We can’t have everything. Alan Webb won’t be running the Fifth Avenue Mile on Sunday (Sept. 21st)—but he will be over on Central Park West that evening as guest speaker at our 2nd Annual CPTC Benefit.
Last year Webb won the Fifth Avenue event with 3:57—a scant two months after his 3:46 mile in Brasschat, Belgium set the new American record. And a couple of months before that, Webb won the Reebok Grand Prix mile at Icahn Stadium, with 3:52.
So New York was primed to see him again, and spectators along Fifth Avenue were even thicker than usual. CPTC’s Melanie Murphy recalls watching Webb’s finish with a friend, and listening to fan-chatter behind them: “He’s…cute!”
This year’s headliner for the Fifth Avenue Mile is marathoner and Olympian Bernard Lagat, who last month in Beijing ran the 5000m with a viral infection and fatigue, fading to 9th place.
CPTC is expected to field about 35 athletes. We’d have lots more, but this year the Mile takes place the same day as the Philadelphia Distance Run and the Fred Lebow 5k cross-country at Van Cortlandt. As usual, there will be a deep masters contingent, including Stuart Calderwood, Joe Bolster, Rae Baymiller, Mary Rosado, and Sid Howard, among others.
Doug Labar (50 division) will be running it the first time as a club member. He says he tried it the first time in 2005…and liked it, “quite a bit, despite a 15-minute coughing fit at the end (seems like!). It’s what got me into running shorter distances.”
Men in the 20s/30s cohorts include Michael Basen, Andrew Bonventre, Joe Kennedy, Andrew Sutherland, Bill Wells, Jay Barry, Sean Fortune, Doug Hertler and Andrew Hogue. Sub-40 women include Resie Caffery and Mel Murphy.
If the club has a “main event,” it’s the local-elite NYRR Road Mile races, going on from 12:20 onward. CPTC runners include Kate Cushing, Aileen Conlon and Natalie Gingerich for the women; and Jason Ostenson and Brian Gertzen for the men.
This is a first time for Brian Gertzen, a former Yale xc and middle-distance star, and he says he’s been looking forward to it for months.
“It is one of the few events where you have to have that perfect balance of speed, endurance and toughness,” Brian writes, “and if you don’t bring it mentally, it doesn’t matter what kind of physical shape you are in. I have been running the mile competitively since 5th grade and it has held a special place for me ever since. Besides enjoying the moment, there is no reason why I shouldn’t be able to be close to, if not under, my PR of 4:08.”
Editor’s Note: to see everyone who is racing this weekend click here