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
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
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