The highlight of the 2010 season is the same as the highlight of the 2009 season, just older: The 50+ men continue to run fleetly and wisely, going undefeated in the first three scoring races of the year. Six athletes have scored for our juggernaut: Alan Ruben, Tom Phillips, Tom Raymond, Stuart Calderwood, Yasuhiro Makoshi, and Peter Allen.
The amazing thing is, Michael Rennock has yet to score for the team despite running 2:47 at Boston this year at age 51 and owning a 2010 age-graded score of 82.4%. Hey, keep at it Mike.
The 50+ women have been almost as good as the men – winning two of their first three races and finishing second in the third. The scorers are Stacy Creamer, Margot Sheehan, Sylvie Kimche, Deb Barchat and Mary Diver.
Over the first two races – before the Kidney results have been included – the asphalt in CP has been painted blue and orange. The club is winning four of the six age groups, and every women’s.
The individual highlight of the year was Sylvie’s big 89.8%/29:13 at the Run as One four miler, April 11. That is her highest score in a NYRRC race over a mile in length, the best CPTC mark since 2008, and an oh-so-close 0.2% away from the 90% barrier. All congratulations to Sylvie as she just keeps getting better.
On the men’s side, the best race of the year was given us by Alan Ruben at the Colon Cancer 15k, where he ran 87.4%/54:50 as a tune up for his 2:46 at Boston.
Winner of the kaizen award, which doesn’t actually exist but is googlable if you are curious, goes to Nigel Francis, who put together a streak of five straight improvements, culminating in his 72.8%/24:51 at the Mother’s Day four miler.
Speaking of awards that have yet to be funded, let us admire Yasuhiro Makoshi, who has run every race this year, and 17 in a row, and won many of them. Over the past 52 weeks, he has run 30 races and been remarkably consistent in each, with an average score of 82.3% and a best of 85.8%.
Stacy Creamer continues to lift her game as she leads the 50+ squad. She has run a terrific series of races – with her best at 85.7% and her worst at 85.1%.
Beside those mentioned above, there have been many, many teammates who have run very, very well but are unlucky not to be mentioned here. We continue to have a high participation rate, with 107 masters men and 26 masters women racing over the past year, each running an average of four races per year.
Standings after Healthy Kidney:
First Place: M 50+, W 50+
Second Place: W 40+
Third Place: M 40+
Fourth Place: W 60+
Ninth Place: M 60+