From Greg Cass of the Open:

henry tong

Henry Tong

Photo: Ben Ko

It’s a well-known, annual occurrence in NYC – just when it seems like summer has made the transition into fall, nature throws a nasty curveball at you with a week of above-average temperatures and humidity that would make August smile.  To have that curveball

coincide with a half marathon that takes you through the hills of Central Park twice borders on cruel.  But, never ones to back down from a challenge, CPTC showed up in force at Grete’s Great Gallop, on the roads and cheering from the sidelines, and still managed to throw down some pretty impressive times.

The Open Men fought hard in their battle with the weather, the course, races squeezed into marathon preparation, and Urban Athletics, ultimately finishing in a respectable fourth place.  Leading the way for the Orange was Matt Lacey with a 1:11:51, nearly equaling his time from last month in Philadelphia on a cool day and a flat course, making a strong statement for his NYC Marathon preparedness.  Francois Lhuissier cruised home shortly after in 1:12:16.  The Open scoring team was rounded out by Greg Cass (1:13:15), Phil Falk (1:17:34), and John Roberts (1:17:49).

Between the weather and the course, PRs were particularly hard to come by on Sunday.  But, the months of summer training paid off for at least one racer.  John Jones cranked out an impressive 18s PR with his 1:18:30 – nice work.

The next scoring race is the ING NYC Marathon on Sunday, November 3. Before that, the Orange will be heating things up in Chicago and on XC courses around the country – best of luck to everyone with big races on the schedule, and I hope to see Orange all over NYC on Marathon Sunday.

 

From David Greenberg of the 40+:

 

The good news is that because of our magnificent Fifth Avenue Mile, we edged into second place in the annual team competition, ahead of West Side Runners. The bad news is that Grete’s was a tough race for us, as we finished fourth. So we will slip back into third place, with two races left.

David Bosch was our point man for the second time this year, toughing out the two plus laps. Here’s his review of the race:

I knew it was going to be rough with the humidity, and I thought I started slowly enough to at least even split.  However, I realized after 4 miles it wasn’t going to happen, and I focused on staying just under the line at which I’d blow up, though that almost happened in the Harlem Hills. Luckily Arthur Palmer came up on my shoulder with 800 to go and gave me a push around the bottom of the park.  Unfortunately it wasn’t enough, as we missed third place by only 18 seconds.  A hard day, and a disappointing result, but we have two more chances to move up.

 Our next two scorers were loaners from the 50+: Art Palmer and Alan Ruben – much thanks to them.

Our second and third men were Mickey Hawtrey and Lou Pahnke, both of whom have been reliable team mates, both having run five team scoring races each in 2013.

Michael Siegell and Andre Lejeune had solid races – this was Michael’s best NYRR half marathon since May of 2012, and his fastest Grete’s ever: 1:33:50. Andre used Grete’s as a tuneup for the NYCM and was pleased, as he was still recovering from a half ironman:

My marathon training for the NYC Marathon is coming along nicely and I have a good shot at running Sub 3 hours for the first time. Sept.29th I switched things up and completed my first Half Ironman distance triathlon in Montauk. The Mighty Man Half Ironman in 5:23 and placed seventh in my age group missing placing in my age group by 4 minutes and was 60th overall out of 267 competitors. It was a very challenging course packed with hills and a strong wind coming off the ocean. I’ve recovered and am focused on doing well in the marathon.

 Joe Bachana also ran Grete’s as a tuneup for New York – even adding a four mile run before the gun to make it a real test. Despite the extra miles, despite the high dew point…Joe hit a new PR. Bring on First Avenue is all I can say.

Gregg Lemos-Stein will be on the line at the Hartford Marathon this weekend, and Jim McQuade will be in Chicago. If you see them, wish them a dignified finish, as Tony says.

Eight of us will journey across the river to the USATF Masters 5k Cross Country championship on October 20 – think fast and muddy thoughts.

 

From Chris Donnelly of the 50+:

donnelly gretes

Chris Donnelly

Photo: Ben Ko

The CPTC 50+ men dominated again at Grete’s Great Gallop, outpacing runner-up WSX by nearly five minutes. Art Palmer and Alan Ruben finished second and third in the 55-59 age bracket to lead our scoring effort, while Yasuhiro Makoshi ran yet another 60-64 age group winner to close out the scoring. So what was merely a foregone conclusion earlier now becomes a statistical inevitability: with this race the 50+ men clinch their overall victory in the 2013 NYRR club points standings. Congrats to everyone who made it happen.

Despite oppressive 90% humidity and a warm 66 degrees at the start, Art posted his best age-graded performance of the year in an NYRR race. Art’s 1:24:28 was good for 83.55% and it’s a PR by 24 seconds, besting his 2012 NYC Half.

Alan Ruben came sweeping  in 13 seconds later (1:24:41/83.33% AG). Alan was seemingly no worse for wear and tear just a week after turning in one of his best age graded performances of the year in the Bronx 10 miler (1:02:11/85.34%AG). On what turned out to be a tough day for racing, just one runner in the 50-54 age group, DWRT’s Jonathon Kline, covered the 13.1 mile course faster than Art or Alan. WSX’s Cesar Estevez edged out our runners to win the 55-59 age group, but CPTC assembled a better scoring effort for its seventh club points win of the season.

Both Art and Alan also contributed to the 40+ scoring effort.  Speaking of double dippers, Yasuhiro (1:28:09/83.84% AG) rolled to his 20th consecutive 60-64 age group victory in 2013 while scoring for the 50+ men.  I had an eyewitness view; After a few miles of spirited back and forth, Yasuhiro finally breezed by me for good somewhere around mile 7, on the way to a solid negative split, trailed closely by BRCC’s Jack McShane.  These guys are inspiring.

In a supporting role, your humble narrator (Chris Donnelly) sneaks back into the 50-54 top ten, bettering the recent Philly Half by 2 minutes and barely trailing the final WSX scorer (1:29:28/ 75.48% AG).

 

From Hank Schiffman of the 60+:

CPTC 60+ men scored another first place, besting second place Taconic by 18 minutes. 6 of the 43 CPTC finishers were men 60+.

Perennial double dipper Yasuhiro Makoshi, 1:28:09, 83.84%, 11th age graded man overall, having fallen last week in a race injuring his knees, edged the near indomitable Jack McShane by 11 seconds for first place men 60-64.

My (Hank Schiffman) effort of 1:33:58, 80.93% was good for 5th age group. Slower than last year, I expected getting passed by all the talent that played picture cards 2 weeks earlier on the 5th Avenue Mile. Hats off to Coach Tony Ruiz for giving us track gears for closing on the finish line.

Allan Dias, our third scorer, ran 1:34:52, 78.63%, 7th in age group, his longest race to date.

Chris Neuhoff, our first back up ran 1:35:26, 78.16%, 8th in age group.

Kevin McGuire, our second backup, ran 1:56:15, 63.57%, 26th out of 75 for age group.

Rounding out the squad was Fred Trilli, running 2:16:24, 57.42%, 22nd out of 44 in his age group.

Dan Molloy ran 7 miles before calling it a day. Dan gets a gold star for showing up to run with a recent injury and having the good sense to drop out. There is no glory completing a race with an injury short of some meaningful renumeration.

Another tip of the hat to team members for great race side support.

Although temperatures were cool, it was not a day for personal best under the high humidity. Race conditions appear to have been a factor in performance. Each runner was one year older but, had all things been equal, age graded percentages should have been similar to last year. Only Chris improved his percentage, although he ran all of 2 seconds per mile slower.

2012                                                                2013

Yasuhiro          1:26:16            6:36     84.85%                        1:28:09            6:44     83.84%

Hank               1:31:43            7:01     82.11%                        1:33:58            7:11     80.93%

Chris                1:35:00            7:16     77.79%                        1:35:26            7:18     78.16%

Kevin              1:48:26            8:17     67.51%                        1:56:15            8:53     63.57%

Next up is the supreme sufferfest, the ING NYC Marathon. We have 3 starters: YasuhiroRick Shaver and me. What happens between now and the finish line is anyone’s guess. Yasuhiro is competitive, Rick is out to maintain his streak and I am hoping to catch lightning in a bottle. In perspective, we are doing just fine in the team point standings.

Our annual benefit is tentatively set for the evening of November 22nd. I’m volunteering to be a gofer in whatever capacity is needed.

The final race of the year is the Ted Corbitt 15k on Saturday, December 14th. It will be a first for me.

A reminder that the non-NYRR team spirit event is the USATF Masters 5k XC in Flemington, NJ on Oct 20th. We have a number of 60+ guys registered and hope to field a team. Plan on lunch together after the race. A few days of rain prior to the race and we will look like a rugby team at lunch.

A shout out to Rae BaymillerDan Hamner‘s Pygmalion and a privilege for us to have her run in orange and blue. She is writing in the sky with her feet, triple dipping; scoring first for CPTC women in 40+, 50+ and 60+.

 

Hank

 

Points Standings After the Fifth Avenue Mile

First: 50+, 60+

Second: 40+ (up from third)

Third: Open