Stellar performances at FLRC’s January indoor track meet on Sunday

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FLRC’s first indoor track meet of 2018 is in the books, and there were some stunning performances! With 188 runners, attendance was down a bit from previous years, even though the previous day’s high school meet was canceled due to bad weather — the roads were still a bit treacherous and the SAS ATOMS team from Syracuse wasn’t able to come. We still had 300 race entries across five events. Full results here.

Running for High Noon, Rich Heffron started the day off with a commanding win in the 5000m, running 16:40 to Jim Derick’s 17:13. Not content with a single 5K for the day, Rich then ran down to FLRC’s Winter Chill 5K, where he again took first in 19:05, albeit in extremely cold conditions. Claire Mason of Corning-Painted Post West took the women’s race in 20:50, besting several of her teammates by almost a minute. Also note that Erin Taylor-Talcott clocked a 24:54 while race walking — that’s about 5 minutes off the women’s world record.

In the 60m, Alex Spicer of Corning-Painted Post West ran a 7.25 for the win, just .3 seconds faster than Jesse Richard’s 7.55 — two other men ran under 8 seconds. For the women, Charlie Slusser of Southern Tier SOAR won in 8.70, beating Lillian Jensen of the Candor CSD Club Runners by .29 seconds.

Without Leon Atkins of the Auburn Pulsars to continue his historical dominance in the 400m, Alex Spicer picked up his second win, running 53.14 to Keegan Cochran’s 54.00 and Lance Jensen’s 54.85. Jillian Perrault of the B Team took the women’s crown with a 1:05.21, handily finishing ahead of Leah O’Connell of the Candor CSD Club Runners, who came through in 1:08.64.

The 1 mile race was the most exciting of the day, given entries from some of the top high school runners in the area. In the final and ninth heat of the day, Dan Gahagan of Corning-Painted Post West led for most of the race, and fended off numerous challenges from brothers Gabe and Aaron Planty of Watkins Glen. Gahagan ran a 4:31, with Gabe Planty second in 4:32, Groton’s Richard Moore a strong third in 4:35, Aaron Planty fourth in 4:40, and Jason Matthewson of Elmira fifth 4:42. But it didn’t end there, with the next five runners also under 4:45! Alyssa Walker of the Crusaders won the women’s race in 5:25, with Olivia Lovejoy of Elmira second in 5:30.

In the middle of the mile, we were pleased to announce the news that Elmira native Molly Huddle set a new American record in the half marathon with a 1:07:25 at the Houston Half Marathon. She broke Deena Kastor’s 2006 record of 1:07:34 by 9 seconds, and in the process also set unofficial records for the 10 miles and 20K. Speaking as someone who was once outkicked by a then 17-year-old Molly Huddle in the mile in Barton Hall, it’s always great to see her running successes.

With six heats of the sprint medley (400-200-200-800) relay, there were a number of good races as well, with the final heat pitting Keegan Cochrane against Corning-Painted Post West’s Bryce Derick in the ultimate 800m. They traded leads several times in the four laps, and all eyes were on their furious sprint to the finish, with Cochrane outleaning Derick for the win by just a few hundredths of a second.

As always, coordinating a meet with so many runners and so many heats was possible only thanks to the tireless efforts of volunteers. Jullien Flynn managed the essential computer tasks of race day entries, heat changes, and untangling of results with aplomb, with help from Zsofia Franck, who also helped line up young starters in the sprints. Tonya Engst, Becca Lovenheim, and Carl Franck wrangled all the heats, a task made trickier by needing to rearrange heats around the missing SAS ATOMS. Scott Wehrwein was head timer for most of the meet, ably backed by Josh Brockner, who took over running the Time Machine at the end. Aaron Proujansky did backup timing, Bob Swizdor and Hal Coghill recorded finishers, and Brenda Marchewka did a great job managing the lap counter for longer races. Lesley Middleton helped with registration, Lorrie Tily and Ximing Yin helped timed the 60m, Bert Bland and Bob Talda showed up early to help with setup. Thanks to you all!

2017 Turkey Trot Results

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We are extremely lucky and forever thankful to be part of such a wonderful and generous community. This year, the Turkey Trot set a record with $4,030 in donations for Loaves & Fishes of Tompkins County. Additionally, the 397 runners was the second most we’ve ever had in 40+ years of the run. While the morning was cool and crisp, the overall weather was perfect for Thanksgiving morning.

For those not in the know, the Turkey Trot is not a traditional competitive race, but rather a prediction run. Participants write down their predicted times before running, then complete all or part of the course without a timing device. Those closest to their predicted times win pies. This year, Ben Kornblum, Gerrit Van Loon, and Rowan Cynch were all within one second of their predicted times for the 5.5-mile course. Bob Walters was only two seconds off, and seven other trotters were within ten seconds of their prediction.

2017 Turkey Trot Results pdf

The honor roll has been updated to include everyone who’s run five or more times in the history of the race: Turkey Trot Honor Roll 2017 pdf

Also, the Ithaca Journal covered the race twice. Once a few weeks before Thanksgiving, and again at the run itself. It’s been reported that the latter made the newspaper’s front page on Black Friday. (Click the links for interviews, photos, and a video from the Journal in it’s coverage of the run.)

 

Vote for 2018 Club Officers and Volunteer of the Year

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You might have thought that the local election season was over, but you still have the opportunity to cast two more votes: (1) 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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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!