Fairhaven Runners Team heading to Spokane for XC Club Nationals

Today’s issue of the Bellingham Herald has an article about how the Fairhaven Runners Team and I are heading to the USATF XC Club National Championships in Spokane this weekend. Its always great to see local papers giving some space to covering running (especially when you are the top of the article). In case anyone is interested in reading about me and my team, here is the link to the article: http://www.bellinghamherald.com/601/story/710276.html

2008 USATF XC Club National Championships

Saturday, December 13th, is the USATF XC Club National Champioinships in Spokane, WA. This is always a very fun race because it has such a wide range of runners, from Olympians to your average local runner. Plus, the emphasis on the team aspect of running is great.

The race will be held at Plantes Ferry Park in Spokane, WA on mostly flat, loop course that is all grass (course map: 10K course, 6K course). I have never run on the course myself, but friends who have run on it tell me it is a slow course. While there are no big hills, there are still lots of gradual ups and downs. But the main thing is the ground is very soft and sucks your energy right out of you. Based on the weather forecast for Spokane it looks like it should be a pretty muddy race. There is supposed to be on and off rain all week leading up to the race and then snow flurries on Friday and race day.

Last time I checked the list of entrants for the race it seemed like there should be a good turnout this year. For example, in the men’s open race there is currently about 375 runners entered. As far as teams from Washington State, there aren’t quite as many as I had hoped there would be but there still are 7 teams that I know of who are sending runners. Club Northwest, Eastside Runners, Fairhaven Runners and Seattle Running Club will all have both men and women competing in Spokane. Brooks ID and EMDE Sports will have men’s teams competing and The Spokane Swifts are sending a women’s team. If you know of any other WA teams that I have missed please let me know since I will try and post an update of how the WA teams did after the race.

2008 Eastside Runners XC Invitational

Start of the men's race

When I was running XC in high school one of my favorite courses was always Lake Sammamish State Park. In fact, 19 years ago I had one of my all time best XC races on that course, the 1989 JV KingCo race. On November 15th at the Eastside Runners XC Invitational I got a chance to relive some of the excitement of racing on that course (at least one very similar to the one we ran in high school).

Start of the women's race

You couldn’t have asked for a better day to run the inaugural 5K Eastside Runners XC Invitational. The weather was cool yet sunny and thanks to the rain earlier in the week there was no shortage of mud on the course. Based on the turnout for the races (I haven’t seen the final results so I’m not exactly sure how many runner there were, I’ll up date this post as soon as I see the results) I would say the first running of this Invitational was an overwhelming success. The mud, sand, soft grass and sharp turns made this flat, fast course challenging enough to have a real XC feel to it. And the Eastside Runners did an excellent job designing and marking the course as well with all aspects of running the meet. Also, there was a great mix of runners competing. So the more advanced runners had plenty of competition up front while at the same time it was a great race for beginners to get to experience the joys of running XC. Hopefully this race will continue to grow year after year. Who knows, maybe it will inspire a few other running clubs to put on XC races and eventually we could maybe have a mini club XC season of race here in the Puget Sound area.

For more photos from the Eastside Runners XC Invitational please check out the NWRR flickr site as well as some photos from Eastside Runners.

Below are the top ten finishers in each age group. For full results please see the Eastside Runners website.

Girls Youth

1   Chirstina Sayed         33:15

2   Janessa Darr             24:46

 

High School Girls

1   Kelly Brown              21:48

2   Carlie Boyle              23:16

 

College Women

1   Kayti Kredel             19:55

2   Marie Kiekhaefer      21:19

3   Stephanie Kiracofe    22:17

4   Margaret Hanscom   22:24

5   Stephanie Sackman   25:13

 

Open Women

1   Rose Wetzel              18:20

2   Lia Slemons               18:26

3   Susan Ashlock           18:33

4   Megan Johnson          18:45

5   Erika Daligcon           19:22

6   Andrea Garvue          19:49

7   Claire Hoffman          19:55

8   Camille Connelly        20:03

9   DiDi Martiniello         20:08

10 Erica Pitman              20:09

 

Masters Women 40-49

1   Karen Steen               19:01

2   Alyssa Tower             19:05

3   Christina Ashby          19:45

4   Shelley Neal               20:02

5   Carla Darr                  20:09

6   Francie Faure             21:30

7   Heather Slee               21:50

8   Molly Hurd                 22:05

9   Erin Finnegan              22:08

10 Julie Westcott             23:20

 

Masters Women 50-59

1   Debbie Newell            24:40

2   Sabina Hawkins          25:49

3   Sherri Prather             28:40

4   Antonette Zagala-Bishop   35:59

5   Sherry Stout               43:05

 

Boys Youth

1   Landon Petterson       19:00

2   Robert Sekinger         22:55

3   Jake Howe                 23:34

4   Troy Horn                  25:44

5   Parker Hansen            26:26

 

High School Boys

1   Aiden Irish                  15:55

2   Taylor Guske              16:48

3   Andrew Van Ness      17:22

4   Chad Skiles                17:41

5   Michael Milbank         18:47

6   Nick Howe                 18:58

7   Nolan Welfringer         20:54

8   Mitch Gogert               21:07

9   Neil Vincent Roberts   21:42

10 Carsen Dean               24:02

 

Open Men

1   Mike Sayenko             15:12

2   Brian Conrath              15:16

3   Jon Murray                  15:18

4   John Timeus                 15:26

5   Caleb Knox                 15:39

6   Yon Yilma                   15:50

7   Brett Winegar              15:57

8   Jon Hickey                  16:02

9   Ahrlin Bauman             16:03

10 Scott Halliday              16:11

 

Masters Men 40-49

1   Tony Young                 16:01

2   Sean Messiter              16:39

3   Kevin McGinnis           16:54

4   Paul Abdalla                16:57

5   Carl Winter                  17:06

6   John O’Hearn               17:06

7   Bob Brennand              17:19

8   John Guza                    17:24

9   Doug Babbit                 17:48

10 Lance Logan                18:00

 

Masters Men 50-59

1   Michael Smith               17:03

2   Henry Wigglesworth     17:39

3   Mark Billet                   17:53

4   Denis Villeneuve           18:34

5   Frederick Motteler       18:36

6   Michael Allison             18:41

7   Bob Prather                  18:45

8   Jerry Zyskowski           18:55

9   Win Van Pett                19:09

10 Chuck Dooley              20:37

 

Masters Men 60+

1   Jim McGill                    22:25

2   Rod Brown                  24:24

3   Steve McCracken        26:04

4   Gary Wright                 32:27

Great Day of Racing at the PNTF XC Championships

Masters Men's and Women's 6K

On Sunday, November 2, 2008 the PNTF XC Championships were held at Lower Woodland Park in Seattle. The day consisted of a 4K comunity run, a 6K men’s and women’s masters race, a 6K open women’s race and a 10K open men’s race. The Lower Woodland Park course is a challenging 2K loop. While there are no large hills in the course, it is made up of constant ups and downs as well as some slick spots and a couple tight turns. Because of the constantly changing terrain you are never really able to get into a good rhythm, which makes for a difficult race. That being said, it is still a fun course that has a great, traditional XC feel to it. Especially on this day when the weather was perfect for racing.

Open men's 10K

There was a pretty good turn out this year for the meet with 90 runners in the combined masters men’s and women’s race, 21runners in the open women’s race and 47 runners in the open men’s race. However, there were only three clubs that fielded full teams to compete in the club competition. Hopefully, in the future more and more clubs will get involved in XC competition. In the club comptetion Club Northwest was the dominant team. Below are the top 10 finishers in each of the open and master’s races. Click here for full results. And for more race photos please check out the Northwest Running and Racing flickr.com site.

Masters Men 6K

1    Michael Lynes                 Club Northwest               20:08.76

2    Tony Young                    Club Northwest               20:18.75     

3    Michael Smith                  Club Northwest               21:10.76       
4    Kevin McGinnis               Club Northwest               21:17.43       
5    Paul Abdalla                     Club Northwest               21:18.71     
6    Tony Hawkes                   Eastside Runners             21:18.71     
7    Joseph Sheeran                 Eastside Runners             21:20.96     
8    Keefer Whan                     Club Northwest               21:21.42       
9    Carl Winter                       Club Northwest               21:26.60       
10  Bob Brennand                   Club Northwest               21:30.21     

Masters Women 6K

1    Alysun Deckert                 Seattle Running Club         23:03.55      

2    Susan Empey                    Club Northwest               23:34.69       
3    Alyssa Tower                    Club Northwest               23:45.93     
4    Sally Bergsen                     Oiselle                            23:48.30       
5    Laurie Porter                     Club Northwest               23:55.65     
6    Susan Pappalardo              Eastside Runners             24:12.74      

7    Amber Cruzan                   Seattle Running Club        24:28.67      
8   Christina Ashby                  Club Northwest               24:32.75     
9   Regina Joyce                      Club Northwest               24:52.80      
10 Mary Hanna                       Seattle Running Club        24:54.44

 

Open Women 6K

1  Vanessa Hunter                    Club Northwest               21:52.30                 
2   Laure Mathews-Grossbard  Club Northwest               23:00.10                 
3   Kristi Houk                          Club Northwest               23:10.00                 
4   Lia Slemons                         Club Northwest              23:13.00                 
5   Marlene Farrell                    Seattle Running Club       23:18.00                  
6   Megan Johnson                    Club Northwest              23:37.00                 
7   Trish Steidl                           Seattle Running Club      23:40.00                  
8   Rose Wetzel                         Club Northwest             23:57.00                 
9   Susan Ashlock                      Eastside Runners           24:01.00                 
10 Sayaka Yoshinaga                Unattached                    25:18.00

 

Open Men 10K

1   Joseph Gray                          Club Northwest             31:50.00                 
2   Mark Mandi                          Club Northwest             31:56.00                 
3   Jon Murray                            Eastside Runners           32:06.00                 
4   Uli Steidl                               Seattle Running Club      32:55.00                 
5   Mike Sayenko                       Club Northwest             33:13.00                 
6   Angelo Baca                          Unattached                    33:26.00                  
7   Jeremy Park                          Club Northwest             33:41.00                 
8   Destry Johnson                      Seattle Running Club      33:42.00                 
9   Scott Halliday                        Club Northwest             33:43.00                 
10 Steve Dekoker                       Brooks ID                    33:54.00 

Race Schedule Page Has Been Updated

Just a quick note to let you know that I have updated this site’s Race Schedule page.  I added all of the certified road races I have been able to find so far for January and February. Also, I have added a couple more XC races. I will continue to add more races as I hear about them, so please check back frequently. And as always, if you have any questions, comments, corrections or updates please let me know

PNTF XC Championships – November 2

I just wanted to remind everyone that the PNTF XC Championships will be held at “upper” Lower Woodland Park in Seattle on November 2, 2008. This is always a great meet. The open women and masters men and women all run 6K, while the open men run a 10K. The course is very spectator friendly consisting of a 2K loop. However, it is deceptively difficult (at least I think it is). While there are no giant hills in the course you do seem to always be going up or down a hill. Plus, there typically are a couple of slippery spots, so its not a bad idea to wear spikes for this one. This race tends to consist of a fairly small but fast group of runners. But hopefully with XC Club Nationals being in Spokane this December there will be more people running XC this year so there will be a bigger turnout to the PNTF race. Eventhough this is a tough race with some stiff competition, I always have a great time doing it. Here is the schedule of races for November 2.

9:30     Community 4K

10:00   Masters Men/Women 6K

10:45   Open Women 6K

11:30   Open Men 10K

For more information check out the Club Northwest website, and a PDF of the entry form.

Update To The Race Schedule – Tomahawk Twilight Meet Open Race Cancelled

The open race at the September 27th Tomahawk Twilight Meet at Cedar Crest Golf Course in Marysville has been cancelled. Technically I guess its not cancelled, they just aren’t going to allow open runners. Instead this race will only be for high school runners. I’d like to thank John Sweeney of the Eastside Runners for letting me know about his change to the schedule. If you know of any other changes, corrections additions for the race schedule please let me know.

Schedule of cross country (XC) races for the fall of 2008

I will also post this schedule on a separate page on this blog titled Race Schedule where I will continue to make updates as I get more information. So be sure and check back regularly. Also please let me know of any races that I missed or if there is any information that needs to be corrected.

 

September 6

 

Orca XC Invite hosted by Whatcom Community College 5K/8K Lake Padden Park, Bellingham 11:00 am

 

September 20

 

Sundodger Invite hosted by the University of Washington 6K/8K Lincoln Park, West Seattle 9:00 am

 

South Whidbey XC Invitational open race 5K South Whidbey High School Langley, WA 10:00 am http://www.watfxc.com/XC/SWXCInvite/Main.htm

 

September 27

 

Bellevue Invitational open race 5K Lake Sammamish State Park, Issaquah the open race is at the end of the meet around 1:15 pm http://wa.milesplit.us/meets/39859

 

Tomahawk Twilight Meet open race hosted by Marysville Pilchuck High School 5K Cedar Crest Golf Course Marysville the open race will be after the high school races, probably around 8:30 pm should be a fun evening race on a golf course http://www.watfxc.com/XC/Invites/Twilight.htm

 

October 4

 

Mount Baker Invite open race 5K Silver Lake Deming, WA http://wa.milesplit.us/meets/39897

 

Emerald City Open 6K/8K Lower Woodland Park, Seattle 10:30 am https://admin.xosn.com/attachments1/5801.pdf?KEY=&DB_OEM_ID=18200&DB_LANG=&IN_SUBSCRIBER_CONTENT=

 

October 11

 

Lakewood Hole in the Wall Invite open race 5K Lakewood High School, Marysville area

 

Western Washington Classic Western Washington University 6K/10K Lake Padden Park, Bellingham 10:30 am

 

Pete Steilberg’s Geoduck Open Olympia

 

October 18

 

Bellevue Community College Invite 5K/8K Lake Sammamish State Park, Issaquah

 

November 2

 

PNTF Championships 6K/10K, 6K masters Lower Woodland Park, Seattle

 

November 15

 

Eastside Runners Invitational 5K Lake Sammamish State Park, Issaquah 9:00 am http://www.eastsiderunners.com/crosscountry.html

 

November 22

 

NW Regional XC Championships 6K/8K Spokane (good chance to preview the XC Club Nationals course)

 

December 13

 

USATF XC Club Nationals 6K/10K Plates Ferry Park, Spokane http://www.usatf.org/events/2008/USATFClubXCChampionships/

 

 

What about a local club XC season?

Even though you always hear about the loneliness of the long distance runner, I have to say that one of my favorite things about running track and cross county (XC) in high school and college was being part of a team. Since I started running with the Fairhaven Runners it’s been great to experience that feeling of being a part of a team again, yet its still not quite the same. While we train together and go to races together, what is missing is the competition with other teams.

 

Having the USATF XC Club Nationals in Spokane this year has got me thinking about how there is very little club competition at the local level in the Puget Sound area in XC. In November we have the Pacific Northwest Association (PNTF) meet and the USATF Regional meet leading up to the Club Nationals in December. But other than that we have to find high school invitational meets that have an open race or college meets that allow open runners. What I would like to find out is if there are other runners, as well as clubs, out there who would be interested in putting together a XC season. If we could get maybe four or five meets and then finish up with the Association, Region and Club National meets we would have a very nice season of XC racing. There are quite a few very active running clubs in this area that could take turns hosting meets.

 

One thing I have noticed is that many adult runners I talk to seem to feel they are too old and/or too slow to run XC. They find the idea of running in a high school, college or championship (whether at the Association, Region or National level) meet too intimidating. But if we had club level meets these runners would be able to see that you don’t have to be school age or an elite in order to run XC.

 

I realize that there would be quite a few logistical issues that would need to be worked out to put this sort of thing together and I definitely haven’t touched on all of them here. But I just wanted to throw this idea out there and see if I can get a dialogue going. I’m sure ideas like this have come up before, hopefully if enough people get to talking about it maybe we can make something happen. Please let me know what you think about this topic and I will try to come back to it in this blog every so often so we can keep the discussion moving along.