Club News
WRC Captures Title at National Capital Twenty Miler; Fulton, Hage Triumph at Kensington 8K; Kevin Ryan Sets PR at Philadelphia Distance Run; Belber Wins Back to School 8K
New Members
John Ward, 36 of Owings Mill, MD. John posted a 64 minute 10 miler at Bottle and Cork September 9th. John will be running on our Army 10 Miler men’s team in October. We welcome John to the club.
Race Results
National Capital Twenty Miler, September 24, Alexandria, VA
WRC won the team competition in the National Capital Twenty Miler in Alexandria on Sunday, June 24th. Todd Martin lead WRC, taking second overall behind David Mead of Bethesda in a time of 2:01, while Steve Ward our second faster runner, was first master in a time of 2:10 – a bit slower than the 1:56 he blazed three years ago, but nonetheless very good. Mark Drosky looks like he is back to his old form.And new hire Hannah Howe, was our first woman in a time of 2:28. It was rather humid during the race. Commented Todd “The humidity was definitely a factor. It could have been far worse had the sun been out.”
Special congrats are in order to Todd and Jascha, who both ran races the day before. And to Matt Hochstetler, for whom this was his first twenty mile run. Advised before the race that it is a good idea to run negative splits (i.e. to run the last half of the race faster than the first half) Matt did an 80 minutes and came back in 70 minutes.
Men
- 2) Todd Martin 2:01:39
- 6) Steve Ward 2:10:06
- 8) Mark Drosky 2:10:36
- 11) Kevin Ryan 2:15:45
- 21) Jascha Fields 2:21:41
- 41) Matt Hochstetler 2:29:56
- 78) Robert Trost 2:38:23
- 85) Bob Platt 2:38:56
- 117) James Scarborough 2:46:01
- 123) Gordon Phillips 2:48:08
- 145) David Keating 2:53:10
Women
- 6) Hannah Howe 2:28:41
- 69)Valerie Briggs 3:00:44
Back to School 8K, September 23, Chevy Chase, MD
Anthony Belber continued on his winning ways, taking first in a time of 27:09 at the Back to School 8K
Kensington 8km, September 23, Kensington MD
Last year Jim Hage ran a 26:17, and Patty Fulton ran a 29:20. Well, Jim and Patty post almost identical times this year to win the Kensington 8K. While consistency may or may not be is the hobgoblin of small minds, it is definitely a defining feature of quick runners.
- Jim Hage 26:16
- Patty Fulton 29:22
- Ron McGraw 29:29
- Jascha Fields 30:56
- Caitlin Adams 37:46
6th Annual LAWS Run for the Shelter Half Marathon, September 17, Leesburg, VA
Word back from Leesburg is that it is rather a hilly course. Steve Ward described one of the descents as akin to “falling off a cliff”. Both Steve and new member Matt Fisher did very well
- 7) Steve Ward 1:19:40
- 25) Matt Fisher 1:32:03
Philadelphia Distance Run, Philadelphia, PA, September 16
At the Philadelphia Distance Run, a racewhere WRC legend George Malley set an American half marathon record 18 yeas ago (1:01:43 in case you were wondering), a couple of WRC members blazed. Jim Hage posted 1:10:04 while Kevin Ryan was five minutes behind 1:15:03.
Said Kevin
“Felt good in Philly. Definitely one of the better races I have ever run. Its not too often you break 2 PRs in 1 race! I hit 10 miles in 57:10, and ended up 1:15:15 for the half.”
SMGA Capital Challenge, Hains Point, September 13
- 2) Jim Hage 15:05
- 6) Kirk Baird 15:47
- 12) Jeff Stratton 16:37
- 15) Ron McGraw 16:57
- 22) Tom McCarthy 17:33
- 30) Keith Moore 17:59
- 34) John Ward 18:12
- 44) David Keating 18:41
- 47)Tom Scott 18:45
- 65) Robert Trost 19:19
Folks interested in reading about Robin Oswald’s performance at Ironman Canada are encouraged to log on Robin’s website and check out her account.
News of the Club
Georgetown 10K
Members are reminded that Saturday we will be volunteering at the Georgetown 10K Packet Pickup. This is your chance to help WRC, the running community, and have some fun to boot. Our shifts are 10:30 to 1:30 and 1:30 to 4:30. If Dave Keating or Steve Tappan have called you and you have made a verbal commitment, please arrive on time, and sign the sheet. We thank all of you in advance. All volunteers are demonstrably good eggs.
On a related note, it is possible that next year the Georgetown 10K may occur in a different place – or not at all. Local citizens association in Foxhall and the Palisades are growing weary of the race, and the atttendant traffic problems. With ecclesiastical and commercial opposition also growing (and the U.S. Park Service reluctant to reroute the race to Rock Creek Parkway), the future of G’town 10K is in question.
Fall Race Teams Formed
In the past week, three more teams have been created for the fall season. Todd Martin has compiled a a very potent men’s team to run the Army Ten Miler.
- Todd Martin, Captain
- Kirk Baird
- Anthony Belber
- Yancy Hall
- Chris Hartshorn
- Gary O’Donnell
- Frank Sprtel
- John Ward
It has been quite a while since we got since a quick group of guys on one team – both Yancy and Gary have broken 54 minutes in the past year. They will definitely be one of the quicker teams running the race. Many thanks to Todd for taking the time to assemble this potent arsenel.
Robin Oswald will be leading the our co-ed Army Ten Miler Team.
- Robin Oswald, Captain
- Matt Hochstetler
- David Keating
- Jennifer Kulynych
- Farrell Malone
- Jeff Stratton
- Steve Tappan
And Kevin Ryan has put together a men’s team for the Marine Corps Marathon, consisting of the following runners.
- Kevin Ryan, Captain
- Mark Drosky
- Jascha Fields
- Prasad Gerard
Should be a team primed to hunt bear.
Kevin tells us that he, Gary O’Donnell and Paul Neimeyer intend to run the Boston Marathon next spring. Hopefully, in the next few months, more members will qualify for Boston, and we can enter other teams.
Remembrance of Times Past
Speaking of Boston, Bob Trost sends a message that we left three women out of our all time marathon list – Betty Blank, Patty Duester and Colleen Troy. It seems that these three women (plus Suzy Coffey and Mary Ellen Williams ) composed a winning WRC Boston Marathon team in 1983. Relates Bob
“Betty Blank teamed up with Mary Ellen Williams and Patty Duester to win the Women’s Open Team Trophy at the 1983 Boston Marathon. Suzy Coffey and Colleen Troy were also members of that WRC women’s team…It was quite a feather in WRC’s cap. Betty’s time in the 1983 Boston Marathon was 3:04. I believe Mary Ellen Williams ran around 2:54 and Patty Duester ran around 2:49.”
Colleen Troy confirms “I ran 2:57 at Boston that year”.
So the 1983 women’s team posted scoring times of 2:49, 2:54 and 2:57. To give an idea how good this is, their total elapsed time of 8:40 would have won THIS years competition at Boston as well. Impressive stuff.