Winter Updates: Some random races

Plenty of FOGs out at the Celebrate Life Half Marathon in March, as well as the Race Around Briggs (where we did not get a team together as usual...Steve, why can't we ever make that happen?), so I won't go into detail here, except to mention that Pat Lopiano and Steve Schallenkamp represented the group quite well at Briggs.

Trail racing: at the infamous Mudders and Grunters trail run in Westchester, in addition to an outstanding win by SRC store manager and Gunker/FOG Justin Harris, Paul Muessig ran a strong 42:28 for the exacting 5-mile technical course, good for first place in the 50-59 age group. And there was a slew of good performances at the Mt. Penn Mudfest 15K, a perennial favorite of Gunkers and FOGs, which I detailed on the SRC blog.

At the world-renowned Cherry Blossom 10 mile in Washington, DC, C-Boy continued his excellent 2009 with a brilliant 1:00:50, a new PR for the distance, which landed him fifth in the 50-54 age group. Myron Baker ran a strong 1:07:32 for third among 60-64-year-olds.

Winter Updates: MHRRC Races

February and March saw the start of the Mid-Hudson Road Racers 2009 calendar. The Gunkers made a concerted effort to show up in force for the Winter Run 5 mile in February and particularly the Ed Erichson 5- and 10-milers in March. C-Boy again led the way, though he continued a disturbing trend that carried over from last year of losing to women. Women who run really, really fast.

Winter Run 5-mile

2. Chris Peone 30:03 (1st male)
7. Kevin Roach 30:59
10. Mark Mulpeter 31:41
11. Anne Gullickson 32:15 (3rd female)
12. Brian Nagle 32:49
17. Steve Schallenkamp 34:41 (3rd 50-59)

Ed Erichson 5-mile

5. Brian Nagle 32:50
11. Steve Schallenkamp 36:11

Ed Erichson 10-mile

4. Chris Peone 1:03:13 (1st master)
8. Kevin Roach 1:06:59 (3rd master)
9. Mark Mulpeter 1:07:58
11. Anne Gullickson 1:09:52 (3rd female, 1st master)
17. Doug Heller 1:15:49

Full results are available here.

Winter Updates: Viking Run

Now that we've gotten used to nice warm weather, running in shorts, and clear trails up on the mountain, I thought it was just about time to post some results from the winter.

Honestly, I don't know what happened over the last few months. My apologies for not getting any race result updates since basically January. No excuses. But now that the spring season is in full swing, it's time to get this show on the road.

I'll post a few results in semi-chronological order. Fortunately for you I wasn't at any of the races we've missed, so I won't have much to say about them.

I'm reserving this first update post for the Viking Run, since as usual the results were dominated by Gunkers and FOGs, and as usual C-Boy led the way with a fine fifth-place finish.

Gunkers:
5. Chris Peone 43:08
8. Gavin Gullickson 44:58
9. Tomi Stern 45:15
13. Rosibel Landau 45:48
14. Fred Stewart 45:58
18. Pat Lopiano 48:06
24. Anne Gullickson 49:17
28. Jason Taylor 50:37
33. Patti Lankhorst 52:01

FOGs:
2. Brian Hickey 40:03
3. Robert Muller 43:35
12. Myron Baker 45:42
23. Mike Halstead 49:08
39. Mary Denito 54:45
59. Doug Freese 61:31

Full results are available here. If I've missed anyone please email me and I'll add you.

Naples Half Marathon

Naples, you say? The winter home of Gunker Fred Stewart also hosts a world-class half-marathon each January, and this year three other Gunkers joined El Fredo in Florida for some early-season racing.

Fred took the 60-64 age group in 1:31:16. Former Boston age-group champ Rich Edwards was second in 1:34:36. C-Boy led the Gunk effort with a strong 1:23:01, placing second in the 45-49 age group. Marathon wizard Dr. Doug Heller ran a strong 1:39:36 for eighth in the 55-59 group.

Onteora Grand Prix--Final Standings

Steve Schallenkamp and Pat Lopiano scored top prizes in the final Onteora Grand Prix standings for 2008.

Steve, the two-time defending series champ, saw his goal of a three-peat dashed when a mid-season injury forced him out of the final three races in the series. He accumulated enough points, however, to place third overall. Pat's 8-race total of 39 points was good for fifth overall.

In age-group scoring, the two reversed positions, with Pat winning the 50-59 age group and Steve placing second. (Yes, the scoring is a bit counterintuitive.)

Great job guys!

Complete series results are available here.

JFK 50 Mile

Well, a bunch of people have asked how it went down at JFK. The short answer is, really good for awhile, then I got hurt and it sucked. You can read the full report here which I posted on the store blog.

I'm going to see Dr. Ness sometime this week to see if I can't get this hip/back thing straightened out. Hoping to be back in time for the Viking Run.

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!