Photo: Johnny Zhang
It’s all said and run. The weather threatened all week and then, though the sun didn’t shine, the rain retreated just in time and we were off. The course was well-soaked and spikes were de rigueur. (In a perfect moment of just-in-time delivery Devon arrived, spikes in hand for Paige Yellen, literally three minutes before the women’s gun, and Paige zipped off, newly shod, to lead the CPTC 40+ women in.) The course, at Lehigh University, is one well-suited to handle large meets, and while it has no hill to rival that of the Vanny, the constantly rolling terrain makes for a challenging run. The ground was so wet that navigation was a constant concern, not just to avoid slippery, sucking mud, to find good footing where we weren’t wasting tons of energy with each mushy, mushy step. It was a little like going from road riding to mountain biking: much more attention must be paid.
Our team result were good with an overall place of 18th of 41 teams. While leg power was good, manpower was a bit in short supply. I’d like to encourage as many of you as possible to come out next year. It’s a very different racing atmosphere. Both Gabe and Art hadn’t raced cross country in years and were thrilled to recapture the feel of it. Gabe is our new recruit/conscript. Welcome to the gang, Gabe. Hank had a particularly nice result in the 70’s division and was just a mere 10 seconds out of fourth. Additionally, he just missed that holy grail of 80% AG, and he topped our team in AG placing,  so triple-bravo for his masterful masters mastery.
Hank Schiffman
Photo: Johnny Zhang
As others have mentioned, it was fun to race as a team. There was a nice sense of solidarity as each group started together in their start box and we then cheered each other in through the chute.
Official results are here. Interesting to note is that there are both normal finish awards for individuals as well as age-graded ones.
Here’s my winnowing of the data:

Overall Race Results Masters Men 60+

48 Noel Comess           61 Central Park Track Club New   33:11 6:41

73 Arthur Palmer, III    63 Central Park Track Club New   34:53 7:01

96 Hank Schiffman        70 Central Park Track Club New   36:03 7:15

102 Gabe Gonzalez      67 Central Park Track Club New   36:20 7:19

152 Alan Ruben            62 Central Park Track Club New   38:52 7:50

Masters Men 60-64

42    48 Noel Comess

60    73 Arthur Palmer, III

105   152 Alan Ruben

Masters Men 65-69

16   102 Gabe Gonzalez

Masters Men 70-74

5    96 Hank Schiffman

Masters Men Age-graded

66 Hank Schiffman        70 Central Park Track Club New Ba   79.46%

70 Noel Comess           61 Central Park Track Club New Ba   79.24%

89 Arthur Palmer, III    63 Central Park Track Club New Ba   76.75%

92 Gabe Gonzalez         67 Central Park Track Club New Ba   76.48%

174 Alan Ruben            62 Central Park Track Club New Ba   68.26%

Masters Men 60+ Team

18.   178 Central Park Track Club New Balance      ( 34:43 1:44:07 2:52)

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  1     41 Noel Comess

  2     59 Arthur Palmer, III

  3     78 Hank Schiffman

  4   ( 82) Gabe Gonzalez

  5   (117) Alan Ruben

This is my first race report. Constructive criticism is welcome. I’ll try to stay on top of all of it. More soon on upcoming races, etc….

Stay warm. Have a great, great, holiday season. Skiers, mind your ACLs. Drinkers, mind your p’s and q’s.

Best,

Noel