From Greg Cass of the Open Men:
The Men’s Open team took to the roads of Brooklyn looking for fast times and team redemption having been edged by Urban Athletics for 3rd place in the first 2 club scoring races of the year. The CPTC crew attacked the hills in and around Prospect Park like they train in them every Thursday night and made a strong statement for what can be expected in the rest of the year’s club races.
At press time, CPTC Men’s Open sat comfortably in 3rd, over 13 minutes clear of Urban. The scoring team was lead by Francois Lhuissier, who turned in a blazing 1:08:25, good for 6th place on the club’s all-time performance list. Matt Lacey, finally back in NYC after an extended winter in Toronto, ran to a 1:10:56 training on his own in the cold (cold may be an understatement there…). Tom DiChiara came in next at 1:11:16 with an impressive negative split that lead him past NB pro Kim Smith in the final stretch. The scoring team was rounded out by Greg Cass with a 1:12:44 and Jeff Ares with a 1:14:02 (which I believe may be a PR). Harry Norton also clocked a 1:12:54, though at this time, his results are not credited to the team.
Other PR’s included:
Brian Valentini – 1:14:51 – another strong showing after a strong finish in Boston
Herb Plummer – 1:20:56 – 2.5+ minute PR
Ben Pedersen – 1:27:48 – 53s PR
Congratulations to all the racers, thank you to everyone for showing up in numbers, and let’s make sure we keep this momentum going.
We have 2 5-mile scoring races in June – if you’re around, sign up now so that we can cement our spot in the top 3. Rest up well, and see you all out on the roads.
From David Greenberg of the 40+ men:
The 40+ sent eleven men down Ocean Parkway toward the beer.
Our top three finishers were Daniel Ifcher, Mel Stafford and En Cho. The 50+ loaned us Stewart Calderwood and Chris Donnelly for scoring purposes and the team took 6th.
Individual highlights:
As always, personal records get first mention and we had a few:
Mel Stafford can claim many honors for his race: he ran 1:22:47, which was a five minute PR, he had our highest finish in the age groups (9th in the 45-49), and had the highest age graded score of the 40+: 78.2%.
En Cho backed up his recent pr at 10k (Scotland) with a huge 4:03 pr at the half marathon distance (1:24:47).
Andy Kiss continued a great leap forward with yet another PR, this one by 3:16 (1:41:47). Just a few months ago Andy was recuperating from surgery and already he is setting personal records.
George Ross ran his first NYRR race of the year and made it count: his 1:26:39/72.92% is his best age graded score in the NYRR database…by two entire percentage points. Even better, it was close to a PR even though George ran a half ironman two weeks prior.
Dan Ifcher ran his first race as a CPTCer in 20 years…but he is not yet listed in the standings as a member. If the results are changed he will count as our fastest finisher at 1:22:20.
The year is not even five months old yet Nigel Francis has already run three half marathons – and Brooklyn was the fastest of all three.
Marvin Cabrera beat his NYC Half time, as did Frank Ayala, who was two minutes faster. In fact, at Brooklyn Frank scored his best age graded score in the NYRR database for a half marathon.
On that same note, Mickey Hawtrey ran his fastest half in three years, Wayne Merdis made his team debut, and James Charlton crossed the finish line.
Outside of the boros your teammates have been racing with success:
John Milone scored a rare and surely treasured overall win in the Run the Palisades 5k with his 17:30.
Elsewhere in New Jersey, a group of eleven CPTCers crossed the river to run the wet and windy Newport 10000. Peter Brady blew through to the 8th fastest time ever for a CPTC masters runner: 34:34, winning the 40-44. That goes along with his recent listing at 6th on the all-time list for ten miles (56:53). Andy Kiss also ran well and prd at 45:38.
In the hills of PA Michael Caggia and Oscar Garcia called the Pocono Marathon’s bluff and Michael walked away with a 16 second pr: 3:32:51.
Finally, on a beautiful spring day the likes of which surely soon we will miss, David Wakefield ran the New Jersey Marathon and ran it well: a personal record and a Boston qualifier: 3:14:38.
From Andrew Moore of the 50+ men:
Congrats 50+ team on a fine performance on Saturday. A big crowd and nice conditions led to some great results in the scoring. Stuart Calderwood continued to be on a roll following his great run in London by winning the 55+ group with a 1:21:59. He led the scoring for the team.
Chris Donnelly came up with a PR of 1:24:41 and Alan Ruben – following his little 50 mile speed work out a couple of weeks ago rounded out the scoring with a 1:24:46.
Nice job guys – this was good for another team first place edging our friends at Brooklyn RRC on their home turf. Our 50+ group had another great turnout and a lot of solid performances including Art Palmer (1:29:54), Timothy Smith (1:34:29), Peter Allen (1:36:38 and a nice finishing photo on the NYRR facebook feed), Dennis O’Donnell (1:41:12) and Ralph Ripley (2:08:23).
Congrats everyone on a job well done. I hope you had a celebratory ride on the Cyclone, a dip in the ocean or at least a cold beer post-race!
From Hank Schiffman of the 60+ men:
Hats off to our 2 first place age group finishers: George Hirsch running an age graded 74.4% in 2:02.37, and Yasuhiro Makoshi AG 85.91% in 1:25.12, the first scorer in the field of men 60+.
Running what I solidly felt was a smart race until mile 12 when I realized I wasn’t so smart after all, I sputtered across the line with 2 cramped calves in 1:32.28, 8th for men 60-64, 81.45% AG; couldn’t use those track gears on parboiled legs. All that slow cooking and I burned the meat in the last mile.
Our third scorer was Kevin McGuire in 1:48.07, 68.35% AG, right there when we needed him.
Rounding out our 60+ men was Fred Trilli in 2:08.14, 61.08% AG, a man not afraid of 13.1 miles.
Like The Warriors [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Warriors_(film)], we made our way back to Coney Island, but with less drama.
Injury and focus on shorter distance venues reduced our ranks to these 5 men, giving our 3 scorers a collective time of 4:45.47. Thus we placed 3rd behind West Side Runners time of 4:43.17. Taconic Road Runners has moved solidly into 1st place for the season with 4:36.34. We are in 2nd place with bright prospects.
Kudos to NYRR for a well organized event in spite of all the fine points of added security. Once again, we had fine weather.
Thank you CPTC Social Media Committee; yes, beer is the ultimate recovery drink.
Captain Hank
CLUB STANDINGS AFTER BROOKLYN
OPEN MEN: 4TH
40+ MEN: 3RD
50+ MEN: 1ST
60+ MEN: 2ND