From Greg Cass of the Open:

Just two weekends after taking on a half marathon in Brooklyn, the NYRR club points series continued with the humid Retro 4-Miler back in the friendly and familiar confines of Central Park.  The Open Men were not distracted by NYRR’s gimmicks and continued its strong start to the 2016 season (though kudos to NYRR for those gimmicks – they really went all-in on the retro theme – costumes, the lead vehicle, post-race handouts, and even swapping out each mile’s time clock for an employee with a manual watch).  The Open Men showed off its impressive depth by using only one scorer from the BK Half squad on the team that took third place.

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Greg Cass

Photo: Nigel Francis

For the second time in as many races, Eddie Mulder lead the team, securing a coveted President’s Circle spot with his impressive 19:48.  Potentially the greatest compliment on Eddie’s current fitness is that his sub-20 was no surprise, even with the humid conditions.  Greg Cass came through next in 20:46, not quite a PR but faster than what he ran earlier this year at a 4-miler in Brooklyn.  In his own words – “If I had run a fast downhill 4th mile, this could have been a very good race, but I was still happy with a good result after dropping the BK Half around mile 5 because I hadn’t quite chased Boston out of my legs.”

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Ryan Scrudato

Photo: Nigel Francis

Ryan Scrudato was our next finisher, continuing his solid spring with a 20:59.  In addition to his strong performances in NYRR races, Ryan also won the Unite Rutgers Half Marathon with a 1:11:05, nearly a 90s improvement from a PR he had set a few weeks prior at the NYC Half.  Peter Brady finished in the 4th spot with a 21:06.  The men’s open team is always thrilled to see Peter line up for a road race – even if he is most impressive on the track where he’s a national champion, he’s also a reliable road scorer (…and the fact that he consistently double dips for both the 40+ and open teams is all the more impressive).  Taylor Burmeister, another consistent and reliable scorer, filled out the scoring team with a 21:17.  This is already Taylor’s second time scoring for the squad in this year’s series.

Congrats to the whole team for impressive performances on Sunday, and congrats to our track and field athletes for some amazing performances this spring as well.  The NYRR club points series continues later this month with the FRNY LGBT Pride Run.  I hope to see everyone out there, and if you were shut out of registration for that race, make sure you secure your spot in the rest of the year’s scoring races before they sell out!

From David Greenberg of the 40+:

The CPTC 40+ men cleared an important hurdle at the Retro 4 by climbing into second place in the points competition.  After four races we are hanging close to points leaders Urban Athletics.

Unofficial standings after Retro are:

Urban Athletics: 47

CPTC: 37

West Side: 36

And with each team’s two worst races subtracted:

Urban: 30

CPTC: 27

West Side: 24

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Peter Brady

Photo: Nigel Francis

The team was second on the day, with scorers Peter Brady (21:06/86.63%/2nd AG), Matt DeAngelis (22:17/80.20%/7th AG) and Brad Kelley (22:23/84.94%/2nd AG).

Race of the day honors go to the very pointiest end of the orange spear: Peter Brady. Not only was his race a four mile PR, his best ever age graded score in Central Park, a double dip with the open team and #6 on the all-time 40+ CPTC list for four miles, but it shows Peter’s outstanding sportsmanship.

As most of you know, Peter’s focus is the track: he is a national champion in the 40-44 800 meters. But when he heard the road team needed help for the Retro race, even though he is in the middle of track season, he volunteered to race. While I don’t think he went in intending to PR, that makes the day even sweeter. We would have finished third if Peter had not volunteered.

Peter:

My goal was to run it as a hard tempo, targeting 5:15 pace. Splits were: 5:15,5:11,5:29,5:11 for a total time of 21:06. Miles 1 and 3 are uphill, which explains the uneven splits. Very happy with the effort. I was working but not pushing all out and didn’t bother trying to kick the last half mile- just wanted to maintain a steady effort. I think this is actually my 4 mile PR, which is mostly a testimony to never having run a good 4 mile race.

Matt DeAngelis made his 2016 points debut with a lifetime four mile PR.

Matt:

Awesome to see us moving up in the ranks for 40+!!

 As for my race, I had a Masters PR of 1 min 24 sec – solid effort on the day and was pleased with my race.   It was nice to be able to contribute to the team scoring – hope there are more of those this summer.

Third scorer was double dipper extraordinaire 50-year-old Brad Kelley. No need to write much about his dedication to the team: Brad leads the squad by scoring in three races so far. This race was his best ever AG% score in a Central Park race, and a masters PR for four miles.

Brad:

This time last year I was lying on my floor at home taking a week off from work and 2 months off from training with a fracture in my lower spine after finishing the retro. So for this year’s race pretty much any result that did not involve abject misery I consider a victory.  My plan was to run hard but not fall apart between mile 2 and 3 as that is the killer part of the race. I went through 2 miles in 11:10 according to my Garmin and set up to attack the hills. nope…5:54 next mile and the wheels were coming off. I was able to salvage the last downhill mile in 5:28 and was able to chop 5 seconds off last year’s race and feel good about the effort. My age adjusted time was 19:55 so it’s nice to dip under 20 minutes in the adjusted 50 year old category.  Peter Brady also got stuck behind a few slowpokes at the start and I was able to lead him for about 75 yards…so that in itself was a victor for me! Looks like since superman (Paul Thompson) joined Urban Athletics the 50’s and 40’s of all other clubs have their work cut out. Congratulations to all who ran and dealt with the humidity, next stop queens 5k in flat flushing meadow…see all on the roads 🙂

 

Behind the scorers was a big plate full of good races and personal bests. The weather was steamy but it didn’t slow down many CPTCers.

Several of us set masters PRs for four miles in the NYRR database:

Mohammed Lahseni (22:37/82.10%/2nd AG)

Eduardo Ribeiro Ferreira (22:49/78.33%/9th AG)

Jeff Garnett (24:56/72.25%/27th AG)

Special credit to Tim Stockert, who spent a month in Asia, returned to a NY starting line having run just once in 30 days and promptly ripped off a 23:58/79.29%/9th AG, just half a percent behind his best four mile AG% ever. I think we’ll see some very fast races from Tim the rest of the year, to match his 1:20:00 at the NYC Half.

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Tim Stockert, Rob Neal, David Greenberg

Photo: Nigel Francis

Top 10s in the age groups:

Peter Brady: 2nd 40-44

Brad Kelley: 2nd 50-54

Mohammed Lahseni: 2nd 45-49

David Greenberg: 5th 45-49

Daniel Ifcher: 6th 45-49

Matt DeAngelis: 7th 40-44

Eduardo Ribeiro Ferreira: 9th 40-44

Tim Stockert: 9th 45-49

David:

I ran the first mile slower than normal, expecting the humidity to take a wet, heavy toll later in the race. But I felt good at around the 1.5 mile mark so I went to full race effort and was able to muscle through that hilly third mile better than usual. I actually set a lifetime Strava PR coming down the West Side and closed in 5:38. I think the slow start on a hot day paid off in a big way.  Special thanks to Jim McQuade and Brad Weiss for giving me a mental shove in the last mile.

Daniel:

This is a new race, and it’s becoming one of my favorites…  It’s the old school in me, although I did not wear retro gear this year.  I have a few old things but not good for hot, sticky weather, so I went in uniform today.  

 I entered the race hoping to run sub-24 and maybe even get closer to 23 than 24 and I was close with a 23:34.  I knew that if I had a chance to see a time like that I needed a pretty quick start, so I fought all my instincts to start slow and followed a few CPTCers in the first mile which clicked off at 5:54.  Mile 2 is a fast mile and it was for me, I was ‘warmed up’ and it went by in 5:45.  It’s that Mile 3 that’s hard and where I lost some time running that just over 6, and finished in w a 5:48.

 This is the same time – exactly – as last year, and just a few seconds off my masters PR.  I missed the elusive 80% AG by 1/100th, I’ve hit that mark a few times and that’s another goal for me in general for races.  Close enough!  

 Great to see and run with team mates throughout the race, and thank to those cheering – Go Orange!

Outside of NYRR events, CPTCers have had some great success recently.

Dan Gay podiumed at the USATF 50 Mile Trail championship, third in the 40-44.

Dan:

 I was 32nd overall and 3rd V40-45. I was 7th overall at halfway but died in the heat and struggled to eat or drink much for the last 25 miles – it hit about 80 degrees from 11am onwards.

CPTC has maintained a beachhead at the highly competitive Ridgewood Mile for several years, and this was no exception: Peter Brady won the masters 5k in 16:11 and was 3rd in the masters mile. Sherman Lau was fourth in the masters mile.

Participation statistics:

Scoring Races:

David Alm: 4

David Greenberg: 4

Michael Caggia: 3

Shane Campbell: 3

Coleman Cowan: 3

Jeff Garnett: 3

Daniel Ifcher: 3

Brad Kelley: 3

John Milone: 3

Tim Stockert: 3

 

Scorers:

Brad Kelley: 3

David Greenberg: 2

Eric Lattin: 2

Peter Brady: 1

Coleman Cowan: 1

Matt DeAngelis:1

Josh Rayman: 1

Tim Stockert: 1

 

From Chris Donnelly of the 50+:

Sunday’s NYRR Retro 4 miler was aptly named as every hotshot 50+ runner we could think of was back on the road, tearing it up like the years hadn’t happened. And if the threat of rain and oppressive humidity held some folks back, you wouldn’t know from the top finishers’ times. And you know what? For us 50+ folks there’s no ironic nostalgia for unremembered days gone by. We lived it. Peter Ciacca, at the finish line in tie dyed shirt, shades and a bandana (Bold look, by the way)? Been there.  That runner dude rocking the Mark Spitz mustache? Done that. Micro shorts? Done, done, done. Heck, the current CPTC competition shorts are tiny as any fashion felony we wore to the track in 1980.
Remember when? I thought so. Back to the future….
Against a competitive landscape now fundamentally reordered by Paul Thompson’s move to Urban Athletics, CPTC’s 50+ men came away with a satisfying third place finish. That’s good enough to keep us on top of the 2016 Club Points leader board for now, but spirited competition in the coming months with teams like UA and the Dashing Whippets will make 2016 a season to remember.
The Retro four miler wasn’t the only race last weekend where the 50+men made their mark. Our own Budd Heyman took second place in the open Clydesdale division in the Kenny Dolan 5k in Prospect Park. Over the past six years Budd has racked up an impressive four first place Clydesdale finishes and two second place results in the Dolan 5k. Congrats Budd!
Meanwhile back at the Retro run, Brad Kelley again led the CPTC effort, crossing the line in 22:33, for second place among men 50-54 behind Thompson. Brad’s time represents a whopping 84.91% AG, consistent with his other races since turning 50 a few months ago.
Steve Menlove, already a big contributor to the team effort this year,  was second for CPTC, running 24:36, for 80.38% AG. Of Sunday’s fearsome competition Steve observes that while he was eighth among men 50-54, he’d drop to 14th in a 50-59 bracket, given some of the swift times posted in the 55-59 group.
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Chris Donnelly
Photo: Nigel Francis
Chris Donnelly rounded out the scoring effort at 25:17, good for 14th place among men 50-54, in his best age graded performance of the year, at 78.23%.
Alan Ruben was next for us at 25:28 (80.93% AG) to take eighth place in a 55-59 age bracket stacked with 55- and 56-year olds.
Ron Romano finished 26:37 (74:91% AG) good for 14 in the 55-59 competition.
Toshiki Ikehata was back in action, at 27:15 (70.83% AG), in the best age graded performance of his three club points outings this year.
Andre Lejeune, recovered from his Brooklyn Half ordeal, came through at 27:39 (69.25% AG)
Art Palmer and Mikal Scott are slowly getting back into shape. Art ran a successful tempo at 27:47 (74.2%), while Mikal ran 27:56 (71.94%).
50+ stalwart Dennis O’Donnell ran 28:22 (72.66% AG).
David Blumel running his first race for CPTC at age 59, came away with a 29:32 (69.82% AG) while nursing an injury. For those of you not in the know, David took an age group first place in the Fred Lebow Cross Country Championships in Van Cortlandt Park last November and he’s been a familiar presence on the East 6th Street track in recent months. Welcome aboard, David.
Bob Markinson rounds out the 50+ effort, running 30:19 65.23% AG).
 Four races into the season, CPTC sits atop the 50+ standings, with 52 pts, Dashing Whippets are nipping at our heels with 51 points. With their first-place Retro finish, UA vaults all the way to third place, with 32 points. It’s a long way to the finish line, folks.

From Hank Schiffman of the 60+:

Our 60+ men had a remarkable turnout for NYRR’s flattest team point race of the season. Many of our old guard toed the line, shared the day, fought the good fight, perspired buckets and smiled ear to ear chatting after the race. 
We took our game to the best in this year’s Retro 4 miler. 
 1 Brooklyn Road Runners Club  01:19:48
    John Shostrom 26:13
    Jack McShane         26:27
    Douglas Currier         27:08
  2 Taconic Road Runners Club   01:21:56
    Kenneth Pfaff             25:08
    Timothy Delaney      28:16
    Joseph Porcaro         28:32
  3 CPTC New Balance        01:22:09
    Yasuhiro Makoshi      26:55
    Hank Schiffman         27:12
    Bob Holliday             28:02
It was an honorable 3rd, losing to Taconic Road Runners by all of 15 seconds with their 62 year old super star running first place men 60-64. We had a medley of motivated runners with back up on the top end. Thus Gary Gosselin, one of our big guns running a fine race, was our 4th finisher. There were surprises at both ends of our spectrum with Yasuhiro Makoshi, our first scorer, in ascendancy but run as training while Fred Trilli toed the line in defiance of cranky knees. Bob Holliday, our 3rd scorer, returned after 2 years hiatus, back in New York from the Windy City. Chairman of the Board, George Hirsch, tied for 2nd oldest runner among men with that other legend of foot racing, Witold Bialokur, but was still 3rd from our last finisher. Rounding out our roster were team faithfuls: Kevin McGuire, Phil Vasquez, Chip Olsen and Dave Delano. 
Although this is only the second year this race has been on our list, only 3 of our 10 runners did not run it last year. With so many repeats we can compare age graded percents between the 2 years to see how race conditions affected performance. Last year the weather was ideal; this year humidity was evident. Rain threatened but never materialized en route. Wind was not a factor. NYRR changed the WMA tables from 2006/2010 used last year to the current 2015. The result is a deflation of age graded percentages. In listing times last years AG%, I’ve take the liberty of using the new values for last year’s times. Incidentally, the poorer readings of the this year’s Brooklyn Half’s AG% reflected the older WMA values.
Yasuhiro Makoshi, 26:55, 79.3% AG, 5th in age group.
Hank Schiffman, 27:12, 80.62% down from 83.75% last year, 25:56, 1st in age group.
Bob Holliday, 28:02, 77.49%, 3rd in age group.
Gary Gosselin, 28:11, 74.44%, up from 73.76% last year, 28:11 (identical!), 10th in age group.
Kevin McGuire, 29:42, 72.45%, up from 70.42% last year, 30:34, 19th in age group.
Phil Vasquez, 32:11, 66.3%, down from 67.53% last year, 31:19, 24th in age group.
Chip Olsen, 32:55, 67.83%, down from 68.37% last year, 32:21, 19th in age group.
George Hirsch, 36:40, 75.81%, down from 78.72% last year, 34:26, 2nd in age group,
Dave Delano, 37:07, 60.77%, up from 56.25% last year, 39:41, 30th in age group.
Fred Trilli, 43:02, 53.00%, 14th in age group.
Averaging the WMA AG% of our 7 repeat runners for both years the total averages come to 71.26% for last year, and 71.27% for this year; a statistical dead heat. We might conclude: the 2015 WMA algorithm has validity, that we are consistent athletes, and weather was not a factor.
Hank:
I was surprised that Juan Villafane of WSX was but 3 seconds behind me. He has bettered me more than once in the past. Many thanks to Coach Tony for encouragement along the way and the gears for the dash to the finish from his practice on Tuesdays. There is no substitute to the ability to pick up the pace on the approach to the line. Finishing strong is not overrated.
Bob: 
After a series of injuries, it was fun to be at the starting line of a race for the first time since Thanksgiving, 2013.  I had no idea of pace but I knew exactly where all those Central Park hills were. I told myself that if I could get to mile 3 at W 86th, then I would enjoy the friendly terrain to the finish. I was getting ready to do just that when I heard Coach Tony’s voice from the sidelines.  He didn’t tell me to pick it up. He didn’t say I was looking good. He said only one word and it was exactly the perfect word. (That’s why he’s the coach.)  Compete!  So I had no choice but to scrap my plans to relax. And at the finish line I appreciated reconnecting with several of the runners that I have met over the years during my all-too-brief summers in NYC.
Kevin: 
It is always a pleasure to see our teammates anytime but especially at club races. Game faces and smiles before and after tell how lucky we are.  
My time was off a bit from last year but managed to stay above 70% so I will take it.  
I am rapidly approaching the next age group (gulp 65+) and plan to just keep showing up.
Dave:
The Retro 4 was my official return.  The first time in over two years I was able to sustain my effort for the entire race.  Passed all the water stations! Back over 60% AG!  Feeling great about feeling good!  Watch out all you 70-74 year-old farts…I’m there in 9 weeks!