Tag: Race Recap

USATF Masters 10k Championships: James Joyce Ramble

May. 01 Articles, Interviews, Racing no comments
Kevin Collins crosses the line, victory in hand. Courtesy of Scott Mason.

Kevin Collins crosses the line, victory in hand. Courtesy of Scott Mason.

The ever popular James Joyce Ramble (Dedham, MA) played the dual role of the USATF Masters 10k Championship for 2013. In the process it became a nesting doll of a race, as the age-graded scoring added another layer to the masters competition, which is normally a race within the race by itself.

The masters field had its own start (supposedly 3 mins ahead of the open field, but possibly a little longer), and Kevin Collins took full advantage of that as he rolled in alone in 32:48. Kent Lemme was next in 33:08, and then the runners started coming in a little more frequently. Chris Magill, Greg Picklesimer, Mark Hixson and Joe Navas all came in between 33:27 and 33:55.

For the women, Kara Haas was first in at 37:51, followed by Mimi Fallon (38:12)and Holly Madden (40:36). But there was some age-grading to consider here. Taking the age grading into consideration, and the super computers say that the top three overall runners were ladies, led by Jan Holmquist of Liberty AC. At 68 years old she ran a 46:06, which gave her a grade of 95.87%.

For the men, the top age-graded result was Brian Pilcher (56) from Ross, CA, who ran the 10k in 34:36. Between the open and masters races, plus the various age group champions and age-graded results, it’s best to look at the full results.

Speaking of the open race, Amos Sang’s only problem was running out of real estate. Had the race been a little longer then he just might’ve been the first to cross the line. Amos cruised along at 4:44 pace, perhaps inspired by the various readings along the way, and ran a smoking 29:25. Brian Harvey ran a quick 31:03, but that wasn’t enough to challenge Sang on the day.

The open female race was a little closer, but still not exactly close. Chemtai Rionotukei ran a 33:44 and had a comfortable cushion over second place Heather Cappello (34:039).

As always, check out Scott Mason’s site for more amazing shots from the race. Speaking of pictures, did you know Level Renner is now on Instagram? Follow us there for some Lo-Fi On The Level.

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Cragg, Hastings Win in Holyoke

Mar. 21 Articles, Interviews, Racing no comments

Some big names came out for the 38th running of the Holyoke St. Patrick’s Road Race, and they did not disappoint. Local speedster Zach Hine (of South Hadley, but currently located out in Boulder, CO) was back to defend his title. Zach had his work cut out for him right from the gun, as Philemon Terer was ready to avenge last year’s loss. Added to the mix this year was Alistair Cragg, a two time Olympian and Irish national record holder.

Hine led the way for the first couple of tactical miles. The front of the race thinned out pretty quickly and just after the first mile it was already down to a pack of four. Zach would hold that position through three miles, but Cragg and Terer were starting to pull away by the fourth mile.

With just about a mile to go, Cragg made a decisive move on a downhill and gained some separation on Terer. Terer was not able to cover it, and Cragg just seemed to glide in the rest of the way. Alistair ran 29:20 for the 10k, followed by Terer (29:25) and Hine (29:28). Hine actually ran nine seconds faster than he did en route to winning in 2012, but it was only good enough for a third place finish this time around.

In the women’s race, Olympian Amy Hastings was more of a clear favorite. The race was also missing that element of a reigning champ returning to defend the crown as last year’s champion Brielle Chabot was recovering from an injury and not competing. Amy ran a 33:32 and won by well over a minute (Colleen Hogan was 77 seconds back with a 34:49).

The masters race was won by Joseph Ekuom (32:55), followed by Eric Nedeau and Kent Lemme. For the ladies it was Dawn Roberts in 41:23, followed by Mary Guertin and Kim Handzel.

Below is a video including race footage taken from the back of one of the lead trucks, and an interview with Bob Rosen. Bob is quite involved in the running scene out in Amherst, and he and his family have become very close with Philemon Terer. Also included are the pre-race thoughts of Sam Alexander:

For more on the race, including results and summaries, visit the race website.

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Amherst 10 Miler: Reilly RUNs Away With It

Feb. 26 Articles, Interviews, Racing no comments

See what I did there? If not, don’t worry. It’ll make sense soon enough. Steph Reilly (Bryant University coach and 2012 Olympian) led her Team RUN teammates to victory in the first grand prix race of the season this past Sunday in Amherst. Steph won the Jones 10 miler in 58:40, almost four minutes ahead of runner-up (and defending series co-champ) Helen Dinan of Whirlaway (results here).

Steph in control in Amherst. Courtesy of Scott Mason Photography.

The Whirlaway women were second, followed by NBB (Steph’s old team). With a quick analysis you can see that Steph’s move to a new team really impacted the standings in this first meet of the series. Score her for NBB and that team takes the title while Team RUN slides down the list. It’s a move that didn’t get as much attention as, say, Ruben Sança going from GBTC to Whirlaway, but it’ll have just as much of an impact on the standings (if not more).

Here’s a quick Q&A with the USATF-NE 2013 10 Mile Champion:

How did it go and what did you think of the conditions?

This was my first time running the race. It is a very difficult and challenging course. The hill around three miles didn’t bother me as much as the dirt road. I struggled on that portion quite a lot. With the weather it became very muddy and I couldn’t get going on it. So that was frustrating. I finally was able to run steady once we hit pavement again, and was starting to pick up momentum until the last mile, which was uphill and difficult. This set me back a little again. Overall it was a good hard effort, and although I would have liked to run a lot quicker I was happy enough with the win and result considering the conditions. The race was very well organized and I am sure they were pleased that the race went off at all with the predicted weather.

More domination, this time captured by Krissy Kozlosky.

More domination, this time captured by Krissy Kozlosky.

Last year you raced for New Balance Boston (NBB) and now RUN. You mentioned something about a new team (in a Facebook post), but could you elaborate on that? Is it the first women’s team for RUN or is this separate from the men’s team that has been competing on the circuit?

Yes I am now running for Team RUN again. I ran for them before I switched to NBB a few years ago, and decided to go back. It isn’t really a new team. There has always been a women’s team version but we have never really been able to get teams out for all the series races in the past. After I decided to go back to Mark and RUN we decided to get a team together and make it good. We had a nice opener. It is very early stages though, but we are excited and looking forward to the rest of the grand prix series races.

Is your focus still on the track? So far you’ve won a 16 and a 10 miler on the roads this year.

My focus this winter is more about putting in the best base I have ever been able to do, and get really strong, and see where it gets me. I hope it translates into fast times and PRs on the roads and track this spring and summer. I am planning on doing a lot of the grand prix series this year provided all goes well. I like having a good goal and challenge, and this is something different for me. The last few years have been really focused on track championships.

In the masters race, Christin Doneski won with a 65:32 and led her fellow Whirlaway teammates to victory as well.

Christin in action later in the race, courtesy of Krissy Kozlosky.

Christin in action later in the race, courtesy of Krissy Kozlosky.

Be sure to also check out the amazing race photography from both Scott Mason Photography and Krissy Kozlosky.

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Champagne Wins in Ireland!

Feb. 24 Articles, Racing no comments

Before we get to coverage of the Amherst 10 Miler (coming soon), there’s some stuff to clear off the queue here as vacation week comes to an end. EJN was waiting on some more thorough final results, then was away having fun, so this nearly never saw the light of day.

Mary Kate Champagne (New Balance Boston) won the 2013 Ras na hEireann cross country race in Ireland on Sunday. Results can be found here for the women’s race, but it only has places on it at the moment and not the times. In another impressive performance, Joanie Bohlke placed third overall.

In the men’s race, BAA teammates Eric Ashe and Sam Alexander finished 3-4. Once again, the results don’t give us any indication of time just yet.

Of the timing issue, Mary Kate said: “There wasn’t a clock at the race, but i used a watch (silly, I know) and ran about 13:20″. For the 4k, Mary Kate “felt good overall” and said that “it was nice to run a shorter cross country race”.

Pictures of the race can be found here and here.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that I left Joanie off of our initial posting for the Armagh Road Race that took place last Thursday (2/14), but she finished 17th (10:16 for the 3k road race).

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Armagh Road Race

Feb. 16 Articles, Racing no comments

The Armagh Road Race was held in Ireland on Thursday February 14th. Team USA sent a squad there to compete, and it featured a few New England runners.

The pre-race fueling ritual that propelled Eric Ashe to a spot on Team USA.

The pre-race fueling ritual that propelled Eric Ashe to a spot on Team USA.

In the women’s race, Mary Kate Champagne (New Balance Boston) was once again the top American (results here). Mary Cullen of Ireland won the 3k race in 9:07.88. Mary Kate wasn’t too far back in 9:30.63, which placed her fifth. It was a very close finish between Mary Kate and Rachel Bamford (England), but Rachel just edged her out. “She apparently caught me at the line, unbeknownst to me,” said Mary Kate later.

Ethan Shaw (good old US of A) won a tightly contested men’s race in 14:11.71 (full results here). The US men’s team had a healthy dose of BAA on it, with both Eric Ashe and Sam Alexander representing the unicorn abroad. Said Ashe, “I was 10th and Sam was not far back. The race was tactical with a big pack with 400m to go.” Eric ran a 14:21 for 5k and Sam was 17th with 14:32. That 14:32 doesn’t sound too shabby, but Sam’s hungry for more and said he “will try to improve on that on Sunday hopefully”.

Here’s some video of the races, courtesy of East Down AC:

Join us in wishing Mary Kate, Sam, Eric and the rest of Team USA good luck for Sunday’s Ras na hEireann 6k XC. Feel free to leave some inspiring thoughts in the comments below.

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Boston Prep 16 Miler

Jan. 31 Articles, Racing 2 comments

Scott McGrath successfully defended his Boston Prep 16 Miler title and Olympian Stephanie Reilly ran a new women’s course record in Derry, NH on Sunday. There’s a good write up about in on the New Hampshire Union Leader website, so no need for us to reinvent the wheel here.

What we can do is point you to McGrath’s own write up on on his race from his blog earlier this week. Another thing we can do is share with you some footage that David Quintal took during the race:

Eleven mile mark Warner Hill Rd. Scott McGrath in lead, with an incognito Jordan Kinley hot on his heels?

Lead female, Stephanie Reilly, eleven mile mark.

Michael Wade coming through, among some other top runners.

Heather Searles Mahoney:

And finally, it’s a course tour with David Quintal himself (“the hill still climbs”).

Good stuff. You can see the full results here.

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GBTC Invite/Level Renner 3k

Jan. 25 Articles, Racing no comments

Whoa, this one almost got away from us. We know the anticipation must be killing you so we decided to work a little later tonight to finally bring you our coverage of the first ever Level Renner 3k. We teased the coverage and results back on Monday (not very subtly either) with the plan being to put full coverage on Tuesday but we ended up having some technical difficulties.

Enough of the intro, we can finally formally congratulate Dan Kramer of New Balance Boston for winning this prestigious event. Dan hung back early and then made his decisive move later in the race. Final time: 8:32.47. Here’s what he had to say:

For his efforts he won himself a coveted Level t-shirt and a pair of GoRun 2′s courtesy of Skechers. Not too shabby.

Other notable performances:

Karina Johnson (NBB) won the women’s 3k in 10:29.49
Eric Ashe (BAA) in the men’s mile in 4:09.48
Joanna Murphy (NBB) in the women’s mile 4:53.08

Sean Duncan DNF’d in the mile. He can’t even finish a mile?! In reality Duncan made the trip out to Boston to be the rabbit for the Squires Mile. He helped pull Ashe to his winning time. Find the rest of the results here.

It was fun to be a part of this prestigious event and we also need to thank Skechers for yet again providing a sweet prize to a hard-working member of Level Legion.

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Ritchie Second in NYC

Jan. 02 Articles, Racing no comments

Tim Ritchie (BAA) ran quite well at the 34th Emerald Nuts Midnight Run in Central Park on Monday night, placing second. I have to admit I was a little shocked to see Tim at the front of the field in a big race yet again. The shock wasn’t him being at the front, it was mainly because he was doing it so soon. Last I heard, he was taking a week off after XC Nationals to recover. He came out of that recovery period like a raging bull.

Ultimately, Christian Thompson (NJ-NY Track Club) won the race, but it wasn’t easy. It was a battle throughout and only near the end was he able to put some space between himself and Tim. Check out this article from David Monti for the full story:

“I came around the last turn and I saw that he (Ritchie) was just behind me,” Thompson, a University of Colorado alumnus, explained. “Right when I made the turn, everybody just kind of started cheering, so I thought he was making a big move. So, I just tried to go as fast as a I could.”

Christian ran an 18:49 and Tim was five seconds back with his 18:54 (which is roughly 4:43 pace…damn). There’s also a little bit of video on it:

There’s not a lot of race footage there, but at the 47ish second mark you can catch a glimpse of the BAA gold uni approaching the finish line. If you’re a fan of fireworks than this video is for you! It’s pretty cool to see the start and finish blow up like that, but I can’t help thinking that people are about to have their hair and/or clothing go up in flames. Nothing makes you get off the line faster than fire raining down from the sky!

Also of note, Rolanda Bell placed 9th in the women’s race with her 22:14. It says ‘unattached’ for her club affiliation, but just recently I know she was running for the Central Park Track Club. Delilah DiCrescenzo (NJ-NY Track Club) won the women’s race in 21:07. Delilah had a more comfortable 17-second cushion over second place Frances Koons (New Balance).

Note: cover image courtesy of the NYRR.

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BU MINI MEET #1 RECAP

Dec. 19 Articles, Racing no comments

Guest blog by Victoria Barnaby

Ah yes, it is officially wintertime.

A true New England runner knows it’s wintertime not when the first frost arrives, nor when the first snow falls, nor when a double is accomplished in complete morning and evening darkness. No, a true New England runner knows it’s wintertime when the BU Mini Meet series begins.

The BU Mini Meets offer athletes an opportunity to get some pre-season races under the belt and get the speed kinks out before the higher profile meets happen later in the season (like Terrier, Dartmouth, Valentine, etc.). Last weekend the series kicked off on Saturday with Meet #1 at the BU Track and Tennis Center.

While the meets are seen as “low key,” low key in the sense you can email to sign up or sign up day of and pay at the site- it doesn’t necessarily mean you can walk up to the line without potentially being challenged in your race. Depending on the weekend a fairly sizeable crowd shows up- although it does fluctuate each year based on when the Holidays fall in the week and when the cross-country races finish up.

I haven’t been to a mini meet since 2006 and this past weekend I was pleasantly reminded that these things move quickly. Yes the runners move quickly, but so do the officials. Promptly at 10AM the gun went of for the 3,000 meter run. For all races men and women, all ages, are combined in multiple heats per event and only a minute or so passes by in between each heat. This race was swiftly followed by several heats of the 400 meter run, the mile, the 200 meter and lastly the 800 meter run.

Call me partial but one of the top moments of the day was GBTC Allison McCabe’s 9:32 3,000 meter run. Allison was fresh off a solid race in Kentucky last week for Cross Country Club Nationals and went straight into indoor track racing. Allison has been in the New England racing scene for several years now and has been a top finisher for the club across multiple seasons. What you might not know is that Allison has spent at least half of her training in the pool this year and the other half running a high quality 20 miles a week- thus making her 3,000 meter race, over a 10 second PR, that much more impressive. She ran in the 2nd fastest heat with all men, slowly working off the back group and pushing the pace straight into the last 2 laps where she went into overdrive and sprinted to the finish. McCabe’s time broke the GBTC women’s club record for the 3k by mere tenths of a second, which was previously held Kyle Linn McQueen, who has had a string of phenomenal races herself this past year.

McCabe charges into the record books (courtesy of Ryan Irwin)

No doubt we will start to see competitors making early season debuts in the BU Mini Meet series this month so be sure to keep an eye out for results and Level’s coverage on the latest news from the meets.

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XC Club Nats: Men’s Open 10k

Dec. 13 Articles, Interviews, Racing no comments

Jacob Riley led the Hansons-Brooks team to victory on Saturday in Lexington, KY, and picked up a national title for himself in the process. The rain held out that day so the course wasn’t nearly as sloppy as it could’ve been, but it was sloppy nonetheless by the time the men’s open rolled around (the fifth race of the day). The conditions, along with the constantly changing elevation, made his 29:58 that much more impressive.

On a side note, I sadly missed getting footage of him finishing. I’ll totally play the sympathy card here and say that my surgically repaired hip couldn’t take my feeble attempts at jogging and by the time the finish of this race came around, I was reduced to an awkwardly fast limp. End result is we couldn’t give Jacob the video time he deserved, but I did run into him later that night and I bought him a beer. Hopefully that makes up for it.

For the locals, Eric Ashe was the top dog with his 22nd place finish. The BAA bunched their top 4 guys in a tight window of 26 seconds, from Ashe’s 30:59 to Brian Harvey’s 31:25. Also doing some solid bunching were the Wolves from Western Mass. The boys in blue stacked their top five in a quick 27 second span, starting with Sean Duncan’s 32:08 down to David Johnson’s 32:35.

Other locals:

2 – Forys, Craig – 30:04.815 – New York Athletic Club
4 – Forys, Matthew – 30:17.401 – New York Athletic Club
14 – Caccia, Gian-Paul 30:44.238 – New York Athletic Club
22 – Ashe, Eric 30:59.157 – Boston Athletic Association
26 – Ritchie, Timothy 31:10.415 – Boston Athletic Association
31 – Alexander, Samuel – 31:17.521 – Boston Athletic Association
39 – Harvey, Brian 31:25.966 – Boston Athletic Association
43 – Nightingale, David – 31:30.237 – New York Athletic Club
68 – Kramer, Daniel 32:03.807 – New Balance Boston
72 – Duncan, Sean 32:08.023 – Western Mass Distance Project
75 –  Johnson, Kevin 32:09.381 – Western Mass Distance Project
80 –  Polito, Stephen 32:15.542 – New Balance Boston
81 –  Ayr, Jason 32:16.140 – Western Mass Distance Project
85 –  Hatton, Colman – 32:19.835 – Boston Athletic Association
90 –  McCalmon, Ryan – 32:25.855 – Boston Athletic Association
94 –  Heibell, Christopher – 32:28.358 – Garden State Track Club
100 –  Goglas, Kenneth – 32:32.383 – Garden State Track Club

Teams

1 – Hansons-Brooks Distance Project – 50
2 – Asics Aggie Running Club – 77
3 – Boulder Running Company/adidas – 106
4 – New York Athletic Club (NYAC) – 122
7 – Boston Athletic Association – 179
9 – Western Mass Distance Project – 319
12 – New Balance Boston – 399
20 – Garden State Track Club – 563
21 – Central Park Track Club (CPTC) New Balance – 564
27 – Greater Boston Track Club – 745
32 – Garden State Track Club B – 945

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