Gunkers Dominate the Rosendale Plains Run

C-Boy once again did an excellent job as the RD for the venerable Rosendale Plains Run, putting on a great race once again that brought out many of the top local runners for a mid-summer test. Due to construction the course was re-routed up the finishing downhill and made into a fairly taxing 4.4-mile out-and-back, which most felt was significantly more difficult than the old course. Despite that change and the warm weather, however, several top-notch performances were turned in, and the Gunkers, to nobody's surprise, were out in full force.

The performance of the day belonged to Mendy Taylor, who continued her breakout season with a runaway victory (margin of over 90 seconds) in a race-record time of 26:39. Mike Trunkes made it a clean sweep of the overall titles for the Gunks, using a strong second-half surge to pull away from Nick Mancuso (son of Gunker Gayle Mancuso) for a 15-second win in 24:02. Mendy placed fourth overall as the second Gunker, edging out summertime Gunker Alan Ruben (fifth, 1st in 50-59 age group) in 26:40. C-Boy pulled double duty as race director and competitor, running a solid 27:03 for eighth.

Other Gunkers:
9. Gavin Gullickson 27:33 (3rd 15-19)
19. Kevin Roach 28:47
20. Jason Friedman 28:48
22. Bill Foley 29:01
23. Steve Schallenkamp 29:17
25. Brian Nagle 29:28
26. Anne Gullickson 29:48
28. Mark Mulpeter 29:59
44. Gayle Mancuso 32:30
48. Norman Goluskin 32:57 (1st 60-69)
53. Fred Stewart 33:23 (2nd 60-69)

FOGs:
12. Wayne McDaniel 28:09
14. Conni Grace 28:12 (2nd female)
24. Gordon Bakoulis 29:23
33. Barry Henck 30:53

The Plains Run was the seventh race in the Onteora Grand Prix, which Gunker Steve Schallenkamp continues to lead in his quest to three-peat. The next GP race is the Barry Hopkins Run in Olana on September 14.

Shawangunk Running Company Opens!!!

Yeah! We opened, finally on August 8th. We've had a great first weekend and we're having a blast in the store. Thanks to everyone who came by to say hi. If you haven't been in yet, come by and check the place out. We're at 2 Church Street in New Paltz, right off of Main Street. If you're walking through the middle of town you can't miss it.

We currently carry several brands of clothing and 8 different shoe lines. More stuff is coming in every day. By the end of this week we will be adding clothing from Sporthill, trail shoes from Vasque, and wetsuits and triathlon gear from Zoot. In about two weeks expect to see new shoes from Newton. By the end of the month we should have most of the big shoe companies in stock, including adidas, Asics, Brooks, Mizuno, New Balance, and Saucony; hopefully Nike as well.

Give us a call at 845-256-0525 to check in. We're open every day except Wednesdays.

Summer Series #4: Blueberry Run

Gavin Gullickson took top honors for the Gunkers at the final stop on the Summer Series circuit. His 26:11 over the tough 4.3-mile Blueberry Run course was good for seventh overall and gave Gavin a clean sweep of his age group in all four races. Following close behind were the dynamic duo of C-Boy (ninth, and first master, again, in 26:17) and Mendy (tenth, and first woman, again, in 26:37).

Other Gunkers:
Pat Lopiano 28:23 15th place (1st age group)
Kurtis Nordahl 31:40 28th place (2nd age group)
Patty Lankhorst 33:19 10th female (3rd age group)
Maggie Schoonmaker 51:54 129th place

Series age-group winners (Gunkers in bold, * denotes a sweep of the age group in all four races)

Women 0-14: Debbo Spanagel
Women 15-19: Kristen Peluso
Women 20-29: Farrier Golgoski
Women 30-39: Mendy Taylor* (won all four women's races overall)
Women 40-49: Marisa Hanson
Women 50-59: Sue Hoger*
Women 60-69: Kathleen Davies

Men 0-14: Gavin Gullickson*
Men 15-19: Kevin Wippel* (won three of the four races overall)
Men 20-29: Kurtis Nordahl
Men 30-39: Mike Slinskey
Men 40-49: Chris Peone
Men 50-59: Pat Lopiano
Men 60-69: Steve Perks*
Men 70-79: Herby Waterman*

Awards will be presented at the fun run on Monday August 4th.

Goluskin Dominates Empire State Games

Gunk legend Norman Goluskin turned in a dominating two-day performance at last weekend's Empire State Games. Norman, who is in the midst of a long-term buildup towards the World Veterans Championships next year, showed that his preparations are right on schedule, and confirmed that the Gunkers are the area's top age-group racing team.

Norman began with a runaway victory in the 10,000 meters, running 45:01 to best the nearest 60+ age-grouper by over 3 minutes. He came back the following day to sweep the 60+ set at both 5000 meters (21:33) and 1500 meters (5:52). A remarkable performance to say the least. Great job Norman!!