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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 |
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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!
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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:
Men 45-49:
Men 50-54:
Men 55-59:
Open Women:
Women 35-39:
Women 40-44:
Kudos to all...let's get more ranked this year!
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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)
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.
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."
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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.
