Adrenalin 5K & Caesar Rodney times and USATF results
Pike Creek Valley RC had an excellent turn-out at both of the MA-USATF events held this weekend. The results for the MA-USATF races are printed below. These weekend was unique in that two of the MA-USATF races took place. So for this one-time circumstance, the scores for both events were combined as one event. If a runner competed in both, the higher age-grade was counted if it was among the top five club score; a second score by the same runner in the top five did not count and the next person’s age-grade was used. This combined event yielded 11 teams which qualified, which is most likely the highest number of teams yet competing to score in a MA-USATF event and there were several other teams which did not meet all of the qualifying thresholds.

Currently, after this first event, PCVRC stands sixth out of the eleven scored teams with 402.743 points. Currently in first is new team Moorestown District Running Project with 416+. However, it remains to be seen whether all of these teams will continue to turn out for the series races. Several teams, which appear to be organized around running stores, usually have a good showing at the Adrenaline 5K and, thereafter, participation in the other events is spotty. One new team is the Athena Track Club, comprised of husband and wife, Greg Watson and Cecily Tynan, who were the male and female masters winners of the Caesar Rodney Half-Marathon, plus Julie Hankin and Lorraine Jasper – two good long-time female area runners – and eighty year-old Patrick Nutt. It’s is questionable that this team will stay in the points chase through the series also.

Thanks to all PCVRC participants! Next up is the off-road 10K at the Tyler Arboreteum. The Valley Forge Five Miler is the next Road Series race.

USATF AGE GRADE COMBINED RESULTS
David James – 18:20 86.000 ADR
Epi Camacho – 1:25:54 80.694 ROD
Deborah Compton – 24:12 80.165 ADR
Thomas Steenkamer – 1:26:35 77.998 ROD
Robert Taggart – 22:23 77.885 ADR
Deborah Compton – 1:53:24 76.102 ROD
Theresa Kauffman – 21:22 75.819 ADR
Dirk Sweigart – 19:55 74.059 ADR
Carole Feole – 1:43:18 73.088 ROD
William Kauffman – 1:33:19 72.995 ROD
Theresa Kauffman – 1:39:33 72.359 ROD
Dirk Sweigart – 1:34:16 71.022 ROD
Kelly Horowitz – 1:34:44 70.162 ROD
Dean Coffin – 30:34 69.449 ADR
David McCorquodale – 2:00:38 63.650 ROD
Raymond Christensen – 1:44:01 63.291 ROD
Mudhillun Muqaribu – 1:34:26 62.707 ROD
Connie Montana – 1:56:45 61.085 ROD
Daniel Weintraub – 1:53:32 59.997 ROD
John Schultz – 32:49 59.929 ADR
Michael Peyton – 1:45:55 59.182 ROD
Jack Horowitz – 1:54:26 57.530 ROD
Tara Huang – 1:55:53 56.810 ROD
Ralph McKinney – 29:58 55.951 ADR
John Schultz – 2:44:08 54.478 ROD

Haddonfield (N.J.) Adrenaline 5K
David James – 18:20 1st 55-59
Dirk Sweigart – 19:55
Dean Coffin – 20:34
Theresa Kauffman – 21:22
Bob Taggart – 22:23 2nd 65-69
Deborah Compton – 24:12 1st 60-64
Ralph McKinney – 29:45
John Schultz – 32:49 3rd 70+

Caesar Rodney Half-Marathon
(used band time, not gun time, mainly so I wouldn’t have a time over 2 hrs)
Mark Vilardo – 1:12:05 1st 35-39 4th Overall
Thomas Steenkamer – 1:26:35
Adam Shilling – 1:32:04
Wes Stafford – 1:33:39
Dirk Sweigart – 1:34:10
Chris James – 1:34:24
Kelly Horowitz – 1:34:31
Ryan German – 1:34:42
Theresa Kauffman – 1:39:31 3rd 45-49
Dan Simmons – 1:40:10 3rd 60-64
Tony Chelpaty – 1:42:02
Carole Feole – 1:43:14 3rd 50-54
Dave Farren – 1:43:21
Ray Christensen – 1:43:44
Epi Camacho – 1:47:54
Claire Neilan – 1:49:33
John Hand – 1:50:57
Lorri Fencer – 1:51:09
Deborah Compton – 1:53:16 2nd 60-64
Dan Weintraub – 1:53:24
Jack Horowitz – 1:53:54
Mark Lozier – 1:54:50
Tara Huang – 1:55:33
Connie Montana – 1:55:53
Florian Nettlesheim – 1:57:00
Dave McCorquodale – 1:59:42 2nd 65-69
Bruce Hubbard – 2:01:47
Elena Kupchik – 2:07:24
Rudy Antonini – 2:13:36
Lenora Wagner – 2:23:47
Jerry Herman – 2:30:14
John Schultz – 2:43:31

Caesar Rodney Teams with Pike Creek runners (accumulated time of top five finishers):
Rebel Pikers – 3rd Male Open – 8:40:56
Rebel Creekers – 1st Female Open – 8:56:08

Join us at Boston Send-off Party 4/14
Not sure how many club members actually are signed up for Boston this year after the early close-out last November. But this get-together is more a welcoming of the spring running season and a good reason to get together to swap running tales and future racing goals. We will again be meeting at the Hunter’s Den, 3517 Old Capitol trail, Wilmington, DE 19808. As always we have this of the last Wednesday evening before the Boston Marathon, this year April 14, from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m.

DE Sports Club Boston Bus
From Tom Fort: Delaware Sports Club’s Boston Bus Trip – We have about 10 seats left on the Boston Bus. We are relaxing the requirements in order to fill the seats. At this point, any one can join us and take in the Boston Marathon celebration. The only limit, we do not want bandits. Please contact Doug White for more information or to make a reservation. 302-588-4880 First come- first served.

Josh wins Catalina!
An item overlooked in the last bulletin: Congratulations to Josh Loren who won the Catalina Marathon on Catalina Island, California. This is a race run on gravel surfaces with constant elevation changes. Everyone describes the scenery as breathtaking. Josh won in a time of 3:02:04, bettering the second finisher by two and a half minutes.

Broad Street Run closing soon
Ralph McKinney reports that online registration for the Broad Street Run 10 Miler to be held on May 2 will probably close by next Thursday. However, it will still be possible to do mail-in registration.

Rome Marathon PCVRC runners
Congratulations to Tricia and Rich Szymanski for completing the Rome Marathon. Trish set a PR with a 4:40:38 time, while Rich finished in 5:17:03, which, according to club prez Ray is “a great time for his training plan”.

Trish’s recap:
Quick recap…. was warm! started out sunny and the warmest day so far but got overcast later on so that was good. NO toilet paper, before, during or AFTER the race in their toi toi (port o pots)…UGH! not sure how many people ran, but it was many more than i thought. it took us over 10 minutes to reach the start. rich and i ran together for the first 10, he kept telling me to leave him but was fine staying w- him until he just said go…so did try to make up time and got negative splits too..woo hoo. but i paid for it in teh end,,the last couple of miles were a struggle….

great medal, and very organized, and rich came in at 517, great time considering the no training! he was not that miserable either. omgosh..the wine here is amazing…!! and cheap!! the first night we got a couple bottles of wine, cheese and crackers and sat on the spanish steps and drank all night. of course, by then, only my sister and i were there..um..well, we couldnt find our way back to ourhotel…despite it being one block from spanish steps..ok..the wine was really good ok!!

Board members and coordinator positions
President Ray Christensen announces that Josh Loren will be joining the PCVRC board and will be our Training Coodinator. Bob Taggart, who has served many years as the club Treasurer before Joel Schiller assumed that role this year, has resigned from the board.

Ray is also looking for people to fill the following position, which do not require the person to be a part of the board: As of now, open positions are Charity liaison, Volunteer coordinator, Sponsorship coordinator, (2) FB Group administrators, PR/publicity coordinator – and possibly “Walking coordinator”. Ray and the rest of the board will help define any role that any member is interesting in assuming. Contact Ray at:

Volunteers needed for Logan House 5K
Wayne Kursh is looking for volunteers to help at registration at the Kelly’s Logan House 5K this Sunday. In exchange, he will give one free race entry per volunteer. So a non-running person could volunteer and a running spouse or friend could be in the race or the volunteer could also run the race. Contact Wayne at: .

UD Tuesday Track Workouts
For anyone interested in the Tuesday night track workouts at the University of Delaware, here is an attachment with the schedule. All workouts will now be outside: See Schedule

Ugly Mudder 6.75 mile trail race
On Sunday Pike Creek Valley Running Club competed in the first event of the MA- USATF Off-Road Series for 2010, the Ugly Mudder race, which is listed as 6.75 miles. This is a difficult challenge, which the age-grades reflect. However, all participants had the same rough course to negotiate. PCVRC scored second out of the five clubs with 241+ points. The Philadelphia Track Club with 254+ points was first. Many thanks to first-time participants, Tara Huang and Tom Steenkamer, as well as those who were participants in past years.

314 1: 31:04 SZYMANSKI RICHARD – 45 36.337
113 1: 18:00 HUANG TARA – 28 42.948

103 1: 17:36 CAMACHO EPI – 54 45.914
126 1: 19:01 SHUFFLEBARGERFRED – 61 47.962
21- 1: 15:07 JERMYN TOM – 47 51.636

40- 1: 15:35 STEENKAMER TOM – 51 52.973 241.433

Awards Banquet & election of officers
On Saturday evening PCVRC held its annual Election of Officers and Awards Banquet. The following were elected officers for 2010: Ray Christensen, President; Claire Neilan, Vice-President; Jerry herman, treasurer; and Joel Schiller, Treasurer. Jerry Herman received a round of applause for serving four consecutive years as President. Bob Taggart also deserves our appreciation for serving eight years as Treasurer.

Ray Christensen spoke for about five minutes, outlining his ideas about the club. To read the speech, click here.

Guest Speaker was David Albaugh of the Wellness Community Delaware, who described the goals of the Wellness Community. David is a marathon runner, who is organizing a trip to the Las Vegas Marathon in December 2010 for Las Vegas Strides, the fund-raising program of the Wellness Community. PCVRC hopes to forge a relationship with the Wellness Community to help mentor new runners.

Major Awards were given to the following club members: Rich Szymanski, Volunteer of the Year; Dean Coffin, Member of the Year; Carole Feole, Outstanding Achivement(OA); Kelly Horowitz, OA; Andy Jakubowitch, OA, Josh Loren, OA; David James, Runner of the Year.

Glasses: The club also came up with the award of a glass with the club’s logo on it for what it is temporarily calling Notable Achievers (name open for alternatives). Since this was the first year, dozens of people were chosen to receive this award. Following is a list of those who received the award, but were not in attendance to get their glass. The glasses will be available a future club functions or make arrangements with a club officer to get one. They will not be mailed.

There was an inquiry about buying a glass, but they are awards for some sort of effort related to running and the club. They will not be for sale, but individuals are always free to tell board members what they think they have done to earn a club glass at the next award banquet.

The following still need to pick up their glasses: Epi Camacho, Lori Culnane, Lorri Fencer, Tom Fort, Austin Gee, Ryan German, Scott Hodukavich, Margie Hughes, Tom Jermyn, Theresa Kauffman, Sharon Miner, Dirk Sweigart,

PCVRC Online:
Don’t forget about our web presence: Check our website at: http://www.pcvrc.com/ and our Facebook Page at: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=289855916248&ref=ts. You must sign up for Facebook to view the latter.
Already 107 people have signed up for this page, but only six have posted any kind of comment. Use it to talk about weather conditions, find car pool partners, ask questions, or any thoughts about running.

The Marathon That Imploded  by Dave McCorquodale
Some of you may already by aware that after 6,600 people traveled to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, to run a marathon or half-marathon this past Saturday, the city management cancelled the races. Why? Because it was snowing the night before, the first time it had snowed in 12 years in Myrtle Beach.

While this unusual weather certainly called for caution or, perhaps, postponement for a couple of hours to see if the conditions improved, such was not to be. The race was called at 10 p.m. the night before as we were settling in and watching the Olympics. So say that I was stunned is an understatement. I think I remained in that condition for two days. Now the anger is building.

The city manager said it was his decision, but that he did it because the race directors were concerned about not having their medical “volunteers” if the race went off later. Aren’t the medical staff PAID for being there? Plus, the roads stay open to traffic and they were concerned about runners being on the same roads with vehicles in icy conditions.

This event has grown in ten years from about a thousand to over 6,600 this year and that doesn’t include the accompanying bike races which went off on Sunday outside of Myrtle Beach. It’s bordering on being a big time event. I say, with that growth, comes the responsibility to have contingency plans for the odd year when there is “bad” weather. Maybe some streets should be dedicated to just runners with no vehicles. Maybe the course route needs to be adjusted to less traveled streets. The fact of the matter was that by 9:00 A.M. the roads were free of slush or the few patches of black ice. See the picture attachment below, taken by Scott Hodukavich, to see what conditions were like at 11:00 A.M.

See photos

The fact is that by 10:30 P.M. all the aid stations were being torn down, apparently so that the race directorship could say it had disavowed itself of supporting anyone who came out and ran unofficially and, thereby, avoid any liability. Despite this, hundreds of people DID run the course. Thousands went out and ran something just to get a run in. I did 13 miles and my companions did 18 and 20 miles on the very roads the course would have been going through.

Later that day we went to the House of the Blues where the “post-race” party, which wasn’t cancelled, was being held. Absurdly, as we were walking in the door, there was a table where one could pick up a marathon medal. Sorry, I don’t accept medals for doing my long runs.

It is said that once something acquires bad publicity, it becomes near impossible to shake it. I know that I will always have a negative opinion of Myrtle Beach now. The race organization is mulling over what to do. Complete refunds aren’t an option. But it’s obvious to me it should offer free entry in one of its future events. I’d even be willing to stipulate that if I went, I wouldn’t take all the swag. They could save their money on that. Because right now, I’ve got a tech shirt, a cap, an aluminum bottle and a bag – all associated with the Race That Wasn’t. I won’t wear or use this stuff. I may have paid for it, but I didn’t earn it.

Banquet reservations and 2010 dues requested
AWARDS BANQUET, February 27 at the Dupont Country Club. See here for details: http://www.pcvrc.com/eventlistitem.php?id=33. Don’t delay.

If you haven’t paid your 2010 dues yet, it can be done when you sign up for the banquet. Or you may send dues separately care of PCVRC, P.O. box 3259, Wilmington, DE 19804.

Not yet signed up for Caesar Rodney?
Anyone not yet signed up for Caesar Rodney Half (3/21) is welcome to join our teams (consisting of club members, Rebel Runners, and possibly others) to represent Delaware in the Team competition. You don’t have to be speedy! This can give you discounted registration fee of $35-40 instead of the $50 fee as of 3/1. If interested or questions, contact Ray asap at . Info is at http://www.mrsnv.com/evt/page2.jsp?id=2774

Facebook group grows…Administrator needed
For those who haven?t received an invite, we?ve created a ?Group? on Facebook. Facebook members should visit http://tinyurl.com/pcvrc to join. A link will be on the home page of http://www.pcvrc.com This group will complement our website by allowing people to interact with each other about races, carpooling to events, finding running partners, sharing photos and sharing comments on our running activities. Hopefully new people will want to join the club. If you?d like to be one of our administrators for the page, contact Webmaster Ray at . Already 93 people have signed on.

Ralph McKinney daily running streak
Joe DeRosa shares some calculations about Ralph McKinney’s running streak. while some of us may question the wisdom of it, there is no doubt that it is remarkable:

At age 65, my fellow runner, Ralph McKinney, of Wilmington, De. will be closing in on running at least 5 miles every day for 24 years. Yes, that means:

24 years
8,766 days
43,830 miles
83,758,000 steps
93 pairs of running shoes

Imagine, this is only his minimal daily running accomplishment. Ralph ” squeezes in ” 5K’s through marathons . This is done regardless of being sore, sick, tired, having business or family obligations, and inclement weather.
Ralph is listed 72nd in the informal ranking of runners running at least one mile every day. As of now, there is no official listing of runners running at least 5 miles every day. I would imagine it would be a very short list.

New member welcome
The club welcomes new member Joanne Hennessy Slawter, owner of ?Massage For Athletes? in Zingo?s shopping center. She offers a 10% discount on her services to all club members. See www.MassageForAthletes.com Joanne and her husband live in Bear.