Youth running on the rise at FLRC’s January indoor track meet

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This past Sunday marked FLRC’s first indoor meet of 2019, and it was a rousing success, with 198 runners and 436 entries across 5 events. We had so many kids—even a 2-year-old!—running the 60m that it was the most popular event of the day with 121 finishers across 18 heats, although the 400m wasn’t far behind, with 104 finishers in 21 heats. 17 hardy souls gritted out 25 laps in the 5000m, and the 1 mile once again drew strongly, with 88 finishers across 7 heats.

A lot of the kids came from our youth club and school teams: the Auburn Pulsars, Candor CSD Club Runners, Chenango Forks, Corning-Painted Post West, GIAC Navigators, SOAR, and Watkins Glen. As usual, it’s great to see so many teams at our meets, and we anticipate even more at the next two meets. Onto the results, which are now available!

The 5000m was mostly a warmup race this month, with Roy Wedge winning it in 17:44 for the men, 8 seconds ahead of Jake Pusey, and Megan Luckner the first woman across the line in 18:57, 35 seconds in front of Amelia Kaufman.

In the final heat of the 60m, Lance Jensen of Candor ran a 7.4 to best Patrick Skinner’s 7.5. For the women, Haley Dean of Watkins Glen took the crown with an 8.9-second finish, outpacing Emma Frost of Corning by .2 seconds.

Lance Jensen tried to repeat his win in the 400m, but couldn’t catch the speedsuit-clad Henry Gilbert, who laid down a commanding 51.1 time for the win, notably faster than Jensen’s 53.9. The first woman was Marissa Silba in 1:06.9, well ahead of Sophie Stewart’s 1:10.2 for second.

The 1 mile is often our most contested race, and this month looked like it was going to be another nail-biter, with James Felice leading for a number of laps before 2018 MITHACAL MILE SERIES champion Adam Pacheck took the lead in the middle of the race. But Pacheck wasn’t able to hold on past six laps, and Felice cruised in for a 4:30 win, 9 seconds ahead of Pacheck’s second place 4:39. For the women, 16-year-old Alyssa Walker ran a strong 5:29 for the win, followed by Megan Luckner in 5:37.

We closed with a relay, a 4x200m this time, which was won by a team anchored by 400m winner Henry Gilbert, just barely outpacing the Candor A team anchored by Lance Jensen, 1:43 to 1:44. Impressively, Adam Pacheck and his brother Ethan (who also ran a 4:49 mile) doubled up in the 4x200m to run a 1:52 for fourth, just behind Candor’s B team in 1:51.

As always, this meet was made possible by the superhuman efforts of a dedicated cadre of volunteers, and I can’t express how appreciative I am for their help. Jullien Flynn worked wonders with a new meet management app, despite its ancient Windows interface causing her flashbacks to middle school. Josh Brockner was quick and accurate as head timer. Newcomer Bill Watson stepped into the demanding clerk-of-course role and handled it with aplomb. Tom Rishel once again did a great job as starter. Adam Pacheck, before and after his excellent races, recorded finisher bibs, a job picked up by Bree Zogaria of Candor when he was running. Rod Weeden of Watkins Glen helped with lap counting. Tonya Engst and Jesse Koennecke ensured that registration and bib pickup moved smoothly all day long. Jesse, Bob Swizdor, Aaron Proujansky, Carl Franck, and Shannon Oakes of SOAR all helped manage heats. And many of the people above, aided by Emily Funk and Casey Carlstrom, were key in timing the lane-based 60m and 400m.

We hope to see you at our next meet on February 17th. You can sign up now.

2019 Board of Directors

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Written by: FLRC Secretery Nanncy Kleinrock

Thanks to all FLRC members who voted in the just-concluded election. The 2019 board of directors will consist of the following volunteers (note that one nominee has since withdrawn from consideration due to a timing conflict):

Co-President: Denice Cassaro
Co-President: Sue Aigen
Executive VP: Charlie Fay
VP Trails: Gary McCheyne
VP Roads: Alan Lockett
VP Track: Adam Engst
Treasurer: Mike Allinger
Secretary: Nancy Kleinrock
Members-at-Large:
Lesa Carter
Peter Dady
Tonya Engst
Jullien Flynn
Emily Funk
Pete Kresock
Daniel Longaker
Steve Shaum
Mickie Sanders-Jauquet
Gerrit Van Loon
Bill Watson

Moreover, a winner has emerged for 2018 Volunteer of the Year and will be announced at the 2019 Annual Meeting to be held this winter. Stay tuned for details.

Happy holidays and happy trails!

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Runners, It’s Time To Get Your Track On!

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Registration is now open for FLRC’s three winter track meets and the Hartshorne Memorial Masters Mile! The schedule is:

If you’d like to join our MITHACAL MILERS training group on Tuesdays at 7 PM at Barton Hall, the kickoff time trial will be on Tuesday, December 18 (the next two Tuesdays are off due to holidays; we may do a one-off session on Thursday, January 3 if enough people are up for it). The time trial
and training group are free, but you must register on Webscorer to sign the waiver and be enter into the system for timing.

One final note: We sometimes hear from people that they don’t run track because they’re too slow, or they’d be intimidated. Let’s make it painfully clear—all of FLRC’s track meets, including the Hartshorne Memorial Masters Mile, are open to ALL runners, regardless of age or ability. (Well, you do have to be over 40 for Hartshorne, since it’s a masters-only event, but we often have 80- and 90-year-olds running.)

We seed all our races by your predicted time, so you’ll always be running with people of roughly similar pace, and we’re supportive of every runner, whether you’re in the slowest heat or the fastest, whether you’re winning your heat or coming at the end. And by “we,” we mean the meet as a whole: volunteers, runners, coaches, and spectators alike.

Ithaca has a great running community, and we’d love to have you join us for some fun on the track this winter.

Vote for 2019 FLRC Officers and Volunteer of the Year

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You might have thought that the local election season was over, but you still have the opportunity to cast two more votes: (1) 2019 slate of officers for the Finger Lakes Runners Club’s Board of Directors, and (2) FLRC volunteer of the year. (I’m sure you couldn’t be more excited!)

Please direct your votes to secretary@fingerlakesrunners.org on or before December 15 — no votes will be accepted after that date — and include your name for membership verification. We appreciate your membership in the club and your participation in the selection of its governing board and exemplary volunteer.

(1) 2019 Slate of Officers

(These are are volunteer positions — they are the go-to workhorses of the club.) Here’s how the election works: The 2018 Board of Directors presents the slate below for 2019. You can vote it up in its entirety, vote it down in its entirety, vote it up generally but reserve your vote for one or more candidates, and/or provide write-ins for any position (making sure that your write-in candidate would accept the position if elected).

Vote for up to two people in the following position:
Co-President: Denice Cassaro
Co-President: Sue Aigen

Vote for one person in each of the following positions:
Executive VP: Charlie Fay
VP Trails: Gary McCheyne
VP Roads: Alan Lockett
VP Track: Adam Engst
Treasurer: Mike Allinger
Secretary: Nancy Kleinrock

Members-at-Large (vote for up to 12; accepting write-ins up to 14):

Lesa Carter
Peter Dady
Tonya Engst
Jullien Flynn
Emily Funk
Angelika Kraemer
Pete Kresock
Daniel Longaker
Steve Shaum
Mickie Sanders-Jauquet
Gerrit Van Loon
Bill Watson

(2) 2018 Volunteer of the Year:

As 2018 comes to a close, it is time to consider who among us have contributed most substantially to the fun and smooth functioning of the Finger Lakes Runners Club. If you have in mind a volunteer who has gone above-and-beyond this year, now is the time to weigh in. (Note that the following folks are not eligible, as they have won this award within the last 5 years: Mickie Sanders-Jauquet, Katie Stettler, Steve Shaum, Gerrit Van Loon, Carl Franck, Adam Engst, and Gary McCheyne.) The following individuals have been nominated by club members and/or Board members. Feel free to vote for one of these deserving people (or pairs) or write in one of your own. (These are listed alphabetically, so please peruse the entire list!) Again, please direct your votes to secretary@fingerlakesrunners.org on or before December 15 (no votes will be accepted after that date) and include your name for membership verification.

Ron Cunningham and Kerra Quinn: Both have volunteered at several of the FLRC races over the years by helping with race cleanup. They have also taken the initiative to institute a composting program at many of our races. They have set up food scraps collection buckets, developed and improved signage, and carted away compostables to their designated composting site. This pair has been involved with either running or volunteering for several years and hang around to cheer in finishers as they help with clean up. When they don’t run, they still come to races to either help or just be part of the FLRC scene.

David Keifer: He tirelessly volunteers at the track registration table and does other odd jobs at track meets, occasionally assisting at nontrack events, as well.

Alex Kleinerman: She directs two of FLRC’s biggest races—Skunk Cabbage and Finger Lakes 50s—and does so very professionally. Both races are large productions and require many months of planning and preparation. At the 50s this year, which was her first experience in the trail and ultra scene, Alex kept thing under control in the extreme heat and handled things well when runners went off course early in the race. She also directs Ithaca’s two largest non-FLRC events—the Cayuga Lake Triathlon and the Gorges Ithaca Half Marathon.

Pete Kresock: His involvement in the club is steadily growing as a member of the board, working on the website, handling the club’s social media presence, and learning the timing system.

Shelly Marino: She has taken the initiative of leading group runs on the Black Diamond Trail and also serves as the club’s membership coordinator.

Aly Sanders-Jauquet: This young lady has established herself as a reliable helper at many FLRC events, helping alongside her mom, Mickie. The club member nominating Aly appreciates how engaged our younger members can be, noting that Aly is a wonderful role model.

Bob Talda: He directs the Winter Chill series, helps with track meets, and regularly assists with timing-related tasks.

FLRC Turkey Trot Raises Over $2,500 for Local Charity

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Thank you to all the Turkey Trotters and volunteers who came out to run in the barely double-digit temperature! Together we raised $2,549 for Loaves & Fishes of Tompkins County. Matt Bishop won a Purity Ice Cream pie for having the closest predicted time, finishing five seconds off his prediction and edging out Jay Hubisz’s six-second differential. (Full results as a .PDF)

According to long-time Race Director Bruce Roebal, the 14°F start is the coldest on record in the event’s 46-year history! Not one to be deterred by the cold, race founder Bob Congdon kept his perfect streak alive, running the route for the forty-sixth time. A handful of other runners were added to the Turkey Trot Honor Roll upon completing the run for the fifth time. Additionally, Devon Magliozzi of the Ithaca Voice was on site and wrote a nice piece about our run and included some pictures.

Missed the run or still interested in helping out Loaves & Fishes? Please visit their website for ways to donate and for volunteer opportunities.

Thank you again for coming out on a frigid holiday morning! The Turkey Trot is our final even of the year. But don’t worry… registration for January’s Winter Chill 5K Series is open, and we have a variety of indoor track meets coming up soon!

PGXC 2018 Individual and Team Awards for Local Runners

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Written by Adam Engst, High Noon AC team captain

We all run road and trail races, but cross country is a different beast, and the Pete Glavin Upstate New York Cross Country Series is special. Unlike most races, cross country is both an individual and a team sport — how well you run on your own is one thing, but it’s how high you place in the race that matters for team points. A team will usually have five scoring runners, with another three who don’t score but displace other teams’ runners.

Scoring is simple: you add up the number of points that correspond with each scoring runner’s place and then compare to the other teams’ scores — lowest score wins. It’s great to have someone who is usually in the top three in the race, like Adam Pacheck was for the High Noon Open team this year, but the fifth runner is often more important for the team score. (In the PGXC series, the smaller age group divisions need only five on a team with three scoring, and you only compete with people in your division.) As PGXC Race Director Mike Nier says before each race: every place counts.

That’s scoring for a single race. Because PGXC is a series, there are both individual and team competitions across the entire series too. The individual scoring is a little funny, with the top 15 runners getting points associated with their places. The first runner gets 20 points, the second 17 points, and so on with this scale: 20-17-14-12-11-10-9-8-7-6-4-3-2-1. You have to run the championship race to score for the series, but you can drop or miss one of the five races — the series score is calculated based on the top four scores. Then, for the team scoring, first place gets six points, second receives four, third receives three, fourth receives two, and fifth place gets one point. There’s no race dropping for teams. Unlike individual race scoring, the most points wins in the series standings.

So the goal for an individual is to place high in every race for the age group and to make sure to run the championship race. If you have one bad race, or can’t make an early season race due to a conflict, it’s not the end of the world. Alas, David Keifer was off running the Philadelphia Marathon instead of the championship PGXC race on Sunday, so he missed out on what would have been a guaranteed second place in the Ultra Vets category. And for teams, the goal is just to score as many points as possible, which sometimes means moving runners down from older age groups to fill out teams — we often didn’t have enough 40-year-old runners for Masters and had to bring 50-year-old Vets down to complete the team. Keep in mind that our Ithaca teams are competing against clubs from large cities like Syracuse (Syracuse Track Club), Rochester (Genesee Valley Harriers), and Buffalo (Checkers Athletic Club) — we’re often the underdogs purely on population size.

Read our recaps from: Race #2 | Race #4 | Race #5 (Series Championship)

Now that you understand the complexity of the competition, on to the awards! Congratulations to all our Ithaca runners, and especially to the following:

First Place Series Finishers

Adam Pacheck: First and most impressive is Adam Pacheck, who won the entire series, beating STC’s Andrew Dionne by just two points, 68 to 66. Adam won the Taughannock race outright, took second twice, and third once. It was great seeing Adam in the lead pack of STC runners at every race with his trademark pink gloves, and we were ecstatic to see a High Noon runner taking the series again, something that hasn’t happened since Billy Way ran for us a few years back.

Deb Bliss: Next in line for congratulations is Deb Bliss, who won the women’s Ultra Vet category for runners over 70 with a perfect score of 80 points. Sure, she didn’t have much competition in her age group, but the fact is that she placed well in the 60-69 Super Vet team competition in every race as well.

Second Place Series Finishers

Adam Engst: Adam had one win and four second places, which was enough to give him a category-leading 71 points for the Vets, but Mike Nier beat him three times and took fifth once, tying Adam’s point score in the final race. And then Mike won the tie-breaker by besting Adam in the championship race (by two places and 25 seconds).

Third Place Series Finishers

Eric Sambolec: Thanks to two second place finishes, a fifth, and a sixth, Eric Sambolec was High Noon’s top Masters scorer and third in the series with 55 points.

Julie Barclay: Julie put together a third place, a fourth, and two sixth place finishes to score 46 points and take third for the series, beating the next woman by just one point.

Top 10 Individual Series Finishers

M20-39: Adam Pacheck first (68 points), Mik Kern tenth (17 points)
M40-49: Eric Sambolec third (55 points), Brian Lazzaro sixth (39 points), Scott Dawson seventh (29 points), Ian Golden eighth (25 points)
M50-59: Adam Engst second (71 points), Alex Colvin fifth (50 points), Casey Carlstrom eighth (32 points), Sean Nicholson tenth (25 points)
M60-69: Alan Lockett sixth (35 points), Charlie Fay seventh (33 points), Jorge Ramirez tenth (15 points)

F40-49: Julie Barclay third (46 points), Kim Jackson seventh (30 points)
F50-59: Sandy Gregorich sixth (34 points), Tonya Engst eighth (22 points)
F60-69: Anne Shakespeare seventh (32 points), Ruth Sproul tenth (19 points)
F70+: Deb Bliss first (80 points)

Team Standings

Men’s Open: High Noon took second with 15 points, well behind STC’s perfect score of 30 points, but sneaking past Checkers with 14 points.
Men’s Masters: High Noon took second with 24 points, just two points behind GVH’s 26 points.
Men’s Vets: High Noon took second, but with only 16 points compared to GVH’s perfect score of 30 points.
Men’s Super Vets: High Noon took third with 11 points, behind GVH with 26 points and STC with 20 points.

Women’s Open: FLRC took fourth with 7 points; Checkers dominated with a 30-point perfect score.
Women’s Masters: FLRC took third with 11 points behind GVH with 28 points and STC with 22 points.
Women’s Vets: FLRC took second with 18 points, beating out Syracuse with 12 points and behind GVH with 27 points.
Women’s Super Vets: FLRC took third with 15 points; Syracuse won with a 30-point perfect score and GVH was second with 20 points.

You can see all these results and more pete glavnat http://run4results.com/querypgxc

Start thinking about cross country next summer, since our first race will once again be in early September. Check back in the summer of 2019 for details on how to join our 2019 teams.

Ithaca Runners Battle Cold and Snow in PGXC Championship

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Written by Adam Engst, High Noon AC team captain

Remember that snow last Thursday? You know, the white stuff that’s still covering the ground everywhere in Ithaca? Well, they had it in Syracuse too, and it made for a memorable 2018 Pete Glavin Cross Country Series finale. The course was covered in three to four inches of ice, snow, and slush — in that order — as 205 runners turned the lollipop course with two loops of the candy part into a disgusting mess of  slipping and sliding. Some people did better than others depending on their footwear choices or by just being lighter of foot. In the end, a good time was had by all, and it was capped off by an awards banquet where High Noon and FLRC individuals and teams placed well. (Series recap and awards for our local runners.)

On the individual level of podium finishers, Adam Pacheck took second overall in the race, Ian Golden was third in the Masters division, Adam Engst was second in the Vets category, and Deb Bliss won the Ultra Vet division. On the team side, the High Noon men’s teams took a strong second in every category they competed in — Open, Masters, Vets, and Super Vets — and the FLRC women’s teams took fourth in Open, third in Masters, second in Vets, and third in Super Vets. (Full results are available here.)

In the team competitions, the High Noon Open team couldn’t compete with the Syracuse Track Club team that dominated every race. High Noon did manage to hold off Checkers AC (Buffalo) in fine fashion, thanks in part to a particularly nice race from Sean Dunn.

The heartbreak race of the day was the Masters category, where High Noon had gone into the final race tied with GVH for the lead. They had won two races, and we had won two, with the other taking second each time. We pulled out all the stops, recruiting Ian Golden for another race and running all their top Vets down to Masters. However, GVH did the same, putting their top four Vets onto the Masters team and almost losing the Vets category in the process. Even though Ian came through for with a strong third overall, it wasn’t enough and GVH took the victory.

After Casey Carlstrom’s third place Vets finish at the Taughannock race, I decided to run him down in an effort to win Masters in this race, and that decision came back to haunt us in the Vets category. Because GVH stacked their Masters team so deep, if I had left Casey on the Vets team, we would have beaten GVH in the race, though we still had no chance in the series. Nevertheless, our Vets team was only four points out of first.

Finally, although our Super Vet team had no chance against a powerful Syracuse Track Club, they ran well to stay ahead of GVH.

On the women’s side, the FLRC Open team toughed it out in the cold and slush for fourth place, led by Amanda King.

Thanks to Nancy Kleinrock, who was running with the Masters team down from the Vets and running with a broken wrist, FLRC was able to field a three-woman Masters team that took third, led by Julie Barclay’s fifth place finish.

That left just three women for the Vets team, but they posted some strong times, taking second to a Checkers team that has dominated the series.

And finally, FLRC’s Super Vet team, led once again by Ultra Vet Deb Bliss, ran well to take third.

That’s it for the 2018 season! If you didn’t run this year but have enjoyed reading these race reports, consider joining us next year. A number of our teams could use some more depth to be able to compete against clubs from much larger cities. Ithaca has the talent; we just don’t have as large a
pool to draw from. Stayed tuned next summer for announcements about joining our teams in 2019!

Running in Barton Hall: A Reason to Become an FLRC Member

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For the most part, FLRC races and other activities are available to everyone, regardless of whether or not you’re an FLRC member. However, as a member you’ll be able to:

• Receive a discount on most FLRC-sponsored races.
• Get free entry to all meets in FLRC’s summer and winter track series.
• Run in Barton Hall during the winter months.
• Meet and train with other runners with your own interests and abilities.
• Attend the annual club meeting and banquet.
• Participate in the annual vote for club officers and Volunteer of the Year award.
• Support the club in its mission to promote a healthy lifestyle through running.

I mention this not to be all promotional, but because the general public is technically not allowed to run in Barton Hall, whereas FLRC members are allowed — it’s a liability thing. Just sign in as an FLRC member at the front desk when you come in. I need to generate a list of members to give to the Barton Hall building coordinator soon, and it will make everyone’s life easier if the list I generate in a week has more people on it so there’s less confusion with recently joined members.

(And yes, I will once again be coordinating evening track workouts — probably Tuesday nights — for the MITHACAL MILERS group, possibly starting in December if Barton is available, and definitely in January. You’ll want to be an FLRC member if you plan to come to those.)

You can join and pay online ($20 per year for an individual, $35 for a family, with 3- and 5-year discounts). There’s also a paper form if you’d rather not register online. https://fingerlakesrunners.org/join/

Adam Engst, FLRC Vice President of Track

PGXC Race #4 at Taughannock an Ithaca success!

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On Sunday, November 4, we ran the fourth race of the Pete Glavin Cross Country series on our “home” course for the year at Taughannock Falls State Park. A flat 6K that’s roughly similar to the 5K done as part of the Cayuga Lake Triathlon or the 5K Chili Challenge, the course wound around the fields by the lake before heading up to the falls and back. The weather was superlative, the leaves were gorgeous, and our out-of-town competitors were wowed. We made sure to mention repeatedly that Ithaca is always flat, dry, and sunny. :-)

Thanks to a tremendous turnout from Ithaca-area runners, this was the largest PGXC race in history, with 234 finishers. The High Noon men fielded a record seven teams, including two teams in both the Open and Masters divisions, plus a historic first Ultra Vet team of 70+ runners (David Keifer, Jim Miner, and Cory Byard). And the FLRC women contributed a slate of four teams from Open to Super Vets.

Our teams ran well too, with Adam Pacheck winning the race overall for his first victory in the series. Deb Bliss continued her dominance of the women’s Ultra Vet individual category with yet another win, Adam Engst was second in the Vets category, followed by Casey Carlstrom in third, and Eric Sambolec took third in the Masters category. Thanks to some newcomers to the series, the High Noon Masters team notched its second win of the season and with only one exception, all local teams placed third or higher. Full results are available here.

Along with the High Noon Masters win, there were a number of other strong team performances. Led by Adam Pacheck’s first place, the High Noon Open I team placed second behind a powerful Syracuse Track Club, and our Open II team took fourth.

The High Noon Masters I team benefited from the addition of Ian Golden and our strategy of stacking the Masters team with some of our top Vets. GVH once again tried the same strategy but weren’t able to field a deep enough team to compete with our fourth and fifth runners. Plus our Masters II team took fourth, only four points behind Checkers.

Even with our two top runners running down to Masters, the High Noon Vets team placed a strong second to GVH, led by Casey Carlstrom’s breakout race of the season.

The Super Vet category has become tight this year. The High Noon team managed a fourth against a deep Syracuse Track Club, which took advantage of the absence of GVH’s top runner to win.

Finally, our new High Noon Ultra Vet team ran well, but were competing against a strong GVH team and took second.

On the women’s side, the FLRC Open team took third (and if we’re not mistaken, the race was won by the daughter of ex-Ithacan Katie Durrant, Sarah Danner, running for Checkers).

The FLRC Masters team also took third. Despite missing three of their top runners, the FLRC Vets team were led by Caitlin Loehr’s fourth place finish and took second, missing first by just one point. And finally, the FLRC Super Vets rounded out the day with another third.

The fifth and final race of the 2018 Pete Glavin XC Series will be November 18 at Drumlin’s Golf Course in Syracuse.

2018 Stonehead, Pebblehead, & Boulderhead Results

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We’re very pleased to announce the winners of the FLRC Trail Circuit in the Stonehead, Pebblehead, and Boulderhead divisions. This year, the Trail Circuit included the following races (some of which aren’t FLRC races, but are included for historical reasons that could, but won’t, be explained).

• Super Frosty Loomis Snowshoe Race
• Thom B Trail Runs
• Highland Forest 1-2-3 (not FLRC, cancelled in 2018)
• Tortoise & Hare Trail Run
• Tanglefoot Trail Runs (not FLRC)
• Finger Lakes Fifties
• Forest Frolic Trail Runs
• Forge the Gorgeous Trail Run (cancelled in 2018 due to trail washout)
• Lucifer’s Crossing (not FLRC)
• Monster Marathon & Half Marathon
• Danby Down & Dirty

To refresh your memory, the Stonehead and Pebblehead rankings are based on the percent of your time in the race compared to the winner, who gets 100%. For Stonehead, your ranking is your cumulative score across all the races in the Trail Circuit. For Pebblehead, only your best three races are counted. The Boulderhead rankings are based on total number of miles run during the races in the Trail Circuit.

Stonehead

Due to its combination of percentage back from the winner and total number of races won, the Stonehead award goes to the runners who have both speed for a high place and the durability to run a lot of the races. This year, Nancy Kleinrock was the runaway winner on the women’s side, with 725 points across 8 races, outpacing Yvette De Boer (485 points in 5 races) and Paige Anderson (429 points in 6 races). For the men, Bob Swizdor took the stone with 587 points across 7 races, with Bill King in second (495 points over 6 races) and Nancy’s husband Steve Shaum in third (430 points over 6 races). Nancy and Steve are also FLRC board members and past race directors.

Full Stonehead Rankings

Pebblehead

The Pebblehead award is for those of us who are bit more fragile, or potentially just busy on many race weekends. It uses the same scoring system as Stonehead, but across each runner’s best three races, so it rewards raw speed. On the men’s side, Dan Timmerman pulled off a hat trick with wins at Forest Frolic, Lucifer’s Crossing, and Danby Down & Dirty for 300 points. Past winner Eric Sambolec (who co-race directs Super Frosty Loomis) took second with 292.09 points, sneaking past physical therapist extraordinaire Brian Lee’s 291.44 points. For the women, there was very little surprise in seeing the speedy Yvette De Boer win with 297 points (thanks in part to a dominating overall victory in the Monster Marathon), beating Nancy Kleinrock’s 289 points and Emily Funk’s 281 points. (Emily is also an FLRC board member and co-race director of Tortoise & Hare).

Full Pebblehead Rankings

Boulderhead

As implied by the sheer rockiness of the name, the Boulderhead division is determined by raw grit and number of miles run—speed is irrelevant. However, completing a hat trick of her own with another top three place, Nancy Kleinrock won the Boulderhead award for the women (and, technically, overall) with 126 miles. In second was Paige Anderson with 108 miles, and in third was trail-running newcomer Megan Powers with 66 miles. The men’s award was a squeaker, with Ron Cunningham taking the win with 88 miles over Robert Seltzer’s 87 miles. And Mark Morrison wasn’t far back in third with 84 miles.

Full Boulderhead Rankings

Thank you to Adam Engst for compiling these statistics. Congratulations to our winners and thanks to everyone who enjoyed the fabulous trails of the Finger Lakes with us this year. We hope to see even more competition in 2019!