It was oppressively humid (97%) but reasonably hot (72°F) at the very early start of the women’s Team Championships race. It did not matter…. The CPTC ladies came out in force (see the amazing first place results of the open and 40+ masters!)

The 4 valiant golden ladies who toed the line took 1st place in the W70+ (Lynn Blackstone, Judith Tripp and Sylvie Kimche) and 4th place in the W60+ (Deborah Barchat with Judith & Sylvie double-dipping…).

(FYI, 2 of our regular W60+ scorers were absent: Barbara Byrne, spending time in England with her grandchildren & Sherrel Harmon, still recovering from her horrendous quad injury in the fall).

Deb Barchat

Photo: Andy Kiss

Deb ran 50:26, a 10:06 pace. She was 6th at the top of her W65-69 age group (she turns 70 in September…) and 3rd for the W60+ team.

She’s getting back her competitive spirit and had this to say about her race:

I had trouble pacing which threw me off (I couldn’t rely on my splits because my watch gps wasn’t working properly).  I was disappointed in my time but learned a good lesson, and I felt strong, thanks to Ani Go.  Also, a huge thank you to Tony and crew – you’re amazing, a huge help along the course!

Lynn ran 60:18, a 12:03 pace. She was 1st in her W75-79 age group (way to go Lynn!…) and 3rd for the W70+ team.

In her own words:

Lynn Blackstone ran to her training, which has been little of late, and she enjoyed the race, the camaraderie, and the results!!!  She will do better next time.

Judith Tripp

Photo: Jay-R Mojica

Judith ran 48:35, a 9:43 pace. She was 3rd in the W70-74 age group. She scored twice: 2nd for both the W70+ and W60+ teams.

She had this to say:

Thank you so much to everyone who came out to support at that ungodly hour; I noticed particularly Alan Ruben and Gordon, along with Art Palmer and Hank, and then Chris Donnelly loudly urging me on!  Apologies to those I’ve missed owing to my somewhat dazed condition.

Sylvie Kimche

Photo: Jay-R Mojica

Yours truly, Sylvie, your team captain, ran 42:29, an 8:30 pace. I was 1st in my W70-74 age group and scored 1st for both W70+ & W60+ teams (and in the absence of our strong W50+ runners, I scored 3rd for the W50+ too…?)

Here are my comments:

Based on my results in the Retro 4 miler 2 weeks prior (33:47 = 8:27 pace) & a continuing nagging discomfort in my right knee, I was hoping to run 42:30…. and I ended up running 42:29 with a mad dash at the finish…. it was tough though as the humidity made it very hard to breathe.

A big shout-out to Tony and the cheering squads along the way, particularly the loud cheers at the turn at 97th street!!!

Congrats to the amazing results of all (most of) the CPTC teams!

And it was particularly gratifying for me to see a lot of orange on the road and at the team photo!  ???

 On to the Percy Sutton 5K on Aug 25.

GO ORANGE

Sylvie