Club News, March 25, 2004

The WRC News, March 25th 2004

People news, member racing, teams set for cherry blossom,
WRR runner rankings, thanks to the irish day volunteers, Sunday running,
track changes in the wind, and the twist of the LA Marathon twist

People News
New Members

Nicholas Wright, 31, Washington, DC

We welcome Nicholas into the WRC! That makes 11 new members thus far in 2004. Let’s keep it going! Member recruitment postcard coming soon.

Leaving Us

Without first asking special permission from the WRC, David Young split to New Jersey this past weekend with something akin to a work promotion being his reason for leaving. Since when did a career get in the way of loyalty to the WRC we ask?

Mike Rae also took it upon himself to plan on leaving the DC area without first posing the idea to his fellow WRC Sunday long runners. We expected to form a special WRC committee to sit in judgement of such a move after drilling him with question after question about such misguided plans. Oh well, what can we do. Mike is off to Rochester, NY, shortly.

Okay, we’ll hand them their car keys and wish them all the best in their running, careers, and new living arrangements! Cheers guys!

Member Racing Info

DCRRC Bell Haven 25k, Sat, 3/06

In a race of a different distance sort, used by many as a good long run workout, pacing event, and by some as a race, a few members partook.

Ladies:
3d Win Persina 43 1:57:40
19th Amy Sullivan 32 2:20:43

Men:
11th Jay Wind 54 1:47:53
32nd Bob Trost 57 2:03:26
35 Bob Platt 52 2:05:02
43d James Scarborough 45 2:10:49

Way to go all…and great to see the super times and efforts among our over 40 age group also.

B&A Trail Marathon, Severn, MD, 3/07

16th Presad Gerard 45 3:13:50 (1st age group)

Northeast Roadrunners 10K, Philadelphia, Sunday, 3/07

15th Mike McGrath 37:09

PVTC Potomac Overlook Trail 12k & 4k

12k: Powell wins!
1st Bryon Powell 25 50:42

4k: 5th Bob Platt 52 22:12

St. Paddy’s Day 10k, Wash DC, 3/14

Holy guacamole, the WRC had 26 runners in the St. Paddy’s Day 10k and Casey Smith and Mike Wardian each took 2nd overall.

In all, 13 WRC members took home top-10 or age-group prizes, which included sports bags and gift certificates.

On a gusty day, 4,421 people finished the race and many in the WRC ran excellent times, some pr’s were made too. Kudos to all!

Women:
Casey Smith 24 35:31 (2nd overall)
Lisa Thomas 28 36:53 (4th overall)
Sharon Donovan 29 38:04 (7th overall)
Maria Kozloski 39 40:06 (3d 35-39)
Win Persina 43 41:00 (1st 40-44)
Heidi Reester 29 43:14
Adina Wadsworth 36 43:23
Sara Kupfer 29 44:21
Sarah Buckheit 43 44:30
Challice Bonifant 26 44:10
Diana Johnson 22 44:31
Katie Durkin 26 47:41
Erica Morton 27 50:40
Amy Sullivan 32 50:41
Samantha Newbold 24 61:05

Men:
Mike Wardian 29 30:55 (2nd overall)
Frank Sprtel 31 32:36 (10th overall)
Pascal Brazey 35 34:11 (2nd 35-39)
George Buckheit 46 34:16 (2nd 45-49)
Jim Wadsworth 47 34:46 (3d 45-49)
Albert Han 30 35:00 (3d 30-34)
Derik Thomas 38 35:21 (3d 35-39)
Jay Wind 54 39:21
Paul Durbin 39 40:39
Robert Trost 57 42:48 (3d 55-59)
James Scarborough 45 47:15

WRC speedsters Mike Wardian (top) and Frank Sprtel bring
it home at the St. Paddy’s Day 10k!
(photo source: Kathy Freedman, Washington Running Report)

Shamrock 5k, Baltimore, MD, 3/14

In this highly competitive event, the top 22 women all broke 20 minutes!

19th Mary Peate 23 19:30

Caesar Rodney Half Marathon, Wilmington, DE, 3/14

42nd Mike McGrath 42 1:22:15

Shamrock Marathon, VA Beach, 3/20/04

Michael Wardian took 2nd place overall, barely edged out for 1st by 32 seconds, and Jay Wind won his age group, both with fine times. There were 4,690 finishers in the race.

2nd Michael Wardian 29 2:24:32
70th Jay Wind 54 3:07:59 (1st 50-54)

Reston 10-Miler, Reston, VA 3/20/04

On a tough course and on a windy day, one WRCer partook of the challenge.

44th Bruce Reynolds 53 73:01

Bancroft Run-5K, Haddonfield, NJ, 3/20

61st Mike McGrath 42 17:59

Fort Hunt 10k, Mt Vernon, VA 3/21/04

Three of our long-time masters’ runners ran well on the trails of Alexandria.

12th Roberto Rodriguez 48 41:29
29th Bob Trost 57 44:40
33d Bob Platt 52 46:24

WRC Enters 3 Teams in the Cherry Blossom 10-Miler

The WRC has entered 3 teams in the Cherry Blossom 10-miler. The club will have 2 female teams (A & B) and 1 men’s team in the running club category. Here are the teams:

Washington Running Club A:
Marie Sandrock (captain)
Lisa Thomas
Sharon Donovan
Lindsay Goulet

Washington Running Club B:
Adina Wadsworth (captain)
Heidi Reester
Emily Turner
Courtney Fulton

Washington Running Club:
Steve Baker (captain)
Kenny Gillingham
Derik Thomas
Brian Tefft
James Scarborough

We wish our teams and all other WRCers running Cherry Blossom the best of luck and endurance! Run hard and don’t stop to smell the tulips.

Good Luck Mike!

Michael Wardian, fresh off his olympic marathon trials debut in February, and now even fresher off a 2nd place finish in the Shamrock Marathon last weekend (see above), is making a run for the 2004 National 100k team to be determined at the 2004 National Championship 100k in LaGrange, Wisconsin, on Sunday April 4th.

We’re all pulling for you Mike…good luck making the top 3 though we’ll be proud of you no matter how you fare. “You da distance dude, dawg!”

Washington Running Report 2003 Rankings

The 2003 year-end WRR Runner Rankings are out in the latest issue of the Washington Running Report (March-April 2004, Volume XX No. 2). The WRC had 9 members (4 men & 5 women) who made the rankings in the various divisions. Here is a recap, courtesy of the Washington Running Report/Capital Running Company.

Open Men:
11th Michael Wardian 29

Men 45-49:
5th Jim Wadsworth 47

Men 50-54:
18th Jay Wind 54

Men 55-59:
5th Robert Trost 56

Open Women:
8th Casey Smith 23
18th Sharon Donovan 28
19th Lisa Thomas 27

Women 35-39:
8th Maria Kozloski 38

Women 40-44:
18th Sarah Buckheit 43

Kudos to all…let’s get more ranked this year!

Club Running Activities and Stuff
Thanks to St. Paddy’s Day Volunteers!

President Barb Fallon Wallace and Vice President Steve Baker offer their sincere thanks on behalf of the WRC to all the members who helped with the packet pick-up activity at the St. Paddy’s day race. It was greatly appreciated. Special thanks go to:

VP Steve Baker (2 shifts)
Win Persina
Treas. James Scarborough (2 shifts)
Bob Trost
Adina Wadsworth
Jim Wadsworth
Mike Proulx
Sec. Marie Sandrock
Erica Morton
Challice Bonifant
Henry Grossmann
Tris Kruger
John O’Donnell
Jay Wind
Kyle Yost
Ed Zechmann
Steve Tappan

Track at Washington-Lee High School

The WRC has been at the track throughout the winter and early spring on Wednesday evenings, and the core or general larger group is now planning a switch back to Tuesday nights starting Tuesday April 6th.

We hope the change will work for most and offer our apologies for those who won’t be able to alter their schedules for Tuesdays rather than Wednesdays. The reason for the change is that Tuesdays are the WRC’s main track nights for most of the year, but we make the switch to Wednesdays during the dark months to take advantage of the one night of lights. Tuesdays will afford us a much less crowded track and thus room to swing our elbows and flail our feet.

Of course, those unable to make it on a Tuesday are more than welcome to head to the track themselves on Wednesdays to do their own workout.

We’ll do our best to keep members apprised of potential high school events that may conflict with our track workouts through the weekly email update. When a conflict arises, we instead meet in the parking lot and head to the nearby trail for a fartlek workout or tempo run.

For more info on WRC track workouts, the track page says a thing or two.

Sunday Distance Run

The WRC’s Sunday distance run starts at 8 am on M Street (3300 block) in Georgetown. Distances range between 10 and 16 miles, dependent on who shows and who wants to do what.

It’s warming up so come on out! We had 19 people show to run last Sunday!

Join the likes of Gerry, Steve, Frank, Steve, Dave, Jim, Tris, Brian, Ryan, Ed, Yancy, Mike, Erica, Courtney, Adina, Emily, Diana, Sara, Kelly, and other striders and stragglers!

Distance run info and directions

After running we regroup at Dean & DeLuca on M Street for coffee, cold drinks, foodstuffs, and whatever people desire in the form of conversation.

Some of the Sunday group swarms together in an attempted takeover of Dean & Deluca’s

Other Stuff

The Twist of the LA Marathon Twist

In the last news, we indicated that the LA marathon set up their race to award a $50,000 bonus to the first runner – male or female – to cross the finish line with the caveat being that the women would have a 20 minute head start on the men. We told you all to stay tuned. Well, a woman indeed won the bonus by coming in first by almost 4 minutes with her head start. Here’s the story:

Courtesy of Running USA Wire

LOS ANGELES – (March 7, 2004) – In a test of the L.A. Marathon’s latest innovation, Tatyana Pozdnyakova of Ukraine conquered both “The Challenge” and challenging conditions to cross the finish line first in the 19th City of Los Angeles Marathon in 2:30:17. The defending champion, who turned 49 last Thursday and the oldest winner of any major marathon, was one of 15 elite women who started the race 20 minutes and 30 seconds ahead of the elite men in the unique handicap format. As the first person across the line, she won a $50,000 bonus.

David Kirui of Kenya finished first among the men in 2:13:41 and 3 minutes and 51 seconds behind Pozdnyakova.

“This was a very special victory,” Pozdnyakova said. “I worked very hard for this race and I ran better the second half.”

Pozdnyakova, who trains in Gainesville, Fla., said she will use The Challenge bonus to help pay for her son’s college education.

Kirui and Pozdnyakova also won the traditional first place prizes of $25,000 and a Honda Accord EX V6 (valued at $26,400). Pozdnyakova won an additional $4,000 for finishing under 2:31. Kirui earned a $1,000 bonus for breaking 2:14.

A record field 24,532 started under sunny skies and warm conditions. Temperatures climbed from 67-degrees at the start to 86-degrees five hours into the race.

We note that this Ms. Pozdnyakova, at 49, also just took 4th place among the elite women at the Shamrock 8k in VA Beach last weekend, finishing in 26:02 (5:15/mile pace). In the annals of “we’re not saying, we’re just saying…we say, we’ll have whatever she’s having.”

Thanks much for reading, or perusing, or whatever it is you do!
Disclaimer: Club News is designed to inform, enlighten, and sometimes amuse. We make no guarantee that this stuff is completely accurate, or even bears a passing resemblance to reality. We also don’t guarantee that your sense of humor will always be tickled. But alas, we try.

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