Vote for 2018 Club Officers and Volunteer of the Year

Posted by

You might have thought that the local election season was over, but you still have the opportunity to cast two more votes: (1) 2018 slate of officers for the Finger Lakes Runners Club’s Board of Directors, and (2) FLRC volunteer of the year. (We’re 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) 2018 slate of officers (all are volunteer positions—these are the go-to workhorses of the club). Here’s how the election works: The 2017 Board of Directors presents the slate below for 2018. 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 one person in each of the following positions:

President: Denice Cassaro

Executive VP: Mickie Sanders-Jauquet

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 10; accepting write-ins up to 12):

Sue Aigen

Lesa Carter

Tonya Engst

Emily Funk

Rich Heffron

Pete Kresock

Daniel Longaker

Steve Shaum

Gerrit Van Loon

Scott Wehrwein

(2) 2017 Volunteer of the Year: As 2017 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: Katie Stettler, Steve Shaum, Gerrit Van Loon, Carl Franck, Adam Engst, Gary McCheyne, and Joel Cisne.) The following individuals have been nominated by club members and/or Board members. Feel free to vote for one of these deserving people 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.

Tonya Engst: Tonya was this year’s chief cheerleader, encouraging women to train for and participate in the Hartshorne Masters Mile and the Mithical Miles series, and organizing the women’s cross-country team and associated group runs. Tonya also volunteered at a number of club races.

Ian Golden: Although Ian produces races for a profit, he also contribute considerable resources to our community.

Andy Jordan: For at least the past six years, Andy has directed the Danby Down & Dirty, carrying on the tradition of creating a frolicking fun time in the fall for area runners.

Pete Kresock: A member-at-large on the Board, FLRC’s new social media coordinator keeps folks in the know regarding the club’s happenings. Pete has also helped with finish line duties and contributed significantly to the success of the Finger Lakes 50s by helping to weedwhack, mark, and check over the course and by working at an aid station on race day.

Mickie Saunders-Jaucquet: FLRC’s outgoing president presided over the club for the past three years and instituted changes that have helped the club become a more organized, functional, and well-structured organization. Mickie has also been active in marketing the club, organizing the picnic, and stepping up to do jobs that fall outside the purview of any specified Board role.

Scott Wehrwein: Despite being largely injured throughout the year, Scott faithfully served on the Board as member-at-large (as he has during most of his grad school stint) and volunteered at nearly every race and track meet the club put on. Notable volunteer efforts included finish line timing for most events and working alongside the Finger Lakes 50s race director for four days straight (marking the course, registration, aid station, prerace setup, postrace cleanup, assisting with equipment, getting the beer).

We Look forward to hearing from you with your votes before December 15!

Volunteer of the Year: Call For Nominations

Posted by

As 2017 comes to a close, it is time to consider who among us have contributed most substantially to  the smooth functioning of the Finger Lakes Runners Club. If you have in mind a volunteer who has gone above-and-beyond this year, please submit that individual’s name and accomplishments to FLRC secretary Nancy Kleinrock at nk33@cornell.edu.

Note that the following folks are not eligible as they have won this award within the last 5 years: Katie Stettler, Steve Shaum, Gerrit Van Loon, Carl Franck, Adam Engst, Gary McCheyne, and Joel Cisne.

Voting for the 2017 Volunteer of the Year will take place December 1-15, alongside voting for the already-established 2018 slate of officers, so you have until Tuesday, November 28 to submit your nominations for the Volunteer award. (Members of the board have already nominated four exemplary volunteers.) At that time, all nominees and the reasons for their respective nominations will be listed; write-ins will also be welcome.

We looking forward to hearing from you.

Pete Glavin XC Series Recap

Posted by

It was finally proper cross-country weather, with temperatures were around 40 and sunny skies. The fifth and final race in the 2017 Pete Glavin Cross-Country Series was run on a tough but fun course at the Finger Lakes Community College, where the women ran 6K and the men ran 8K. David Keifer placed second in the Ultra Vet category, Jullien Flynn took fifth overall in the women’s race, and Casey Carlstrom was fifth in the Vets category. Alas, none of our teams were able to put together a race victory to close out the season. The FLRC Women’s Masters team was second by five points, the High Noon Masters team also took second, and the High Noon Super Vets team placed third.

Full results for Race #5.

Team results for the entire 2017 series.

Individual results for the entire 2017 series.

In the overall series standings, David Keifer and Adam Engst won their age groups overall, and the High Noon Men’s Masters team took the series title, again with the clever strategy of running all the races and pulling the Vet runners down to make for a stronger combined team. Consistency! They have Team Champion beer glasses to share out for that award. The FLRC Women’s Masters and the  High Noon Men’s Super Vets also placed in the top three and received PGXC beer glasses.

Since everyone who placed in the top ten for their age group in the overall series also won a bottle of wine, the teams came home with a carload of goodies. Elizabeth Dawson won the F19-and-under age group, Julie Barclay took third masters, Amy Dawson and Tonya Engst finished in the top ten for the Masters category, and Lorrie Tily made the top ten in the Vets category. Additionally, for the men, Scott Dawson was among the top ten Masters, Casey Carlstrom was third Vet, with Sean Nicholson also among the top ten Vets, and Charlie Fay among the top ten Super Vets.

 

Results From the PGXC Series Race #4

Posted by

After one race of nice weather and two insanely hot races, we lined up for the fourth PGXC race in spitting rain and 40-degree temperatures. Nevertheless, the FLRC women (who ran first) and High Noon men posted some excellent results in the October 29th race against some strong teams from the Genesee Valley Harriers, Syracuse Track Club, Checkers AC, and Road Kill.

The fourth race in the five-race series was at Genessee Valley Park in Rochester. The course became increasingly muddy and slippery throughout the day, and we can only imagine how sloppy it was by the end of the men’s open race, which was a four-loop 8K. We didn’t have any open men running, which allowed us to huddle, shivering, in our tent for a bit before cutting out early.

The first highlight of the race was Kristina Kronauer’s 22:17 for third overall in the women’s 6K race, which also proved the fastest Ithaca-area time of the day. Jacqueline Huben’s 22:59 put her in seventh overall, and the FLRC women’s open team finished in third place. Our masters women also ran very well, taking second in the team competition.

The second highlight was that the High Noon masters men’s team eked out a two-second win over a full GVH team, thanks to our strategy of running our vets down to the master’s team. Adam Engst led High Noon with a 22:42 while taking sixth overall and fourth masters, but the win was made possible with the addition of ultramarathon whiz Scotie Jacobs, who took second for the team in his first cross-country race in years. Solid performances by Casey Carlstrom and Alex Colvin, a particularly strong finish from Scott Dawson to finish out the scoring, and Sean Nicholson’s sixth-man tiebreaker all rounded things out for High Noon. This is the first High Noon team win in quite a few years (back to at least 2012,) not counting our unopposed win at Watkins Glen in the last race. There was a mere 46-second spread between first and fifth!

Full results are available here. The fifth and final series race will be on November 12 at Finger Lakes Community College in Canandaigua. Even if you haven’t run cross country in years, you can still join one of our teams!

Trail Circuit Results

Posted by

With Danby Down & Dirty in the books, FLRC’s 2017 Trail Circuit has come to a close. Many thanks to all of you who ran one or more of our off-road extravaganzas this year, and to all those who gave up some of their leisure time to make our races possible—thank you, thank you, thank you!

With that, we are happy to announce  the 2017 Stonehead, Pebblehead, and Boulderhead winners. Each of these categories has its own points system, and includes anyone who’s run at least one of our trail races during the calendar year. The Stonehead rankings include all qualifying races that each runner ran in the year. Pebblehead rankings are based only on a runner’s top three races. In each case, a runner’s “score” for a race is determined by dividing the winning time by his/her time, then multiplying by 100. The sum over several races is then the runner’s score for the season. Boulderhead points are based on the total number of race miles completed during the calendar year, regardless of finishing time or place.

The ten races in the 2017 series include the Super Frosty Loomis Snowshoe Race, Thom B, Tortoise & Hare, Tanglefoot, Finger Lakes 50s, Forest Frolic, Forge the Gorgeous, Monster Marathon & Half, Lucifer’s Crossing, and the Danby Down & Dirty. (Note: The Highland Forest 1-2-3 is part of the series, but the race was not held this year.) The maximum possible Stonehead score is 1,000, in which someone runs and wins all ten races, thus earning 100 points at each race. The highest possible Pebblehead score is 300—someone wins three races, earning 100 points at each. For scoring purposes, the maximum Boulderhead trail mileage one could accumulate this year was 169.54 miles. Altogether, we had 918 “barkeaters” run at least one Trail Circuit race this year (400 women and 518 men,) with 88 runners completing three or more races.

Serial trail racer Kerra Quinn was our top female Stonehead, completing seven of the ten series races for a total of 534.48 points. Megan Powers was second Stonehead with 490.18 points, and annual contender Audrey Balander third with a score of 483.14. Remember, Stoneheads run fast and frequently!

On the men’s side, Bill King ran eight series races to once again prove his rock solidness with an impressive 609.19 points. Mark Morrison ranked second with 520.31, and David Jones third with 498.24.

Now on to the Pebbleheads. This was a close contest for the ladies, with perennial favorites Nora McIver-Sheridan and Yvette deBoer each winning three races and earning a perfect score of 300. Because of her larger margin of victory, the tie-breaker goes to McIver-Sheridan, giving her the Pebblehead title for the second straight year. Lori Johnson finished third with 286.39 points.

Competition was close atop the men’s Pebblehead standings as well. Rich Heffron’s three victories on the year gave him a perfect 300 and top Pebblehead honors. Eric Sambolec had two wins and two very close second place finishes to earn 299.91 points. Sambolec narrowly edged Jed Sheckler (299.34 points) for second place. Ved Gund and Scotie Jacobs also topped 290 points to finish fourth and fifth.

All that mileage again paid off for Kerra Quinn, who doubled up this year to also win the Boulderhead title. She completed the longest distance offered at seven of the ten series races, for a total of 127.24 miles—winning the Boulderhead title by a wide margin. Kerra can often be seen running with Ron Cunningham, who completed all seven of the same races to defend his Boulderhead title, also with 127.24 miles. Lori Johnson (88.44 miles) and Paige Anderson (81.94 miles) finished second and third, respectively. Bill King (90.52 miles) and Mark Morrison (90.12 miles) rounded out the men’s top three Boulderheads.

Did you run any of our trail races this year? See where you stack up. Full standings are available here. Thank you to Karen Ingall for continuing to compile these statistics year after year.

We look forward to seeing you in May at the 2018 Thom B Trail Runs!

Danby Down & Dirty Results

Posted by

The Danby Down & Dirty concludes our 2017 trail running season. Thank you to all who ran today and at any of our other trail races this year. Shout out to Andy Jordan, who is stepping down as Danby race director after several years at the helm. Thank you, Andy, for all your hard work over the years!

The weather this year was warmer than usual for early October in Ithaca, and the trails were pretty dry, but no new course records were set. Stay tuned for the 2017 Stonehead, Pebblehead, and Boulderhead rankings, coming soon.

10K winners were Paul Gannett in 48:39 and Anna Gannett in 53:45. In the mens 20K, Kristofor Norberg of Tuscon, Arizona, won in 1:36:10 to edge out local runner Jed Sheckler. Perennial pebblehead Nora McIver-Sheridan ran 1:47:07 to win the womens 20K.

Full results are on our website here, with more detailed results are available on Webscorer here.

Results From the PGXC Series Race #3

Posted by

Kudos to the High Noon and FLRC cross country teams who once again braved unseasonably hot temperatures while racing on our “home” 6K course at Watkins Glen State Park. We “warmed” up (read “overheated”) in bright sun and near-80-degree temperatures, but as the 11 AM start approached, dark clouds moved over. We were psyched to run in dimmer conditions, but at the last minute, literally, the park officials delayed the race to make many of us move our parked cars to avoid blocking the mobile villages that pass for RVs these days. By the time we were reassembled on the starting line 30 minutes later (which would have been enough time to finish for many), the clouds had passed, and we raced in tropical conditions. Times and mile splits were slow, due to the heat and steep hills that dotted the course, but it was still a good set of finishes. (Full results.) This was the third race in the five race series.

The High Noon Masters Men took the team award of a case of beer—we’ll ignore the fact that no other team managed to field more than two masters runners. You can’t win if you don’t play! And now we have two cases of beer cooling their heels for the post-season party.

Individually, four men took home Trader Joe’s candy. Adam Engst won the Masters category (for the first time ever in the series, with six weeks before he turns 50—woo!), Alan Lockett won the SuperVet category, and Alex Colvin and Joe Reynolds were each third in the Vet and UltraVet categories.

It was great to see the Open Men’s team filling out, with Mik Kern in his first XC race since last year, ultramarathoner Rich Heffron making his XC debut, and Ximing Yin in his first XC race after doubling after running the 20K at Danby Down & Dirty the day before. Josh Brockner, Brendan O’Brien, Charlie Fay, Kris Haines-Sharp, and Gail Tremblay also ran their first races of the season—welcome all!

On the women’s side, Kris Haines-Sharp led the FLRC Vets, while Julie Barclay led the Masters team. The FLRC took second place (only two teams were registered!) The FLRC ladies did not have any runners in the open division.

We have a few weeks off before the fourth race at Genesee Valley Park in Rochester on Sunday, October 29th. That will be a split race, with separate Open Men, Masters Men, and Women’s races so we’ll be able to cheer for our teammates.

Special thanks to Scott and Amy Dawson for hosting the race after-party!

Photo: Ximing Yin

2017 MITHACAL MILE SERIES Winners

Posted by

Congratulations to the stalwart milers who posted the fastest times across at least four of FLRC’s seven 2017 track meets and thus won awards in our first ever MITHACAL MILE SERIES! You can see the full final results online.

We had an award ceremony at the Finger Lakes Running & Triathlon Store (thanks, Ian and Cate!) on September 1st, where winners enjoyed sushi and macaroons and received (as appropriate) copies of the classic novel “Once a Runner” or the fabulous “The Perfect Mile.” The runners were joined by their coaches and families, plus volunteers who have been essential to the track meets.

Our goal in creating this series was to encourage runners young and old not just to run their best, but to do so consistently. It was especially great to see so much competition in the 1-10 and 11-15 age groups, where there were as many as five kids who ran four races.

Age Group  Winner       Avg. Time #Racers
 Female  
 1-10  Elizabeth Baroody  6:12.42 12
 11-15 Faithe Ketchum     5:50.15 34
 40-49 Tonya Engst        6:57.23 16
 
 Male
 1-10  Owen Gasper        6:04.02 28
 11-15 Oliver Baroody     5:37.08 50
 16-19 Stephen Thompson   5:05.64 43
 30-39 Phil Kwasney       5:25.00 7
 40-49 Jesse Koennecke    6:01.78 22
 50-59 Keith Eggleston    5:32.93 30
 70+ David Keifer         6:51.08 8

 

We hope to see more people completing the necessary four races in the series in 2018! We’ll be kicking off the indoor season on January 14th, with subsequent meets on February 18th and March 4th. Mark your calendars!

High Noon and FLRC Winners and Results from the PGXC 2017 #1 Race

Posted by

Congrats to the High Noon men and FLRC women who competed in the first PGXC cross country race of the season at Clay Central Park in Liverpool on Sunday. The weather was fabulous, the course was soft but flat, and the competition was stiff, but everyone had a great time.

Full results are available but here are times and places for our runners (note that Brenda Michaud may have finished last, but that was after doing the 100 mile AIDS Ride for Life on Saturday!):

----------------------------------------------------------------------
PLACE      NAME                AGE GROUP  TEAM                 TIME   
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 24      Jay Hubisz          M0-39  20  High Noon AC - 1     18:16.2          31      Adam Engst          M40-49  5  High Noon AC - 1     18:35.4          32      Casey Carlstrom     M50-59  3  High Noon AC - 1     18:38.7          35      Alex Colvin         M50-59  4  High Noon AC - 1     18:56.7          39      Scott Dawson        M40-49  6  High Noon AC - 1     19:25.4          44      Mike Skocik         M0-39  32  High Noon AC - 1     19:31.8          54      Columbia Warren     M40-49  8  High Noon AC - 1     19:54.6          56      Mike Stewart        M0-39  37  High Noon AC - 1     19:59.5          59      Jeff Henderson      M40-49 10  High Noon AC - 1     20:12.5          68      Jean-Luc Jannink    M50-59 17  High Noon AC - 1     20:47.3          75      Alan Lockett        M60-69  3  High Noon AC - 1     21:03.9          81      Bob Swizdor         M50-59 23  High Noon AC - 1     21:37.1          87      Jorge Ramirez       M60-69  7  High Noon AC - 1     22:04.0          95      Jesse Koennecke     M40-49 16  High Noon AC - 1     23:07.8          97      Kevin Nelson        M50-59 28  High Noon AC - 1     23:08.9         111      David Keifer        M70+    1  High Noon AC - 1     25:06.4         117      Carl Franck         M60-69 17  High Noon AC - 1     26:08.2         126      Joe Reynolds        M70+    4  High Noon AC - 1     28:28.9        

 19      Julie Barclay       F40-49  2  Finger Lakes RC - 1  22:28.4          27      Megan Powers        F0-39  20  Finger Lakes RC - 1  24:22.4          30      Tonya Engst         F40-49  4  Finger Lakes RC - 1  24:23.8          31      Lorrie Tily         F50-59  7  Finger Lakes RC - 1  24:26.7          41      Sarah Wicker        F40-49  5  Finger Lakes RC - 1  25:26.8          43      Amy Dawson          F40-49  6  Finger Lakes RC - 1  25:29.4          46      Jennifer Spano      F40-49  7  Finger Lakes RC - 1  26:39.9          55      Brenda Michaud      F50-59 16  Finger Lakes RC - 1  30:22.6          

The FLRC masters women’s team took the team award for their age group, and award-winning individuals included Julie Barclay, Casey Carlstrom, Alex Colvin, Alan Lockett, David Keifer, and Joe Reynolds.

A tip of the hat to Jeff Henderson and Kevin Nelson, who made the trips from Geneva and Owego respectively.

And we were particularly happy to welcome cross country newcomers Mike Skocik, Columbia Warren, Jeff Henderson, Alan Lockett, Bob Swizdor, Megan Powers, and Jennifer Spano.

The next race is Sunday, September 24th in Akron Falls, so if you want to get in on the fun, let Adam Engst know!

Interested in Running Cross Country With FLRC?

Posted by

Bust out your spikes and get ready to dirty them up!

Now that it’s September, the fall cross-country season is upon us, and our first race in the Pete Glavin Cross Country Series is this Sunday, September 10. The series is for open and masters runners. No prior cross country experience is necessary, but if you ran XC in high school or college, it will certain bring back some old memories.

We have more details here, and in addition to letting us know if you can run, you must register for the PGXC series at RunSignUp. During the sign-up process, when you are asked to select your team, pick High Noon for men, or FLRC for women. Each individual race costs $20, or you can register for the entire five-race series for $70 and get a t-shirt. If you can only make a race or two, you can do day-of-race entry too.

On the women’s end we have a strong Master’s team this year, with seven women in the 40-49 age category! Each of these women can run several of the races, and it looks like we will have a strong team for every single race. We can field multiple teams or run people down to the Open team, so there is room for more. For the Open team we have just a handful of open runners generally, and a bunch of Red Newt open runners may join us for two races. If you are under the age of 40 and want to enjoy a cross country experience, you would be very welcome here. Our Veteran’s team (ages 50-59) is still coming into focus. If you are 50 years or older, we could use you to help fill out this team for more of the races. If you’ve never run a cross country race in your life, this is your chance. If you have, that’s good too!

Here’s the schedule. Some of the races are a few hours away, so we always organize a carpool:

#1, Sunday, September 10th, 2017: 5K for men and women
Clay Central Park, in Liverpool (near Syracuse)

#2, Sunday, September 24th, 2017: 6K for men and women
Akron Falls State Park, in Akron Falls (this side of Buffalo)

#3, Sunday, October 8th, 2017: 6K for men and women
Watkins Glen State Park, in Watkins Glen

#4, Sunday, October 29th, 2017: 6K for men and women
Genesee Valley Park, in Rochester

#5, Sunday, November 12th, 2017: 8K for men, 6K for women
Finger Lakes Community College, in Canandaigua

Thank you to Adam and Tonya Engst for organizing the teams again this year!