2008-11-03
Ben Franklin Bridge 10K, NYC Marathon, C&D Canal Runfest
Ben Franklin Bridge Challenge 10K results
Pike Creek Valley Running Club sent ten participants to the Ben Franklin Bridge Challenge 10K in Camden, NJ on Sunday. The team did well, racking up over 383 points, finishing second in the team competition in the race and has a solid hold on second place in the USATF Road Series. It's great to see that Deborah Compton has recovered from her injuries and is rounding into form.
The next and last events are the Philadelphia Marathon and Half-Marathon and Rothman 8K on Sunday, Nov. 23. Being able to field a team for each event will insure that the club keeps second place in the series with a nice bonus check for the club's coffers. We need our best turnout of all the races to field teams for all three races. Contact Dean Coffin to coordinate at dean_delaware_aflac@yahoo.com.
Time Age Grade
COMPTON DEBORAH 48 24 81.853
TAGGART ROBERT 45 46 77.713
JAMES DAVID 42 3 76.694
KAUFFMAN THERESA 43 21 76.317
LOREN JOSH 37 49 71.000
COFFIN DEAN 42 31 68.875
JAKUBOWITCH ANDREW 39 36 67.971
SZYMANSKI RICHARD 45 57 63.729
HERMAN GERALD 58 50 58.810
HODUKAVICH SCOTT 50 29 58.006
New York City Marathon, C & D Marathon Run Fest
Among the 39,000+ participants in the New York Marathon on Sunday were three members of PCVRC. Congratulations to Chris James(3:15:02), Cynthia Webb (5:22:22) and Sharon Miner(6:02:55). Chris's time will qualify him for the Boston Marathon in 2010 when he is 35.
In contrast to the massive New York Marathon, the tiny C & D Marathon Run Fest took place, starting in St. Georges, DE below the looming bridge. Although the races grew marginally and the organizers attempted to improve the experience, they still need to tweak some problem areas. The one water stop, that all fours races hit, only had two volunteers and not enough water. Yet the water stops deep into the marathon, with 53 participants, had three or four people each, who mostly had nothing to do. Even more egregious was the fact that the turn-off for the 10K to return to St. Georges and the turn-around point for the half-marathon were not clearly marked and the volunteers manning those points were not emphatic in announcing the what people should be doing.
Kelly Horowitz, who was the female winner of the half-marathon is 2007 with a time of 1:32+, was in a hard footrace with another woman at the four mile point. As this writer approached the half-marathon turn-around(at about mile 9.5), they were not to be seen. The first female was someone I hadn't previously noted. Perhaps, I thought, my mind was already getting bleary about the details. Sadly, as I continued on the marathon course, I came upon Kelly and the other woman at mile 14, walking, apparently having gone all the way to the marathon turnaround at 16 miles.
This was a travesty, as either woman would have bested the time of the female winner(1:41) by eight to ten minutes.
This writer entered the marathon as a training run, having completed another marathon three weeks ago. I am of the opinion that no marathon which primarily occurs on a gravel road should be advertised as "fast". Plus with several sharp climbs when the course veered off of the road along the canal, it's not "flat" either. Nevertheless, I knew that none of the people in my age-group who placed last year had returned. So I kept chugging on to the end with a 4:15:49 and actually won the age-group. Starting out more conservatively than usual, 44 of the 53 marathoners were ahead of me by the three mile turn-around. I passed 15 of them by the end.
John Schultz has spent some time with his relatives in New York recently and has been phoning his race results from up there into the News-Journal. Of note, was his first place men 70+ finish in the After The Leaves Have Fallen Trail Race 20K with a time of 2:15:36.
Run for Your Lives! Thanks to Ralph McKinney for pointing out the article by Dr. Sanjay Gupta in the Nov. 3 issue of Time Magazine. Dr. Gupta reports on a long-term study, begun in the mid-1980s when running was called jogging. Read the article so that you can dispell the ideas many non-runners have that running is bad for you, particularly your joints. It's not true and here is the evidence to prove it.
See article
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Run, Race, Enjoy!
