From Ani Go of the 40+:
Tis the season for cross country! On a beautiful crisp Sunday morning, the 40+ masters ladies, Judy Stobbe, Sue P, and Terry Ballou headed to Flemington, NJ for the USA Masters 5k XC Champs to take First Place! The Tigress Terry sums up cross country perfectly, stating that “it’s time to get scrappy!”
Says Ms. Judy, who ran 20:50, “this is my first XC race in 27 years…I missed my 5k pr by 41 seconds…It’s an honor to be on the winning team! Looking forward to more xc!”. She’s also looking to not only better her time, but she’s also looking to break her PR! Yes! Go Judy!
The birthday girl, Ms. Terry, had a fantastic celebration, with her masters XC PR of 19:22, placing 5th overall, 1st in her age group, and of course grabbing the gold team medal. We should all have birthdays like that!
Terry Ballou
Photo: David Greenberg
Veep Sue P, running 21:04, had a great day as well, taking it like a beast on the challenging, grassy course, and changing hats to cheer and become official team photographer. Well may she wear the medal that is gold, like her hair. Yay to the badass, fastest grandma!
Congrats, ladies!!!
And Captain Sylvie, with her team of Barbara Byrne, Deb Barchat and Judy Tripp, has her own tale to tell…
Congrats to the men’s masters 40+ & 60+ as well!
GO ORANGE!
Terry, Sue and Judith
Photo: David Greenberg
From Sylvie Kimche of the 60+:
Judith Tripp
Photo: David Greenberg
On a gorgeous autumn day, sunny, dry & somewhat windy, on a very well manicured grassy course in Deer Path Park, the CPTC W60+ team took silver at the Masters 5K X-C National Championships on Sunday.
What? you might wonder, we did not get 1st placed as usual???….Well, this was a USA National Championship, not some romp in the NYRR Central Park point races….Besides, we came second to a team of youngsters from the Genesee Valley Harriers, all under 63…. while we all were over 65 !!!…
So congrats are in order!!!
Stepping up to the plate (or rather to the start line) at the last minute (despite not being race-ready due to her long lay-off for knee surgery & having slept only 3 hours to come back from Poughkeepsie & meet us downtown at 8:00am*), Deborah came in 3rd for the team in 31:09:30.
(* NB: Barbara had found out from the USATF organizers late Friday night that she was not eligible to score for the team because she is not a US citizen….as if they could not have warned us earlier….. ggrrrrr…. 🙁
Judith, who was the instigator to our competing in these championships and still recuperating from gum surgery, was 2nd for the team and 5th in the W65-69 age group in 27:43:42, a major improvement on her time at Vanny last week.
In Judith’s own words: “I had a wonderful time and loved the day, the race, cheering for the guys, and the great lentil/sweet potato soup!** [….]. It’s also really nice to get to know team mates better and to meet new, and of course old, friends from other teams. The very best part of the day was going there and being on a team with the three of you and I hope we can do some more in the future!”
(** NB: the organizers had some snack food after the race, before the award ceremony. They especially had a lentil & sweet potato soup that was divine for vegan & health conscious runners… 🙂
Your team captain, Sylvie, had a great race and was first for the team in 22:53:55, good for 1st in the W65-69 age group and also good for 3rd in the Age Grading competition with a 91.26% (also a lot faster than at VCP last week!)
“Not sure if it was the easier course than Vanny, the work-outs with Tony, using my distance spikes, seeing the age of the runners ahead of me, the determination to score in the AG competition or all of the above, but I had a really good race! Thanks to all my CPTC teammates for the cheering!!!”
Barbara while not scoring for the team had a great race: her time of 21:39:95 was good for 3rd in her W60-64 age group. She was very pleased with her 6:58 pace and her 6th place in the AG competition with a 89.54 AG% (her best AG% in a race longer than 1 mile). She was recognized by the USATF officials for her excellent performance & awarded a Garden State medal.
FYI, in case you wonder, even if Barbara had been able to score for the team, it would not have made a difference in the final results: we still would have finished in 2nd place…However, I think that Barbara has finally decided, after living in the USA for some 37 years, to finally apply for US citizenship…
Next team race in NYRR for the W60+ team is the Ted Corbitt 15K on December 14.
However, please note that our amazing, ageless Rae Baymiller is running the NYCM in an attempt to get the world mark for her age group W70-74(i.e under 3:41). Please come out in force to cheer her on! Thanks!
To see my photos on google+, please click on the link below. Thanks!
Sylvie Kimche
Photo: David Greenberg
GO ORANGE!
From Nicole Falcaro of the Open:
Hannah Rose
“I love XC, its totally badass. You go out there hard and run and just deal with what the road gives you. Hills, dirt, tree branches – the ground comes up at you, constantly changing. Now that’s fun! And at the end of it, I really feel like I ran something, not just a distance.” – Ani Go, with influence from Terry Ballou
The CPTC women definitely ran something at the Kurt Steiner 5k in Van Cortlandt Park on Sunday. The women said “to hill with it” and were led by Hannah Rose, who won the women’s race overall in 19:32, a course PR as liberal as Hillary Clinton, knocking 50 seconds off her previous best. “The repeats of the back hills we did at practice a few weeks ago certainly helped prepare me for the middle part of the race,” Hannah reported, assuring that and undulating course is not her acHilles heel.
Anne-Laure White got her high hills on, coming in second for the CPTC women in 20:08 and 4th overall. She was followed by Stephanie Yang, Ani Go, and Lidia Garcia to complete the winning team of 5.
Yang said not everyone survived the hillter skelter ascent. “I saw a guy stop running and sit down right on the trail. Right there on his butt, in the middle of the race. I envied him!”
This Sunday, Hilloween weekend, the ladies (and men) race at Boston’s famous Franklin Park at the B.A.A. Mayor’s Cup.