A Holiday Challenge
Hope you’ve had a wonderful holiday season, filled with merriment and lots of miles! Just a reminder that PCVRC has been challenged to a duel of sorts by the Tri-Dawgs: The club with the most members registered for the Caesar Rodney Half Marathon in April will win a VIP portapotty at the race and bragging rights! If you’ve already registered and didn’t note your club affiliation, please email me and I’ll forward to Laura Mattey at ALA.

2015 Mid-Atlantic USATF Season Finale

MAUSATF December Newsletter and Report from Tom Steenkamer:

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!

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!

Get On Your Mat!

Bikram Yoga of Chadds Ford is offering PCVRC members a special discount through the end of December: Try a class for just $5. For details and location, visit bikramyogachaddsford.com or call 610-952-7609.

Race Results
Philadelphia Marathon
John Schultz: 7:36:22

Schuylkill Navy Cross-Country
Karen Turner: 58:25

Hagerstown Community College Turkey Trot 5K
Ben Mack: 27:38

Rehoboth Beach Half Marathon
Diana Daly: 2:49:44
Lynn Knothe: 1:45:12
Ben Mack: 2:02:46

Stacey Schiller: 2:07:11
Liz Sylves: 1:43:32
George Temple 2:12:28

Pike Creek Valley Running Club Membership Fee Structure and Renewal Policy
The current dues are $25 per membership, which includes family members and significant others, and covers membership for the calendar year. The renewal period runs from October 1st through March 1st. If you are planning to remain a member of PCVRC, you must renew by March 1st. On March 1st, those who have not renewed are not eligible for club member benefits such as the eBulletin, member pricing at banquet, free Boston Send-off party, etc.

Any member who races for PCVRC in 4 or more USATF races a calendar year and is a member of USATF will receive complimentary PCVRC membership for the following calendar year.

New members who join on or after June 1st but before October 1st will pay a reduced rate of $15 to cover membership for the remainder of the current calendar year, then are subject to same renewal policy as current members stated above. Anyone who joins on or after October 1st would pay $25 that would cover them for remainder of current calendar year and the entire following calendar year.

To sign up or renew you can go to the Join/Renew page in the below links section.

If mailing, send a check or money order (payable to PCVRC) to:

PCVRC
PO Box 3259
Wilmington, DE 19804

Links for Club Members
PCVRC Events Calendar: www.pcvrc.com/calendar.php
PCVRC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/289855916248/

Please patronize our sponsors!
New Balance Brandywine & Christiana stores offer a 20% discount to current club members.
www.NBretail.com

M&T Bank offers personal & business banking, credit cards, mortgages, investments.
www.mtb.com

Foot Care Group provides comprehensive care and treatment of the foot and ankle.
www.FootCareGroup.org

Harvest Market provides organic and natural foods, nutritional supplements, and natural health care products.
www.HarvestMarketNaturalFoods.com

Cheskin Chiropractic
Dr. Jeff Cheskin is a club member & long-time sponsor w/20+ years experience.
www.cheskinchiropractic.com

Holiday Party Tonight, USATF 1st Place, Renew Membership

Holiday Party TONIGHT!
Just a reminder to join us at Timothy’s Newark for the annual PCVRC Holiday Party tonight from 6 – 9 pm. Great opportunity to connect with the running community and renew your membership for 2016! (While the party is free to club members, non-members are welcome for a small donation to our club.)

And if food, drink and merriment weren’t reason enough to attend, PCVRC has additional reason to celebrate, per Tom Steenkamer‘s USATF report below!

USATF Standings
Pike Creek Valley RC entered the fall season in first place out of 14 clubs in the USATF Mid Atlantic Grand Prix (road 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.

Pike Creek Valley Running Club Membership Fee Structure and Renewal Policy
The current dues are $25 per membership, which includes family members and significant others, and covers membership for the calendar year. The renewal period runs from October 1st through March 1st. If you are planning to remain a member of PCVRC, you must renew by March 1st. On March 1st, those who have not renewed are not eligible for club member benefits such as the eBulletin, member pricing at banquet, free Boston Send-off party, etc.

Any member who races for PCVRC in 4 or more USATF races a calendar year, and is a member of USATF, will receive complimentary PCVRC membership for the following calendar year.

New members who join on or after June 1st but before October 1st will pay a reduced rate of $15 to cover membership for the remainder of the current calendar year, then are subject to same renewal policy as current members stated above. Anyone who joins on or after October 1st would pay $25 that would cover them for remainder of current calendar year and the entire following calendar year.

To sign up or renew you can go to the Join/Renew page in the below links section.

If mailing, send a check or money order (payable to PCVRC) to:

PCVRC
PO Box 3259
Wilmington, DE 19804

Holiday Party, State of Club, DDC Summary, Race Results

Upcoming Club Events: Holiday Party
Mark your calendars for Monday, December 7th at Timothy’s Newark for the annual PCVRC Holiday Party from 6 – 9 pm. Great opportunity to connect with the running community and renew your membership for 2016! (While the party is free to club members, non-members are welcome for a small donation to our club.)

RSVP through the Facebook event or directly to .

PCVRC – State of the State
At our Board meeting earlier this month, the group talked about the need for new blood, new energy and new thinking to take PCVRC into the new year. While our finances are solid, a club like ours is unsustainable without membership growth and increased participation in club offerings and events.

In 2016, we will have openings to oversee club membership, lead C25K, recruit DDC and club sponsors, plan education events and support the club’s social committee, including assistance with an inter-club challenge. Please give some thought to volunteering in one or more of these areas. Any club member is welcome to lead or lend support, and I’m happy to provide additional information about each of these positions.

In the meantime, we’ll be fielding a club survey to hear from members what’s working well, what isn’t and what we should consider to make PCVRC a club that everyone wants to join!

Thanks for your continued support and participation!
Stacey

Delaware Distance Classic Summary
Once again the club executed a wonderful event for area runners in Delaware City on Sunday, October 11th. In the New Balance Brandywine & Christiana Delaware Distance Classic 15K Road Race presented by M&T Bank, there were 265 finishers, including men’s overall winner Chris Warren (47:59) and women’s overall winner Liz Swierzbinski (56:47). The race was the official 15K of the Mid-Atlantic USATF Championship Grand Prix Road Series.

The weather conditions were near perfect for all of our participants and after the race it was very enjoyable to present awards on the deck of Crabby Dick’s. The club awarded $750 in prize money to the top 3 overall men and women as well as the top Master’s finishers. PCVRC finished 2nd in the age graded scoring for the day with 16 USATF team members completing the DDC15k. PCVRC had outstanding contributions from Greg Cauller, Carole Feole, Kevin Cataldo, and Mike O’Brian whose finishing times all age graded to better than 80% – the benchmark for a nationally competitive time.

As a celebration and graduation of our “Couch to 5K” program, we also hosted a 5K race. We had 38 finishers including John Costello (18:24) and Joanne Baird (19:53) as our respective men’s and women’s winners.

We’d like to thank all of our club member volunteers for their time. From registration to course set up, awards, traffic assistance, course marshals, bike leads, water stops, photographer and clean up, we cannot put on a great race without you! We’d really love to have you all back next year.

To find results and photos, please visit DDC15K.org. Also, please support all of our gracious sponsors which can also be found on our website. Without their support we would not be able to put on this great event.
Thanks!
Joel, Jim & Ray

New Members

Welcome our new members:
Melanie Arnold
John Patrick Bradley
Bill Farquhar
John Schlosser
Rebecca Wright & Paul Hoyle

Race Results
If you’d like to submit your results to me or to Stacey, they will be included in an upcoming bulletin (We don’t publish unless you let us know your results). Our members can be found running (swimming and biking, too) everywhere!

Emily Zaitz: Chester River Challenge Half Marathon: 2:02 (2nd AG, 48th overall); KISS Family & Friends 5K: 25:56 (1st AG, 4th overall); JFK 50 Miler: 11:10

Jim Steele: Café Gelato 10-Miler 1:29:17

Rebecca Wright: Atlantic City Marathon 4:04

Paul Hoyle Xterra World Championships Maui Hawaii: 3:54

Nancy Welch: Ironman Florida 14:49

Erin Graves Ocean City 10-Miler 1:13:45 (1st AG)

Andy Jakubowitch Ocean City 10-Miler 1:00:37 (2nd Overall)

Philadelphia Marathon 11/22/15:
Christina Xia: 4:26:10
Chrissy Hower: 5:52

Rothman 8K 11/21/15
Matt Cutrona: 29:14
Tom Steenkamer: 30:24
Kirsten Belair: 31:58
Jerry Herman: 52:37

Philadelphia Rock and Roll Half Marathon 10/31/15:

Matt Cutrona: 1:22:28
Wesley Stafford 1:40:04
Don Ropp 1:40:36
Annie James 1:42:21
Traci Melvin 1:44:27
Jim Steele: 1:49:59
Michelle Zechman 1:54:15
Susan Snavely 1:57:07

St Francis 5K (PCVRC members representing Lori Culnane’s Heartbreakers Team):
Wesley Stafford 20:30:1
Jim Steele 24:08:0
Tony Chelpaty 24:13:6
Michelle Zechman 24:21:8
Rich Szymanski 24:23:3
Lori Culnane 25:00:1

Barbara Chelpaty 35:13:6 (another run enjoyed with her sisters)

Carll Human – Half Fanatic Jupiter Level (9 Half Marathons in 9 States in 12 Months)

Recent Races:
Kroll’s Bizmark, ND Half Marathon 1:50:25 (5th AG) 29th Half Marathon in 22nd State since 09/2008!!

Urban Bourbon Half Marathon, Louisville, KY 1:54:26 (#30 Half Marathon, 23rd State)

DDC 15K 1:14:57

Richmond Anthem Marathon:

Wesley Stafford 3:19:25

Ray Christensen 3:42:56

Michelle Zechman 4:15:40

Pike Creek Valley Running Club Membership Fee Structure and Renewal Policy
The current dues are $25 per membership, which includes family members and significant others, and covers membership for the calendar year. The renewal period runs from October 1st through March 1st. If you are planning to remain a member of PCVRC, you must renew by March 1st. On March 1st, those who have not renewed are not eligible for club member benefits such as the eBulletin, member pricing at banquet, free Boston Send-off party, etc.

Any member who races for PCVRC in 4 or more USATF races a calendar year, and is a member of USATF, will receive complimentary PCVRC membership for the following calendar year.

New members who join on or after June 1st but before October 1st will pay a reduced rate of $15 to cover membership for the remainder of the current calendar year, then are subject to same renewal policy as current members stated above. Anyone who joins on or after October 1st would pay $25 that would cover them for remainder of current calendar year and the entire following calendar year.

To sign up or renew you can go to the Join/Renew page in the below links section.

If mailing, send a check or money order (payable to PCVRC) to:

PCVRC
PO Box 3259
Wilmington, DE 19804

Delaware Distance Classic 15K & 5K, USATF, Teri’s 5k, Faithful Friends 5k

Sunday, October 11: Delaware Distance Classic 15K and 5K in Delaware City.
From Jim Steele, Race Director: Volunteers Needed
Our annual 5K/15K is almost upon us – DDC is Sunday Oct 11th at 9am. If you are not running, or even if you are running, PLEASE consider volunteering as this is our BIGGEST club fundraiser and is highly dependent on club members to make it a success. We are continuing the fun in Delaware City again this year! If you are going to run, remember the course is flat and fast, and is an out an back, taking in portions of the canal trail, with finisher medals, tech shirts and 5-year age groups. The post-race party, including the Awards presentation, will be at Crabby Dick’s again. They will also have coffee for sale at 8 am.

We desperately need more volunteers for set up, registration, race day logistics and clean up. It’s not too late to sign up to help!!

Please plan to participate! Contact Jim Steele ( or 302-530-7274) to let him know how you can help make this year’s event another success!

USATF Update
From Tom Steenkamer
The fall USATF race season kicks off with the club’s signature event; the Delaware Distance Classic 15k on Sunday, October 11th. The club is currently in 1st place in the season long Grand Prix club challenge. We lead the Greater Philadelphia Track Club by a narrow margin heading into DDC. Last year GPTC put out a strong field at the DDC led by Sandra Folzer who will once again be in attendance attempting to better the 70 year age group world record for the 15k distance.

In the off-road series the club holds onto 2nd place in the club competition. The off road season resumes on October 18th in Collegeville, PA with the Evansburg Challenge 10mile run. We need support for this event. Please contact Rich or me if you are available to participate.

Other events – Teri’s 5k Twilight run.
Teri’s 5k held in Downingtown PA has developed a reputation as a fast course and attracts a strong field of competitive runners. This year was no exception.

Several club members performed well in the low humidity on the evening of 9/11:
Mike DiGennnaro – 3rd overall – 14:56
Mike O’Brian – 6th 15:22
Zach Chupa – 9th 15:56
Mark Hannagan – 15th 17:17
Tom Steenkamer – 19th 17:40
Keith Crispin – 30th 19:00

New Members
Welcome our new members:

Ricardo Brown
Liz Sylves
Mike Welch
Christiana Xi

Race Results
If you’d like to submit your results to me or to Stacey, they will be included in an upcoming bulletin (We don’t publish unless you let us know your results). Our members can be found running (swimming and biking too) everywhere!!

Lori Culnane: Run Woodstock Hallucination 100 Miler – 29:36:12 (3rd AG)
Ben Mack: Navy-Air Force Half Marathon – 2:10:28
Mary Lynn Mack: Navy 5-Miler – 1:17:22
Traci Melvin: 5th Womens Race for the Pink Ribbon 5K – 23:01:01 (2nd AG)
– – – 39th Bottle & Cork 10 Miler 1:21:43 (2nd AG)
John Schultz: Diamondman Challenge Sprint Duathlon – 2:56:15 (1st AG – 80+)
Stacey Schiller: Diamondman Challenge Half Iron – 6:28:10 (2nd Athena)
Wes Stafford: Dogfish Dash 8K – 32:57:01 (3rd AG)
Lenora Wagner: Moving for Melanoma – 30:31 (1st AG)
Michelle Zechman: Dogfish Dash 8K – 40:28:09 (1st AG)
Emily Zaitz: Saints and Sinners Half Marathon – 2:10:17
– – – Blues Cruise 50K – 6:59:20

Faithful Friends 5K (runners and baby cargo in tow) pictured above:

Chris James: 20:27:04 (3rd Overall)

Annie James & babes: 27:15:03
Donald Ropp: 22:21:09 (2nd AG)
Dan Weintraub 30:45:03 (1st official race post knee surgery)

Links for Club Members
PCVRC Meetup: http://www.meetup.com/Pike-Creek-Valley-Running-Club/
PCVRC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/289855916248/

eBulletin input wanted
Hello PCVRC Members!
After a long, and sometimes hot summer, the PCVRC eBulletin is back in print! I will be sending it out on a monthly basis – or more frequently as warranted. This bulletin is a place to get information about what is going on within our club. It also includes information about running events, race results, and additional pertinent information! Also, because we are a social group, additional information can be found on www.pcvrc.org and the Pike Creek Valley Running Club page on Facebook, so please feel free to follow that group as well!

About me: I’m a runner, occasional cyclist, and future swimmer (tri is on the bucket list); a mother of three; a girlfriend; and a nurse. I’ll be running my first Boston Marathon in 2016 after running a qualifying time at the Walkway Marathon in Poughkeepsie, NY, on June 13!!

This is my first newsletter so it will weigh on the generic side. I hope to put some more personality into it going forward. Please feel free to email me with suggestions!
Warm Regards,
Michelle Marie (Zechman)
—————–

Upcoming Club Events
Sunday, October 11: Delaware Distance Classic 15K and 5K in Delaware City.

From Jim Steele, Race Director: Volunteers Needed
Our annual 15K is almost upon us – DDC is Sunday Oct 11th at 9am. If you are not running, please consider volunteering as this is our BIGGEST club fundraiser and is highly dependent on club members to make it a success. We are continuing the fun in Delaware City again this year! If you are going to run, remember the course is flat and fast, and is an out an back, taking in portions of the canal trail, with finisher medals, tech shirts and 5-year age groups. The post-race party, including the Awards presentation, will be at Crabby Dick’s again.

We desperately need more volunteers for set up, registration, race day logistics and clean up.

Please plan to participate! Contact Jim Steele ( or 302-530-7274 [Call: 302-530-7274] [Call: 302-530-7274] ) to let him know how you can help make this year’s event another success!

Recent Club Events
From Stacey Schiller

Good to see PCVRC friends at both the picnic last month and the Fun Run at Ray’s last week! A shout-out to club members and volunteers extraordinaire Jim Steele, Joel Schiller, Darlise DiMatteo, Jerry Herman and Kim Riccio for their help with the picnic and to Ray Christensen for hosting this annual run.

In the interest of offering events that members want to attend, we’ll be fielding a survey later this year to get your thoughts. Meanwhile, a bowling night is in the works, along with our annual holiday party. Stay tuned!

USATF Update
From Tom Steenkamer
The club is doing extremely well this year in the club challenge races series for both the Grand Prix (road) and Off Road (trail) competitions. PCVRC is in 1st place in the Grand Prix series heading into the fall season and in 2nd place in the Off-Road series.

The Grand Prix series resumes with the DDC 15k. There are 5 race weekends remaining in this series. The outcome of the club challenge is typically determined over the course of these events. PCVRC will need a strong showing in 4 of these weekends to retain our 1st place position.

The Off Road series just completed its summer races with the Radnor Hunt club 5k Steeplechase. We had a great showing by a very limited team – only 6 runners. 5 of the 6 were age group award winners. There are only 2 events left for this series. The next trail event is the Evansburg challenge on Sunday 10/18.

New Members
Welcome our new members:
David Keifer
Andrew Jackson
Nesrine Zalloum

Race Results, Reviews and Accomplishments:
‘Tis the season for road and trail races! If you’d like to submit your results to me or to Stacey, I’m happy to include in an upcoming bulletin.

San Francisco Marathon
Claire Neilan – 3:54:19
Lee Dresser – 3:57:21

Ironman Lake Placid
Joe Blithe – 15:09:25
Adam Shilling – 12:51:17
Tricia Szymanski – 15:54:06

Northbeach College Day 5K
Dirk Sweigart – 20:47 (2 AG)
Lisa Jalot – 21:09 (1st Master’s)
Fred Jalot – 22:01
Sheri Sweigart – 22:39 (3 AG)
Mike Piorkowski – 22:49
Kelly Jones – 24:09 (1 AG)
Tony Chelpaty – 24:21
Stacey Schiller – 27:01
Paul Schweizer – 27:43
Doug White – 29:11
Bill Funk – 33:13
Barbara Chelpaty – 38:27 (her annual run with her sisters!)

Double Trouble
Per Tom S: Arguably the toughest and most technical trail race we compete in all season. I think that they must grow more rocks on that course every year. All told most of us came out unscathed which is always a great outcome for that venue. (Note, that Dave did execute a nice tuck and roll maneuver during the last downhill mile and came home with a little trail rash on his right arm and knee.)

14 CAULLER GREG YORK PA M 55 1: 18:10 61.24 286.08 25
80 GIAMPIETRO CAROL GARNET VALLEY PA F 57 1: 38:14 58.01 25
27 STEENKAMER TOM RISING SUN MD M 56 1: 25:03 56.80 25
40 JALOT LISA WILMINGTON DE F 44 1: 28:49 55.13 25
28 WIECHECKI DAVID WILMINGTON DE M 53 1: 25:40 54.90 25
41 BROWN MICHAEL NEWARK DE M 57 1: 29:00 54.77 25
23 RANDOLPH PAUL NEWTOWN SQUARPEA M 48 1: 23:02 54.26 25
52 CAMACHO EPI WILMINGTON DE M 59 1: 31:03 54.53 25
203 CULNANE LORI BEAR DE F 54 2: 17:12 39.97 25
229 SCHULTZ JOHN WILMINGTON DE M 83 3: 10:14 37.24 25

Grand Canyon (PA) Half Marathons Betty Olmstead – 3:36:05.66 (Saturday)
3rd female 65-69

3:30:32.04 (Sunday) – 2nd female 65-69
1:03 PM (23 minutes ago)
—————————-

Pike Creek Valley Running Club Membership Fee Structure and Renewal Policy
The current dues are $25 per membership, which includes family members and significant others, and covers membership for the calendar year. The renewal period runs from October 1st through March 1st. If you are planning to remain a member of PCVRC, you must renew by March 1st. On March 1st, those who have not renewed are not eligible for club member benefits such as the eBulletin, member pricing at banquet, free Boston Send-off party, etc.

Any member who races for PCVRC in 4 or more USATF races a calendar year, and is a member of USATF, will receive complimentary PCVRC membership for the following calendar year.

New members who join on or after June 1st but before October 1st will pay a reduced rate of $15 to cover membership for the remainder of the current calendar year, then are subject to same renewal policy as current members stated above. Anyone who joins on or after October 1st would pay $25 that would cover them for remainder of current calendar year and the entire following calendar year.

To sign up or renew you can go to the Join/Renew page in the below links section.

If mailing, send a check or money order (payable to PCVRC) to:
PCVRC
PO Box 3259
Wilmington, DE 19804