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Glimmer Gear Winner

Dec. 15 Articles, Get Involved, Press Release no comments

Glimmer Gear Giveaway

Over the weekend, we held our first ever Glimmer Gear raffle. Contestants simply had to “like” and/or share our Facebook status updates about it. Legion members could also retweet our tweets about the raffle. It was pretty simple. In case you missed it, runners were playing for a free pair of LED arm sleeves. Here’s what they look like:

glimmer gear arm sleeves 12.15.13

So, without further delay, our winner is…..

Kate Queeney

Congratulations Kate! Please email kevbalance[at]levelrenner[dot]com within the next 24 hours to confirm your victory. Be sure to include your arm size and mailing address so we can tell Glimmer Gear where to ship your new arm sleeves.

Bummed out you didn’t win? We have a consolation prize for you: 50% off. Yes, just enter the promo code “holidays” on Glimmer Gear’s website and you’ll get 50% off your sleeves. Pretty good, right? Thanks to all who played!

If you would like to promote your product on our website, contact us.

Clubs Nats

Dec. 15 Articles, Get Involved no comments

Open call for any field reporters. If you have any pics, video, summaries, etc that you’d like to share with the runners of the region, please let us know. Going to put out some coverage of the USATF XC Club Nationals this week and would love to have input from people who were there!

The New Balance Boston women, led by top 25 performances from Jilian King and Sydney Fitzpatrick, scored a top five finish. The BAA masters men (40+ group) got a spot on the podium. Harry Stants paced the Unicorns with his 20th place finish.

A lot more went down than that, and we hope to bring you all the news out of the Pacific Northwest.

If you’re on the fence about submitting anything, look at it this way: any little bit helps us out a lot. Consider it a birthday present to EJN that won’t cost you a thing but will be greatly appreciated.

Sochi Olympic Torch Details

Dec. 12 Articles, Breaking News, Get Involved no comments

By Gary Cattarin

TODAY – at approximately 3:40 PM we are bringing the torch to the Boston Marathon finish line. If you live or work in Boston, please join us for a mini-runner-flash-mob-like-kinda-thing. See it, get your picture taken with, caress it, whatever (keep it clean). This is a “landmark” stop – the torch is “on vacation seeing the sights!”, so you won’t be interrupting anything. Instead, you’ll be helping to make this more of an event. I can’t promise we’ll be able to stop traffic and stand on the line (but the more of us there are, well, you never know!).

Or, join us earlier outside Fenway, as we will run the torch from there to the finish line.

Plan for THURSDAY:

~3:30 PM

· I will emerge from Fenway with the torch. Please be patient if we’re running late!
· We will collect any and all gathered around the corner of Yawkey and Van Ness. This might be 3, 30, or 300, you decide!
· We will run with great mirth and merriment eastward, first looking for stragglers alongside Fenway, then hopping south to Boylston.
· It will be slow to allow all abilities to join us (besides, I’m injured!)
· Wear red if you’ve got it, or anything that identifies BOSTON – Marathon, Patriots, Sox, Bruins, Celtics, you name it.
· Sadly, we cannot light the torch. As it is being shipped around, it is devoid of fuel.
· We’ll take turns with the torch. I only ask the honor of the last hundred yards!

~3:40 PM

· We’ll arrive at the finish line, hopefully met by more runners! (Again, please be patient if we’re running late!)
· We’ll take pictures, pass the torch around, etc. If there are enough of us we may boldly hold up traffic for 30 seconds for a rapidly assembled on-the-line pic.
· After I drop the torch at FedEx (2 blocks away) for transit to its next destination, those who wish can run back to Fenway.

PLEASE SHARE THIS WITH YOUR RUNNING FRIENDS! The more the merrier!

Special thanks to Gary Cattarin and Avaya for sharing this experience with the runners of the area!

Vote!

Dec. 09 Articles, Get Involved no comments

Reminder, USATF-NE members have until 8:00 pm tonight to cast their vote on the 2014 road racing Grand Prix slate [note: contains voting link] that is most appealing to them. The four slate options are:

Slate – DeMar:

D. H. Jones 10 miler, Amherst, MA, Feb. 23, 11 a.m.
New Bedford Half Marathon, New Bedford, MA Mar. 16, 11 a.m.
An Ras Mor 5 km, Cambridge, MA, Mar. 30, 10 a.m.
Ribfest 5 Miler, Merrimack, NH, Jun 15, 9:15 a.m.
GMAA Labor Day 15 km, South Burlington, VT, Aug. 31, 9 a.m.
Lone Gull 10 km, Gloucester, MA, Sept. 14, 9 a.m.
Manchester City Marathon, Manchester, NH, Nov 2, 8:50 a.m.

Slate – Gibb:

D. H. Jones 10 miler, Amherst, MA, Feb. 23, 11 a.m.
New Bedford Half Marathon, New Bedford, MA, Mar. 16, 11 a.m.
Bedford Rotary 12 km, Bedford, NH, Saturday, May 17, 9 a.m.
Hollis Fast 5 km, Hollis, NH, Thursday, Jun 12, 6:30 p.m.
Carver Cranberry 5 miler, Carver, MA, Jul 26, Sat, 9 a.m.
Lone Gull 10 km, Gloucester, MA, Sept. 14, 9 a.m.
Manchester City Marathon, Manchester, NH, Nov 2, 8:50 a.m.

Slate – Kelly:

D. H. Jones 10 miler, Amherst, MA, Feb. 23, 11 a.m.
New Bedford Half Marathon, New Bedford, MA, Mar. 16, 11 a.m.
Hollis Fast 5 km, Hollis, NH, Thursday, Jun 12, 6:30 p.m.
Carver Cranberry 5 miler, Carver, MA, Jul 26, Sat., 9 a.m.
GMAA Labor Day 15 km, South Burlington, VT Aug. 31, 9 a.m.
Lone Gull 10 km, Gloucester, MA, Sept. 14, 9 a.m.
Manchester City Marathon, Manchester, NH, Nov 2, 8:50 a.m.

Slate – Kuscsik:

New Bedford Half Marathon, New Bedford, MA, Mar. 16, 11 a.m.
Bedford Rotary 12 km, Bedford, NH, Saturday, May 17, 9 a.m.
Hollis Fast 5 km, Hollis, NH, Thursday, Jun 12, 6:30 p.m.
Carver Cranberry 5 miler, Carver, MA, Jul 26, Sat’, 9 a.m.
New Hampshire 10 miler, Auburn, NH, Saturday, Aug 23, 9 a.m.
Lone Gull 10 km, Gloucester, MA, Sept. 14, 9 a.m.
Manchester City Marathon, Manchester, NH, Nov 2, 8:50 a.m.

Be sure to log in to cast your vote before it’s too late!

Along those lines, here’s some more helpful info:

Click here to see pre-slate survey results.

Click here for a race comparison summary sheet.

Transitions! A Panel Discussion

Dec. 03 Articles, Get Involved no comments

NE Distance is hosting an incredible panel discussion with their friends at Foundation Performance Sports Medicine in Plainville, MA on December 11th at 7pm.

Transitions! A Panel Discussion will include luminaries such as:
• Julie Collins, Head Coach of Mansfield High School – 4-time Boston Globe Coach of the Year. Currently on a 58-0 Cross Country win record
• Mark Coogan, Head Coach at Dartmouth University – 1996 Olympian
• John Gregorek – 1984 Olympian
• Molly Huddle – 2012 Olympian, Current American Record Holder in the 5,000m and now World Record Holder in the 12k

The moderator will be Bob Rothenberg. Transitions! will discuss the transitions between the cross country and track seasons, between high school and college and between college and the pros.

Tickets are free, but limited. Register today! Tickets and more info available here.

The Jingle Bell Run

Dec. 02 Articles, Get Involved, Press Release no comments

Come run the 2013 Jingle Bell Fun Run in Brockton, MA this Saturday afternoon!

jingle bell run flyer 2013

Event Details:

Saturday, December 7

registration @ noon; race starts @ 1 pm

The Conference Center at Massasoit Community College

770 Crescent Street, Brockton, MA, 02303

$20 for adults; $10 for kids

This race has a major party atmosphere and 100% of the proceeds goes to the Helping Hands Fund. Entrants can expect a multi-course meal, a huge raffle, silent auction, live holiday music, and more. Dress in your favorite holiday garb and enjoy a festive afternoon, all for a good cause.

If you would like to promote your race in this space, contact kevbalance[at]levelrenner[dot]com.

New Athletes and Some Punk Rock

Sep. 13 Articles, Get Involved, Press Release no comments

Lara Crofford and Katie Spratford Joining NE Distance

Guest blog by Nich Haber, NE Distance

Please welcome NE Distance’s two new athlete-in-resident fellows! Lara Crofford and Katie Spratford will be joining us this month.

Lara graduated from University of Nebraska and competed in the 2008 US Olympic Trials 10,000m as a freshman. She comes to us after spending a year as an assistant coach to Steve Spence at Shippensburg in Pennsylvania. Katie is an 8-time All American and was the Shippensburg Female Athlete of the Year last year. Both athletes are looking forward to joining us in Rhode Island and being role models to youth in the Woonsocket community.

A little more on each…

Katrina Spratford joined NE Distance as an 8-time All-American. In 2012 she was the PSAC Women’s Cross-Country Champion, and a year later she was the 2013 Shippensburg Female Athlete of the Year. She has a PR of 9:40for the 3000m Indoors and 34:42 for 10,000m Outdoors. Katie graduated cum laude from Shippensburg in 2013 with a Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science. She is excited to continue with her passion of running post-graduation as part of the NE Distance team. When not training, Katie is eager to be a role model for the children of Woonsocket, and to give back to the community she now calls her home.

Lara Crofford is a fall 2013 NE Distance recruit. Joining us as a 2008 Olympic trials qualifier in the 10K and a 10,000 meter 33:56 personal best. Lara was the top American in the 10,000m at the Penn Relays in 2013. Lara is excited to be part of our team. As part of NE Distance, Lara is looking to up her mileage and move towards running longer road races. She is a 2011 graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a degree in Nutrition, Health, and Exercise Science. In Nebraska, Lara had a passion for community service, which she hopes to now be able to continue pursuing in the Woonsocket community when she is not training. Lara joins NE Distance after receiving her Masters in Organizational Development and Leadership from Shippensburg University, where she finished up her NCAA collegiate eligibility in the Spring of 2012 as an All-American in the DMR, while working as an assistant coach to Steve Spence for the past year.

Speaking of Steve Spence, he had this to say about his two former runners:

“I’m very excited to have two of my runners moving on to a post collegiate training group. They have contributed much to our programs here at Shippensburg and helped us win many conference championships. In fact, Katie has led us to 9 conference titles (3 x cross country, indoor, outdoor) in a row since transferring from Richmond. Lara competed for us for one track season while in grad school and then served as a coach the next year while finishing her grad degree. Lara and Katie worked well together as training partners and I’m happy that they can continue to help each other develop. They both possess a passion for the sport and a desire to see how fast they can run.”

Both athletes will be coached by NE Distance’s new assistant coach Kurt Benninger (aka Mr. Molly Huddle). They will be focusing on indoor and outdoor seasons in 2014 and do not currently have fall race plans, but we will update you if that changes.

They are due to arrive on Sept 15th when the new apartment from NeighborWorks is completed.

Now that we’ve announced the new athletes, let’s get to the punk rock…

NEW YORK’S ORIGINAL PUNK ROCK HEAVY METAL KARAOKE BAND TO PLAY TWO BENEFIT CONCERTS

New York City’s original Punk Rock Heavy Metal Karaoke band is coming to the Boston area to support this non-profit running organization with two events.

The Punk Rock Heavy Metal Karaoke Band was the original live karaoke band that started at Arlene’s Grocery in New York’s Lower East Side in 1999. The band has a set list of over 300 punk rock, heavy metal, arena rock and new wave songs and members of the audience step up to be their lead singer one song at a time.

Concerts will be:

Saturday, September 21^st at 6pm at TT the Bear’s, 10 Brookline Street, Cambridge, MA

Sunday, September 22^nd at 2pm at Ri Ra Irish Pub, 50 Exchange Street, Providence, RI (Right after the CVS Downtown 5k)

Audience members will be able to sing on stage with the band. Tickets are available on the NE Distance web site, www.nedistance.org.

Funding for the NE Distance program has come primarily from individuals in the running community. When not training, NE Distance athletes work 16-20 hours per week tutoring, coaching and mentoring local youth in the working class city of Woonsocket, Rhode Island. NE Distance’s athletes are currently working with four separate after-school programs. Anyone interested in supporting this program can purchase “shares” in the team from their web site at www.nedistance.org.

FYI David Goodman will be competing at the CVS Downtown 5k on Sept 22nd (right before the PRHMK band concert).

USATF-NE Annual Meeting

Sep. 12 Articles, Get Involved no comments

The following was taken from the USATF-NE website. Many members of Level Legion are also members of the USATF-NE association. This is your chance to get involved and make a difference. We encourage all members to show up and cast their vote. There are some board positions that will be voted on at this election and it’s still not too late for people to decide to jump into the political arena. Full disclosure: I (EJN) am currently an active member of the board. I was elected to the secretary post in last year’s election. I’ll be there this year and hope to see many of you there as well.

USA TRACK & FIELD – NEW ENGLAND
ANNUAL MEETING

Sunday – September 22, 2013
Westin Waltham-Boston Hotel
70 Third Avenue Waltham MA 02451 (at I 95 – exit 27)

Athlete of the Month Awards 4:00 p.m.
Business Meeting 5:00-7:00 p.m.

Location – Westin Waltham-Boston Hotel, 70 Third Avenue, Waltham MA.
The hotel is at exit #27 of I-95 in Waltham.

USATF-NE members age 18 and over, both club members and unattached, have a vote. Except for those renewing membership, all individuals must have been a member as of August 1, 2013.

AGENDA
3:30 PM Sign in
4:00 PM Athlete of the Month recognition – winners for September 2012 through August 2013
5:00 PM Business Meeting
1. Establish Quorum
2. Opening Remarks – Tom Derderian, President
3. Treasurer’s Report – Stephen Peckiconis
4. Managing Director’s Report – Steve Vaitones
5. Reports by Officers and Sports Committee Chairs
For efficient conduct of the meeting, printed reports will be available
6. Discussion and voting on proposed bylaw change (separate page)
7. Elections (See separate page)
Sports Committee Chairmen – for one-year terms
Athlete Representatives – three (3), for one-year terms.
8. Selection of 16 delegates to the USATF Annual Meeting December 3-8 in Indianapolis IN
9. New Business as brought up by the membership including 2014 Grand Prix general discussion
10. Adjournment

2013 ELECTIONS

SPORTS COMMITTEE CHAIRS – All elected for a one-year term. One ballot for all positions

– Men’s Long Distance Running – Incumbent: None
– Women’s Long Distance Running- Incumbent: Lisa Doucett, CSU
– Masters Long Distance Running – Incumbent: Joe Navas, WRT
– Open Track & Field – Incumbent: None
– Masters Track & Field – Incumbent: Mike Travers, Mass Velocity
– Cross Country – Incumbent: Jason Cakouros, HFC Striders
– Mountain / Ultra / Trail – Incumbent: Paul Kirsch, White Mountain Milers
– Race Walking – Incumbent: Justin Kuo, NE Walkers
– Youth Athletics – Incumbent: None

ATHLETE REPRESENTATIVES –
* Three (3) positions elected for one-year term:

Incumbents: (2) Jason Ayr (WMDP), Jim Burgoyne (Twilight Throwers)

For more info, including responsibilities for each position, proposed bylaws changes and other important factoids, check out the full notice. We’ll see you there!

Western Mass Distance Project XC Festival

Aug. 27 Articles, Get Involved, Press Release, Racing no comments

2nd Annual
WMDP XC Festival

Sunday, September 8th, 2013
Stanley Park, Westfield, MA

Open 5K: 10:00

Women’s 5k: 10:45

Men’s 8K: 11:30

Registration:

Opens at 8:30AM on race day and closes 15 minutes prior to each respective start time.
Championship Races: $25 through Friday 9/6 (or mailed by 9/5) and $30 day of
Community Open race: $15 through Friday 9/6 (or mailed by 9/5) and $20 day of
Register Online @ Runreg.com
Mail-in Race application

Awards:

Overall Championship Individuals (Men’s & Women’s): 1st – $150; 2nd – $100; 3rd – $50
USATF Team Championship (Men’s & Women’s) 1st – $150; 2nd – $100; 3rd – $50
**Meet Records** Bonus $50 for meet records in the Men’s (24:49) and Women’s (17:32) Championships
Community 5k age group awards will be awarded.

Contact: [email protected] or (413) 454-5897

Course Description: Both Stanley park races courses are a steady mix of field surfaces and trails. In the 8k the about 2 miles of the course is on a flat field surface and 3 miles of the course is on fairly packed, walking trails. The trails section includes a downhill section (about 300 meters in length) run twice and the resulting uphill section (about 300 meters in length) run twice. The finish is an open 800 meters of field.

In the 8k the about 1 mile of the course is on a flat field surface and 2 miles of the course is on fairly packed, walking trails. The trails section includes a downhill section (about 300 meters in length) run once and the resulting uphill section (about 300 meters in length) run once. The finish is an open 800 meters of field.

Restrooms: WMDP will be providing port-a-potties to supplement limited park restrooms. The Park asks we aim to keep the restrooms open to Park goers and use the port-a-potties provided for the event.

Additional Notes: There is plenty of field space available for teams to set up “camp”. There is room for canopy’s and EZ-ups if a team chooses to bring such items. There are no showers on site. We ask that runners please acknowledge the youth soccer games taking place and avoid warming up and cooling down over the outlined soccer fields.

Past Results:

2012: http://www.coolrunning.com/results/12/ma/Oct20_Wester_set1.shtml

This is the 2nd race for the 2013 USATF-NE XC Series!!

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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Glimmer Gear Giveaway

Kate Queeney

Slate – DeMar:

Slate – Gibb:

Slate – Kelly:

Slate – Kuscsik:

Come run the 2013 Jingle Bell Fun Run in Brockton, MA this Saturday afternoon!

USA TRACK & FIELD – NEW ENGLAND ANNUAL MEETING

Sunday – September 22, 2013 Westin Waltham-Boston Hotel 70 Third Avenue Waltham MA 02451 (at I 95 – exit 27)

Location – Westin Waltham-Boston Hotel, 70 Third Avenue, Waltham MA. The hotel is at exit #27 of I-95 in Waltham.

2nd Annual WMDP XC Festival

Sunday, September 8th, 2013 Stanley Park, Westfield, MA

This is the 2nd race for the 2013 USATF-NE XC Series!!

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