From Greg Cass of the open:
Greg Cass
Photo: Nigel Francis
This year’s summer was hot. And humid. And long. But after each grueling workout and weekend-sapping long run, we reminded each other that cooler fall conditions weren’t far off and that the benefits of the hard work would multiply when weather cooperated again. Cooler conditions always arrive, but it’s rare when the arrival coincides with a Club Points race. Everything lined up this past weekend at the New Balance Bronx 10-Miler when a perfect early fall day allowed CPTC’s Open Men, many with months of hot marathon training under their belts, to impress with fast times. Behind a number of PRs and even all-time club bests, the Open Men took third place, only seconds behind second place West Side Runners.
The Men were lead by Matt Rand‘s 51:28, good enough for 6th place overall and 5th place on CPTC’s all-time best times list. Matt has turned in a solid summer preparing for the Chicago Marathon and is definitely peaking at the right time – Matt finished feeling that the 10-miler may have been his best race to date (and 6th place in a loaded Club Points race suggests he’s right). He’ll be one of many CPTC athletes looking to run fast in Chicago in early October. Not far behind Matt was Matt Lawder, 7th overall in 52:03 and 7th on CPTC’s all-time list. Matt is gearing up for the NYC Marathon and looks to be in perfect position heading into the last 5 weeks. Joining Matt in Staten Island on November 6 are CPTC’s 3rd and 5th finishers, Ryan Scrudato and Calvin Tan. Ryan cruised to a huge PR in 53:38, picking up after a comfortable first 2 miles and progressing to a perfectly executed huge negative split. Ryan’s 2016 has been filled with impressive race results but this is by far his strongest age-graded performance to date – big things await at NYC. Calvin also turned in his strongest age-graded CPTC / NYC performance to date with his 55:03 and looks ready to take on the 5 boroughs. Just behind Calvin was another NYCM racer, Trevor Middleton, who turned in a 55:12 in his preparations for the marathon. CPTC’s 4th finisher was Greg Cass, whose 54:29 bested his time from last year.
Speaking of marathons, Martin Fritz Huber raced to a big PR in Berlin in 2:37:51, dipping under 2:40 for the first time. Fritz ran a smart negative split – ticking through the first half like a metronome before shaving a few seconds off on the second half to get below 2:38. Fritz’s success after his hard work through the NYC summer months (including some huge Thursday night workouts) is hopefully a positive sign for our Chicago and NYC racers.
Next up on the Club Points schedule is the Staten Island Half – hope to see many of you out there.
From David Greenberg of the 40+:
Matt DeAngelis
Photo: Nigel Francis
Teammates:
Heat gone, humidity gone. All that remained was speed.
The CPTC men took advantage of good weather and a fast course to tear up the record books at the Bronx 10 on Sunday.
Take a look at the top 10 list for ten miles. FOUR of us made it onto the list in the same race. I’m fairly sure that’s never happened before:
Top 10 all-time CPTC 40+ for 10 miles:
4. Peter Brady
8. Matt DeAngelis
9. Nicholas Thompson
10. Eric Lattin
And our leading scorer Brad Kelley ran #2 all time for the 50+: 58:10.
The team competition went about as the rest of the year has gone: We ran well, we improved from 2015…but Urban was just too tough:
Teams – 40+ Men
1 Urban Athletics 2:46:22
Paul Thompson 54:16
Javier Rodriguez 54:41
Aaron Mendelsohn 57:25
2 CPTC New Balance 2:50:15
Peter Brady 56:06
Matthew Deangelis 57:02
Nicholas Thompson 57:07
3 West Side Runners 2:57:13
Guillermo Pineda Morales 55:40
Kirt Joseph 57:16
Cesar Estevez 1:04:17
That leaves the unofficial standings:
Urban: 128
CPTC: 107
West Side: 96
And with two races subtracted:
Urban: 105
CPTC: 87
West Side: 76
We are not yet ruled out mathematically but that might happen at Staten Island unless we win and Urban doesn’t show up.
On to the good news.
We had 18 competitors this year vs. 13 last year. We put 9 under 62 minutes vs. 5 last year. Our scorers averaged around 56:44 vs. 58:46 last year.
It was a big day for the orange so lots to go over.
Scorers were:
Peter Brady (56:06/4th 40-44/86.48%)
Matt DeAngelis (57:02/7th 40-44/80.16%)
Nicholas Thompson (57:07/8th 40-44/80.04%)
Top 10s:
4th: Peter Brady 40-44
4th: Mohammed Lahseni 45-49
7th: Matt DeAngelis 40-44
8th: Nick Thompson 40-44
8th: Tim Stockert 40-44
9th: Eric Lattin 40-44
9th: Coleman Cowan 45-49
10th: Daniel Ifcher 45-49
Boys, that’s 8 of the 20 available spots – the big orange pack is a stunner. Do not get in its way.
Race of the day honors go to Eric Lattin and Alexander Hickox.
Eric has been undisputed rookie of the year for us – racing four times and scoring three of them. In the Bronx he ran 57:09/9th 40-44/81.96% and was our fourth man. That AG score was his best of seven NYRR races. Other than a hiccup at the steamy team champs, Eric has run four straight AG PRs.
Alexander Hickox took advantage of our late entry program and ran his best age graded score ever, in the NYRR database. (1:12:31/130th 40-44/64.06%).
Alexander:
Congrats to the team on some amazing performances! I thought that was a really fun race and it was great to see so many CPTC people there. I look forward to future races.
Peter Brady: PR. 56:06. 83.48%. But 4th in his age group. NYC is a tough town.
Peter:
I ran the NYRR Bronx 10-miler this morning. I finished 31st overall (5th over 40 runner-NYC has a lot of really good masters runners, including 50 year old Paul Thompson who was the top master and had the best age-graded time in the entire race). My time was 56:06 (5:37 per mile). Given that I dropped out of my last race with a calf injury, I’m very happy with the result. It was beautiful weather and the course is pretty fast. My only complaint is that I had trouble finding the baggage area before the start of the race and had to hustle to the start. I definitely could have used a bathroom stop before the race but there was no time. Hard to say how much (if at all) that impacted me, but it definitely didn’t help!
Nicholas Thompson ran his first NYRR 10-miler in ten years:
This was my first race of the season, and, though I’m supposed to be a seasoned, elderly veteran, I ran it like a high school kid who shows up for cross country in high-tops and argyle socks. I had a subway-taxi disaster, which meant I almost missed the start. Then I had to take a break under a bridge at about mile 3; instead of easing back into the race, I blitzed a 5:25 mile so that I could catch up to Matt DeAngelis and the other fellow I’d been drafting behind. Once I’d caught them, I promptly faded back. I then spent the rest of the race alternating surges (I’m feeling great and will catch this guy up there) and sags (ouch, that was dumb, maybe I’ll stick with that guy back there). Fortunately, however, the last mile of the race is a near vertical drop, which suits my style and I was able to run a good time. My normal strategy is to do everything methodically and smoothly and then to underperform. This time, I did everything terribly and then over-performed. Maybe there’s a lesson in that?
Andy Zhang (1:06:57/53rd 40-44/69.95%) and Gerd Zeibig (1:06:01/46th 40-44/69.26%) each struck PR dirt – their fastest 10 milers in four attempts.
Mohammed Lahseni
Photo: Nigel Francis
Mohammed Lahseni (57:46/4th 45-49/83.10%), Tim Stockert (1:01:37/8th 45-49/79.24%), Herve Megras (1:07:32/35th 45-49/71.09%) and Nick Garramone (1:10:27/62nd 45-49/67.59% ran their fastest 10 milers in two attempts.
Michael Caggia ran his best age graded score of 2016: 64.66%.
Debuts at the distance came from Matt DeAngelis, Daniel Ifcher, Jeff Garnett, Kimihiko Oishi, and Erik Allen.
Daniel Ifcher:
It was a great day. I was hoping when I had the chance to look at results that we pulled this one out, but UA just has our number this year! Here’s a few notes from my end…
I had a great day on Sunday. I ran up to the race with Tim, Nick, Irma and Dani so we had a nice warm up. My plan was to start on the moderate side, see how I felt and let the race take its course in terms of pacing. Tim and I spoke and had the same plan so we ran together. As the race got going, Tim and I settled into a nice pace together, taking a few seconds off the pace as each mile clipped by. At about mile 7 we came upon Coleman and picked him up – nice to run in a mini-crew at that stage of the race! We were definitely keying off of each other, helping to maintain a nice pace and picking off several runners around us. Race day kudos to Tim, who pulled away from us in the last mile – nice!
Great to see so many teammates out there, it really looked like we were dominating, at least in terms of the number of competitors! And thanks Tony for that support at the right spot!
From a numbers perspective, I may have run this distance before but I can’t find the results. So, I call it a PR at 1:02:05, and felt under control for the race. Nice lead up to NYC Marathon.
Jeff Garnett:
A great day to race and great comradery with so many teammates out there. First 10 miler for me. Really happy with the performance given injury-limited miles and workouts the last 2 months. The second half I ran in 31:24 which is my best 5 mile time ever (albeit not many races to choose from) and just a couple seconds off my best 10k pace. This gives me motivation to follow the same race plan and shoot for a top half marathon performance in two weeks in Staten Island.
At the Bronx 5k Nigel Francis ran a career best 82.87% /17:41/4th 45-49. And then took some great photographs which you can see throughout the reports.
Nigel Francis:
I’m pleased to say that the Bronx 5K race went a lot better than expected. After having a good race at the Percy Sutton 5K a few weeks earlier, I was hoping to break 19 minutes at the Bronx 5K. I’ve been increasing my mileage over the last couple of months and I’ve been feeling good at the Tuesday and Thursday workouts, so I thought a time of 18:45 was a realistic goal. I’m still not exactly sure what happened, but once the race got underway I felt very strong from start to finish. I crossed the finish line in 17:41, breaking my 2012 PR by 44 seconds.
I’ve been trying to get back to decent race form for the last 3 years without success due to various injuries, so to say that I’m over the moon with my result would be an understatement! A big thank you to all my teammates for their support.
Participation Statistics:
David Alm maintained his narrow lead in the race to have the 2017 theoretical M40-49 team award named after him.
Points races completed:
7: David Alm
6: Mohammed Lahseni
6: Tim Stockert
6: Jeff Garnett
6: Daniel Ifcher
6: (Brad Kelley)
Scorers:
5: Brad Kelley, Matt DeAngelis
3: Eric Lattin
2: David Greenberg
2: Mohammed Lahseni
2: Peter Brady
1: Eduardo Ribeiro Ferrero
1: Tim Stockert
1: Coleman Cowan
1: Josh Rayman
1: Nick Thompson
1: Cary Segall
1: Dan Gay
And that’s a wrap. Registration for the Staten Island Half is still open – hope to see many of you in the southern borough.
David Greenberg
From Chris Donnelly of the 50+:
Perfect running conditions and that opportunity to break out of the familiar confines of Central Park offered a grand day out for participants of this week’s Bronx 10 miler. CPTC’s 50+ men posted another podium performance led by Brad Kelley’s stunning 58:10 time, placing him second on the team’s all-time best list in our age bracket.
The CPTC men took third place in the 10-miler, behind strong DWRT and UA squads and remain very much in the hunt for top honors in the 2016 points competition.
Brad Kelley:
It was great seeing so many teammates many of who turned in incredible performances on this near perfect weather day. I have been lacking in any real tempo runs and given this was happy with the result. I negative split (as did most I guess) going 29:36/28:34 and was able to really blast the artificially fast last mile in 5:23. My 3rd 2nd place on the CPTC 50+ all time list this year, with 17:10 5k 16:51 half marathon…I guess I am the bridesmaid, perhaps I need to find some really obscure distance to get an CPTC all time best. After 4:55 at 5th Avenue I think my speed is ok but I don’t yet have the strength to match over longer distances. Big congratulations to Nigel who joins our division within the next year for absolutely destroying in the 5k and also to Mohammad who I tried to go with but just sailed away like a leaf. So may impressive performances and so much depth on this club once you get past 40 that it is kind of intimidating. As always great to hear Tony with a few miles to go…the man is a human bullhorn.
Alan Ruben
Photo: Nigel Francis
Alan Ruben, who put his own stamp on the CPTC all time best list with 1:02:11 run in this race in 2013, was our second scorer this year, running 1:05:31, good for fifth place among 55-59 men. Alan notes, “Pleased with race on a good day for running, after just getting back to normal training. Hopefully can gain a bit more fitness prior to my 29th NYC marathon.”
Chris Donnelly
Photo: Nigel Francis
Chris Donnelly crossed the line next at 1:08:50, to close out the scoring. Chris says:
My training hasn’t been great lately and I had modest expectations here. I was aiming to augment my marathon training with a three hour-ish M.P. target and maybe get ambitious if my knee felt ok. Settled in after a crowded start on the narrow roadway, got ambitious in mile 5 when teammate Andy Zhang showed up, settled back to my previous place and even managed a decent last mile, egged on by Tony and the gang around mile 8. Never officially ran a 10 miler before so this is by default a PR. Looking forward to running this one properly next year!
As usual, CPTC fielded a big team in the 50-59 bracket.
Ron Romano was a mere 25 seconds behind the scoring, running 1:09:15 for tenth place among 55-59 men; Art Palmer, solidly on the mend, was next at 1:10:18, for 13th place in the same age group; Toshiki Ikehata crossed the line at 1:11:22; Dennis O’Donnell finished at 1:12:08; Oscar Garcia was back in action for CPTC, running 1:16:15; and Fred Paredes closed it out for us running 1:33:04.
Mikal Scott opted for the Bronx 5K, finishing second in his age group with a 25 second PR and scoring for the team effort. Mikal says: Good weather and doing warmup run on the original Yankee Stadium field was kinda cool thing to do. Almost missed the start as it was not even closely located to the baggage drop and I got stuck in the middle of the corrals. Good thing was having a teammate (Andrea Burdett, also stuck in middle) to run with thru the craziness of the pack at the start and push to the end.”
Congrats on great finishes by all CPTC squads, including the 5K where the Orange took the top spot for both men and women!
From Hank Schiffman of the 60+:
Gary Gosselin
Photo: Nigel Francis
On a sparkling autumn day, our 60+ men finished 5th, a bit less than 3 minutes behind Witold’s, and over 11 minutes ahead of Front Runners. We punched our weight but continue to be dogged for want of younger, faster talent and a disabled list. Six 60+ team scorers finished ahead of our first scorer. In our hay day, our current first scorer was overshadowed by our super star who is now beset with injuries. With 3 more team pointers to go we are still in 3rd place: Brooklyn – 123, Taconic – 104, CPTC – 74, Witold’s – 66, Front Runners – 64. At this stage throwing out 2 races is meaningless in light of what we can muster for both Staten Island and the NYC Marathon. Within a year our 50+ men should add speed to our ranks. For the nonce, we tread water in increasingly bigger seas.
If there was a most wonderful day to race 10 miles, this was it. The only headwind was the slog uphill from the eastern end of the Moshulu to the Grand Concourse. How can you not love low humidity and cooler temperatures. The repositioned finish was a whizzbang downhill, favoring those who worship at the altar of the track.
Hank Schiffman 1:12:12 7:14 79.86% 1st AG
last year 1:10:17 7:02 82.79% 2nd AG
Gary Gosselin 1:12:32 7:16 75.69% 8th AG
last year 1:11:52 7:12 77.25% 7th AG
Kevin McGuire 1:20:49 8:05 69.25%
Yasuhiro Makoshi 1:21:33 8:10 67.97%
Phil Vasquez 1:21:37 8:10 68.57%
Harry Lichtenstein 1:39:30 9:57 56.26%
last year 1:25:27 8:33 66.18%
Dave Delano 1:57:58 11:48 50.40%
Only 3 men 60+ and up scored 80% and up. 2 were on Taconic. The other was Witold himself. The next younger person to score above 80% was our Alan Ruben with 81.45%.
Kevin, Phil and Dave have been our old guard this season. In any one race any can be our 3rd scorer, Kevin being just that this day. The Bronx is home for Harry. He is finding his pace.
Hank Schiffman
Photo: Nigel Francis
Hank Schiffman:
Beside me in the corral were Gary Gosselin, Jason Apostolides & Dennis O’Connell. Jason and I ran the race together. Gary, as last year, ran negative splits, catching up to us on the return down the Grand Concourse. Dennis bested us all; he is looking very good for Chicago. And Gary should do well in his NYC Marathon run.
I doff my hat when I consider that 100% AG for my age for 10 miles is pretty much what I ran for the mile on 5th Avenue.
The Staten Island Half in a mere 2 weeks, with only 4 CPTC 60+ men registered, should prove to be a lot to chew and even more of a challenge to swallow. If there was a time to come to the aid of the party, it is now. Registration is almost full.
Report on the 2016 5th Avenue Mile
Of the 68 CPTC finishers at the 2016 5th Avenue Mile, 10 were 60+ men. Another, Art Palmer is less than 2 months from this cohort, running 5:57, 248 AG overall, 76.91%.
Of the 10, 3 ran over 81% age graded, 4 ran over 72%, add Art to the latter group and we have 5.
More surprising than these stats is that our fastest runner was one of the 4 in the 70+ wave. Newly minted to CPTC, Noel Haynes was less than 1% off hitting 90%. His time would have been good for 2nd Men 65-69, 3rd Men 60-64, and tied for 7th in Men 55-59. Only Judy Stobbe, who scored a 91.51% and took 1st in Women 50-54, had a higher AG% on CPTC: Chapeau Bas!
Thus our 3 fastest 60+ men were all over the age of 67, with a combined age of 205 years. Experience matters…
Not a team point scoring race this season, it is still one mile. Conditions were very good with a headwind for the 60-69 wave for about a block. Always superb team support; this race is a love fest.
Sid Howard trotted this one out, he was neither walking as in the past few years due to injury, nor racing it, as was his long habit of dominating his age group. If just to see Sid in his beautiful stride, that alone was worth being here.
Doug:
I guess we all mark our calendars for the 5th Avenue Mile as a special event, because certainly we looked to be the most well represented club at 60 +. The team did well with six top ten finishers for age group. I liked the New Balance cow bells.
Always a yardstick for personal achievement, this venue rocks:
AG overall AG %
Noel Hayes 5:40 25 89.46%
Hank Schiffman 5:56 78 82.99
Sam Mann 6:08 105 81.09
Doug Labar 6:09 285 75.87
Dan Molloy 6:25 312 75.33
Chris Neuhoff 6:35 438 73.35
Harry Lichtenstein 7:30 1428 63.88
Sid Howard 7:51 519 72.10
Dave Delano 8:12 1723 61.93
Fred Trilli 8:47 2335 57.75
Report on the 2016 Kurt Steiner 5k X
Like seeing an old friend again a year later, the trail at Van Cortlandt Park was there to greet us. The day was warm, not what we expect from the 5k in season. Every time I run in Vanny I am struck by both its beauty and how fortunate we are to have such a venue that is accessible from a subway line.
Hank Schiffman 22:23 7:12 75.76% 1st AG
Kevin McGuire 25:29 8:12 64.81% 2nd AG
Phil Vasquez 26:54 8:40 61.40% 3rd AG
Judith Tripp 31:40 10:12 65.77% 1st AG
Photo: Nigel Francis