From Matt Lacey of Cross Country
If you only want to run in nice weather on flat courses with good footing then why bother racing cross country? On Saturday morning seven of our open men awoke pre-dawn to rainy New York skies for a trip west to Bethlehem PA and the Paul Short Invitational open race. After a soggy warm up the rain subsided, and the grassy course actually held its water well, presenting everyone an honest chance at a competitive race.
After successfully employing some evasive maneuvers off the starting line, Matt Lacey led the way for CPTC, finishing in a tight pack of collegiate runners in 26:08 for the 8k course. Even though the time was 8 seconds slow of the desired sub 26 clocking, it was actually 6 seconds faster than Lacey ran at Paul Short in his last attempt in 2012. Stan Berkow crossed the line next in 26:22, content to finish in his familiar place behind Lacey.
Following closely behind Berkow was CPTC newcomer Teddy Quinn, in a time of 26:27. So eager to don a CPTC racing kit, Teddy chose to bypass coach Devon’s stash of jerseys and elected to go the DIY route. I think we know who to call when it’s time for a CPTC brand refresh!
Teddy Quinn
Taylor Burmeister and CPTC debutante Brian DeLeon came across next in close succession with times of 27:21 and 27:29. Burmeister relied on his legendary pacing and patience to be our only runner to finish with an average pace faster than his initial mile, a clear indicator that faster times are ahead. That being said, it must sting to know that out of the two runners named Taylor in the 497 person field, he managed to finish a mere one place and eight seconds behind the faster Taylor (who happens to be coached by CPTC alumni John Kenworthy at Siena College).
Bill Wells finished in 28:43, a whopping 46 seconds faster than last year, even though he may have been saving himself for his second race of the weekend, the Grete’s Great Gallop 1.7 miler, competed on Central Park’s lower loop Sunday morning. Herbert Plummer rounded out our competitive squad in a time of 29:29.
There is more XC racing coming down the pike in the next month with Mayor’s Cup and the New England Championships in Boston on Oct 26th and Nov 9th, and the Fred Lebow Cross Country Championships in Van Cortland Park on November 16th. Stay tuned!
From Phil Falk of the Open:
The CPTC Open Men put up some great results on Sunday in Grete’s Great Gallop, the annual half-marathon in Central Park. This race holds a certain love/hate place in the racing calendar:
- Love: The marathon prep work. With four weeks until the NYC Marathon, you get an excellent chance to try on your racing legs, do some pace work, iron out the kinks in you pre-race plan, etc. It’s a test of physical fitness and of mental toughness before the big event.
Jeff Ares and Thomas Hynes
Photo: Nigel Francis
- Hate: Man, that course is tough. Two loops of the park is not to be fooled with. (I certainly feel for those 1970 NYC marathoners doing four loops!) Also: while you would think that “two loops” would have just a few turns, the actual course is a constant series of little twists and turns – this makes for an engaging game of “run the tangents” and also explains why the loop as typically run is just over six miles (call it 6.05 mi), the loop in this race is just under six miles.
Ken Tso
Photo: Nigel Francis
- Love: The superb fall conditions. October is reliably cool without being cold, but safely distant from August heat wave. Last week’s race fit the bill, with bright sun and ideal low 50s conditions.
- Hate: Those crowds on the course. Starting about halfway through the second lap, most of our racers began to catch up with back of the pack still on their first lap. For the last four or five miles, you are increasingly pushed to the outside of the road, weaving through a phalanx of casual, chatty runners, and slipping by the opposite-way traffic of bikers and horse carriages. Our second guy Jeff knocked into someone absentmindedly crossing the street, who spilled hot coffee on him. (I think net-net this improved his time, however.) Then there’s the full crowd-crossing that takes place before the finish. Overall, runners with GPS said all this added up to about an extra 0.2 miles for the race (no deductions allowed).
- Love: The humane start time. Maybe it’s just me, but sometimes it’s just nice to have a race that starts at 9am. (Did you know that the BK Half has a corral closing time of 6:30am?? Crimes against humanity.)
Greg Cass
Photo: Nigel Francis
Here’s how our top finishers lined up, securing a comfortable third place in the team results:
| Name | Time | Place |
| Greg Cass | 1:12:38 | 11 |
| Jeff Ares | 1:12:59 | 13 |
| Patrick Hynes | 1:13:42 | 18 |
| Phil Falk | 1:14:03 | 19 |
| Peter Brady | 1:15:10 | 25 |
Also a special shout-out to a killer performance from Nick Thompson, flying in a 1:15:37; and Dylan Coia, whose second race with CPTC was a PR in 1:21:50 and negative splits. Great job to all the CPTC racers!
From David Greenberg of the 40+
The CPTC 40+ came very close to locking up the 2014 team points championship at Grete’s with perhaps its best scoring performance of the year. With an average age graded score of 84.42%, the scoring trio of Peter Brady, Daniel Gercke and Jim McQuade won by more than seven minutes over West Side Runners.
Here are the provisional point standings as they stand after Grete’s:
All in:
CPTC: 138
West Side Runners: 108
Warren Street: 105
With the requisite two races dropped:
CPTC: 114
Warren Street: 95
West Side Runners: 89
Barring a NYRR scoring change, CPTC has a virtual lock on the 40+ championship for the first time in many years. If anyone knows when we last won the 40-49 please let me know.
Equally important, attendance at races was up in a huge way this year – on average 30% higher than last year. I think CPTC is a welcoming place for masters runners, and the numbers show that. I do know that some people are struggling to get to know teammates – I hope we can get to know each other better.
Speaking of attendance, in a post-race reverie it’s hard to imagine exactly why, but I had concerns about getting people on the line for Grete’s. But in the end we had 12 finishers, 50% more than last year.
Up front, Peter Brady ran his career best half marathon in the NYRR database with a 1:15:10/83.39%, and also scored for the open team. That time put him at #7 all time for the CPTC 40+ and he won the 40-44 on the day. He also reports that the rumors were untrue: he in fact did understand that Grete’s was a half marathon, not a half mile.
Daniel, Jim and I were all together in the corral before the start and they said they were targeting around 5:50 mile pace. I thought I could maintain around 5:45 pace so I knew we would have a very strong team if everyone ran to their capabilities.
It’s great that we’ve already clinched the masters team title for the season. We have an amazing, deep team!
I ended up running a lot of the first loop with Phil Falk, who gave me a lesson in running tangents before dropping me around mile 5. There were lots of Orange cheering for us on the sidelines, which really helped.
Daniel Gercke also ran a lifetime PR and won the 45-49 with his 1:16:33/86.01%.
I struggled with this one. I went out with Peter, about 10 seconds/mile faster than goal pace – what could go wrong? Peter glided away and fatigue slid closer, and for the next 9 miles I held myself together with mental tape and rubber bands. By the last two miles my mind had wandered off and took my pace with it. Then Jim shot by with a shout and helped me find a hidden kick. I think I cursed a lot. Man, it was good to be done.
Jim McQuade didn’t set a lifetime best, but continued his steady improvement in 2014 with his best AG race of the year: 1:16:36/83.85%. That score was his best AG% for a half in the NYRR database.
Great race, guys. Peter, I am absolutely amazed by your range of distance – pretty spectacular.
I hadn’t raced a half in quite a while. I forgot how much fun the distance is. Looking forward to the NYC Marathon.
Jim McQuade
Photo: Nigel Francis
Race of the day honors go to Peter, Daniel and Terry Corcoran, who ran a personal record 1:29:07 and hit 72.66%, which was the highest AG score he has ever recorded in CP for any race.
It was a beautiful day for running. I finished IM in Aug, mastering really slow, and wasn’t sure on my speed going into NY, but felt ok at a steady pace. Congratulations to the team! Sounds like a phenom season. Those times are insane.
Mel Stafford had a notable race, hitting 1:22:55/78.74% for his best AG score of the year and 6th in the 45-49.
Mel Stafford
Photo: Nigel Francis
Likewise, Kimihiko Oishi had his best outing of 2014, with a 1:29:45/71.55%.
Brad Weiss ran his first race as a CPTC masters athlete, with a fast 1:17:50/79.26% and 8th in the 40-44.
Cary Segall ran a masters PR for NYRR half marathons: 1:17:52/79.24% and 9th place.
Daniel Ifcher cracked the top 10 in the 45-49 with a 1:23:40/77.39%.
Daniel Ifcher
Photo: Nigel Francis
Since this is public writing, I want to keep it mellow, but this result is simply fantastic – five masters PRs, five guys under 1:18, two age group wins, seven top 10s, five of the top 11 CPTCers overall were 40-49 guys – we have set a high water mark for CPTC masters running.
Up in Van Cortlandt, the 40-49 made a big orange statement, as we made up the entire scoring team for CPTC. We didn’t win the overall, but here are the top 10s on the day:
40-44:
Coleman Cowan: 2nd
Jonathan Stenger: 6th
En Cho: 8th
45-49:
Brad Kelley: 2nd
Neil Fitzgerald: 3rd
David Greenberg: 4th
Mohammad Lahseni: 6th
Next up is the marathon – good luck to all those doing New York (and Philadelphia).
Save the date: December 13th, for the USATF Club Championship10k XC race. They have a masters-only race on a classic XC course, and they provide as good a big meet feel as you will find.
Unfortunately, it is the same date as the scoring 15k, but since we have already clinched, we don’t need to get after that one. More details later.
http://www.mausatf.org/2014ClubXC/2014-Club-XC-Championships-general-info.htm
From Chris Donnelly of the 50+
CPTC’s 50+ men took fourth place in the hotly contested Grete’s Great Gallop 13.1 miler. Optimal Autumn racing conditions brought out the best in some of NYRRs fiercest age group competitors in this club points race.
Casey Yamazaki
Photo: Nigel Francis
We had only a few participants in this one, and we made them count. Casey Yamazaki has been a big factor in the scoring races this year, and this time out he led the CPTC effort with a 1:25:51 (78.67% AG) , good for eighth place in the 50-54 age bracket. Alan Ruben, still healing from an injury that sidelined him for the Fifth Avenue Mile, was our next scorer, with a 1:26:31 (82.31% AG), for fifth in the 55-59 age group. Chris Donnelly rounded out the scoring, with a 1:27:55 (77.49%), trimming two and a half minutes from his Philly Rock n Roll Half two weeks earlier.
Chris Donnelly
Photo: Nigel Francis
By the way, congrats to CPTC’s Stuart Calderwood, who shrugged off the challenging high humidity in Philly to finish first in his 55-59 age group, with a 1:25:47.
Bruce Racond was our fourth Grete’s finisher, clocking a 1:38:19 (68.69% AG) as he gears up for the marathon.
XC action
Meanwhile, the 50+ men were well represented at Sunday’s Harry Murphy 5k cross country race up at Van Cortlandt Park. Mikal Scott took first in the 55-59 age group, with a 20:33, chopping nearly a minute off his 21:21 run two weeks ago on the same course in the Kurt Steiner XC 5k, that run, too, was good for an age group first.
John de Csepel’s 21:00 on Sunday was good for second place among 50-54 men.
Stuart Alexander opted for cross country over the 13.1 miler, and it paid off with his first podium finish in an NYRR event since 2005, a 25:07, good for third in the 55-59 age bracket. Stuart showed a 31 second improvement over his time in the Kurt Steiner run.
Points round-up
Here’s where we stand on club points with two races left in the season:
With Grete’s now in the rear view, Taconic looks to have all but wrapped up first place in the club points race, and that would snap a CPTC win streak that has stretched back nine years. Sure, we’ve had some injuries and the ranks have thinned a bit, but these guys have really come on strong in 2014. At this point, CPTC stands firmly in second place. With the latest results, the top five looks like this:
TAC 121
CPTC 110
VCTC 88
BRRC 85
WSX 60
The CPTC+50 men haven’t finished lower than fourth all year, and that consistency inevitably means we’ll lose a few more points than the other teams when the points are tallied in December. Dropping each team’s two lowest scoring races (up to this point) widens the scoring gulf between first and second places and shakes up the top five a bit. Here’s the back of the envelope cut:
TAC (-10) 111
CPTC (-18) 92
BRRC (-6) 79
VCTC (-14) 75
WSX (-3) 57
But we’re not done racing quite yet. Next up, the sold-out Staten Island Half (10/12, and not a points race) and TCS New York Marathon (11/2) beckon. Beyond that beyond, the Fred Lebow XC champs 5k is set for 11/16. Spots are still open for the final club points race of 2014, the Ted Corbitt 15k in Central Park on 12/13.
From Hank Schiffman of the 60+
It was a wonderful day to be fortunate enough to share the experience of 2014 Grete’s Half. The day dawned cool and breezy. All three leading teams had their best runners at the start. Scanning the race results does not reveal the value of each finisher and the cost each has given to get to that line. There is no corrected percentage grade for injury. Nor is there a number which reflects how far each runner has plunged his sword into the furnace both physically and emotionally. The sun did shine for all and each reflected its brightness in their own light. It was a fine day, but for a few.
We are the oldest of men in age group. Technically, we could score for all prior age groups, at least on paper. Yet we must field 3 runners to get on the scoreboard. If a marathon is a bridge too far for all but a few older runners, a half marathon is a stretch. Still, 6 CPTC 60+ men toed the starting line.
Yasuhiro Makoshi, our super star, took off like a dart, but he had not emerged from the cycle of injury that stalks us all. In spite of winning age group in the Bronx 10 Mile race: 1:07:44, he was revisited by misfortune.
Yasuhiro: “At mile 12 I felt my right calf to be uncomfortable, so I dropped out of the race. My goal this year is to run NYCM!” Injury management and prevention is key. Knowing when not to run is a challenge in itself. He ran this race in 1:28:09 last year.
Yasuhiro Makoshi
Photo: Nigel Francis
I, Hank Schiffman, atop the current block of marathon training, ran 1:33:11 (1:33:58 last year), 1st and newest member to my age group. My hat is off and in appreciation of Coach Tony Ruiz.
Hank Schiffman
Photo: Nigel Francis
Newly minted to 60+ and CPTC membership, Gary Gosselin cruised into 8th in age group, 1:40:52, hitting his goal of bypassing the “9 plus 1” for next year’s NYC Marathon, our 2nd scorer. [Remember what Truman Capote said, “More tears are shed for answered prayers than those unanswered.” The marathon arrives like a bundle of joy but usually ends as a rack of sore muscles.]
Gary: “Yesterday was a perfect Fall race day.
There was much good energy from the CPTC crew all along the course, great fun.
So much happened out there that numbers or words can’t describe.
That keeps us coming back for more doesn’t it?
It is a pleasure to be in the running with you all as team mates.”
Our 3rd scorer was longstanding CPTC member Chris Neuhoff, 10th age group, 1:44:44 (1:35:26 last year, in 2008, 1:29:07), emerging from injury.
Chris Neuhoff
Photo: Nigel Francis
Backing us up, as is his wont when he is not scoring, Kevin McGuire broke 70% age graded in 1:46:27 (1:56:15 last year). Kevin has run every team point race so far this year. The only member to do so in Men 60+.
Rick Shaver, 1:51:31, has run marathons faster than any of us who ran this day. His focus is on his marathon streak. He ran the Philadelphia Rock and Roll Half a few weeks ago, and graciously offered us the potential for a 3rd scorer.
Thus we were 2nd place in 4:58:47 to the current, dominant Brooklyn RR, 4:28:55, while Taconic RR took 3rd in 5:18:47. The yearly point scoring competition points to Brooklyn RR closing in on 1st as they appear to be fielding a marathon team and attracting a surfeit of talent. As each team launches strong runners into the 60+ barrier, the next few years should prove exciting as Brooklyn, Taconic and CPTC jockey for position on Club Night.
Later on the same morning as Grete’s, 2 of our men ran the Harry Murphy 5k XC race in Van Cortlandt Park. Dave Delano and Fred Trilli took 3rd and 4th in their age group, 30:57 and 31:48, respectively.
Two weeks earlier, Kevin McGuire, Hal Lieberman and I ran the same course in the Kurt Steiner 5k. Kevin, 3rd in age group, ran it in 24:45. Hal, 2nd in age group, ran 27:13. I ran 21:54.
The Fred Lebow 5k XC championships are scheduled for November 16th. I am game. Consider it as well yourself. XC is the best!
Our final team point race is the Ted Corbitt 15k on December 13th. Perhaps it won’t snow this year.
We have 4 entered in the NYC Marathon: Yasuhiro, Allan, Rick and me. Our combined ages will only be exceeded by the number of miles we will run in the 3+ weeks prior to the race.
What a great year of team racing we have had this year. Thank you all.
