FLRC Footnotes for May 2022

Greetings, runners! FLRC’s spring racing season has kicked in with the Women’s Distance Festival and Thom B. Trail Runs, and 150 local runners have logged nearly 5,000 miles in the FLRC Challenge so far. We also have a full slate of races coming up, with the Twilight 5K on June 8th, Tortoise & Hare on June 18th, and our first outdoor track meet on June 28th. And don’t miss our group runs in between!

UPCOMING RACES

Twilight 5K coming up on June 8th at new Allan H. Treman Marina location

Come enjoy an evening 5K on the scenic shore of Cayuga Lake at race director Mickie Sanders-Jauquet’s Twilight 5K race on June 8th. Twilight also benefits local chapters of the national Girls on the Run empowerment program. This year brings a new course on the mostly paved trails around Cass Park and the Treman Marina. Whether you run or walk, you’ll finish well before dark because it’s one of the longest days of the year. With a flat, fast course, relatively few road crossings, and chip timing, it’s a perfect first 5K for all ages and abilities. Plan to stick around for the party atmosphere and pizza for all afterward! (We still need volunteers—please check out the volunteer sheet or email volunteer coordinator Liz Hartman to sign up or learn more.)

Tortoise & Hare returns to Buttermilk Falls State Park on June 18th

Our closest trail race to Ithaca, Mickie Sanders-Jauquet’s Tortoise & Hare is a great introduction to both trail running and local trails, while Buttermilk Falls provides a spectacular scenic backdrop. Start with a flat loop around a meadow, then exercise your uphill legs in the early miles; toward the end you’ll test your mettle on a speedy downhill to the finish. The course runs 6.7 miles up, around, and down Buttermilk Falls State Park. Registration is now open for this June 18th race, and be sure to thank Mickie for devoting her June to directing two races. We also encourage you to carpool to make the race more inclusive for those without cars, help fight climate change, and save on the parking fees—sign up to drive or ride.

All-comers outdoor track meets move to Ithaca High School on June 28th

Track is back! This summer we’ll be hosting our June, July, and August meets on Ithaca High School’s newly renovated track. On the evening of June 28th, join us and race director Adam Engst for a family-friendly all-comers meet with four events: the 100m, 400m, 800m, and 1600m—registration will open soon. All ages (seriously!) and abilities (really!) are welcome in these low-key meets, and when you’re not running, you can enjoy watching some of the area’s fastest runners test their speed on the oval. Join the fun, and for those running the FLRC Challenge, you can submit your 1600m time for the Sweet 1600 course.

Pencil other FLRC races onto your summer running calendar

While you’re planning your summer vacation and other activities, remember that FLRC has a full slate of trail, road, and track races coming up. July brings the Finger Lakes 50s (sold out, but we need volunteers for this nationally recognized race) on July 2nd, the Fillmore 5K on July 16th, another all-comers track meet on July 19th, and the Forest Frolic trail race on July 30th. In August, enjoy the Forge the Gorgeous trail race on the evening of Thursday, August 11th, our final all-comers track meet of the summer on August 16th, and the Monster Marathon and Half Marathon—on trails at Treman State Park—on August 27th. As summer fades into fall, enjoy the Ithaca 5&10 on September 11th and Danby Down & Dirty a week earlier than usual on September 24th.

RACE RESULTS

FLRC Challenge and Ultra Challenge completions flowing in

Nearly 150 local runners have already signed up for the 2022 FLRC Challenge, which encourages you to run or hike ten scenic courses around the area as many times as you like, competing for time, age grade, distance, and number of efforts, plus our new-in-2022 community star posts that have been eliciting amusing stories, lovely photos, and even rap poetry (plus limericks). Thirteen runners have already claimed their finisher’s medal, and of them, Paul Maza, Jami Landry, and Damian Clemons will also be receiving a custom FLRC Challenge course sign to commemorate having completed the FLRC 100K Ultra Challenge (all ten courses in 24 hours!). You can sign up anytime before the FLRC Challenge ends on August 14th, and the award ceremony will take place at FLRC’s annual picnic on August 25th.

Women’s Distance Festival 5K brings 83 runners to Dryden Lake Park

Kudos to race directors Chris Irving and Lorrie Tily for making the 2022 Women’s Distance Festival 5K a success. The race took place on Mother’s Day, bringing together 83 women and girls to run or walk a 5K on the scenic Jim Schug Trail in Dryden. The overall win went to 56-year-old Caitlin Loehr, who ran a speedy 21:24 to outpace the field. Second-place finisher Julie Barclay came through in 22:06 to win the master’s (40+) award, and Michelle Dardia ran 27:45 to claim the veteran’s (60+) award. WDF truly is a race for all ages, with 5-year-old Olivia Bordoni and 75-year-old Katherine Merriman bracketing the range. Congrats to all the finishers! Full results are available, and don’t miss photographer Jamie Love’s wonderful race photos of runners, volunteers, and their families enjoying the event in the spring sunshine.

120 runners enjoy Hammond Hill trails during the Thom B. Trail Runs

Thanks to the efforts of race directors Joel Cisne and Gary McCheyne, 120 runners enjoyed three distances in the Thom B. Trail Runs. In the single-loop 8.5-mile race, Kris Norberg led the men in 1:03:29, and Helen Wang was the first woman in 1:08:11, both winning by about 2 minutes. In the two-loop 17-mile race, James King ran away from the men’s field, posting a 2:21:15 to win by over 16 minutes, while Tara Travis snuck past Molly McGuckin by 40 seconds to win in 2:46:01. The triple-loop-plus marathon race saw Carson Albanese win handily in 3:47:30, and second place overall went to the first woman, Amelia Kaufman, who outkicked Aaron King by 2 seconds to finish in 4:11:02. Check out photographer Steve Gallow’s fabulous race photos throughout the morning! Full results are available, and remember, Thom B. was the second race in the 2022 FLRC Trail Circuit, so you can check the standings on our new Trail Circuit leaderboard. Special thanks to Dave Kania, who bailed out the race with gear transport assistance after our U-Haul van reservation fell through at the last minute. Finally, please support the FLRC-supported Friends of Hammond Hill, who are raising funds for trail repair at Hammond Hill!

FLRC RUNNER NEWS

Local runners place well in USATF National Masters 1-Mile Championship

Congratulations to local runners Scott Weeks, Sandy Gregorich, Casey Carlstrom, and Jim Miner, who raced in the USATF National Masters 1-Mile Championship at the Rochester Mile on May 21st. Scott ran 4:45 to take 5th overall and 1st for the men’s 50–54 age group, Sandy’s 6:45 was good for 6th in the women’s 55–59 age group, Casey took 12th in the men’s 60–64 age group with a 5:51, and Jim placed 19th in the 70–74 age group with an 8:05. Lots of other upstate New York running friends and frequent PGXC and Hartshorne Memorial Masters Mile competitors participated as well, including High Noon XC team member Jordan Varano from Binghamton (5:01 at age 43), former Ithacan Spider Rossiter (6:50 at 70), and Syracuse’s Joe Mora, who won the men’s 60-64 age group with a 5:05.

Ithacans in the Brooklyn Half Marathon

Although perennial local favorite Chelsea Benson was waylaid by a case of COVID, a number of other local runners made the trip down to New York City for the massive Brooklyn Half Marathon. They were led by Nicholas Holowka, who ran 1:18:30 for 152nd place, and Courtney Martin in 1:22:25 for 320th place. Other finishers include Simon Moll, Andy Pearson, Scarlett Lee, Nitipat Klunbida, Daniel Pfeffer, and Devin Martin. Congratulations to all!

CLUB NEWS

FLRC bylaws revision passes unanimously

Thanks to the 69 FLRC members who participated in our recent bylaws vote. The vote was unanimous, so future actions of the club will be governed by the new bylaws. If you’re interested in becoming involved with club governance, remember that our board meetings are always open to the public; look for details in our Announcements forum.

Import or print your FLRC calendars today

When are your favorite FLRC races and other events taking place this year? Don’t guess—our dates do move around sometimes, like our Saturday group runs in June. You can view the FLRC race calendar in three ways, so pick whichever works best for you.

  • Subscribe to our Google Calendar so race dates, group runs, and other FLRC events (like the Annual Picnic) flow into your computer and phone calendar. Download and import this ICS file for most calendar apps; subscribe to fingerlakesrunners@gmail.com if you use Google Calendar.
  • Check the home page calendar on the FLRC website, which lists all FLRC events alongside other races in the area. Anyone can submit a local race to our home page calendar.
  • Download a PDF of our attractive print calendar, suitable for posting on a refrigerator or bulletin board near you! Speaking of which, could you do us a favor? If you know of any bulletin boards in the buildings or businesses you frequent, could you print a copy out and post it?

Group runs switch to 2nd & 4th Saturdays in June and July, some Sundays, and some Thursdays

Whether you’re training for summer races, looking for FLRC Challenge company, or entirely new to running, FLRC group runs offer low-key companionship. We have several options in the coming months:

  • Saturday mornings: Heather Cobb manages our Saturday morning group runs, with various courses around the area. In June and July, to fit her schedule and avoid races, the Saturday group runs are switching to the 2nd and 4th Saturdays.
  • Sunday mornings: FLRC Challenge director Adam Engst is coordinating occasional Sunday group runs on FLRC Challenge courses; check the forum for details.
  • Thursday evenings: Mickie Sanders-Jauquet coordinates all-comers group runs on one Thursday night each month, followed by drinks and dinner afterward.

Check the Group Runs & Workouts forum for details on these and other group runs, and remember to sign the 2022 waiver the first time you attend an FLRC group run.

FLRC Forum FAQ #8: How do I reply to a post or start a new topic?

Everyone is welcome to post, either as a reply to an existing post or by starting a new topic. How you do that varies:

  • Reply via the Web: Under every post is a gray Reply button. Click it to reply directly to that post (which has the side effect of notifying the person you’re replying to). If you want to reply to the topic in general, click the big blue Reply button below all the posts.
  • Start a new topic via the Web: To start a new topic, first navigate to the forum in which you want your post to appear, which is most easily done by clicking its colored box in a topic list. Then click the New Topic button in the upper right. (You can also click the New Topic button on the main page, but then you’ll have to choose a category before you can type your message.) Make sure to give your message a descriptive title!
  • Reply via email: If you want to reply to a post you received in email, you can do that just as you would any other email message. The system will try to strip out extraneous text—like the original message and your email signature—since such things clutter the conversation. Remember that email replies will go to the forum for everyone to see, not just to the poster!
  • Start a new topic via email: To do this, you need to find the submission address. It’s listed in the first pinned post at the top of each forum. For instance, to start a new topic in the General forum, address your email to general@forum.fingerlakesrunners.org. Make sure to give your message a descriptive Subject line.

We ask that you keep posts relevant to running and the local running community and that you be kind, considerate, and supportive of your fellow runners here. For more information, see the Forum Guidelines.

Note that the Discourse system has some safeguards to protect against spammers, so it might complain at you or send your post to our moderators if it’s too short, has too many links, was typed suspiciously quickly, or in some other way resembles the tricks used by spammers. Any errors should be explained, and if your post was held for the moderators, they’ll usually get to it within a day.

 

That’s it for now, and we’re looking forward to seeing you at group runs in June, along with our Twilight, Tortoise, and track races!

—Adam Engst, FLRC President and VP of Track

FLRC Footnotes for April 2022

Greetings, runners! The FLRC Challenge is underway, and you can meet up with fellow runners at the Women’s Distance Festival 5K on May 8th, the Thom B. Trail Runs on May 22nd, and at a variety of group runs.

UPCOMING RACES

FLRC Challenge underway, but it’s never too late to sign up

Over 100 local runners have already signed up for the 2022 FLRC Challenge, which encourages you to run or hike ten scenic courses around the area as many times as you like, competing for time, age grade, distance, and number of efforts, plus our new-in-2022 community stars. Complete all ten courses for a coveted FLRC Challenge medal, like our first finisher, Rebecca Lambert! For the ultimate test of your running prowess, do it all in 24 hours for the FLRC 100K Ultra Challenge. You can sign up anytime before the FLRC Challenge ends on August 14th, but register before May 1st if you want a unique “Cover the Ground” T-shirt with a fully sublimated design. Our award ceremony will take place at FLRC’s annual picnic on August 25th.

Women’s Distance Festival 5K goes off on May 8th at Dryden Lake Park

Held in honor of race founder and FLRC legend Diane Sherrer, the Women’s Distance Festival 5K will once again take place on Mother’s Day—that’s Sunday, May 8th—at 10 AM at Dryden Lake Park. Race directors Lorrie Tily and Chris Irving always put on a good race, and the course is a flat out-and-back on the Jim Schug Trail. As always, the race is open to women of all ages—men are welcome to volunteer or cheer. Register soon!

Thom B. Trail Runs return to Hammond Hill on May 22nd

The second race in the FLRC Trail Circuit is coming up later in the month, with the Thom B. Trail Runs scheduled for Sunday, May 22nd, at Hammond Hill State Forest. Race directors Joel Cisne and Gary McCheyne will once again host the race by the “Hammond Hill-ton” warming hut, courtesy of Ann and Charlie Leonard. You can choose from one, two, or three loops: 8.5 miles, 17 miles, or a full 26.2-mile trail marathon. Sign up soon, and after the race, check your standings on our new Trail Circuit leaderboard. Also, the FLRC-supported Friends of Hammond Hill are raising funds for trail repair—if you like running, snowshoeing, and skiing on those trails, we encourage you to donate.

Pencil other FLRC races onto your summer running calendar

While you’re planning your summer vacation and other activities, remember that FLRC has a full slate of trail, road, and track races coming up. In June, we have the Twilight 5K on June 8th, the Tortoise & Hare trail race on June 18th, and our all-comers track meet on June 28th. July brings the Finger Lakes 50s (sold out, but we need volunteers for this nationally recognized race) on July 2nd, the Fillmore 5K on July 16th, another all-comers track meet on July 19th, and the Forest Frolic trail race on July 30th. In August, enjoy the Forge the Gorgeous trail race on August 11th, our final all-comers track meet of the summer on August 16th, and the Monster Marathon and Half Marathon—on trails at Treman State Park—on August 27th.

RACE RESULTS

Skunk Cabbage Classic 10K and Half Marathon sees fast times in cool weather

Thanks to race directors Vinny and Nichole Cappadora for bringing the Skunk Cabbage Classic back after a two-year pandemic hiatus! Nearly 500 runners enjoyed a break in the weather on an otherwise cold and rainy day to post some excellent results. In the 10K, Jared Burick of Fayetteville won handily in 33:35, outpacing Christopher Halsey (36:13) and Patrick Milano (36:17) of Ithaca. On the women’s side, 43-year-old Erika Zazzara of Manlius took the win in 42:23, followed closely by Hayley Martin of Aurora in 42:33 and Liz Bordoni of Ithaca in 43:16. In the half marathon, Henry Williams of Ithaca broke the tape in 1:10:49, ahead of John Salva of Conklin (1:14:27) and Adam Berkowitz of Ithaca (1:16:05). Former Cornell runner Isabella Dobson of Ithaca dominated the women’s race in 1:29:44, with Helen Wang of Ithaca in second (1:33:31) and 51-year-old Heather May of Geneva in third (1:35:56). Congratulations to all our finishers, and full results are available for the 10K and the half marathon.

FLRC RUNNER NEWS

Chelsea Benson and former Ithacans place high at the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler

Several familiar names competed in the prestigious Cherry Blossom 10 Miler race in Washington, D.C. on April 3rd, with local standout and 2020 Olympic Marathon Trials qualifier Chelsea Benson running 58:10 (that’s 5:49 pace!) to place third in her 35–39 age group. Former Ithacan and fellow Trials qualifier Julianne Quinn was just a few steps behind in 58:20, good for 14th in the 30–34 age group. Together, Chelsea and Julie finished 29th and 30th overall for women. Also, Xavier Salvador, a former Cornell undergrad and 2019 winner of the 50K at the Finger Lakes 50s, ran 53:34 for 75th place overall.

Kudos to local runners finishing the Boston Marathon

Congrats to everyone from the area who completed the Boston Marathon, including Carson Albanese (2:46:02), Yamasaki Tetsuya (3:03:45), Sarah Dellett (3:11:55), Joey Randall (3:13:48), Amelia Kaufman (3:14:49), Kelly Brozowski (3:26:49), Marilyn Vaccaro (3:40:27), Jon Hart (4:13:30), Yrjo Grohn (4:20:26), Kate Rosa (4:24:58), along with former FLRC and High Noon runners Roger Sayre (3:00:18) and Jeff Dubois (3:24:35). Extra kudos to Kayla Slater, who ran as a support runner in the Para Athletics Division for Susan Craig of Alaska. Susan, a runner with Parkinson’s and Neurofibromatosis Type 1, wanted to beat her PR, and with Kayla’s support, she took over a minute off her time to finish in 4:13:13. Apologies if you slipped through our searches for local town and city names. 

CLUB NEWS

Import or print your FLRC calendars today

When are your favorite FLRC races and other events taking place this year? Don’t guess—our dates do move around sometimes (we just moved Monster up by a week to get a permit). You can view the FLRC race calendar in three ways, so pick whichever works best for you.

  • Subscribe to our Google Calendar so race dates, group runs, and other FLRC events (like the Annual Picnic) flow into your computer and phone calendar. Download and import this ICS file for most calendar apps; subscribe to fingerlakesrunners@gmail.com if you use Google Calendar.
  • Check the home page calendar on the FLRC website, which lists all FLRC events alongside other races in the area. Anyone can submit a local race to our home page calendar.
  • Download a PDF of our attractive print calendar, suitable for posting on a refrigerator or bulletin board near you! Speaking of which, could you do us a favor? If you know of any bulletin boards in the buildings or businesses you frequent, could you print a copy out and post it?

Group runs on 1st & 3rd Saturdays, some Sundays, and some Thursdays

Whether you’re training for Thom B, looking for FLRC Challenge company, or entirely new to running, FLRC group runs offer low-key companionship. We have several options in the coming months:

  • Saturday mornings: Heather Cobb manages our first- and third-Saturday morning group runs, with various courses around the area.
  • Sunday mornings: FLRC Challenge director Adam Engst is coordinating occasional Sunday group runs on FLRC Challenge courses; check the forum for details.
  • Thursday evenings: Mickie Sanders-Jauquet coordinates all-comers group runs on one Thursday night each month, followed by drinks and dinner afterward. Others have picked up the baton to fill in other Thursday nights throughout the month.

Check the Group Runs & Workouts forum for details on these and other group runs, and remember to sign the 2022 waiver the first time you attend an FLRC group run.

FLRC Forum FAQ #7: How do I search for an old post?

To search on the forum, click the magnifying glass icon in the upper right of the page, and then enter your search terms in the box that appears. The Discourse system primarily looks for your search terms in topics and their posts, but it can also find users and categories. If you have trouble finding the post you want, use the Advanced Search page. There you can limit your search by user, category, tag, date, and other criteria.

That’s it for now, and we’re looking forward to seeing you at group runs in May, along with our WDF and Thom B. races!

—Adam Engst, FLRC President and VP of Track

FLRC Footnotes for March 2022

Greetings, runners! Signs of spring keep appearing, and it won’t be long before the skunk cabbages turn up their thermostats. In honor of their impressive thermal efforts, our next race is the long-awaited return of the Skunk Cabbage Classic on April 3rd!

UPCOMING RACES

Skunk Cabbage Classic 10K and Half Marathon returns on April 3rd!

The Skunk Cabbage Classic is back, and hundreds of runners have already signed up for the 40th running of Ithaca’s best-known spring race. Register today! The 10K and half marathon courses remain the same, but we have a new staging area under the overhang of the Schoellkopf Stadium Crescent. Besides being outside (but under cover if there’s weather) to reduce COVID-19 concerns, the Schoellkopf Crescent has lots of parking right in front of the stadium and in the Cornell parking garage. Race directors Vinny and Nichole Cappadora have been hard at work with the myriad details necessary to put on such a major race, and if you’re not running, they need your help—please add yourself to our Volunteer Sheet or contact them at skunk@fingerlakesrunners.org for more information.

FLRC Challenge to run from April 16th through August 14 in 2022

We have good news for those who enjoyed last year’s unique FLRC Challenge or missed out due to injuries. Race director Adam Engst has been hard at work developing new courses, new and even more inclusive competitions, and new swag for 2022. To keep things focused, the 2022 FLRC Challenge will take place over four months, from April 16th through August 14, and we’ll hold a proper award ceremony at the FLRC Annual Picnic on August 25th. Look for the main announcement very soon!

May Races: Women’s Distance Festival (May 8) and Thom B. Trail Runs (May 22)

Registration is open for our next two races: the Women’s Distance Festival 5K and the Thom B. Trail Runs. On Sunday, May 8th—and yes, that’s Mother’s Day—race directors Lorrie Tily and Chris Irving will be putting on the Women’s Distance Festival 5K on the Jim Schug Trail, starting and ending at Dryden Lake Park. Then on Sunday, May 22nd, race directors Joel Cisne and Gary McCheyne have the Thom B. Trail Runs on the trails at Hammond Hill State Forest. Choose from 8.5 miles, 17 miles, or a full 26.2-mile trail marathon.

Finger Lakes 50s 50-mile distance still has a few slots open

Although the 25K and 50K distances in our Finger Lakes 50s trail ultra have waitlists, a few more spots are still left in the 50-mile distance. The race takes place on Saturday, July 2nd, leaving you a few months to get your mileage up to where you can tackle a 50 miler.

FLRC RUNNER NEWS

Dave Kania, Sarah Ridenour place at USSSA Snowshoe Nationals

Congrats to FLRC’s Dave Kania and Sarah Ridenour, who recently competed in the USSSA 10K Snowshoe Nationals in Cable, Wisconsin. Dave finished 11th for men and was the 5th masters runner, earning a place on the US Masters National Snowshoe team should he want to compete at the World Snowshoe Championships in September in Argentina. Sarah finished 18th for women. Former FLRC member Cole Crosby was 2nd overall in the race.

Lots of local runners compete in the Syracuse Half Marathon

The recent Syracuse Half Marathon hosted nearly 2000 runners on March 20th, with many local runners and FLRC members participating. There are too many familiar names to call out without missing far more, so if you want to see how your friends fared, search the results for local town and city names like Dryden, Groton, Ithaca, Lansing, Newfield, and Trumansburg.

Former Cornell and Ithaca runner places 11th in the New York City Half Marathon

As long as we’re looking further afield, kudos to Ben de Haan, who recently finished 11th in the New York City Half Marathon, running an astonishing 1:02:24 (4:46 pace) alongside some of the best distance runners in the world. Ben ran for Cornell from 2012 through 2016 and continued his training and racing in Ithaca for several years—including some runs with the local High Noon Athletic Club—before moving to the Netherlands to run for the Dutch national team.

CLUB NEWS

FLRC Trail Circuit gets its own dynamic leaderboard

With inspiration from the popular FLRC Challenge leaderboard, coordination by FLRC VP of Trails Pete Kresock, and coding by club member Steve Desmond, FLRC is pleased to announce that we’ve launched the dynamic FLRC Trail Circuit leaderboard! The leaderboard will track results, statistics, and rankings from all nine of our Trail Circuit races. After each race, see how you measure up against the competition in the speed-based Pebblehead and Stonehead rankings and the mileage-based Boulderhead rankings. Anyone who runs at least one Trail Circuit race will appear on the leaderboard, and it will bring together your performances in all our 2022 races, starting with Super Frosty Loomis, whose results are up now. Series winners will take home some hardware at year’s end. To get a sense of what the leaderboard will look like later in the year, check out the 2021 Rankings in our archive.

Import or print your FLRC calendars today

When are your favorite FLRC races and other events taking place this year? Don’t guess—our dates do move around sometimes (we’ve already had to reschedule our June outdoor track meet to get a track). You can view the FLRC race calendar in three ways, so pick whichever works best for you.

  • Subscribe to our Google Calendar so race dates, group runs, and other FLRC events (like the Annual Picnic) flow into your computer and phone calendar. Download and import this ICS file for most calendar apps; subscribe to fingerlakesrunners@gmail.com if you use Google Calendar.
  • Check the home page calendar on the FLRC website, which lists all FLRC events alongside other races in the area. Anyone can submit a local race to our home page calendar.
  • Download a PDF of our attractive print calendar, suitable for posting on a refrigerator or bulletin board near you! Speaking of which, could you do us a favor? If you know of any bulletin boards in the buildings or businesses you frequent, could you print a copy out and post it?

Group runs on 1st & 3rd Saturdays and some Thursdays

Whether you’re training for Thom B, looking for long-run company, or entirely new to running, FLRC group runs offer low-key companionship. We have several options in the coming month, with more coming soon:

  • Saturday mornings: Heather Cobb manages our first- and third-Saturday morning group runs, with various courses around the area.
  • Thursday evenings: Mickie Sanders-Jauquet coordinates all-comers group runs on one Thursday night each month, followed by drinks and dinner afterward. Others have picked up the baton to fill in other Thursday nights throughout the month.

Check the Group Runs & Workouts forum for details on these and other group runs, and remember to sign the 2022 waiver the first time you attend an FLRC group run.

FLRC scholarship application deadline approaching on April 8th

If you know a deserving high school senior who runs track or cross country for a school in Tompkins or a surrounding county, alert them to the FLRC Scholarship Program, which will be awarding two $1000 unrestricted scholarships in 2022. FLRC membership is not required, but applicants must submit a letter describing their academic, extracurricular, and running achievements. They should include any plans for a running career beyond high school and the personal benefits gained by participating in the sport. Applicants must also provide two letters of recommendation, one from a teacher and one from a coach. Please do not send complete transcripts or additional material for consideration as these will not be reviewed. Materials should be set to FLRC Scholarship Committee, Attn: Lorrie Tily, P.O. Box 185, Locke, NY 13092.

FLRC Forum FAQ #6: How do I get less email from the FLRC forum?

If you’re not a fan of email, you might find yourself receiving more messages than you’d like. You have complete control over how much email you receive, but keep in mind that if you disable all email, you will likely miss important announcements if you don’t visit the forum’s Web site regularly or use one of the apps.

First, if you turned on Mailing List Mode in your Emails preferences, turn it off. Then, set forums/categories for which you want to receive email to Watching or Watching First Post.

Second, refer back to the previous FAQ for a description of the Watching and Watching First Post notification levels. For any category or tag that’s sending you email, remove its name from the Watched or Watching First Post list.

Third, in your Emails preferences, note that you can adjust the frequency of the Activity Summary that alerts you to popular topics and replies. By default, it’s set to Daily, but you can instead choose Weekly, Every Month, or Every Six Months.

That’s it for now, and we’re looking forward to seeing you at Skunk Cabbage in April!

—Adam Engst, FLRC President and VP of Track

FLRC Footnotes for Winter 2022

Greetings, runners! We’re deep into the cold and snow, with the Winter Chill 5K series and Super Frosty Loomis in the books and indoor track canceled for pandemic reasons. Our next race is the long-awaited return of the Skunk Cabbage Classic on April 3rd! Read on for details and other club news, such as the results from our 2022 FLRC Runner Survey.

RACE RESULTS

Winter Chill 5Ks battle tough weather conditions; Moseley and Codd win the series

Kudos to race director Sarah Drumheller for orchestrating the successful return of the Winter Chill 5K series despite icy, snowy, and downright frigid conditions that forced multiple course changes. The first race even had to be turned into five cross-country-style loops of a 1K field due to thick ice. Results from WC#1, WC#2, WC#3, and WC#4 are all online, and congratulations to our series winners, 47-year-old Roger Moseley and 23-year-old Sarah Codd, who posted the fastest average times across all four races. Be sure to check out the photos from all four races, including professional shots of nearly everyone at the orange-themed WC#3 by Steve Gallow!

Super Frosty Loomis continues its streak with wins from Esposito, Langerfeld, Watson, and Loehr

The only FLRC race that has escaped pandemic-related cancellation is our Super Frosty Loomis snowshoe race. Race directors Dave Kania and Eric Sambolec—with a guest appearance by race director emeritus Boris Dzikovski—coordinated another successful running on the snowy trails of Hammond Hill. 32-year-old Steve Esposito of Binghamton won the 10K for the men in 51:33, with 35-year-old Donna Langerfeld of Port Byron taking the women’s crown in 1:04:04. The 5K went to a pair of Ithaca runners, with 33-year-old Bill Watson winning in 33:10 and 56-year-old Caitlin Loehr placing first for the women and third overall with a time for 35:01. With 47 total runners, attendance was just off the all-time high of 49, and this was the first year where the 5K (26 runners) was larger than the 10K (21 runners), likely due to more people trying snowshoeing for the first time. Thanks to everyone who carpooled—limited parking is the main reason we have to cap registration for this race. Don’t miss the great snowshoeing photos!

UPCOMING RACES

Skunk Cabbage Classic 10K and Half Marathon returns on April 3rd!

Skunk is back! Our apologies for the delay in opening, but working with Cornell on an event that could attract as many as 1,000 runners is challenging in this day and age. Race directors Vinny and Nichole Cappadora are pleased to announce that the Skunk Cabbage Classic will return on April 3rd, and registration is now open! The 10K and half marathon courses remain the same, but we have a new staging area under the overhang of the Schoellkopf Stadium Crescent. Besides being outside (but under cover if there’s weather) to reduce COVID-19 concerns, the Schoellkopf Crescent has the advantage of more bathrooms than Barton Hall, plus lots of parking right in front of the stadium and in the Cornell parking garage. Learn more on the FLRC website and register by March 18th to get a personalized bib number with your first name on it! And if you can’t run for some reason, we could use your help volunteering. Add yourself to our Volunteer Sheet or contact the race directors at skunk@fingerlakesrunners.org for more information.

March indoor track meet canceled

Before the rise of Omicron, we thought we might be able to have some indoor track meets in 2022, but the combination of the concerns surrounding infection, COVID-19 requirements from institutions, and extremely tight venue schedules have thrown a wrench into our plans. To mix our sports metaphors, we’re punting on indoor track for this year and will be turning our attention to the outdoor season of track meets in June, July, and August. Stay tuned for details on those, and here’s hoping that indoor track can return to normal in 2023.

CLUB NEWS

FLRC runner survey results

With 111 respondents, we collected a lot of great data in our 2021 FLRC Runner Survey, and you can now read our write-up of the results that are of interest to the general public. The most popular race distance is 10K, the preferred post-race food is the banana, and amazingly, the most desirable bagel flavor is Everything. See the full report for more, complete with pretty pictures.

Get your FLRC calendars here!

When are your favorite FLRC races taking place this year? We now have our calendar set for 2022, although note that it’s not inconceivable that we would need to nudge a race date around for a permit. You can view the FLRC race calendar in three different ways, so pick whichever works the best for you.

  • Subscribe to our Google Calendar so race dates and other FLRC events flow into your computer and phone calendar. Download and import this ICS file for most calendar apps; subscribe to fingerlakesrunners@gmail.com if you use Google Calendar.
  • Check the home page calendar on the FLRC website, which lists all FLRC events alongside other races in the area. Anyone can submit a local race to our home page calendar.
  • Download a PDF of our attractive print calendar, suitable for posting on a refrigerator or bulletin board near you! Speaking of which, could you do us a favor? If you know of any bulletin boards in the buildings or businesses you frequent, could you print a copy out and post it?

Saturday morning group runs resume; Thursday night group runs continue

Group runs have been on the upswing of late, with three options in the coming month:

  • After taking January off for the Winter Chill 5K series, Heather Cobb has resumed our first- and third-Saturday morning group runs, with a variety of courses to match weather conditions.
  • Mickie Sanders-Jauquet continues to coordinate all-comers group runs on one Thursday night each month, followed by drinks and dinner afterward. Others have picked up the baton to fill in other Thursday nights throughout the month.
  • Throughout the month of March, Adam Engst is bringing back the Sunday Skunkday runs, meeting in front of Barton Hall each Sunday at 8:30 AM and running some or all of the Skunk Cabbage courses.

Check the Group Runs & Workouts forum for details on these and other group runs, and remember to sign the 2022 waiver the first time you attend an FLRC group run.

FLRC Forum FAQ #5: What are notifications, and can I get everything via email?

A lot happens on the FLRC Forum—it has grown into a vibrant community of local runners with over 400 posts and 30,000 page views every month! The Discourse software used by the forum has flexible notification options so everyone can set the level to which they want to be alerted. You don’t have to change the current defaults if you visit the forum website regularly or if you’re happy with how many emails you’re receiving, but if you feel like you’re missing posts, you might want to “watch” more categories. And if you pine for the old FLRC mailing list, you can simulate that with “mailing list mode,” discussed below.

First, for each forum/category, you can choose among five notification levels. To set a notification level, click the bell icon in the upper-right of any category list or at the bottom of any topic, and then click the desired notification level.

What are these?

  • Watching: Select Watching for categories you want to follow closely. For each new post, you’ll get a blue dot notification bubble on your avatar in the upper-right corner and an email message. In topic lists, blue dots will indicate new posts.
  • Tracking: With Tracking, your avatar gets a blue dot notification only if someone mentions your @name or replies to a post you’ve made. In topic lists, blue dots will indicate new posts. You won’t receive email notifications. By default, when you reply to a post, you’re automatically set to Tracking for that topic.
  • Watching First Post: If you select Watching First Post, the system notifies you—both with a blue dot on your avatar and an email message—of new topics in the category, but not of new posts within a topic. Everyone is set to Watching First Post for the Announcements category and for the Important tag—it’s how FLRC board members and race directors can ensure that everyone receives email about certain topics.
  • Normal: The default notification level is Normal, which is like Tracking in that you’re notified with a blue dot on your avatar if anyone mentions your @name or replies to one of your posts. Unlike Tracking, Normal doesn’t show blue dots for new posts in topic lists.
  • Muted: It’s unlikely you’d need to use Muted unless you absolutely don’t want to be notified of any new topics or posts. It’s for forums with much higher traffic than ours.

Now you can see how you can get email for new posts. For each forum/category you want to follow via email, click the bell icon in the upper-right corner and choose Watching.

You can see all the categories you’re Watching in your account’s Notifications > Categories preferences. Click the X button next to any category name to remove it.

There is one other brute-force method of getting email for all new posts: mailing list mode. We don’t recommend it for most people because it will send you an email message for every post on the entire forum, which may be overwhelming. To turn it on, in your account’s Emails preferences, click Enable Mailing List Mode at the bottom.

That’s it for now, and we’re looking forward to seeing you at Skunk Cabbage in April!

—Adam Engst, FLRC President and VP of Track

FLRC Footnotes for December 2021

Greetings, runners! We had no races in December, but in this issue, we’re looking back on what the club accomplished in 2021 and looking forward to the Winter Chill 5K Series the last four Sundays in January of 2022. 

CLUB NEWS

Board election and runner survey results

Thanks to the 111 people who responded to our board election and runner survey. The proposed board slate was elected with 102 votes for and 0 votes against, which means that Ian Golden, Tim Logue, and Becca Lovenheim are joining the existing directors of Adam Engst (President; VP of Track), Mickie Sanders Jauquet (VP of Roads), Pete Kresock (VP of Trails), Charlie Fay (Treasurer), and Bill Watson (Secretary), plus members-at-large Mike Allinger, Heather Cobb, Tonya Engst, Nancy Kleinrock, Steve Shaum, and Charlie Trautmann. Their efforts in helping to give FLRC direction and momentum are much appreciated!

The winners of our random drawing for free entry into all FLRC races (other than Finger Lakes 50s) for 2022 are Jamie Loehr, Patrick Milano, and Amy Sarno! We’ll have a more detailed report on the results of the rest of the survey soon.

FLRC accomplishments for 2021

Most people probably think of FLRC as putting on races, and that’s true. Our normal race calendar includes 22 races, far more than most running clubs, and we were able to hold 13 races—including our full roster of trail races—with over 1000 participations in even this pandemic-hampered year (a normal year sees about 4000+ participations). But FLRC does a great deal more than organize races, thanks to an active board and energetic volunteers. Some of the things we accomplished in the past year-plus include:

  • Donated, raised, or helped coordinate over $27,500 in charitable donations, including:
    • $13,513 for the Friends of Hammond Hill trail work (acted as fiscal sponsor)
    • $4,251 for Loaves & Fishes (through Turkey Trot donations)
    • $2,000 for Girls on the Run programs at BJM and Moravia Elementary Schools 
    • $2,000 for the Ithaca Youth Bureau track and cross country programs
    • $2,000 in scholarships for two graduating high school seniors
    • $1,200 for Wilderness Search and Rescue (for helping at our trail races)
    • $1,000 for the Finger Lakes Trail Conference (Finger Lakes Trail maintainers)
    • $965 for the Cornell Botanic Gardens (in relation to the FLRC Challenge)
    • $650 for the Four Town First Aid Squad (from the Fillmore 5K)
  • Developed and coordinated the innovative FLRC Challenge. Some stats:
    • 193 signups, 164 of whom ran at least one course
    • 86 completions
    • 11 successful completions (of 13 attempts) of the FLRC 100K Ultra Challenge
    • Over 4,550 runs logged
    • Over 21,700 miles run
    • 45 consecutive weekly recaps
  • Made FLRC’s online presence more vibrant:
    • Grew the FLRC Forum to 880 members and over 20,000 monthly pageviews
    • Created a photo library with over 80 albums and 33,600 images
    • Designed and implemented an innovative leaderboard for the FLRC Challenge
    • Organized four virtual FLRC Presents talks in late 2020 and early 2021 with 80+ participations and over 200 subsequent views
  • Formed a Diversity & Inclusion Committee that in 2020 and 2021:
    • Developed a Diversity & Inclusion Statement
    • Created first-timers’ documents to educate those new to roads, trails, and track
    • Encouraged runners with disabilities to ask for accommodations at races
    • Offered a free year of FLRC membership to anyone impacted financially by the pandemic
    • Established a policy of free race entry for those in financial need
    • Organized a Juneteenth group run in conjunction with the Southside Community Center
  • Organized numerous in-person group runs, workouts, and team events:
    • Held 20 low-key group runs on FLRC Challenge courses with 237 participations
    • Coached 10 weeks of MITHACAL MILERS cross-country workouts with 113 participations
    • Created the late-2020 Happy Holidays Scavenger Hunt, which had 100 participations across 6 weeks, and generated oodles of amusing photos on the forum
    • Organized a mid-February snowshoe clinic to introduce runners to the sport
    • Shared food and convivial conversation with 83 attendees at FLRC’s Annual Picnic
    • Coordinated FLRC and High Noon teams in the five-race PGXC series, with 73 runners and 181 race participations for the season, with an end-of-season group run, and outdoor awards ceremony 
    • Hosted the fourth PGXC race at Taughannock State Park for nearly 300 runners
    • Staffed an aid station at the Virgil Crest Ultras
  • Worked to enhance board procedures, policies, and governance
    • Rebuilt club membership from a 2021 low of 411 members to today’s 530
    • Created or updated the club’s Cash & Investment Policy, Conflict of Interest & Confidentiality Policy, Ethics Policy, Privacy Policy, Race & Membership Fee Policy, Records Management & Retention Policy, and Whistleblower Protection Policy 
    • Worked on a significant bylaws revision to meet nonprofit best practices and New York State legal requirements
    • Managed $100,000 in investments, establishing an investment policy designed to help fund FLRC’s philanthropic efforts from investment profits
    • Brought in three new board members to replace departing members and fill in gaps in the board’s skills, experiences, and demographics

Monthly Thursday night group runs continue

Mickie Sanders-Jauquet is continuing to coordinate all-comers group runs on one Thursday night each month, followed by drinks and dinner afterward. Check the Group Runs & Workouts forum for details on these and other group runs.

FAQ #4: How do I tell which topics have new posts?

When a topic contains a post that the system knows you haven’t seen yet, it bolds the title of the post. When you’ve read all the posts in a topic, its title becomes slightly grayed-out. When you’re looking at a list of topics, you’ll also see a Last Visit line underneath the topics that have been created since your last visit.

If your notification level is set to Watching or Tracking (more on those in FAQ #5), you’ll also see a blue dot after the titles of topics with new posts. If it’s a small blue dot, you haven’t seen any of the posts in the topic. If it’s a larger blue dot with a number inside, the number indicates how many posts are new since you last tuned in, so you can get a quick sense of whether it’s just one reply or an involved discussion. The forum knows what you’ve read and automatically scrolls so you see new posts in a topic.

UPCOMING RACES

Winter Chill 5K Series scheduled for January 9th, 16th, 23rd, and 30th

Get out your hats and mittens for the last four Sundays in January, when the Winter Chill 5K Series is scheduled to return, thanks to the efforts of race director Sarah Drumheller. These low-key 5Ks in Cass Park are free, but you must be an FLRC member to run, so make sure to join or renew online before the races (and don’t miss the chance to get a snazzy Winter Chill T-shirt). There won’t be any day-of-race joining, but membership is just $20 for an individual or $35 for a family for a year, with multi-year discounts if you don’t want to fuss with it annually. 

RACE RESULTS

2021 FLRC Trail Circuit Winners

We’ve crunched the numbers and calculated the winners for our annual Pebblehead, Stonehead, and Boulderhead winners. The FLRC Trail Circuit comprises all eight of FLRC’s trail races, plus Red Newt Racing’s Lucifer’s Crossing. 

The Pebblehead winners—calculated from each runner’s top three performances—are Ellie Pell and Adam Pacheck. In fact, Adam and Kristofor Norberg tied with a maximum score of 300 points, but Adam won the tiebreaker by amassing an average larger margin of victory. The women’s Stonehead winner—total points across all Trail Circuit races—is Sarah Ridenour, who earned the top spot again after winning it in 2019. Gerrit Van Loon takes the men’s Stonehead title after finishing seven of the nine Trail Circuit races. Gerrit’s seven runs also netted him the Boulderhead title with a total of 137.5 Trail Circuit miles completed out of a possible 150.36. The rules for each contest and further results can be found in our full write-up of the Trail Circuit.

E​​ighty-six runners completed the FLRC Challenge

The FLRC Challenge still has a few hours to go, and the completions kept coming all day, with 20 new completions since last month. Even more impressive, we’ve crossed the 4500-run mark and have cruised past 21,700 miles! Standings didn’t change much until the last day, when Margaret Frank roared into the lead for Most Points for women, taking over from Jullien Flynn. The Most Miles competition, where Pete Kresock and Karen Ingall were duking it out while Bob Walters dropped to third place after a trip to Hawaii for the Honolulu Marathon, ended in a sportsmanlike tie, with both Karen and Pete finishing with exactly 1345.3 miles. 

The team competition also heated up in the last few weeks, with the Fabulous 50s briefly taking the lead before the Thundering 30s put the hammer down. Amanda King, Aaron King, Pete Kresock, Liz Hartman, and others hit the trails to take over the Most Runs category on several contested courses, and Margaret Frank logged five super-fast efforts across the final five days of the year. It was great to see both teams rally to the cause.

Finally, kudos first to Heather Cobb, who completed the FLRC 100K Ultra Challenge for a second time, on this attempt making it under the 24-hour cutoff by the razor-thin margin of 6 minutes and 27 seconds. Be sure to read her write-up! And then, with a December 30th effort, Pete Kresock notched his second completion of the Ultra Challenge as well, finishing in 13:20:11 running time and 17:00:06 total elapsed time.

Looking forward to seeing you at FLRC events in 2022!

—Adam Engst, FLRC President and VP of Track

2021 Turkey Trot raises record amount for Loaves & Fishes

The 49th running of the Finger Lakes Runners Club’s Turkey Trot was a huge success. A record $4,251 was raised for Loaves & Fishes of Tompkins County, and 289 people participated on a cloudy, 38-degree morning.

Donation History

  • 2010–13: Truckloads of cans and boxes of food collected
  • 2014: $2,024 collected with 333 participants
  • 2015: $2,855 (423 participants)
  • 2016: $2,756 (268 participants)
  • 2017: $4,030 (397 participants)
  • 2018: $2,549 (211 participants)
  • 2019: $4,137 (312 participants)
  • 2020: $4,192 (virtual, 157 participants)
  • 2021: $4,251 (289 participants)

Next year will mark the 50th running of the Turkey Trot, and will be, after 15 years, my last year directing this wonderful event. The Turkey Trot is totally hands-on. Paper meets pen. Tradition. Family. Memory. If you are interested in helping out as assistant race director in 2022 and carrying forward the torch in future years, please contact me at bar2@cornell.edu. I particularly need your help next year, where I plan to have orange long-sleeve T-shirts commemorating the 50th Turkey Trot.

I have spent the two weeks since the Turkey Trot transferring names and actual times submitted on stickers handed out at the finish line to the signup sheets with predicted times. “By hand” takes time! A PDF of the “results” will be uploaded next week, as well as a list of those closest to their predictions.

Thanks to Ithaca Bakery for their donation of bread, bagels, and pastries, Purity Ice Cream for the prize-winning pies, and Cornell Orchards for apples.

Thanks to my many volunteers: my wife, Kathleen Gibson, for her endless help and for being my food czar; Tom Hartshorne for directing traffic (and tireless behind-the-scenes work on the trails); Joel Cisne, Corrine Hartshorne, and Luke Mendola for directing traffic; Adam Engst for taking tons of pictures; Yvette deBoer for reading out times; Gerrit Van Loon for figuring out who was closest in their predictions; Dan McKee and Rob Kurcoba for helping me with copying and PDFs (I’m retired, sans office!); and Christina Culver, director of Loaves & Fishes, and her crew of registration line/finish line/food helpers Gina, Viv Williams, Tom Schneider, Susan Lang, Harold Cheyne, Rowan Cheyne, and Deborah Kiely.

Gobble Gobble!
Bruce Roebal, Director
Ithaca Turkey Trot

FLRC Board Election and Runner Survey

Good day, runners! We hope you’ve benefited from and enjoyed the community, camaraderie, and competition of FLRC’s races, teams, group runs, workouts, and virtual events in 2021. Now we need your help to make 2022 even better.

Our bylaws require us to hold an election from December 1st through 15th for next year’s board of directors and officers. This year we’re making the election part of a survey to learn more about who you are, what you think about running and FLRC, and how we can improve.

Please take a few minutes to fill out the survey by the end of the day on December 15th. To encourage you to complete it, we’ll be selecting three respondents at random to receive free entry to all FLRC races in 2022 (except Finger Lakes 50s), a $250 value. (Drawing rules here.) 

The proposed slate for next year’s board of directors is:

  • President: Adam Engst
  • Treasurer: Charlie Fay
  • Secretary: Bill Watson
  • VP of Trails: Pete Kresock
  • VP of Roads: Mickie Sanders-Jauquet
  • VP of Track: Adam Engst
  • Members-at-Large: Heather Cobb, Tonya Engst, Ian Golden, Nancy Kleinrock, Tim Logue, Rebecca Lovenheim, Steve Shaum, and Charlie Trautmann.

Thanks to all of them for volunteering their time and expertise, and to you for being a part of the running community and filling out our survey!

FLRC Footnotes for November 2021

Greetings, runners! Our racing season is over for the year, but we have results to share about how our runners fared in the overall PGXC series competition and photos from the Turkey Trot. Sadly, we’ve been forced to cancel the Hartshorne Memorial Masters Mile and the indoor track meets seem unlikely. 

CLUB NEWS

Be careful when running trails during deer hunting season!

It’s that time of year, so if you’re planning on running trails where hunting is allowed, including the Danby Down & Dirty, Thom B., and Forest Frolic courses on the FLRC Challenge, be sure to wear blaze orange so you’re plainly visible to hunters. Stay safe out there!

Hartshorne Memorial Masters Mile canceled, winter indoor track meets unlikely 

It should come as no surprise that reserving the indoor track in Barton Hall isn’t something that Cornell is enthused about letting FLRC do this year, so we have been forced to cancel the Hartshorne Memorial Masters Mile, which would have taken place in January 2022. We haven’t officially canceled our January, February, and March indoor track meets (which require much less advance preparation) because it’s possible something will change, but don’t get your hopes up. 

Board election and runner survey coming soon!

Keep an eye out for FLRC’s upcoming board and officer election, which we’re combining with a survey to learn more about who you are, what you think about running and FLRC, and how we can improve. The election and survey will run from December 1st through the 15th, and we’ll pick three lucky respondents at random to win free entry to all of FLRC’s 2022 races (except Finger Lakes 50s).

Saturday group runs keep touring FLRC Challenge courses

Heather Cobb continues to lead all-comers group runs on FLRC Challenge courses, with just a couple more to go before the FLRC Challenge ends for the year. Check the Group Runs & Workouts forum for details on those and other group runs.

FAQ #3: What’s a good way to browse the FLRC Forum?

Make sure you’re logged in so the system knows what you’ve read in the past. Then start at the home page at http://forum.fingerlakesrunners.org/. It shows all the topics in all the different forums, with the topics that have the most recent activity at the top. Click or tap the title of any topic to read it, with the system automatically scrolling to show new posts if you’ve already read some of the older ones. You can also click the colored forum name (General, Group Runs & Workouts, FLRC Challenge, etc.) to see just the topics in that forum. Return to the home page at any time by clicking the FLRC logo in the upper-left corner of the page.

UPCOMING RACES

Winter Chill 5K Series scheduled for January 9th, 16th, 23rd, and 30th

We’re still waiting on a few administrative details before opening registration, but mark your calendars for the last four Sundays in January, when the Winter Chill 5K Series is scheduled to return, thanks to the efforts of race director Sarah Drumheller. These low-key 5Ks in Cass Park are free, but you have to be an FLRC member to run, so make sure to join or renew online before the races. There won’t be any day-of-race joining, but membership is just $20 for an individual or $35 for a family for a year, with multi-year discounts if you don’t want to fuss with it annually. 

RACE RESULTS

Turkey Trot brings hundreds of runners back to Ithaca High School

After being forced to go virtual last year, it was great that race director Bruce Roebal was able to bring the Turkey Trot prediction run back to an in-person event at Ithaca High School on Thanksgiving morning. Hundreds of runners and walkers participated, wearing silly hats and raising money for Loaves & Fishes. Thanks to all who came, and be sure to check out the fabulous photos in FLRC’s photo library.

FLRC and High Noon teams and individuals bring home PGXC awards

Although our teams didn’t fare as well as we would have liked at the championship race, we still had some strong performances for the overall awards in the PGXC cross country series. The FLRC Women’s Open team took first place for the series, our top team spot. The FLRC Women’s Masters team was fourth, and the FLRC Women’s Vets team fell to second after losing the final race tiebreaker. On the men’s side, the High Noon Men’s Open team took third, the High Noon Men’s Masters team was third, and the High Noon Men’s Super Vets team was fourth. Two other teams—the FLRC Mixed U19 team and the High Noon Men’s Vets team—failed to place due to lacking a full team at the final race. Showing up is half the battle.

Individually, awards go to the top ten finishers in each age group. In the Women’s Open category, Kathleen Kanaley took third overall in the series, Jenny Berkowitz was sixth, and Sarah Codd was eighth. In the Women’s Vets category, Caitlin Loehr placed second overall, Brenda Osovski was sixth, and Sandy Gregorich was seventh. In the U19 category, four FLRC runners finished the final race and swept the overall awards in first through fourth: Banyan Love, Benjamin Lambert, Oliver Lambert, and Trent Thibault. For the Men’s Open category, Adam Pacheck was sixth overall, and Alex Drazic took tenth. In the Men’s Vets Category, Adam Engst placed fourth, and Jean-Luc Jannink took sixth. And finally, in Men’s Super Vets, Casey Carlstrom ran to eighth overall with just two races. Congratulations to all, and we hope more of you will join our teams next year!

Four more runners complete the FLRC 100K Ultra Challenge in November!

The FLRC 100K Ultra Challenge continues to draw, with four more runners completing all ten FLRC Challenge courses in a 24-hour day, something that’s gotten harder with colder temperatures and less daylight. Congratulations to Aaron King, whose completion set the fastest running time (10:54:59) and total elapsed time (15:07:01) on November 7th. On November 19th, Paul Maza and Jami Landry completed the Ultra Challenge together, with a running time of 17:13:53 and an elapsed time that just squeaked in under the 24-hour cutoff in 23:39:37. And most recently, Damian Clemons completed the Ultra Challenge on November 27th with a running time of 15:18:14 and an elapsed time of 23:04:47. Making Damian’s achievement even more impressive is the fact that he had attempted the Ultra Challenge earlier in the month but ran out of time to finish the last course before he had to go to work. Be sure to follow the links above for their fascinating reports.

Sixty-six runners have now completed the FLRC Challenge—will you?

The FLRC Challenge still has a month to go, and the completions are coming fast and furious now, with 16 new completions since last month. Even more impressive, we’ve crossed the 4000-run mark and are closing in on 19,000 total miles. Will we hit 20,000 by the end of the year? Standings haven’t changed much since last month, except for the Most Miles competition, where Bob Walters remains in the lead with 1076 miles but is in the sights of Pete Kresock, who has 1051 miles and recently passed Karen Ingall (1009 miles) to move into second. It’s impressive that all three have exceeded 1000 miles; in fourth place, Heather Cobb has run “only” 721 miles.

Until next time, see you on the roads, trails, and tracks of the Finger Lakes!

—Adam Engst, FLRC President and VP of Track

FLRC Footnotes for October 2021

Greetings, runners! Our racing season is winding down, but we have results to share from the Danby Down & Dirty, with three men breaking the previous course record, and multiple club wins in the fourth PGXC cross-country race. One more PGXC race remains on the calendar in November, and we’re looking forward to the return of the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day. But first, here’s what’s happening with the club.

CLUB NEWS

FLRC photo library gains photos from 27 more classic club races!

The new FLRC photo library continues to expand, with thousands of photos from past runnings of the Skunk Cabbage Classic, Hartshorne Memorial Masters Mile, Forest Frolic, Twilight 5K, and other races photographed by the energetic Steve Gallow. Steve is working his way through uploading all his FLRC photos, so you may see some blank albums until he finishes, but they’ll all be up soon. If you have a bunch of old pictures from FLRC events, let Adam Engst know, and we’ll figure out the best way to get them uploaded.

Saturday group runs keep touring FLRC Challenge courses

Do you need the Pseudo Skunk Cabbage course to finish off your FLRC Challenge? Or maybe you’re just looking for a companionable weekend group run. Either way, Heather Cobb continues to lead all-comers group runs on FLRC Challenge courses, with Pseudo Skunk Cabbage scheduled for November 13th. Check the Group Runs & Workouts forum for details.

FLRC Forum FAQ #2: What’s the advantage of logging in to the FLRC Forum?

Everyone can read public posts on the FLRC Forum website without logging in. This helps newcomers get a feel for what makes our running community special. However, you must have an account and be logged in to reply to posts, “like” messages, respond to polls, and send and receive private messages. Also, when you read posts while logged in, the system keeps track of which you’ve read so you can easily read only new ones on subsequent visits. 

Accounts are free and simple to set up—click the Sign Up button in the upper-right corner of the screen. (If you already get email notifications from the FLRC Forum, you have an account.)

Once you have an account, you can log in with your email address and password, or use your Facebook, Google, or Twitter credentials if they rely on the same email address as your forum account. Like most systems, you can have only one email address associated with an account. So, if you’ve signed up using a Gmail address, you can’t log in using a Cornell email address.

If you haven’t yet logged in to the FLRC Forum, give it a try! It’s fast, modern, and a great way to catch up on past discussions you might have lost track of in email.

UPCOMING RACES

Turkey Trot scheduled for Thanksgiving morning on November 25th

Although it’s still a month away, be sure to block off the morning of Thanksgiving for our annual Turkey Trot. We expect to hold the low-key prediction run as normal, and race director Bruce Roebal has plans well underway. Remember, voluntary cash donations from this run support Loaves & Fishes of Tompkins County, which feeds hundreds of people in our community every month. Could you do us a favor and post this Turkey Trot poster on bulletin boards you see frequently?

RACE RESULTS

Danby Down & Dirty 10K course record broken by top three men

It was a gorgeous fall day for the 2021 running of the Danby Down & Dirty, with 127 finishers. Thanks to some incentive from previous record-holder Ian Golden, three men broke the 10K course record. Golden’s 41:47 had stood since 2007, but Mason Coppi (38:48), Matt Lipsey (41:34), and Dan Timmerman (41:44) all came in faster. Francine Barchett was first for the women in 57:12, with Liz Hartman second in 59:14. In the 20K, Kristofor Norberg continued his trail winning streak with a 1:37:03, outpacing Tim Phelps in 1:40:52. Katie Sick was the top woman in 1:47:31, followed by Amelia Kaufman in 1:53:35. Kudos to race director Pete Kresock for putting on a well-marked and organized race, aided by numerous FLRC volunteers. Don’t miss the excellent photos from photographer Jamie Love!

FLRC Open and Vets women win again in PGXC #4 at Taughannock State Park

Despite race organizer Charlie Fay having to reroute the course due to Cayuga Lake flooding parts of Taughannock State Park, the FLRC Open and Vets women’s team both won closely contested races on October 31st, the third win for each this season. The Open A team of Bella Burda, Kathleen Kanaley, Sarah Codd, Jenny Berkowitz, Gabrielle Woo, Margaret Frank, Liz Hartman, and Amanda King tied with Buffalo’s Checkers squad with 32 points but won the tiebreaker on the strength of Gabrielle Woo’s fifth-place finish being two places ahead of the fifth-place finish for Checkers. (That’s the glory of cross-country scoring, where people who aren’t the fastest can be the most important!) The Vets team of Caitlin Loehr, Brenda Osovski, Sandy Gregorich, Kim Jackson, and Julie Randall won as well, sneaking past Rochester’s GVH team by a single point. Also taking home a team trophy by virtue of fielding five runners was the unopposed FLRC U19 team of Jack Barton, Banyan Love, Benjamin Lambert, Oliver Lambert, and Ryan Savage. The fifth and championship race is coming up fast on November 7th at Finger Lakes Community College in Canandaigua—good luck to all our runners!

Four runners complete the FLRC 100K Ultra Challenge in October

As summer temperatures have waned, interest in the FLRC 100K Ultra Challenge has risen. For the Ultra Challenge, you have to run all ten FLRC Challenge courses in a 24-hour day, a test of logistical planning as much as physical endurance. Congratulations to Karen Ingall and Bob Talda, who completed the Ultra Challenge together on October 16th, in 17:42:35 running time and 22:36:49 total elapsed time. Props too to Dennis Stadelman, who completed the Ultra Challenge on his own on October 20th, with a running time of 18:16:04 and a total elapsed time of 23:10:43. And finally, in an impressive effort that goes down in the books with an asterisk, Heather Cobb completed all ten courses on October 23rd with a running time of 20:25:17, but sadly, she was just over the cutoff with a total elapsed time of 24:48:54. 

Fifty runners have now completed the FLRC Challenge—when will you?

Despite being 36 weeks in, the FLRC Challenge continues to pick up new registrants, now up to 192 participants, 50 of whom have completed all ten courses. Total mileage is closing in on 17,000 miles, and we’ve collectively logged nearly 3600 runs. It’s not too late to sign up if you want to challenge yourself to run ten courses by December 31st!

Standings have changed a bit since last month. In Most Points, Adam Pacheck has increased his lead with 987 out of 1000 points, and Bill Watson has moved into second, ahead of 15-year-old Crosby Woods. The women’s standings haven’t changed much, but Jullien Flynn’s 964 point lead is now only 23 points ahead of Gabrielle Woo in the women’s standings. 62-year-old Bob Walters (923 miles) now has a commanding lead in Most Miles, with Karen Ingall (840 miles) holding on to second place and Pete Kresock (799 miles) coming up fast in third. In the Age Grade competition, 55-year-old Caitlin Loehr lost and regained her lead, with 29-year-old Adam Pacheck taking the lead and then dropping back to second after Loehr ran a stellar South Hill Rec Way. 54-year-old Jean-Luc Jannink remains in third. Finally, in the team competition, the Thundering 30s continue to lead with 32 points, while the Fabulous 50s remain in second but have slipped slightly to 39 points. 

Until next time, see you on the roads, trails, and tracks of the Finger Lakes!

—Adam Engst, FLRC President and VP of Track

Clear Skies and Blazing Fast Times at the Danby Down & Dirty

The weather for yesterday’s Danby Down & Dirty was the best it’s been in recent memory. By now all runners have had plenty of time to cool down their calves and hose off the mud! 10K and 20K results are available on Webscorer and on the race Web page. If anything seems amiss let me know so we can correct it.

We have tons of great finish line photos up on our gallery, mostly from photographer Jamie Love. Got anything of your own to share? Tag @FLRCithaca on Instagram and Twitter and use #DanbyDownAndDirty Meanwhile, check out Scott Dawson‘s and Amy Dawson‘s reports from the 10K race. 

The in-person race also saw 17 runners record finishes for FLRC Challenge Danby 10K course by clocking their splits from the race start to the Challenge sign. Benedetta Carnaghi’s 10K was her 10th Challenge course completion, making her the 37th finisher in the series. After scouting the course on Friday, Adam Pacheck ran 43:30 for the Challenge segment during Saturday’s race, putting him atop the standings for the Danby course. Similarly, Bill Watson’s 49:56 moved him squarely into second on this course for the men, while Liz Hartman’s 57:30 bumped her up to third for the women.

Video of the start taken by Aaron King

Big thank yous to the volunteer team that made the race run so smoothly: Alan Lockett for helping with setup and handing out bibs at the start (before running the 10k and winning his age group); Stephanie Mulinos for handing out bibs; the timing team comprising Adam EngstJesse Koennecke, and Bob Talda, with Bob also making the all-important donut run to Wegmans on his way out of town; Sarah Dellett and Michelle Dardia for filling cups and directing runners at the Bald Hill Road aid station, and Katie DurrantAaron King, and Michael Lee for doing the same at the Smiley Hill Road aid station; Gerrit Van LoonSue Aigen, and Amelia Kaufman for sticking around at the end to help pack up the van; Sandy Gregorich for sweeping some of the course; the Cortland-based WSAR team for tracking bib numbers and making sure no one got permanently lost; Dave Priester of the Cayuga Trails Club for clearing downed trees in the days before the race; Gary McCheyne for handling the equipment and gear; and Kristina Harrison-Savage for helping with a number of things, including course marking, clearing trees with her husband Steve Savage, course sweeping, setup and bib pickup.

The Finger Lakes Runners Club has one last event for 2021—the 49th annual Turkey Trot Prediction Run on Thanksgiving morning, which serves as a fundraiser for Loaves & Fishes of Tompkins County. Looking ahead to ‘22, our Winter Chill 5k Series will return in January as will the Super Frosty Loomis Snowshoe Race in February.

I hope to see you all again on the trails soon!

Pete Kresock
FLRC Race Director, Danby Down & Dirty