Tag: BAA

Welcome Back, Mayor’s Cup

Oct. 25 Articles no comments

Screen Shot 2013-10-25 at 10.58.20 AMSunday, October 27 at 10 a.m.

Cost: $25.

Cross country is back at Franklin Park, baby! The world was a dark and scary place without the Mayor’s Cup last year, but we can rest easy knowing that it has returned for 2013. The 2013 USATF-NE XC Grand Prix is almost done, but you still have two chances to line up with your teammates and battle it out on some softer surfaces. Details on this Sunday’s race are below:

RACE TIMES

6 to 10-year-old and under boys and girls race:   10:00 a.m.
11 to 12-year-old boys and girls race:   10:15 a.m.
13 to 14-year-old boys and girls race:   10:30 a.m.
Women’s 5K Championship Race:   10:50 a.m.
Men’s 8K Championship Race:   11:15 a.m.
Franklin Park 5K*:   12:00 p.m.

*Entrants should be capable of running 5K under 45 minutes. Minimum age for participation in the Franklin Park 5K Open Cross Country Race is 15-years old

ENTRY FEE

Youth Races  –  $10.00 (day of event)
Adult Races  –  $25.00 (day of event)

You can find all the info you need right here on the BAA website.

2013 USATFNE XC Grand Prix Schedule, Scoring, and Rules

Schedule

Date

Event

Location

24-Aug

Thomas Chamberas 6k

Carlisle MA

8-Sep

WMDP XC Festival 5k/8k

Stanley Park, Westfield MA

13-Oct

Wayland XC Festival 5k

Wayland MA High School

27-Oct

Mayor’s Cup 5k/8k

Franklin Park

10-Nov

USATF-NE XC Champs 6k/10k

Franklin Park

Prizes

The series offers cash prizes for top athletes in both the open and masters categories in addition to team cash prizes.

Rules

The 2013 USATF-NE Grand Prix consists of 5 events, cumulative scoring.

  • Must have 2013 USATF membership.

  • Must run at least 3 races to score in series.

  • Must run USATFNE XC Championship race to score in series.

  • Higher place at NE Champs is the tiebreaker

  • Mayor’s Cup Championship for open runners

  • Mayor’s Cup 5K for aged 40+ runners

  • Traditional team cross country scoring system

See usatfne.org xc GP Series page for complete rules and results.

http://www.usatfne.org/cross/nexcgrandprix/2013-xcgp.pdf

 

If you would like to promote your race or race series with us, contact kevbalance[at]levelrenner[dot]com.

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Another Weekend Wrap Up

Oct. 07 Articles, Racing 1 comment

The Pros: The US Marathon Championships were held at the Twin Cities Marathon and Tim Ritchie ran the race that we’ve been expecting. That’s not meant to downplay it at all since running a 2:14 in your second attempt at the distance is absolutely spectacular. Summing it up best, Matt Pelletier said, “I think we all knew it was coming.” Indeed, Matt, indeed. What Tim has shown in race results at other distances over the last year or so has not-so-subtley hinted at something like this. The end result was another top ten finish for the BAA stud (6th, to be exact). The men’s race was won by Nick Arciniaga (2:13:11) and the women’s race by Annie Bersagel (2:30:53).

Tim now sits at 5th place overall in the season standings with only one event left (the .US Road Racing National Championship). Over the course of the season, Tim has earned nearly $11,000. That seems like a petty sum for someone who has five top ten finishes in championship races. Just think of how much money the Braves are paying Dan Uggla right now to sit at home during the playoffs. Runners really are underpaid.

The Kids: College kids, that is. A big race this past weekend for the kids was the Paul Short Invitational (hosted by Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA). Dartmouth senior Abbey D’Agostino won her second race in as many attempts this season in repeating at this prestigious event. Abbey ran a 19:44 and easily outpaced the runner up (Samantha Ginther of Indiana, 20:10). Dartmouth scored second place finishes for the both the women’s and men’s teams on the backs of strong races by D’Agostino and then senior Will Geoghegan’s third place effort in the men’s race.

Said Dartmouth coach Mark Coogan of his team’s efforts: “This past weekend was good, I was pleasantly surprised by how well the women ran. I think we handled the heat and ran very well as a group helping each other out during the race. That is best the women have done as a team in a long long time.”

Luckily the Dartmouth squads had their chance to do their thing before the remaining races were called due to the weather. The excessive heat was a bit much for both the runners and the medical staff. How hot was it? Excellent question. Couldn’t find it in a quick web search, but we’ll go out on a limb and say it was hot to very hot.

Ridiculous weather aside, Abbey continues to steamroll along, winning by almost a minute in her first meet and then nearly 30 seconds in this latest race. “I think we all knew it was coming,” said Matty P once again, and it was still oddly appropriate. Anyway, too bad Abbey and the rest of Dartmouth’s top seven won’t be competing at the New England Championships at Franklin Park this weekend.

The Other Guys: One race that caught our attention from the weekend was the Grace Race in Chelmsford, MA. This was a small race, with only 75 people finishing. Think about that: seventy-five people. In that tiny field two runners went under 25:00 for five miles, and another two broke 26:00, and fifth place was still under 27:00. Glarius Rop and his training partner Amos Sang tore it up. Those were the two aforementioned gentlemen who went under 24 minutes. Glarius (24:37) edged Amos (24:44). The rest of the field was running for third.

Lindsay Willard easily won the women’s race with her 29:12 effort. That was fast enough to break into the top ten overall.

Newbould Kozloski Nahant

Newbould cruises along at Nahant, courtesy of Krissy Kozloski.

Brandon Newbould made the trip to Chelmsford, lured by the cash prizes even though his legs still had some Nahant 30k residue lingering in them. Brandon didn’t expect to see such a deep field waiting for him there on the starting line. According to Brandon, Glarius and Amos took it out with a 4:30 uphill opening mile. Perhaps Glarius is really motivated by his loss at the Level Renner 10k back in August and really wants to exact his revenge on poor unsuspecting runners, or perphaps he’s really just that good. Either way, “I think we all knew it was coming,” said Matty P. We’d be annoyed that Matt keeps giving us the same line, but damn it, it’s just so appropriate for everything we’re discussing here. Well said, Matt.

Anyway, Newbould had to settle for only a 4th place finish after running a 25:34. Not bad a for a guy still getting over a 30k and focused on a quickly approaching fall marathon.

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Ritchie, Fullerton Earn Some Points

Oct. 01 Articles, Interviews, Racing no comments
CVS 5k Scott Mason

Fullerton goes after it, courtesy of Scott Mason Photo.

The US National 5k Championships were held in Providence back on September 22, once again as part of the CVS Downtown 5k race. This post race interview with Pat Fullerton and Tim Ritchie almost slipped through the cracks during our hectic month of race coverage that was September. It’d be a shame to overlook Fullerton’s first big Level interview.

In the race itself, Tim placed 6th overall (14:02.7) and Pat was 12th (14:20.7). For national championship scoring purposes, Tim was 4th and Pat was 8th, so they both earned top ten status and Tim got himself another top five finish. Pretty impressive.

As Tim says in the interview, it’s a tactical race and there’s really only one big move and that comes at the end. Things really shake out in that last mile and the lead pack will be together for the most part up until then. With that in mind, it was quite surprising to see Pat out in front when the gun went off. It led to a moment of “Is that? Wait. Really? Is Pat leading the race?” It didn’t last long, as he settled back in and ended up running a PR by thirty seconds. Not a bad showing for someone that still doesn’t have a lot of 5k experience.

With that PR, Pat scored himself some series points. It’s safe to say that Pat won’t be sitting in a tie for 38th place for long if he keeps racing like this. With a little more experience on this stage he could become a constant up in the front. is anything In the standings, Tim is currently sitting in sixth place. The seven points he picked up for his efforts helped him leapfrog a few other runners to get him into the top ten.

Here’s the interview:

New England is also has some representation up front in the women’s standings. Katie DiCamillo is currently 10th, while Shalane Flanagan and Molly Huddle are both tied with other runners for 11th. In the 5k championships more specifically, Katie Matthews placed 9th (16:09.2).

The next championship distance is the marathon, which will be the Twin Cities Marathon on October 6th.

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Terrence Mahon To Coach B.A.A. High Performance Group

Sep. 30 Articles, Breaking News, Press Release no comments

New program will bring selected runners to Boston.

Press release from the BAA

BAA logo smallBOSTON – Terrence Mahon has joined the Boston Athletic Association to lead and coach a high performance distance running initiative for the organization. The club will continue to be sponsored and supported by adidas, which has been the club’s sponsor since 1992. adidas has been the athletic footwear and apparel sponsor of the Boston Marathon, the B.A.A.’s premier event, since 1989.

Mahon is considered a top middle distance and distance running coach, and he is credited with having developed or coached eight Olympians since 2005.

He began his coaching career in 2003 with renowned endurance coach Joe Vigil serving as a mentor to Mahon. In 2003 and 2004, Mahon offered private coaching under his company Spiridon Running, LLC, prior to taking charge of Team Running USA, the elite group which would later become the Mammoth Track Club. Most recently, Mahon was employed by UK Athletics in England, where he served as Lead Endurance Coach.

At the B.A.A., Mahon will work with Michael Pieroni to create a high performance running program consisting of U.S. athletes. Mahon will recruit and coach the high performance athletes, and Pieroni will continue to be the director of the entire club. Mahon, along with the athletes who will comprise the high performance group, will be based in Boston. Club members will compete under the B.A.A. name and affiliation.

“The B.A.A. has a rich history of athletic excellence, both in terms of events and club membership, and I look forward to developing the next generation of top Americans who will compete wearing the Unicorn,” said Mahon. “The athletes who will run for the B.A.A. in this program will represent one of this country’s oldest and most prestigious running clubs, and our group will be the newest contributor to the already strong legacy of running in Boston.”

Mahon officially begins with the B.A.A. in October, and the program will launch shortly thereafter. It is anticipated that the first athletes will join the club by January 2014.

“The B.A.A. is committed to supporting running for both participation and performance, and we are pleased to introduce this program which will provide opportunities at the highest level of our sport,” said Tom Grilk, B.A.A. Executive Director. “Terrence, our new athletes and this program reaffirm our mission to promote the sport. This performance group will focus on elite competition; through the program, we will inspire up-and-coming runners both locally and nationally. We also hope that these athletes will serve to inspire an increased community focus on the benefits of fitness for everyone.”

Athletes who become part of the program will receive a range of benefits as the club seeks to develop Americans into top runners at several distances. Athletes will compete in track and field or in road races, and Mahon aspires to have club athletes compete in national championships, the U.S. Olympic Trials, the IAAF World Championships and the Olympic Games.

“Terrence comes to the B.A.A. with a proven record of having successfully developed and coached high performance athletes,” said Pieroni, who will work with Mahon to design and implement the B.A.A. program. “Our objective is to create a well-supported group of top performing athletes who will live, train and be coached towards the goal of representing the United States at international competitions.”

About the Boston Athletic Association

Established in 1887, the B.A.A. marked its 125th anniversary year in 2012 and is a non-profit organization with a mission of managing athletic events and programs for the promotion of a healthy lifestyle through sports, especially running. The B.A.A.’s Boston Marathon is the world’s oldest annual marathon, and the organization manages other local events and supports comprehensive charity, youth, and year-round running programs. Since 1986, the principal sponsor of the Boston Marathon has been John Hancock Financial. The Boston Marathon is part of the World Marathon Majors along with the other major marathons in Tokyo, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York City. More than 50,000 individuals participate in B.A.A. events annually.

 

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Nahant 30k Recap & Raw Footage

Sep. 30 Articles, Racing no comments

The Nahant 30k is in the books and we have the race footage to prove it. It’s raw footage, but it gets the job done. We interviewed the winners yesterday and already posted that, but you can find said interviews with Dan Vassallo and Cheryl Cleary here.

For the men, Dan Vassallo led CMS to victory in the open division. Chris Magill and the BAA took the masters division, but Magill wasn’t the fastest masters runner on the day. That honor belonged to Jason Porter of…you guessed it…CMS. The Whirlaway seniors won their division by topping Greater Lowell by a 23 minute margin.

Over on the ladies’ side, Kasie Enman and the BAA topped the SISU squad in the open division while Whirlaway captured the masters and senior divisions. The top masters runner on the day was Christin Doneski, a member of that Whirlaway masters machine.

Sorry kids, no time to go into detail like who ran what time, but you can find the full results here. And while you’re looking for stuff on the race, be sure to check out Krissy Kozlosky’s pics from yesterday. The featured image attached to this post on our main page today is hers, and you’ll be able to see that and much more once you click that link.

As promised, here’s the raw footage from the race:

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Heilmann Continues Sugar Bowl Run

Jul. 20 Articles, Racing no comments

Almost 1,200 people ran the 26th Annual Jim Kane Sugar Bowl on Thursday night in Southie, despite the oppressive heat. The weather cooled off just enough to let the vendors and spectators say ‘ah, this is better’, but it was still pretty miserable for those with a number pinned to their singlets (or to their shorts).

sugar bowl 2013

Kev Balance takes care of business at the Level booth while The Thinker ponders life’s great mysteries in the background.

For an impressive 4th year in a row, Andreas Heilmann was the victor. Andreas streak is so long that his first two wins were on the old 5 mile course and the latter two were on the newer 5k course. Ian Nurse just beat out Matt Cioe for 2nd place, but his 16:32 wasn’t enough to match his BAA teammate Andreas’ 16:13.

Kristin Barry of Dirigo RC helped to break up that BAA podium party by taking the women’s race in 17:39. Kristin was about 48 seconds ahead of runner up Amanda Allen (also of the BAA). Kristin was able to get control fairly early, while Amanda worked the course with her teammate Michael McGrane.

Runners stuck around after for a nice night on the water, complete with an awards ceremony, a long list of vendors giving away plenty of goodies, a BBQ, and some music.

We were on hand sending out updates via our social media channels. Check out our Instagram feed for more race footage, and also check out the Sugar Bowl Facebook page for additional race pics.

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Level Renner Road Race Gomez Mason logo

 

 

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BAA 5k

Apr. 30 Articles, Interviews, Racing no comments

Yeah, I know. It’s been a few weeks. I had to post this before the JJ Ramble stuff otherwise I just would’ve found excuses to keep putting it off. Race coverage kind of took a back seat to everything else for a while, but it’s time to start getting back into the flow of what we do.

Dejen Gebremeskel (13:37) and Kim Smith (15:16) were the big winners in this first race of the 2013 BAA Distance Medley. Smith picked up where she left off last year by winning the first race of the series she dominated in 2012. The men’s field had last year’s series champ (Allan Kiprono) but he was a distant 4th. What it was missing was the 5k champion from 2012, but Ben True has other racing plans this spring. Gebremeskel put up a championship worthy performance and even came in four seconds faster than True did in 2012 (despite the ridiculous amount of turns on the new course).

In the footage above, you can clearly see Alistair Cragg looking strong out in front about halfway through. However, Cragg said afterwards: “I never felt good today. Hurt my achilles mid-week and limped into this one.” To still end up running a 14:07 and placing 8th in that stacked field is pretty incredible. It was only a couple of weeks prior to this that he ran a 13:24 in Westfield. When asked to compare the two courses, he deferred to Kim Smith, saying her times were a better representation.

Of the course, Kim Smith said, “Lots of turns on the new course for sure. I’m not very good at turns so I found it tough. Definitely not like the blazing fast Westfield course.” As a point of comparison, Kim ran a 14:48 in Westfield. That’s obviously not a big enough sample size to make any meaningful conversion, but then you can look at a couple other speedsters that ran both:

Brian Harvey – 14:11 in Westfield vs 14:25 in Boston
David Chorney – 14:31 in Westfield vs 14:29 in Boston

So taking that into consideration…it’s chaos! Chorney actually ran faster on the tougher course, and Harvey’s time didn’t slow much at all (although Harvey admittedly didn’t have his ‘A’ game in Westfield). Westfield performances really don’t have anything to do with what happened at this race, but it was interesting to make that analysis since there was a lot of discussion about the Westfield course afterwards (mainly about it being short).

One last quote about the course, this one coming from Jon Stanton, who knocked his time down to 19:42 and improved by over two minutes in the process: “I really like that it follows more of the marathon route.  It does seem odd to me, and correct me if I’m wrong, that a 3.1 mile race has more turns in it than the 26.2 mile race the following day.  It is alot of 90′s for such a short distance.  They probably offset the speed that was gained when they removed the hill for the first mile.”

The comparison of the plethora of turns in the 5k to the dearth of turns in the marathon really made it seem more ridiculous. But hey, it’s just another challenge. Where’s the fun in it if they’re all straight, flat and fast. Bring on the twisting hills!

Next up in the series: the BAA 10k, in June.

Screen Shot 2013-04-18 at 11.32.06 AM

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Boston Marathon: Quick Links

Apr. 12 Articles no comments

It’s beer o’clock on Friday and my brain is fried. Before getting away from the computer here are a few links for some Boston Marathon related (and Level related) items:

This morning I was a guest on the Sports Stamp on 1510 AM NBC Sports Radio. I was interviewed by none other than Victoria Barnaby. She also apparently goes by Vicky. I was unaware. In fact, I think I’ve only heard her name as Vicotoriabarnaby, and wasn’t sure if that one name or two.  My portion of the interview kicks off at minute 28 and you can listen to the whole thing here. We talk about the marathon and the Level. I name some names. It was all good. Be sure to check out Vicky and the gang Monday through Friday 6-8 AM.

Also on the Level, interviews with Tim Ritchie and Hilary Dionne, which were both posted yesterday.

Moving away from Level material, there was an interview with Wayne Levy on NECN. This blog post wasn’t supposed to be BAA-centric but it’s starting to look that way, huh?

Throughout the week there were some great interviews on Boston Magazine’s website featuring some locals:

Dan Fitzgerald (co-owner of the HHRC/SEAC) explains How To Train For A Marathon.

a Q&A with Ian Nurse

a Q&A with Brendan Kearney

Speaking of Brendan Kearney, he and his RaceMenu associates kicked off the inaugural Boston Running Film Festival this afternoon. Tickets are still available and you can find more info here. It takes place right at the Hynes (conveniently) so you might want to consider leaving some time in your expo schedule to catch a good flick.

The Level crew will be out and about this weekend. Don’t be shy, come by and say hi. After all, you may see us multiple times. Good luck to all running on Monday!

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Tim Ritchie: The Real Deal Interview

Apr. 11 Articles, Interviews no comments

Tim Ritchie will be making his marathon debut on the big stage: the Boston Marathon. Tim ran for Boston College and even works at Heartbreak Hill Running Company, so it’s safe to say that this is his home course.

As you may have heard, Abdi, Hall and Meb all dropped out of the race. While this greatly affects the chances of an American winning the whole thing this year it leaves the door open for another American to make a name for themselves (see: Jason Hartmann, 2012). While Jason will be back this year, he may not be the only one to watch.

Tim is more focused on place and wouldn’t give a goal time, but a quick look at the conversion charts in the old Daniels’ Running Formula tells us that Tim is capable of anywhere between a 2:12-2:14. A number in a book is one thing, but to actually do it is quite another. Tim has been adding impressive showings at big races to his resume for a while now, including three top-five finishes at national championships in 2012 (the 15k, half marathon and ten mile races). Not too long ago he finished 6th at the 2013 15k national championships.

I met with Tim this morning on the Common for a quick interview to get his thoughts leading up to the race. This one lasts little longer than six seconds and is about more than just hand gestures:

Feature image courtesy Davenport Photography.

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Hilary Dionne is Ready For Boston

Apr. 11 Articles, Interviews no comments

Hilary Dionne of the BAA will be running the Boston Marathon on Monday. Hilary set the bar high for herself last year when she finished 15th among the women and was the third American. In ridiculous heat (and running by herself for most of it) she ran an incredible 2:51:56. Hilary has since ran a PR of 2:40 and won a few big races along the way (Rock n Roll Half Marathon in DC, course record at the ING Hartford Marathon).

Hilary stopped by the Level studios in Charlestown, MA (overlooking the Bunker Hill Monument) for a quick pre-race interview:

Feature image of Hilary from the 2012 New Bedford Half (courtesy of Scott Mason)

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