El Fredo Moves to Second in NYC Results!

As reported earlier, Gunker Fred Stewart narrowly missed age-group hardware at the venerable NYC Marathon (sorry, the ING New York City Marathon), placing third in the 60-64 age group, a category which "pays" two deep. (This after placing fourth earlier this year at Boston, where the top three took home hardware!) However, investigation into the age-group winner revealed that his 2:38 finishing time actually was too good to be true. Apparently, the man had given his chip to a younger friend, who ran the course with two chips (which subsequently recorded identical times at each split) until he handed his chip to the older runner at some point in the last mile, allowing the man to "win" his age group. C-Boy, at the finish line, noted immediately that something seemed to be amiss, as this gentleman was moving much, much slower than all of the other sub-2:40 finishers streaming across the line. It seems that this man had never actually broken four hours before. A remarkable PR!

Anyway, after Gunker and NYRR board member Norman Goluskin headed up the investigation, the man was DQ'd and Freddy moved up to his rightful second spot, missing the win by only six seconds. Congrats to Fred, who now can bost a second at NY and fourth at Boston in the same year--quite a double. Gunker Rich Edwards, the 2007 Boston age-group champ, also moves up to sixth in the same category. Nice job guys!

Winter Workout Schedule

The workouts for the winter have been moved to New Paltz. Times remain the same (6:30 pm, Wednesday and Friday). Tempo runs Wednesday night will be leaving from the Shawangunk Running Company (2 Church Street, New Paltz) at 6:30. Track work on Friday will be at the SUNY-New Paltz track.

Sunday long runs are still 8:30 am at Spring Farm unless otherwise noted.

Remember that group runs are also held Thursday evenings at 6:30 from the Shawangunk Running Company--easy runs of between 30-60 minutes. All abilities encouraged.

After the Leaves Have Fallen

The final major race of the season on the local trail-racing calendar, After the Leaves this year was the ninth stop on the Onteora Grand Prix circuit, which, along with near-perfect racing weather, boosted entries to a record level. Nearly 200 registered, and 164 finished the 20K race on the carraige trails of Minnewaska SP.

Gunker Steve Schallenkamp, the RD, did another admirable job putting the race together; as always the race benefitted the Kingston XC team, for which Steve is the longtime coach.

Gunk attendance was slightly below its usual levels for this race, which was mostly attributable to the fact that a large contingent of Gunkers went to New York to either run in the marathon, or cheer on those who were running; as well as some late-season injuries (Mendy, Steve) keeping others out of action. Still, there were a number of solid showings. I don't know if I'd characterize my own race as such, but the 1:19:02 did lead the team for the day.

Gunkers

15. Jeff Feinsod 1:29:12

18. Pat Lopiano 1:30:47

31. Paul Muessig 1:37:36

45. Barbara Sessa 1:40:25

Sorry, I don't have the age-group results yet, but when they are available I will update the post.

The final race in the Onteora Grand Prix will be the Hudson Holiday Classic 5K on 12/21.

New York, New York!

It never ceases to amaze me how competitive the Gunkers are when we travel to big-time races...and races don't get any bigger than New York. (I'm sorry, the ING New York City Marathon. Did that annoy anyone else watching the TV coverage? I love how they even refer to old editions of the race by including the title sponsor. As in, "Grete Waitz won a total of nine ING New York City Marathons." Of course, ING didn't exist when Grete won her last marathon, but why let facts get in the way of plugging the sponsors!)

Five Gunkers made the short trip down I-87 for the race that first put the "major" in "World Marathon Majors." Racing in near-ideal conditions (sunny, low-40s, slight wind) they put on a real show.

The performance of the day belonged to Fred Stewart. El Fredo followed up his 3:09 in Boston, where he placed fourth in his age group, with a brilliant 3:08:08 for third in the age group. A fourth at Boston and a third at New York--not a bad year, Freddy! Now if only Fred would learn how to run even splits! Fred was a mere 5 seconds out of second place. Fred's fellow 60-64 man, 2007 Boston age-group champ Rich Edwards, was out in 1:33:43 (only two minutes behind Fred) at halfway; he struggled with a 1:45:18 over the second half but still wound up with a credible 3:19:01 for a strong seventh in the group. Two top-10 age group places from the same club--not too shabby.

Kevin Roach had the fastest time of the day for the Gunkers, as expected. The big news for Kevin was the time; after a surfeit of recent marathons in the 3:02-3:05 range, Kevin finally broke through with a 2:57:56 off a 1:27:52 opening half (second half in 1:30:04, a mere 2:12 split--now that's some nice even running!).

Philip Vondra just missed cracking the 3-hour barrier with a strong 3:00:28; Doug Heller continued his comeback from injury with a solid 3:37:23. Great job by everyone in representing the club with such success

Section 9 XC Championships

Some big news out of Bear Mountain this weekend, where the Section 9 Cross-country Championships were held and yes, the Gunkers made their presence felt. The New Paltz girls' team, led by the 1-2 finish of Gabby Mancuso (daughter of Gunker Gail) and Jordan Stern (daughter of Gunkers Jon and Tomi), won the girls' Class B title, scoring a one-point victory over Onteora.

Gunker Gavin Gullickson (son of Gunker Anne), who has led his Rondout team all season, ran a huge PR (16:57) on the tough 3-mile Bear Mountain course, placing fifth in the boys' Class A race and earning a trip to the state championships. Clearly the product of superior coaching by Anne and C-Boy!

Congrats to all the Gunk families!