2015 Team Season Report
By Team Coordinator Tom Steenkamer:
First Place in 2015 MAUSATF Grand Prix Series!
The club’s DDC15k kicked off the fall portion of the season. PCVRC fielded the largest team (18 USATF members) out of the 10 participating clubs. We had great race efforts and 11 age group award winners. In the USATF age graded results (used for the club competition) our combined top 5 scores were very good, however Greater Philadelphia won the day by 4 points.
The Radnor 5 mile run was held 2 weeks later on October 25th. The race presents a strong test for runners competing over the very hilly terrain around Radnor township. The club typically sends a small team to this event since it is only a week before the Ben Franklin 10k bridge race. The 8 members from PCVRC ran very well with 5 age group award winners, however GPTC won the day again in the club competition.
Entering the Ben Franklin 10k Bridge run on Sunday Nov. 1st PCVRC trailed Greater Philly by 8.42 points. We were greeted by great weather and minimal wind compared to the past 2 years. Once again the club had several great performances at this race with 8 age group award winners. Our team had the best team score for the day from the 10 competing clubs. At the end of this race we would be trailing GPTC by only 1.9 points.
The final weekend of competition is always dynamic. The Grand Prix rules permit teams to compete in any of the 3 Philadelphia Marathon weekend races – 8k, Half and Full and clubs can use their 15 top scores to create 3 team scores. PCVRC focused our efforts on the 8k which historically has produced fast times and high age grade scores. We had 16 participants in the weekend races with 14 in the 8k and 2 in the half marathon.
Led by Chris Warren, Mike DiGennaro, Chuck Crabb, Greg Cauller and Brenda Hodge, our 1st team all scored over 83%. We also had a 2nd team score that was outstanding. (Age Grades > 80% are considered nationally competitive, while DiGennaro’ s 87% AG is closer to the 90% world class level.)
The end result is another amazing year for PCVRC in the Grand Prix series – 1st place! We closed by outpacing 2ndplace GPTC by 25 points in the final weekend.
Thank you for commitment to the USATF series and your continued support of the PCVRC USATF team.
2nd Place in 2015 MAUSATF Of-Road Series!
The 2015 Mid Atlantic USATF season concluded with the final off-road race of the season on Thanksgiving Weekend.
The 31st annual Delaware Open Cross Country 5k championships are always well attended by PCVRC members and this year was no exception.
The conditions were ideal with temperatures in the mid 40s and no wind. For those of you familiar with Brandywine Creek State Park you will recall that the NO wind situation is a rarity for this race. There were 16 club members in attendance and several happy cash and random give away winners. Our team finished the day in first place out of the 6 competing mid Atlantic clubs competing.
In the Off – Road season long club challenge PCVRC finished in 2nd place!
Award Winners
In addition to the club competition PCVRC had several individual award winners for 2015.
Off-Road Age Group awards: Lisa Jalot, Mark Hannagan, Paul Randolph, Greg Cauller, Tom Steenkamer
Grand Prix Age Group awards: Sarah Rusk, Lynn Knothe, Brenda Hodge, Amy Blithe, Sheri Sweigart, Carole Feole, Betty Olmstead, Chris Warren, Andy Weaver, Mike DiGennaro, Chuck Crabb, Greg Cauller, Tom Steenkamer
In the Grand Prix series the top 10 individuals with highest average age grades for their top 5 events are also recognized.
PCVRC members – Brenda Hodge 1st, Carole Feole 5th, Sheri Sweigart 10th, Chuck Crabb 1st, Greg Cauller, 3rd, Tom Steenkamer 4th
Congrats, all!