind Khannouchi and just 30 seconds behind former Razorback NCAA champ Teddy Mitchell.

JOHNNY MATHIS MEET - 04/06/02

Dan Shore ran a PR 15:05 in the 5000 at the Johnny Mathis meet at SF State Saturday, some 20 seconds faster than his previous best (set, believe it or not, on the roads at Big Sur). Brian Richter, just nine days before Boston, finished just behind Dan in 15:10. Congratulations gentlemen.

On the women's side, congratulations to Lee D'Alessandro on a 7 second PR of 12:02 in the steeple!

LUNDSTROM RUNS 29:05.90 AT STANFORD! - 03/29/02

Chris Lundstrom, in town for a few days from Team USA Minnesota, set a 28 second PR Friday night at the Stanford Invitational with a stellar 29:05.90 performance. Again suffering the cramp that dogged him last year (when he ran his previous PR 29:33), Chris worked through it to run a string of extremely steady 69-70 second 400s. Congratulations Chris!

HOULIHAN'S TO HOULIHAN'S 12K - 03/34/02

Surely a record FIFTY YES FIFTY club members ran the Houlihan's 12K Sunday. By my count, we had 18 open men, 7 master men, 7 senior men, 15 open women, and 3 master women. The day was highlighted by Dave Volk's second non-Adidas place finish, just 8 seconds out of non-Adidas first place; the H-E debut of Christine Brighton, in ninth place, with Monal Chokshi finishing two places back in the farthest she's ever run in her life; Don Paul's senior victory, with Tom Bernhard close behind in second; and Lloyd Stephenson's fourth place master finish (1st 45-49) at the age of 47.

Women Byline Susan Beck

Two years after the H-E Women's team was reborn, the team pulled out its greatest effort to date. We've had outstanding individual performances in the past, but this was by far the strongest showing by the team as a whole. At last year's Houlihan's race, we had one runner under 50 minutes (Jen Major). This year, our entire 5-women scoring team came in under 50 minutes!! It looks as if we won second place, behind a powerful Aggies team, which had the first and second place individual finishers. This was also the best race in terms of participation. We had 18 women out there. Plus, for the first time in recent memory, we fielded a women's masters team. And -- in another first -- Kim Fanady finally beat world record holder Shirley Matson!

Now for the numbers. Leading the team was new member Christine Brighton, who ran 46:15 and was the 9th woman overall. Monal Choksi was close behind in her longest race to date, with 46:25 and 11th place. Jen Major came in at 47:38 for 15th place, nearly 2 minutes faster than last year. Ali Mann filled out the top 20, running her first race for the team in 48:44. And the final A-team scorer was Micha Lowe, at 49:30 (28th).

The B-team was led by Kathryn Krieger, taking it easy after some injury stuff, and running a still-solid 50:19. Shelly Pierson, also coming back after an injury layoff, ran 50:58. The versatile Lee D'Alessandro ran a superb 51:07 -- a whopping 3-1/2 minutes faster than last year, even though she had raced a 5K on the track the previous day!! Next was Jocelyn Friel at 54:41, with Amy Hethcoat at 55:13. Close behind were Lydia Siegel at 55:36, Christine Jegan at 56:04, Sharon Melman at 58:37, Kate Toews at 58:43, and new member (right, Lisa?) Lisa Thomas at 1:01:35.

The master's team was led by Kim Fanady, with a superb 51:39, 8th master, and a PR for this course. Not-too-close behind was Susan Beck, at 55:34, also a PR for Houlihans. And Whitney Stephenson, in a pre-Paris Marathon workout, came in at 1:02:08.

Great job ladies!

Open Men Byline Daniel Shore

The rollercoaster that is Houlihan's began with the ever-popular "ready, ssss... go!", catching seemingly everyone but Phipps and me off guard, catapulting the two of us (and one large-calved adidas dude!) to the front of a formidable pack at the top of a big downhill. A fine situation for Phipps, who was born with a forward slant, but not so great for me who is, for the most part, unslanted. Eventually, the dust settled and adidas took its place at the front of the pack, staying there for the remainder of the race. Adidas swept the top 4 spots and 6 of the top 7, with Transporter Ryan Hayes of SLO finishing first in 37:37.

Throwing out the first six adidas guys, though, the H-E Open Men KICKED BUTT finishing 9, 11, 12, 14, and 22 for a solid second place team finish. Leading the EIGHTEEN men in yellow was David Volk, 9th place in 38:57, showing that his Boston Marathon preparation is right on track and proving that dropping the hammer on the rest of us during a long run isn't completely nuts. Following closely behind David, and also proving his Boston fitness, was Brian "Jamey who?" Richter, running a solid 39:16 for 11th, just behind a certain former 1500m national champion. Chris Phippsea put on a fine surge along the Marina to follow Brian in 39:20 for 12th place and his best Houlihan's performance in several years. Dan Shore finished in 39:29 for 14th place and Pete Vicencio rounded out the A Team scoring with a 22nd place time of 40:34.

The H-E Open Men's B Team performed solidly as well, potentially displacing a team or two in the final standings. Cliff Lentz lead the B Team with a 25th place finish in 41:09. Following Cliff was Tom Hadfield (31st, 41:27), Dan "Miracle Worker" Rhodes (36th, 41:55), Raymundo Cruz (37th, 42:01), Brian Mulry (38th, 42:15), Cesar Guillen (47th, 42:42), Tim Wallen (50th, 42:45), Matt Regan (62nd, 43:17), John Trevithick (92nd, 44:56), Paul Wellman (101st, 45:23), Chikara Omine (120th, 46:08), Brian Schultz (163rd, 48:13), and Samuel Harvell (175th, 48:42). All in all, a fine showing for the men in yellow.

Next up on the schedule is the Compaq 10K in Cupertino on April 21, followed by the Big Sur 5K in Carmel the next weekend (4/28). I strongly urge all Open Team members to plan on racing since we're looking a bit thin both weekends (Boston Marathon, business travel, Masters team stealing our guys, etc.).

Old'uns

The senior men dominated again, with Don Paul running like the 35-year old he is at heart, finishing in 42:46. Tom Bernhard, winner of last week's 50+ 8K, finished second in 43:42. Les Ong finished the scoring in 6th senior place, 45:51. The senior team also had great depth, with Wayne Plymale finishing 7th 50-54, 47:57, in what may have been his senior debut; Gary MacPherson in 8th 55-59, 49:27; Allan Stanbridge in 9th 55-59, 49:38; and Dan Ramos in 13th 50-54, 50:12.

Only the master men had a disappointing outing. We were hammered in the last week. Two weeks ago we found out that Jesus Garcia has been hurt and hasn't been able to run. Tim O'Rourke has a pulled muscle in his ribcage, and can hardly run from his front door to his car without pain, though he was still going to try to race until late Saturday. Craig Steinmaus proved the supremacy of age over wisdom with a hard 800 workout two days after his impressive 31:48 at Mercury News and--huh--his calves are hurt. Finally, Hans Gouwens actually made it to the starting line, only to pull up lame at 3.5 miles with calf problems. Lloyd Stephenson was the one bright spot with his 4th place 41:20. Then there was a BIG gap, filled only by our first two seniors! Yes the senior team beat the masters, by 23 seconds: 2:12:19 to 2:12:42. Not something we masters are proud of. Tyler Abbott, in his long-delayed return to PA racing, followed Lloyd by--ouch--four minutes four seconds, 45:24. Tyler was followed by an unexpected Andy Sobozinsky in 45:58, with Randy Guerrero close behind in 46:21. Michael Gama (49:09) and Greg King (53:53) followed, with Hans Gouwens limping in shortly thereafter. 

Other Races

Congratulations to Lee D'Alessandro on her 8th place finish in the Panther Track Invitational 5000m at Sacramento City College. Despite a cold, driving rain, Lee set a track PR of 19:38, the day before she ran Houlihan's!

San Jose Mercury 10K - 03/17/02

Steinmaus runs 31:48 in Master's 10K debut!

At 40 years and 14 days, Craig Steinmaus ran the best 10K in the club since the departure of what's-his-name Sunday in miserable weather at the San Jose Mercury News 10K. Craig ran 31:48, easily winning the masters race and placing third overall. Unless I'm forgetting something, Craig's performance is close to twenty seconds faster than any 10K run by a club member since Lundstrom ran 29:33 last March. This definitely bodes well for the masters team at Houlihan's. . . . . Congratulations Scott!

Among the younger set, Dave Volk finished one place behind Craig in 32:34, with Raymundo Cruz finishing 10th in a recent-PR time of 33:59, Cesar Guillen 14th (34:48), and Samuel Harvell 58th (39:10).

 -- Tyler Abbott

Fifty-Plus 8K - 03/17/02

Bernhard Wins 50+ 8K

Club newcomer Tom Bernhard, in his first race for the club, ran 27:46 to win the Fifty-Plus 8K at Stanford Sunday. Bernhard was followed by Don Paul (28:12, second place). Jim Gorman was fourth (28:40) and Les Ong 6th (29:07). Not a bad showing--4 of the top 6! After Les came Dan Ramos (31:09, 19th), Rocket Darling (31:46, 25th), Wayne Plymale (33:19, 35th), Kenny Warde (33:57, 40th), Craig Edwards (34:56, 53rd) and Stan Yasuhara (35:29, 59th).

 -- Tyler Abbott

Run for the Seals - 03/09/02

The Men in Yellow put forth a strong effort at Saturday's Run for the Seals 4 miler, and only an Irish 3:58 miler currently training with the Farm Team for the European championships stood between us and a clean sweep. After Desmond English finished the race in 20:22, the Yellow took the next five places and eight of the next eleven. In his master's debut, Ol' Man Steinmaus led our group in 20:26, a long four seconds behind the winner. Craig was followed by Chris Phipps (20:28) showing the benefits of NOT RACING for a while, Dave Singer Volk (20:34), and Dan Shore (20:40), with Brian Disappointed But Wouldn't Have Been If I'd Beaten Dan Richter just one second behind in 20:41. Brian was followed by Pete Vicencio (21:33, 8th), Matt Regan (22:33, 11th), and Dan Rhodes (23:30, 12th). After a bit of a gap (and our first woman) came Tyler Abbott in his return to racing (24:30, 18th, 4th master) and Kim Lilot (24:38, 21st, 1st senior).

The Women in Blue, while fewer in number, also showed well, taking the top two spots. In her first race since Fall, Monal Chokshi won the race in 23:36, 14th overall, in front of her visiting parents. Monal won a weekend Tahoe retreat for 12! (Line starts behind me.) Jen Mauor was second woman on the team and in the race, finishing in 24:40. Kelly Murphy, marking her return to competition after a lengthy time off, was our third woman. These times bode for a great Spring.

In a tightly contested intrasquad competition, the SOPA team of Phipps/Volk/Richter/Chokshi/Rhodes edged out the NOPA team of Steinmaus/Shore/Vicencio/Mauor/Regan by a minute. By the way, regarding last week's request that we-all be on the lookout for a near-park place for Lundstrom, note that Lincoln is greatly preferred to Fulton.

Bruce Drummond Invitational 

Congratulations to Lee D'Alessandro on a 1 minute PR for the 3000m steeplechase at the Bruce Drummond Invitational at Sac. State. Lee finished 5th in a solid collegiate field in a time of 12:09.

BREAKERS TO BREAKERS 12K - 03/02/02

Congratulations to Dan Rhodes on his second victory in the Coast Series, this one at the brutal Breakers to Breakers 12K. The final race is in two weeks . . . will Dan become King of the Coast?

Limantour 10 Miler - 02/23/02

Congratulations to Dan Rhodes on his victory in the Limantour 10 Miler (Splash & Dash?) Saturday. This race was the first in the Coastal Challenge Series (to crown King and Queen of the Coast). Phipps invites other club members to join Rhodes and him at the second race in the series, the Breakers to Breakers 12K in Muir Beach on Saturday March 2nd starting at 9 AM. Start and finish is at Muir Beach (about halfway between Mill Valley and Stinson on Hwy 1. Make a left at the Pelican Inn and go to the beach lot. 20 minute drive from GG Bridge. Very hilly race along coastal trail to Tennessee Valley and back.

~~~~~

Other Races:

Congratulations to Lee D'Alessandro on a 14 second PR in winning the 3000M in a time of 11:15 at the San Francisco State Preview track meet Saturday.

Chinese New Year Run - 02/17/02

Congratulations to Craig Steinmaus on his win at the Chinese New Year 10K Sunday. Craig ran 32:4x to easily win the round trip Southwest Airlines tickets. I'm afraid I haven't seen full results yet, so I apologize to the teammates I've omitted.

Chinese New Year Run Additions Courtesy The Rocket

Wayne Plymale continues his comeback in placing 2nd in 50+ group in 39:21. In the 5k (long 3.2 MI) Stan Yasuhara was 2nd in 22:56 and Bob Stanger was 3rd in 23:39 in the 50+ age group. All this in addition to Craig (not Scott) Steinmaus's victory in the race. There may be others that I overlooked. Thank you to Lloyd Stephenson, Les Ong and Don Paul for working the finish line.

Cross-Country Winter Nationals - 02/10/02

Congratulations to Chris Lundstrom on his 18th place finish in Sunday's Winter Nationals, and to all the men in yellow (10th place team NL). This from frontman Dan Mancini . . .

On Sunday, 5 members of the Men's Open team travelled to Vancouver, WA to compete in the USA Winter XC Championships. The weekend almost never got off the ground (literally), as Mike Northrup decided it would be a good idea, given the heightened airport security, to try and smuggle a fork onto the plane. But after a few chuckles, and a thorough search of his bag, the offending utensil was discovered and confiscated, and the team was on its way.

Race conditions were good - temperatures in the mid 50s, sunny skies, light winds and a reasonably firm course, but the layout of the course was changed slightly from last year, making for a bit more challenging loop, and on average, about 1 minute slower. About 115 runners started the day, with 102 finishing the 12km distance. In the early stages of the race, the tightly bunched pack of H-E harriers thought it most prudent to assess the rest of the field from the rear, and then begin their march to the front. Leading the Hoy's charge was Craig Steinmaus in his last Open race before moving up to the Master's division, finishing in 42:39 (78th place). Close behind was Mike Northrup, running his best race in a Hoy's uniform (and his first in a Hoy's singlet), running a strong 2nd half to finish just 1 second behind Craig in 42:40 (79th place). Meanwhile, a few meters back, Dan Mancini - and this time joined by Dan Lilot - enjoyed for a second straight year, the thrill of trying not to get lapped. The 2 Dans managed the feat by the slimmest of margins - about 2 feet, then continued on to finish the final loop, with Mancini finishing in 43:15 (87th place) and Lilot in 43:42 (90th place). Bernard Bassil rounded out the team scoring with a solid effort in 44:22 (93th place). Meanwhile, team member Chris Lundstrom, in exile in Minnesota, improved by 1 place his position from last year, finishing in 18th in 37:40 to lead the Team USA Minnesota squad to a 5th place finish.

In the team competition, we finished 10th out of 11, one place behind the Dan Nelson/Bill Raitter led West Valley Import team. As a side note, had Chris Lundstrom scored for us, we would have finished 7th. To cap off a delightful weekend, the team enjoyed a well-deserved post-race meal in downtown Portland featuring Matzoh ball soup, pastrami on rye and a chocolate eclair the size of a Subaru before heading home.

Las Vegas Marathon - 02/03/02

Congratulations to Christine Jegan on a 20-minute PR and Boston qualifier in the Las Vegas marathon, 3:35:59 gun time! Malinda Walker ran 1:47:27 w/pit stop in the half. Andy Chan anchored the "Super Bowl Sunday Runners" marathon relay team to an 8th place finish out of 60+ teams, 2:49.

Tamalpa Super Bowl Run - 02/03/02

Phipps Sets Super Bowl Record

In addition to the record for the closest game, this Super Bowl also yielded a course record to Chris Phipps, in the Tamalpa Super Bowl Run the morning before the game. Chris ran 42:36 on the hilly 7-mile course to set the record by over a minute! In the artfully handicapped race, however, Chris finished just 23rd out of some 108 finishers. See Chris's story below: 

A trio of Hoy's Excelsior runners showed up for the 17th annual Superbowl 7 Miler, which started and finished in front of Roger (The Nicest guy in Tamalpa) Gordon's house in Mill Valley. As runners arrived and paid the $10 entry fee, they were each assigned a handicap of up to 45 minutes. I was the first of our group to arrive, and was pleased when I was given a 1 minute handicap. "So, who has a zero handicap?" I asked. "No one yet" was the reply, "I'm saving it in case any Kenyans show up". Then I asked who else would be starting with me. "No one yet, but if Cliff Lentz shows up, we'll start him with you". Tyler was the next to sign up, hoping that a cigarette (unlit) in his mouth and a doughnut in hand [Ed.: and 10+ injury pounds and a sob story] would earn him some sympathy from handicapper George Frasier. Well, it didn't work, and Tyler, three weeks off injured reserve, was given the same one minute handicap as I was. Pete Vicencio was unknown by the handicapper, but I made sure to tell him that Pete was fast (sorry Pete), so he also got to start with me and Tyler in the Hoy's Excelsior one minute handicap wave. All in all there were 108 runners in the race. With the penultimate group out of sight, Pete, Tyler and I were alone at the start with 7 miles to catch as many of the 105 runners in front of us as possible. Tyler stayed with Pete and me for about a quarter mile [Ed.: more like 50 yards], then decided to [had to] run his own race. After a relatively flat first half mile, we started the brutal climb up what has to be one of the steepest driveways in the world, then continued up toward Mt Tam on a course that had almost as much climbing and descent as the Dipsea. Pete fell a bit back as we started to catch the first of the runners ahead of us. Since we didn't know the course at all, and there were no mile markers, we had no idea how far along we were until the last half mile (where we had warmed up). I was too tired to really kick, but by this time was really starting to catch a lot of the pack, so I did what I could, picking up about 15 places in the last half mile to finish 23rd with a time of 42:36. I later found out that this was a course record by over a minute, but still only good for 23rd, though I did win a nice bottle of Champagne. Pete was a couple minutes back, outkicking MIJ writer Barry Spitz and finishing around 50th. Then there was Tyler, who was given probably [probably?] the worst handicap of the day, but still managed to pass a few runners and finish 99th! Top 100!! [time blessedly omitted] Pete and Tyler left after the run, but I stayed around for the potluck at Roger's, along with about 60 to 80 others. Imaging having 60-80 sweaty runners hanging out at your place after a race without taking a shower. Now I know why they call him the nicest guy in Tamalpa!

SF Home Depot Half Marathon & 5K

Byline Tyler Abbott

Congratulations to Brian Richter on his 3rd place finish in Sunday's Home Depot San Francisco Half Marathon. Brian, in base mode to prepare for our spate of Spring races, ran a consistent and apparently comfortable 5:27 pace the whole way to finish in 1:11:31 (and earn $100, I believe) on perhaps the finest day for this race in memory. Chris Phipps stayed closer to the 5:35s they'd planned to run, finishing in 1:13:50 (8th place). We had many others in the top 50: Matt Patout (1:14:38, 11th), Dan Lilot (1:16:27, 14th), Tom Hadfield (1:17:30, 18th), Bernard Bassil (1:17:53, 20th), Matt Regan (1:18:00, 21st), Jim Gorman (1:19:47, 30th, 2d senior), Manny Berston (1:19:53, 31st), and Peter Hsia (1:21:18,44th, 3rd 40-44). Peter was followed by Jim Misener (1:25:08, 97th) and Ian Reid (1:27:30, 140th, 1st 55-59). For the women, Kim Fanady finished well under her Humboldt time in 1:31:51 (19th woman, 3rd 40-44), with Amy Hethcoat not far behind in 1:37:19 (60th woman).

In the Giant Slalom I mean Gravity-Assisted 5K, the team finished 2d-3rd-4th. Craig Steinmaus led in 15:23, missing first overall by 2 seconds and first master by seven weeks. Third was Raymundo Cruz in 15:57, with Cesar Guillen in fourth (16:10). Sam Harvell (17:58, 19th), Rocket Darling (18:37, 2d senior), Wayne Plymals (20:47), and Stan Yasuhara (21:33) rounded out the men. For the women, team youngster Teresa McWalters finished second in 18:41 (if WV and the Ags get high school students, why can't we?), with Patti Bershers and Jody Heyman finishing together in fifth and sixth (19:44 and 19:48, respectively).

Congratulations all, and I apologize for anyone I've inevitably missed.

SAN DIEGO MARATHON - 01/20/02

Congratulations to David Volk on his 1st place American/5th place overall 2:31:03 finish in the San Diego Marathon Sunday. Dave picked up $150 for his effort.

CALIFORNIA 10 MILER - 01/13/02

Cal 10

Open Men Byline Chris Phipps

The 2002 PA Road Grand Prix kicked off this weekend with the 30th annual Cal 10 in scenic Stockton California.

The official team results are not in, but it was obvious that the Nike Farm team dominated up front, followed by Transports adidas. As for Hoy's Excelsior, it looks like we beat an all California West Valley team and the Reebok Aggies for 3rd! The team was led by 39 year old Craig Steinmaus in his last PA race as an Open runner. Craig finished 21st in 53:16 (5:19 pace). I ran with Craig most of the way, and felt really good for the first 8 miles, but was not able to hang with Craig's kick, and I finished 5 seconds back in 23rd (5:20 pace). New team member Darrin Rohr (24th, 53:25, 5:20 pace) led the team for the first nine miles, but facing the headwind alone for the last few miles took it's toll, yet Darrin still was able to hang on as Craig and I went by him in the last mile. Brian Richter, with not much training since his marathon 5 weeks earlier was next in for Hoy's in 28th (53:47, 5:22 pace), finishing just ahead of recovering WVTCer Todd Rose. David Volk, running a tempo run before he marathon next weekend (Good Luck Dave!) completed the A team, finishing in 35th (54:33, 5:27 pace), and earning one of the last "Sub 55" shirts. We had a strong turnout this week, and easily scored a B team as well. Leading the sub 60 crew was Dan Lilot in 59th (56:40), followed by Brian Mulry (64th, 57:03) in his first race in 4 months, new team members Paul Wellman (65th, 57:14 - another fine UC Davis runner, just getting back into shape) and Tom Hadfield (79th, 58:16), and a jet lagged Dan Rhodes (Welcome back from New Zealand!) in 88th (59:08). Matt Regan (101st, 59:38) also earned a Sub 60 shirt, holding off the charging former UCD miler Dirk VandePol, and was followed by Andy Chan (124th, 61:21), and Samuel Harvell (152nd, 64:24). Now it's time to put in the miles with the biggest gap in the PA year. It's 10 weeks until the next PA race, the Houlihan's 12K, and since the open team will be losing Craig, the rest of us will have to make up the slack! Train Hard!!

Women

Shelly Pierson led the women in the first race of the year, running 1:02:28 for 11th place. New member Micha Lowe finished next in 1:06:57, 29th place and just out of the points. Micha was followed by Lee D'Alessandro (1:08:22, 38th), Patti Bershers (1:09:41, 51st), Amy Hethcoat (1:14:46, 84th), Susan Beck (1:16:56, 90th), Malinda Walker (1:20:23, 98th), and Whitney Stephenson (1:25:59, 114th). Congratulations all!

Old'uns

Jesus Garcia led the masters again in 55:35 (5th), followed by Tim O'Rourke (56:18, 9th), Hans Gouwens (56:26, 10th), Lloyd Stephenson (56:28, 11th), and Randy Guerrero (1:00:50, 34th). They appear to have finished second to the Aggies. The seniors had a terrific turnout as they try to repeat their first place grand prix finish from last year. Don Paul led in 57:17 (1st senior), followed by Charlie Thompson (58:39), Les Ong (1:00:25), Dan Ramos (1:04:40), Kim Lilot (1:05:00), Ian Reid (1:05:20), Gary MacPherson (1:07:56), Wayne Plymale (1:13:53), Tom Bennett (1:14:30) and Stan Yasuhara (1:16:45). 

Good news: The race will likely be at the end of February next year.