Results and Photos From Pete Glavin X-C Race #3

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Results and photos are in from the Pete Glavin Cross Country Series Race #3 The 6k race was held Sunday in Akron Falls, New York (just east of Buffalo).

Apart from a second place from the High Noon Open team, our teams suffered from a number of our best runners sitting this one out due to the long drive, resting up for Wineglass, or having run Danby Down & Dirty the day before. (High Nooner Eric Sambolec won that race handily, but chose not to race in Buffalo too.) Lots of third, fourth, and fifth places.

High Noon captain Adam Engst captured some great mid-stride shots of runners from all our teams.

Individual Results

Team Results

The next race in the series is Sunday, October 27, at Taughannock Falls State Park. This is our home course, and we’d love to see many of you out there to support our runners. Better yet, consider joining our team! It’s not too late to sign up for one or both of the remaining meets.

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Danby Down & Dirty Results

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The course was drier than usual this year, while a frigid, low-30-degree start gave way to a sunny and warmer finish line. Word from the Thatcher Pinnacles is that the fog dissipated enough for a clear view of the western valley as runners crested the course’s high point at mile 4. The forest was abound with deciduous leaves primed for peeping, with an abundance of colorful hews strewn about the trails.

We’ve got some finish line photos. Although there was no professional photographer onsite, check out the photos Adam Engst captured while trying out the camera on his brand new iPhone 11X. Several runners made their Danby debut, while many more experience their first trail race or tackled a distance longer than they’d ever previously raced.

Results have been posted to our website, with additional stats available on Webscorer.

This year’s 10K race saw the top three men only 25 seconds apart, as Charles Hollister edged out Bill Watson by four seconds for the win. Lauren Brzozowski was our women’s 10K winner, followed by Catriona Breen and Emma Harte less than a minute later. Only two seconds separated Breen and Harte for the second and third places. After her age-group win at the Forest Frolic earlier this year, seven-year-old Mckenzie Leonard couldn’t get enough trail action and again became our youngest finisher.

Yvette de Boer, fresh off her course record win at the Monster Marathon, snuck in just under two hours for the women’s 20K win. Eric Sambolec led all runners through the 10K checkpoint before wining the 20K handily in 1:36:42. Both Yvette and Eric have a long history of top finishes at the Down & Dirty, and each remains the 20K course record holder (from 2009 and 2008, respectively.) Boris Dzikovski earned the “best blood” award after slipping and running his second loop with a case of acute epistaxis (nosebleed.)

Each of our age-group winners took home a six-pack of craft beer, with the four overall winners receiving a gift card to Finger Lakes Running Company in additional to his or her imbibables.

I couldn’t have pulled this race off without help from a number of FLRC volunteers and Ithaca’s wonderful running community. Adam Engst, Dave Kania, Megan Powers, and Erika Powers comprised the timing crew and tapped in times while battling frozen fingers. Michael Salter and his Wilderness Search and Rescue team recorded bib numbers and kept track of runners in the forest’s most remote areas. Mike Surrena came down early to help set things up, before heading out to single-handedly man the mid-loop aid station until the last runner came through. Mickie Sanders-Jauquet assisted with finish line set up and apparel sales. Gerrit Van Loon, after winning his age-group in the 10K, set back out and swept the whole course, then helped pack up the van. Kerra Quinn, master composter, handled all the food scraps and helped us clean up the finish area. John Donaldson, Emily Funk, and Brend Michaud all showed up an hour early to work the registration table before running the race. Nancy Kleinrock helped me mark the course on Friday before running the 20K on Saturday. Amelia Kaufman helped with course setup and marshaling at the first turn onto the trail, ensuring that runners didn’t blow past the turn and continue all the way down to Tioga County. Gretchen Gilbert headed up the 10K aid station, with course marshal help from Sedona, Aidan, and Coral, as the later three kept busy while their parents ran the race. Mikhail Kern pitched in around the start/finish area for the entire duration, helping out with a variety of things. FLRC’s equipment manager, Gary McCheyne, got me set up with all the necessary event gear. My wife Hayley Kresock was a big help all weekend long, assiting with some of the most mundane tasks like stickering bibs and slicing bagels, and most importantly, helping me stay focused during the final stages of race preparation.

The Down & Dirty brings FLRC’s trail season to a close. Check back for our Stonehead, Pebblehead, and Boulderhead rankings, coming as soon as the statistics are compiled. Our last race of the year is the Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot Prediction Run, which serves as a fundraiser for a local charity. Our next trail race will be the Super Frosty Loomis Snowshoe Race in February 2020.

I hope to see you again on the trails!

Pete Kresock,

Danby Down & Dirty Race Director

FLRC and High Noon Teams Notch 2nd Place at PGXC Race

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Sunday’s Pete Glavin Cross Country Series race once again featured lovely—if hot—fall weather, and while our FLRC and High Noon teams weren’t able to win any of the races, we did manage three second-place team  finishes and two individual second-place finishes. Results are available here, but in new formats that make parsing them difficult. This was the second race in the five-race series, held at Center Park in Fairport, New York (just east of Rochester).

To see photos from the race, check out this FLRC Google Photos album. The earlier pictures (a few fabulous smiles!) and the finishing pictures (lots of great facial expressions!) are the best; the lower light level in the woods for the middle pictures resulted in fuzzier shots. Let us know if the photos are appreciated, since they’re quite bit of work to take and edit and we won’t bother if no one is looking at them.

The FLRC women’s Open team of Amanda King, Janet Van Zoeren, Fiona Young, Louise Debefve, and Liz Fabis took an unexpected second place, scoring 75 points even without top runner Jenny Berkowitz. That was well behind first-place Checkers with 20 points, but more than enough to outpace GVH (91 points) and the Auburn Pulsars (98 points).

Also placing strongly for the day was the FLRC women’s Vets team, of Caitlin Loehr, Sandy Gregorich, Susan Barnett, Brenda Osovski, and Lorrie Tily, which took second in a tight three-team race. Checkers won again, with 14 points; FLRC was second with 16, and GVH was third with 18.

Both the FLRC women’s Masters and Super Vets teams took fourth.

Running unopposed, FLRC’s boys 19-and-under team did well too, with 16-year-old Nick Marnell taking second for the age group and 10-year-old Aidan Lazzaro placing third overall, which in PGXC prize parlance means they were in the chocolate.

On the men’s side, the High Noon Masters scoring team of Eric Sambolec, Brian Lazzaro, Alex Colvin, Jay Hubisz, and Sean Nicholson, running without last race’s winner, Scott Weeks, placed second behind GVH, 36 points to 20.

Individually, Eric Sambolec (40-49) and Alex Colvin (50-59) both took home chocolate for their second-place age-group finishes.

The High Noon Open team, running without its top four runners from the first race, placed fifth overall.

Our third race is in Buffalo on October 6, where our teams are generally smaller due to the long drive, but the fourth race is on our home course at Taughannock Falls State Park, and features a flat, fast course. Be sure to sign up (and let us know) if you want to join one of our teams https://fingerlakesrunners.org/pgxc-teams/!

Results for The Monster Marathon & Half

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Thanks to all who came out to run on Saturday! We had beautiful weather and quite a few monster sightings.

There was a new course record set by local running phenom Yvette De Boer. She set a new course record by finishing in 3:06:45! Her time was five seconds faster than her 2018 course record. Congratulations Yvette!

The remaining top five marathon finishers were:

2. Nancy Kleinrock – 3:28:51
3. Scotie Jacobs – 3:39:48
4. Gerrit Van Loon – 3:58:52
5. Lori Johnson – 4:02:55

In the half marathon distance, the winner was newcomer Ron Wightman of Wellsville NY in a time of 1:29:41.

The remaining top five half-marathon finishers were:

2. Gill Haines-Sharp – 1:33:29
3. Boris Dzikovski – 1:36:26
4. Edward Housel – 1:42:32
5. Bill King – 1:42:58

Special thanks to all the amazing volunteers that helped make the race possible!!!!

A few mentions: Joe Reynolds mowed the overgrown sections of the FLT near the Lean-To aid station to allow smoother passage. I’ve also heard reports that he further cleared the course by single-handedly wrenching out a downed tree. Steve Vanek helped mark the course Friday and then ran the full marathon on Saturday. Nancy Kleinrock and Gerrit Van Loon both finished in the marathon top five, and then headed out to sweep the course. Aaron Proujansky helped set up aid stations on Friday and then volunteered to stay all day Saturday to oversee one of those aid stations. Other stellar aid station support was provided by Dean Russo, Gretchen Gilbert and Carina Ramsey (and family). Adam Engst, Bob Talda, Bill Watson, and the rest of the FLRC timing crew did an amazing job with a tricky staggered start race. All starts and finishes went seamlessly. Added appreciation to Nancy Kleinrock and Steve Shaum, who arrived early and assisted with initial site setup just after 6 AM. Thanks also to Mickie Jauquet for the early morning coffee pick-up and delivery and for working with Catarina Massa at the registration table. Yay Mickie and Cat! Big thank you to Scott Doyle, who schlepped water and Gatorade around and to Gary McCheyne who made sure I had all the equipment needed, and then schlepped me around. Mikhail Kern floated as an outstanding “do-whatever-is-needed” volunteer.

You can find more stats on Webscorer and on our results page.

Still got the trail running bug after all that? Consider running the Danby Down & Dirty 10k/20k—our last trail race of the 2019.

Join the MITHACAL MILERS workouts Tuesdays at 6 PM at the Cornell Arboretum!

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Coaches Adam Engst and Jason Tuori are coordinating another MITHACAL MILERS group as part of the Family Running Program on Tuesday nights at 6 PM. We’ll be meeting in the bowl of the Cornell Arboretum off Forest Home Drive (see picture below or try this link). All ages and abilities are welcome, although you should be comfortable running at least 3 miles.

The program is free to all FLRC members (if you’re not already a member, you can join here), but you must sign this waiver online.

Because this MITHACAL MILERS group is part of the FLRC Family Running Program, parents who are participating in the workout are welcome to bring kids ages 7+ to work out (separately) as well. We’ll have running-related games and exercises for the kids. This is not a drop-off program, and all children must be accompanied by an adult.

Adult workouts will be focused on the 5K to 10K distance for cross-country season, and they will include intervals on grass and hills. Any questions, ask Adam Engst.

Results Are Up for FLRC’s Final Summer Track Meet

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FLRC’s August track meet—the last one for 2019—was a nice, relaxing time on the Lansing track, with kids as young as 2 and adults in their 70s. The Auburn Pulsars, Lansing Lightning, and SOAR clubs were once again in attendance, with Brett Shelton of SOAR again hosting informal long jump and shot put field events. Full results are now available.

We led off with the 100m, with 19-year-old Francis Ongkodjojo taking the win in 11.89 seconds, but 43-year-old Dana Wood of SOAR notching a 12.86 for second. 13-year-old Annoura Stewart won the women’s crown in 16.71 seconds, just ahead of 8-year-old Nasia White of the Lansing Lightning.

Next, to move our marquee event earlier in the evening, we ran the 1 mile race, with four MITHACAL MILE SERIES age groups being decided in this final installment. Overall, Sam Lagasse maintained his unbeaten streak despite a blistering first three laps from Adam Pacheck. Lagasse’s kick once again served him a win in 4:26, with Pacheck coming in second in 4:31. That win also cemented Lagasse’s win in the 20-29 age group in the MITHACAL MILE SERIES. Rich Heffron took third in 4:39, locking up the 30-39 age group as well. In earlier heats, 10-year-old Jacob Varga and 13-year-old Keegan Brady of the Auburn Pulsars clinched the 1-10 and 11-15 age groups with an 8:07 and a 5:37, respectively. On the women’s side, 18-year-old Catriona Breen ran a strong 5:32 to outpace 17-year-old Catie Eisenhut of the Lansing Lighting in 5:30.

In the 400m, Trevor Donovan won handily in 55.76, but 14-year-old Jerry Czyz of the Auburn Pulsars wasn’t far behind in 59.09. The diminutive 8-year-old Abigail Wagner of SOAR, who may have the best kick of the meet, pound for pound, took the women’s race in 1:22, beating out 13-year-old Abby Silva of the Lansing Lightning.

Finally, the 800m wasn’t a huge race, but Mike Stewart used it to notch his first-ever overall win in a race with a strong 2:30. Hot on his heels was 13-year-old Keegan Brady of the Auburn Pulsars with a 2:31, and in third place overall and our female winner was 18-year-old Catriona Breen in 2:35. 11-year-old Kyleen Brady of the Auburn Pulsars was the second female in 2:49.

Thanks to Lansing High School and Coach Becca Lovenheim for hosting FLRC’s summer track season again. It has been a pleasure to use the Lansing track facilities, and we appreciate the Lansing Sports Boosters providing concessions as well. These meets wouldn’t be possible without the dedicated volunteers of FLRC’s Track Team. Josh Brockner took on head timer duties, with Tom Rishel serving as starter with our new and more reliable starting pistol. Jullien Flynn managed seeding with aplomb and published results within minutes after each event ended. Bill Watson and Jason Tuori lined up all the heats as clerks-of-course. Adam Pacheck’s girlfriend Christine recorded bibs of finishers in the longer races while simultaneously cheering for Adam in his bid to unseat Sam Lagasse. Tonya Engst ran registration (and then the mile) with help from Carl Franck, Truck Rossiter was backup timer and lap caller (when he wasn’t running the mile as the oldest guy on the track), and lots of people—including Steve Folsom, Tim Ingall, and a few parents whose names I missed—helped with sprint timing.

That’s it for 2019, and we hope you’ll join us for our indoor track meet series starting in January 2020!

RSVP for FLRC’s Annual Picnic on August 24th!

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Please join us for fun, laughter, food and drink! FLRC will be hosting our Annual Picnic to appreciate our awesome volunteers and members. Bring the whole family—it’s a kid-friendly event.

The picnic will take place from 4 to 7 PM at the pavilion at Upper Buttermilk State Park. Food will once again be provided by Jacob Marnell of Fittnell Farms Catering, and we’ll have beer from Liquid State Brewing Company.

Don’t miss the penny raffle for lots of great prizes. The more a person volunteers, the more chances they have at winning a gift card to a great location in town. Admission is free, but please RSVP so we have a sense of how much food to get.

We’ll also be handing out awards to the winners of our MITHACAL MILE SERIES.

Don’t miss out on another great FLRC event!

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Lots of “Littles” in FLRC’s July Track Meet—Results Now Available

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FLRC’s July track meet is now in the books, and it was a wonderful way to spend a summer evening, with perfect weather and lots of friendly runners. Thanks to the Auburn Pulsars, Ithaca Youth Bureau, Lansing Lightning, and SOAR clubs, we had tons of young kids—and not much is cuter than one 4-year-old handing off to another in a relay race. But there were some stellar performances from older athletes as well, culminating with the fast heat of the mile, where the top 8 runners all broke 5:00. Full results are now available.

With our kid-focused event lineup this summer, we started with the 100m, won by 35-year-old Chris Rogers in 12.65 seconds, just ahead of 14-year-old Gyasi Ruffin (12.69). 12-year-old Mackenna Keough of SOAR was the first female finisher in 14.53, well ahead of her teammate Alexis Collins in 16.12.

In the 800m race, last month’s 800m/400m double-winner Samual Voak defended his title with a 2;20 to place ahead of Lansing Lightning’s John Saunders in 2:21 and Aaron King in 2:24. Again like last month, 11-year-old Maggie Houp of SOAR ran a 2:42 to outpace 37-year-old Liz Hartman, whose 2:45 was a 6-second improvement.

To get a relay in before bedtime for our younger runners, we next ran the 4 by 200m relay, won handily by a team of Ithaca Youth Bureau coaches in 2:03. Seventeen other teams competed as well, with times from 2:14 all the way to 4:15.

Samuel Voak matched last month’s performance with his second win for the night in the 400m, running 56.66, well ahead of Tristan Lambert’s 1:00.35. Elsa Wood of SOAR took the women’s crown with a 1:20.63, outlasting sprinter teammate Mackenna Keough, who crossed in 1:24.36 and Abby Ringwood of the Auburn Pulsars in 1:25.59.

Our most exciting race came last, with the 1-mile race that’s part of FLRC’s ongoing MITHACAL MILE SERIES. In a stacked fast heat, Sean Dunn took the race out hard, but Adam Pacheck soon took over, hoping to defang the kick of Sam Lagasse, last month’s winner. Pacheck’s valiant effort was in vain, though, as Lagasse took the lead in the final lap and kicked hard to win in 4:25, ahead of Pacheck’s 4:27 (4 and 7 seconds faster than last month, respectively). In third again was Rich Heffron in 4:40, followed by Dunn in 4:43, Mik Kern in 4:44, 15-year-old Jared Smith in 4:47, Mohamad Alsabbagh in 4:52, and newcomer Adam Berkowitz in 4:53. On the women’s side, 13-year-old Elizabeth Baroody of the Auburn Pulsars won in 5:57, with SOAR’s Maggie Houp second in 6:05.

Although there are no official results from the long jump, shot put, and kid javelin practice hosted by Brett Shelton and Steve Wagner of SOAR during the meet, lots of kids participated and had a great time.

Thanks to Lansing High School and Coach Becca Lovenheim for hosting once again, and to the many volunteers who made the meet possible. Bob Talda took on the head timer duties, with past FLRC president Tom Rishel once again serving as starter. Jullien Flynn managed seeding with aplomb and published results within minutes after each event ended. Bill Watson and Dave Kania worked wonders in lining up all the heats. Adam Pacheck and his girlfriend Christine recorded bibs of finishers in the longer races. Tonya Engst ran registration with help from Lorrie Tily, and both helped with sprint timing, Truck Rossiter was backup timer and lap caller, Steve Folsom and Jim Derick helped wrangle the relay runners, and previous FLRC track director Tim Ingall stepped in once again to help with timing as well.

Don’t miss our final summer meet of 2019 on August 20th!

August 2019 Outdoor Track Meet

Results from FLRC’s Record-Setting June Track Meet Now Available

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The first FLRC summer track meet of 2019 is in the books, and it was our largest summer meet ever, with 153 athletes and 312 event entries! Many of those runners came from the Ithaca Youth Bureau’s increasingly popular track program, along with the Lansing Lightning club, SOAR and Team Prefo from Corning, the Auburn Pulsars, and a team from the OnTech Charter School near Syracuse. Full results are now available.

Given the huge number of little kids (the youngest was 3, and there were plenty of 4- and 5-year-olds), we tweaked our event lineup this year to focus on shorter distances. That meant we led off with the 100m, which was by far the most popular event, with 85 entries. Isaiah Smith took the crown by a hair over Christopher Simmons, running an 11.37 to Simmons’s 11.39, with Samuel Voak taking third in 12.06. On the women’s side, 14-year-old Cascade Benenati ran a 13.47 to beat 12-year-old Sarah Jackson-Palmer of the Ithaca Youth Bureau.

Changing gears, we moved on to the 800m, where Samuel Voak took his first win of the night, kicking hard in the final lap to win in 2:12, just ahead of the 2:15 notched by local physical therapist and coach Jason Tuori, who arrived just in time from his strength and conditioning class. SOAR’s 11-year-old Maggie Houp won the women’s race in 2:42, with Liz Hartman second in 2:51.

To cater to the kids, we switched back to a short race: the 4 by 100m relay. It was a bit chaotic to distribute 24 runners across the start and three exchange points, but great fun was had by all, and the OnTech Charter School kids ended up taking first (the boys’ team in 54.5 seconds) and second (the girls’ team) in 1:00.

Back to the sprints with the 400m, Samuel Voak notched his second win for the evening, running a 55.8 to beat Christopher Simmons’s 57.7. 53-year-old former Olympian Michelle Rohl won the women’s race in 1:08, and on the other end of the age spectrum, 12-year-old Ikeara Moye of the Ithaca Youth Bureau took second in 1:14.9 in a squeaker, just 0.1 seconds ahead of 17-year-old Julia Hubbard’s 1:15.0.

In our marquee event of night, the 1 mile race that’s part of FLRC’s ongoing MITHACAL MILE SERIES, we were treated to a classic mile as a three-man group of Sam Lagasse, Adam Pacheck, and Rich Heffron stuck together for two laps before Lagasse and Pacheck pulled away slightly. They ran neck-in-neck for the next lap, but in the final 400, Lagasse unleashed the kick that has kept him undefeated across two years of 3000m races indoors to win in 4:29. Pacheck came through second in 4:34, with Heffron holding on to a solid third in 4:44. On the women’s side, Megan Luckner ran a fast 5:21 for the win, with 11-year-old Maggie Houp of SOAR a strong second in 5:59.

Although there are no official results from the shot put and long jump practice hosted by Brett Shelton and Steve Wagner of SOAR during the meet, lots of kids participated and had a great time. We hope to be able to continue to include such field event practices in the future.

Thanks to Lansing High School and Coach Becca Lovenheim for hosting once again, and to the many volunteers who made the meet possible. Bob Talda took on the head timer duties, with past FLRC president Tom Rishel once again serving as starter. Jullien Flynn managed seeding and results with aplomb, even after our laptop ran out of power halfway. Bill Watson and Sandy Gregorich worked wonders in lining up 12 heats each of the 100m and 400m. Adam Pacheck and his girlfriend Christine recorded bibs of finishers in the longer races. Tonya Engst ran registration and helped with timing, Aaron Proujansky was backup timer and lap caller, and previous FLRC track meet director Tim Ingall stepped in to help with timing as well.

Come run with us next month at our second meet on July 23rd!

Twilight 5K Results and Thank You

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Thanks to all who showed up for the race. We had a great time and the weather was terrific! We had 420 participants including five Girls on the Run teams, members of the South Hill Striders youth running group and the Ithaca Youth Bureau Couch to 5k program. Thanks to all our participants!

The overall male and female winners were Sam Lagasse with a time of 16:20, and Aubrie Russel with a time of 20:40. Full results can be found at on our race web page. Age group winners can be found on the Leone Timing website (click and scroll down.)

Many thanks need to go out to a number of folks and organizations: ESPN Ithaca for finish line tunes and announcements; Papa John’s for the pizza delivery; the Ithaca Fire Police for keeping runners safe on the major intersections; Girls on the Run Upstate for coming out and having fun; GiveGab for the Giving is Gorges campaign to support GotR; Ian Golden and Finger Lakes Running Company for hosting packet pickup the day before the race.

A huge thank you to all the excellent volunteers for which we couldn’t put on the quality races that we do:

  • Pre-race day packet pickup folks: Joe Reynolds, Pete Daby, Mike Sullivan, Amelia Kaufman, Shelly Marino, and KC Ryan.
  • Day of registration/packet pickup and food servers: Steve Shaum, Brenda Michaud, Mike Allinger, and Shelly Marino.
  • Course staging and cleaning up: Bill King and John Donaldson.
  • Course Marshals: Denice Cassaro, Lesa Carter, Pete Kresock, Bill Watson, Jullien Flynn, Amelia Kaufman, Aaron Proujansky, and Heather Cobb.
  • Water Station Attendants: Bob and Emily Talda, Mark and Bryce Jauquet, Butch Sanders and Debbie.
  • Starting Announcer: Joel Cisne.
  • Past Race Director: Gary McCheyne for equipment and advice.

Thanks to all of these awesome volunteers.They help make the day that much better!

ESPN Ithaca did a pre-race interview with GotR Executive Director Danielle Fleckenstein to discuss the organization’s partnership with FLRC and Giving is Gorges for this year’s Twilight.

There was no rain and no train this year, but plenty of volleyball players and a bluegrass band in Stewart Park. Who knows what next year will hold for us? Until then enjoy the racing season and have fun outdoors!

Next up is the first of our three summer outdoor track meets, June 18 at the Lansing High School track. The meets are family- and beginner-friendly and registration is open for all three.