Report from Laurence Go of the 40+:
Springtime for most is signaled with budding trees, tulip bulbs poking through the soil and the sound of birds singing. For us it’s the start of the road race season and the Washington Heights 5K. The temperature at the beginning of the race was springlike in the low 40s but unfortunately the whipping wind reminded us winter was still with us.
We had a couple of late scratches but others were able to step up. We placed solidly in 3rd with a combined time of 50:58 which was 22 seconds faster than last year.
Peter Brady
Photo: Nigel Francis
Our top scorers were:
Peter Brady – 16:38
Cary Segall – 17:02
Brad Kelley – 17:18
David Alm (17:19) our co-captain was right behind in 4th
Cary Segall had this to day about his race when asked if this was a NYRR 5k PR:
That could be right as this was only the 3rd time I have ever run a 5k. As you know, I am a longer distance guy so never have 5k’s on my radar. Nevertheless, I am healthy, it fit within my Boston training cycle, and I wanted to represent the masters team so decided to give it a shot. I had little expectations going in as I have been running 80+ mile weeks along with hard 20 milers, including the Saturday a week before where I ran 6:10 pace for 2 hours. Also, I have limited my speed work in favor of 1 hour tempos so my turnover is definitely laking. I could tell from the start that my legs were heavy so basically locked in at 5:30 pace throughout and just wanted to walk away healthy. The course is tough with the hills and I never enjoy running fast downhill as my big frame takes extra pounding. I would say that my 17:02 was in line with expectations given my current training so definitely not disappointed. It was a fun race and great support from CPTC.
Notable PRs (according to the NYRR database)
Osvaldo Martinez – 18:11 – First race with CPTC! Congrats and welcome!
Thierry Soudee – 18:22 – 6 second PR
Stephen Curtis – 18:28 – when asked about his race:
A Washington height 5k PR but by no means a 5k PR, I have run 1 min quicker over the distance! I’ll take encouragement from chipping away at my wash 5k best but did think I’d run quicker. I really do not do well on this course and admire those that do. One day perhaps I’ll target it and not do the tempo workout the Thursday before!
Landry Da Tereas – 19:21- 5 second PR
Larry Go – 20:50 – 10 second course PR
Thiago Benelli – 22:17 – a massive 2:07 PR!
Congrats to everyone! A great start to the season. Now its onward to the Healthy Kidney 10K.
Larry
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Report from Chris Donnelly of the 50+:
The Washington Heights 5K – Coogan’s to most of us – is always one helluva rollercoaster ride to open the racing season after hunkering down for the winter. But winter’s grip is slow to loosen, so even if it was 20 degrees warmer than a year ago, well that was still pretty chilly. And windy. This race is so much like cross country, a narrow challenging ribbon of a course that upsets your rhythm.
David Greenberg
Photo: John Tran
David sums it up:
Coogan’s feels to me like a final exam in a difficult subject – it takes a lot of work to prepare, there is always something you don’t get right, the competition is very tough, and at the end you are equal parts glad it’s over and gratified for having done it.
My goals for the race were to go hard in the uphill from 1.3 to 2, and then race someone the last downhill K. Both worked out well. I ran faster than last year and had the chance to race someone in my age group the last mile or so. I’ll see you at the next one, Jonathan Schindel [UA’s third scorer nipped barely edged out David with an 18:05].
It was a rude awakening to see how fast the 50-54 is. It took an 86.6% race (our own Brad Kelley) to medal this year. The average bronze medal AG score for the other adult categories at Washington Heights was 77%. If you can make it here…
Amid competition that was stiffer than that awful wind heading up toward the first hill, CPTC’s 50+ men took a very satisfying second place behind UA’s superstar squad. Congrats to all who, ran especially David Greenberg who vaulted onto the 50+ top 10 list with this one. Together Brad Kelley, David Greenberg, and Michael Nolan racked up a time of 54:20, besting the squad’s 56:17 result last year. Both Brad and Michael improved on last year’s times.
UA, taking first, posted the fastest 50+ aggregate time I could find rifling through the NYRR results archives, besting the prior best time they put up last year. CPTC’s 2018 time represents the fourth fastest aggregate result by any 50+ team on this course (CPTC’s 2009 effort was in the top 3, historically). That’s how elevated the level of competition has become in 50+ over the past year. We’ve got a lot of work to do.
Moreover, there was plenty of individual competition within the age brackets; Brad placed third in the 50-54 age bracket, at 17:18, while David’s 18:08 was good for fifth and at 18:54 Michael took ninth place.
Brad:
Great seeing so many teammates and the Open men flying. A toothache, antibiotics, and an A train that got me to the start without warmup 2 minutes to 9 all lined up against me but I am happy the result. It was hard to get going but despite the slow start I finished strong. Highlights of the day for me were running stride for stride with David Alm, seeing Coach T break 20 and conversing with Dmitriy on a long warm down. I wish I had time to make some workouts because there really is no substitute but work, family and commute are not playing nicely. I believe there is no local club that gets more out of its members across the board. See all soon.
Michael:
Great to hear that David Greenberg nailed a top-10 all-time performance. I was pretty happy with my race, given the day. I’ve only run that race a few times and find the start to be tricky. Even with the staggers it was crowded, and during the first half mile I felt like I was spending much effort avoiding others. Combined with the longish gradual uphill, I think I went out too slowly. Anyway, I was able to settle in to a good pace and it was nice to have the wind at our backs for the second half. I have to say thanks to Kenny Tso who helped pull me along – the only reason I was able to keep pace with him is that he had just returned from an injury so is getting back into shape. But as a result, my time was a few seconds faster than last year and my AG was > 78%, I think for the first time.
Rob Neal, who spent the winter posting a long string of solid indoor track results, closed out the top 10 for 50-54 men, crossing the line at 19:27.
As Brad observed, Tony Ruiz was indeed mixing it up on the road. As he explained at the Armory a couple of days later, on this 20th anniversary of his coaching the team he was feeling the itch to get out there and contribute on the road. Tony took sixth in the 55-59 age group at 19:47, for a better than 78% AG effort. Go Tony!
Casey Yamazaki finished just out of the 55-59 top 10, posting a 21:20, while John Affleck (21:39), barely edged out Charles Parchment (21:40), who observed “a not too good one for my first try at this course.” Charles, this course is a tough one, don’t look to the road, compare this to Van Cortlandt instead.
John:
A rare appearance by me. The wind made it icy cold but I liked the staggered start — lot less gear-switching in the first mile. Great to see my teammates!
Chris Donnelly crossed the line some time later (23:21), limping a bit from the downhills and hoping for better.
Chris:
I didn’t have enough good training under my belt to run fast or effectively but my goal was modest (to feel good about my effort). I was happy all the same to be out there again after many months off racing. The staggered start really made a difference this year; I don’t think I got elbowed once. And for Coogan’s that’s a record. This is a most physical race. Just seeing how large a squad we field every time, the attitude, the effort, it’s just the greatest feeling to be part of this team.
Oscar Garcia followed at 23:31, and Bob Markinson ran 24:21. Superstar photographer Andy Kiss closed it out for CPTC with a 30:48.
There you have it. Drama. Competition. Achievement. Congrats to the open women for first place and the men in second, as well as podium finishes for the 40+ and 60+ men, and the 60+ women.
Onto the sold-out Healthy Kidney 10K, so go Orange!
Chris D
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Report from Hank Schiffman of the 60+:
Anyone recall a tie for position in a team point race? Both CPTC and Brooklyn RR ran the same time for 2nd place in this year’s 2018 Washington Heights 5k. Coach Devon said NYRR does not tie races. Sylvie thought they would give the better place to the team that has the fastest scorer. Alan Ruben, the fastest scorer, thought NYRR would settle by going to tenths and hundredths of seconds. It has been settled without having to do so on the field of honor in Weehawken at dawn with pistols. We don’t know the mechanism, but NYRR has awarded us 2nd, giving 3rd to Brooklyn RR. That translates to 3 big points in the team point race to our good.
Thus:
Taconic RR 1:01:14, first.
CPTC: 1:03:32, second.
Brooklyn RR: 1:03:32, third.
Witold’s: 1:06:04, fourth.
Alan Ruben, 20:23, 3rd in age group out of 97, to serious competition of the first 2 runners, both of Taconic RR, just 4 seconds behind Steve Calidonna. The 5k is a speed bump to Alan as he is putting in 70 mile weeks for Boston and the NY Half. But it is a monster as your first race in recovery.
Art Palmer, 21:23, 10th in same age group. Art is emerging from injury; great to see him coming back to his old, strong self.
Hank Schiffman, 21:46 (21:23 last year)/ 78.58% (79.25% last year), 1st in age group out of 70.
Hank:
Goodness, where did they come up with 69 other guys 65 to 69 to run this without finding one who would average under a 7:00 per mile pace?
I thought the start with each corral having its own start worked out well. A nice touch would be to have monitors with the time for each corral listed on each.
Thankful for better weather than last year.
Kevin McGuire, 23:47 (23:57 last year)/71.24% (69.55% last year), 6th in same age group. Bless Kevin, he had to be the first one up in our 60+ men this morning.
Kevin:
First race of the season is like the season opener at Yankee Stadium. Cool and crisp.
Great 2nd place for the team and with some looming “almost” 60 year olds moving up we should get stronger.
Was happy with my race. Kept a slightly better pace and AG % than.last year.
Great company in the coral with Dan, Sylvie and Barbara. The staggered starts help.
Dan Molloy, 27:49, 28th in same age group, just returning to running after injury.