The numbers are fantastic – let’s start with the team points competition: Three of six CPTC masters teams did better than they did in 2010, and none did worse. Individually, CPTCers set world and American records on the high end, and many, many PRs slightly lower on the bell curve.

Let us praise the women’s 60+ team for winning the team competition, after finishing a weak fifth in 2010. Captain Sylvie Kimche rallied the troops month after month, and the team of Deb Barchat, Judith Tripp, Marie-Louise Michelsohn, Lynn Blackstone, Caryl Baron and Sylvie herself squeaked out a season win against Mercury Masters.

The Men’s 50+ also won, but that is like saying Kip Lagat won Millrose – this is at least the third year in a row for the team atop the standings, and a well-won huzzah goes to captain Andrew Moore and his speedy few.

The men’s 40+ surged into second place, better than their 3^rd place in 2010. With a heavy assist from ringer Thom Little, the m 40+ kept improving through the year, throwing down a sharp win at the marathon. And with momentum surging and John Milone turning 40 next year, the future looks very bright for the M 40+.

The women’s 40+ matched its second place from 2010, winning three races and narrowly losing to Athena.

The men’s 60+ deserves full credit for a massively successful rebuilding year, finishing just off the podium in fourth by a technicality having to do with how the NYRR counts mulligans. Captain Hank Schiffman tirelessly got his mates out onto the start line, fielding teams in six races this year, versus just three in both 2009 and 2010. The highlight of the year was an incredible one second win over Taconic at the Fifth Avenue Mile, with Hank, Sid Howard and Chris Neuhoff outleaning our northern rivals.

Individually, we have to acknowledge two records of which I am aware: Marie-Louise Michelsohn broke the world records for the 70-74 3000 and 5000 on a windy day at Icahn Stadium. Early in the year, Rae Baymiller broke the 65-69 American record in the half marathon with an amazing 1:33:43. While it happened in 2009, Stuart Calderwood’s 54-59 ARs at 20k, 25k and 30k on the track were finally ratified.

Here are the top 2011 performances in the NYRR database for distances greater than one mile:

Men:

Alan Ruben: 87.5%

Stuart Calderwood: 86.9

Thom Little: 85.8%

Michael Rennock: 84.6%

Hank Schiffman: 84.3%

Women:

Rae Baymiller: 99.9%

Marie-Louise Michelsohn: 92.0%

Sylvie Kimche: 89.9%

Yumi Ogita: 87.3%

Jill Vollweiler: 82.8%

I apologize if I missed anyone.

Rae, Marie-Louise, Sylvie, Alan and Stuart’s marks were among the top 10 performances by CPTCers in the last four years, since I started this column.

Top Performers since 2007:

Men:

1. Alan Ruben 87.7 (2009)

2. Birger Ohlsson 87.7 (2008)

3. Stuart Calderwood 86.8 (2011)

4. Michael Trunkes 86.8 (2008)

Women:

1. Rae Baymiller 100.4 (2010)

2. Marie-Louise Michelsohn 92.1 (2011)

3. Yumi Ogita 90.2 (2010)

4. Sylvie Kimche 89.9 (2011)

5. Jill Vollweiler 86.9 (2008)

On the track, Lisa Daley won multiple golds at the World Masters Champs, and Neil Fitzgerald won one of the best 800 meter races you’ll ever see, at the same meet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffHVOuHBlFY

Almost on the track, Yumi Ogita was flying on Fifth Avenue, running a 94.1%/5:18, winning by 27 seconds. Her time would have won the two proximate younger age groups and medalled all the way down to the 30-34.

The team improved its depth in 2011 also – at the last points race of the year ten male CPTCers scored over an age-graded 80%, while in 2010 only six hit that milestone.  The faster masters ‘just get me to the line in time’ award goes to Chris Donnelly, who raced more than anyone else: 14 times. On the women’s side, Wanda Wang crossed the line 12 times.  While Yasuhiro Makoshi had an off year, only racing seven times, he has raced circa 88 times in four years, far more than anyone else.

One hundred masters men were active through the year, and 22 masters women.

Race Rewind:

Captain Jim McQuade and George Hirsch won their age groups at the Ted Corbitt 15k, but no one set a 52-week age graded PR.  Dan Gercke celebrated the holidays with a win in the 45-49 at the Brooklyn Jingle Jog.

The last points race of the season, December 4 and lasting a wonderful 5 miles, was my personal favorite of the year, as no fewer than ten CPTCers set new 52-week age graded PRs. David Greenberg, Mel Stafford, Peter Allen, Michael Rennock, Daniel Gercke, Michael Caggia, Laurence Go, Rich Shaver, Philip Vasquez and Dave Delano had their best races of the year, statistically. The men’s team had an amazing grouping, with David G, Mel S, Michael Ahern, David Bosch, Peter A and Michael R finishing all packed up within 30 seconds of each other. For Davids Bosch and Greenberg, the race was their first Central Park race over the 80% mark.

After Joe DiMaggio grounded out in the 57^th game, fans must have sat back and wondered how the heck the clipper had done it. Our own Sylvie Kimche had a streak end this year: 45 straight age group wins in Central Park races. The only way it could end was through injury or another world-class runner moving into the neighborhood – and that is just what happened. Kathryn Martin turned 60 and no one, not even our Sylvie Kimche, can beat Kathy Martin. But Sylvie herself moved up an age group on December 11, so woe to those competitors. And it goes on.

At the XC champs in November, CPTC did its usual torrid best, winning three age groups and taking home fifteen medals, including the open team.  Shock and awe. The winners were Daniel Gercke, Hank Schiffman and Sue Pearsall.

Back to the first race after the marathon, a four miler on November 20, Lynn Blackstone set a 52 week age graded personal best and won a bronze medal to fill the traditional role of the maraschino cherry.

I am sure I missed endless good news – please let me know so I can be more complete.

Dgreenb300@aol.com

So again, thank you Lynn for being here when it mattered most.  

Happy Holidays to all and see you at the races!    :-)

The victory of the 40+ was particularly sweet since the young ones had not won a club points race in 2011 and had finished third in the marathon in 2010. The average 40+ scorer in 2011 was almost 9 minutes faster than in 2010. Thom Little was the first across the line at 2:33/83.5%, after leading the open team through 30k. Josh Rayman was second (2:39/81.5%) and 54 year old Alan Ruben was third (2:49/85.4%).

Josh Rayman sped north from his green training grounds in Georgia to hit the asphalt and rebar of NYC.  Beside the latitudinal diversity Josh brings to the result sheets, he also has a different view of tapering. Two weeks ago, while his CPTC teammates were dialing back like a candidate after an election, Josh was lining up for a race. A marathon actually. Josh and a team called ‘Unholy Trinity’ won the Great Floridian relay triathlon, with Josh splitting 2:56 with a two minute stop.

Josh credits some big miles in training for allowing him to run two solid marathons in two weeks. He had averaged over 110 miles per week for the previous eight weeks and felt ready. The early miles were plagued by calf soreness, but he made like Majdic and sped on. At mile 25 he was facing every marathoner’s dream/nightmare:  knowing he had a PR and a time barrier in sight…but only if he could summon the fire for the final mile. Sue Pearsall’s camera caught well the determination of Josh’s last push. He joined up with another runner with the same opportunity, and put the hammer down to kill mile 26 in 6 flat and the last 400 in 69 seconds. 2:39:42 was a four second PR and maybe he had enough cushion to enjoy the last few steps.

The #3 scorer for the 40+ (and the #1 scorer for the 50+), Alan Ruben, has shown Coach Tony and the rest of us how to finish with dignity for many years. Much of what you need to know about Alan as a marathoner is that he covered the ground between 35k and 40k in 20:02 and the ground between 0k-5k in 19:58.   His splits were 1:24:22/1:24:55, which is probably the closest any CPTCer came to negatively splitting the race.

“I honestly didn’t think I’d break 2:50 again, so I was delighted.” Alan said afterwards. “I’ve run enough marathons (53) that I run more by feel than by pace, knowing the effort level I need to put in as the race progresses. So even though I was ahead of my expected splits, I knew I was running at the right effort level so I wasn’t too concerned.”

Running rock-solid above-expectation splits by feel is a clear benefit of having run formany years. As is the self-knowledge required to get you to the line in high fitness. To get back under the 2:50 barrier, Alan added more progression runs than in the past. “Training-wise I tried consciously to get back to doing workouts more comfortably and picking up toward the end, which was how I used to do them when I was a lot faster. As I’ve slowed I’ve found I’ve been working a little too hard to try to prevent my splits from degenerating too quickly. Again, for me, it’s all about getting the effort level right, not the pace.”

The No I Will Not Quit award goes to Mike Rennock, #2 scorer in the 50+, for his climb back from injury over the summer. “Three months ago, I ran my first race (Club Championships) since coming up gimpy with two strained hamstrings and having foot surgery.” Mike writes. “I could not break 6:45 pace per mile in that five mile race. I determined to slog through the workouts and the training miles to get to the marathon.” He stayed with Alan for the first 14 miles and clocked the finish at 2:54:27, under his goal of 2:55.   

So in three months, Mike went from 6:51 pace for a five miler to 6:40 pace for a 26 miler. He credits Coach Tony’s Tuesday track workouts for getting his legspeed and confidence up, and is looking forward to Boston 2012.

Also scoring for the victorious 50+ was Peter Allen (3:04/77.7%)

On the individual side, CPTC took down a podium in the women’s 65-69. Judith Tripp ran 4:05/81.4% to finish 3^rd in her age group. Her time was the 2^nd fastest of her seven NYC Marathons, behind a flying 3:46 in 2009. “I had high hopes (for a sub-4) as the time seemed to go by fast and a friend who clocked my splits said I was very steady.” But as the race went on her body started to give her trouble. “A few miles from the end, in the sun, I started to get kind of a numb left foot and then toe cramps! So I was sort of scuttling along like a crab when this happened, and I also got a bit of a calf cramp.”

It takes a big effort to get on the podium at the NYCM, and Judith pulled it off by being the only CPTCer to set a 52 week age graded PR in the race.

Even after decades of running, good training and great motivation can push us to new speeds. Andre’ Lejeune turned twenty years of capillary development into a lifetime best 3:05/72%. Unlike teammate Josh, Andre’ was able to savor CPS – this would be his best time by seven minutes.

Finally, making a marathon of marathons was Rick Shaver, who completed his 35th consecutive NYCM, in 3:55/64.5%. May we all enjoy running so much.

Team standings before the marathon:

First Place: M 50+

Second Place: M 40+, W 40+

Third Place : M 60+ (up from 5th place)

Fourth Place:  W 50+

Fifth Place: W 60+

Thanks to Sue Pearsall for the photo of Kimihiko Oishi.

dgreenb300@aol.com

NYC MARATHON recap: 

Congrats to all our 50+ team mates on a fine day of marathon racing resulting in a team first place finish. 

On a beautiful sunny day, leading the 50+ team was Alan Ruben (2:49:17), Michael Rennock (2:54:27), and Peter Allen (3:01:06). 

A solid team turnout was backed up by Yasuhiro Makoshi (3:06:17), Noel Labat-Comess (3:13:48), Roger Liberman (3:46:07), Richard Shaver (3:55:09), and James Smyth (4:12:06).

A good job put in by all. – enjoy your recovery days! 

There have been reports of NYRR errors in results postings including missing team registrations – if I missed you, please let me know

<<<<<< 

From Hank Schiffman of the 60+

Going into the final race of the year, 2nd and 3rd positions of the Club Awards for men 60+, as I had feared, are up for grabs. We are tied for 3rd with West Side Runners after Witold’s Runners fielded a full team for Grete’s and took a solid second place. Greater NY picked up 3 points on their marathon effort. We did not have 3 finishers for either event. Like a metaphor for the USA in the global economy, the world has caught up to us. As of today’s unofficial NYC Marathon results:

NYRR Men 60+ Post 2011 NY Marathon Team Scoring – unofficial

1          NYF                15

2          Clifton             12

3          Korean                        10

4          WSR               8

5          GLI                 6

6          Rockland         5

7          Millrose           4

8          GNY               3

9          PPTC               2

10        Achilles           1

Current NYRR Men 60+ Post 2011 NY Marathon Team Standings - unofficial

1          TRR                117

2          Witold’s           70

3          WSR               63

4          CPTC              63

5          GNY               58

6          NYF                56

7          VCT                54

8          FR                    46

9          Rockland         43

10        Prospect          15

As you can see, as West Side Runners, Greater NY, the Flyers and Van Cortlandt do as well, that we need 3 strong scorers for that 3rd spot. Witold’s too are in the hunt because of the “mulligan” rule: “At the end of the year, each club’s point totals in the 9 best races of the 11-race series (the lowest 2 scores for each club is automatically dropped) are added to determine the club’s overall ranking for the year.” Will NYRR drop just one race from each as we all lost the Percy Sutton 5k? 

If you go to: http://www.nyrr.org/resources/clubs/60Men.htm   you will see this, which does not include the marathon, my figures above represent the current standings but the table below should change when NYRR gets around to posting it on the site:

Where does that put us? If I have my math correct, we have a statistical advantage against all but West Side in that we get to subtract a couple of zeros while all others have to lose real numbers. Assuming that all the dogs in the fight have 3 finishers for the final race, Witold’s loses 6 and they only get more points if they come in over 5th place in the race. Short of an act of god, Taconic will take first and the 15 points. The fight will be for second place. As West Side is situated like we are with 2 zeros to throw out, they will go for broke, and we must as well. Greater NY has to lose 4 points. Therefore, they too need to get the 12 points of second place to best both us and WSR. Could the Flyers take second and other competitors bottom out, only gaining a few points? I don’t think so. West Side has the talent to give us a run for our money. Conceivably, CPTC and WSR could take 2nd and 3rd, leaving Witold’s to throw out 12 points. It’s a horse race.

The bottom line is that we need to be strong and avoid injuries. We need to score, meaning have at least 4 committed runners for the Join the Voices 5 miler on December 4th at 8:30 am, and have 3 strong finishers. All these teams will be poring over the same numbers, that could change with updated corrections in the marathon results. 

Please get back to me if you intend to run this race and register for it ASAP. Next year some of us should be stronger and we will have more talent coming of age, and try to work out some commitments towards those races that we did not score in. In the mean time, don’t miss XC racing season at VC Park. There are 2 upcoming shorter races: the Fred Lebow 5k XC Championships on 11/20 at 11:30, and a NYC USATF XC event expected on November 26.

Train, but don’t strain!

Yours,

Hank

The CPTC 50+ team took first in their age group again at the Grete’s Great Gallop half marathon in Central Park.  The top three scorers were Michael Rennock (1:22:41), Peter Allen (1:23:25), and Alan Ruben (1:23:46). The team had good depth with Andrew Moore, Yasuhiro Makoshi, and Kevin McGuire also running the 13.1 miles and terrific support all along the race course from many cheering  team mates – Thanks to all!

 Next scoring race is the NYC Marathon. Please let me know if you are registered and plan to run.

 Hello all!  Sorry for the delay in the race recap, the scoring was all messed up for the masters 40+ so I wanted to wait until it was all sorted out before I sent out a report.

Congrats to Resie for her 1st place age finish (10:32) in the Norway Run!  way to go Resie!!!

We had a small but stellar team for Grete’s–the amazing Jill Vollweiler (who also scored for the open team!) flew on winged feet finishing in 1:26:06, followed by wonder woman Wanda Wang in 1:34:26, and the mighty Maria Luz Caballero in 1:44:13 for our third place podium finish! 

Congrats to everyone who did the half!

<<<

From Captain Sylvie: 

Here is the belated recap of last week’s team race, the Grete’s Great Gallop Half Marathon. Sorry for delay. That’s how long it took me to get my energy back after the race….

On Saturday October 1st, the CPTC W60+ team once more took first place, this time in the NYRR Grete’s Great Gallop Half Marathon race, just a week after the Fifth Avenue Mile….Judith came in 3rd for the team (9th in the W60-64 age group) in a time of 1:55:51 She used the race as a barometer on her training for the NYC marathon & was happy with the result.

Deb came in 2nd for the team in 1:51:31 (4th W60-64), only slightly slower than her time in last’s year race, showing that she’s getting her speed back!

Sylvie in her first half marathon in almost a quarter century surprised herself and her teammates by coming in 1st for the team (and 1st W60-64) in a time of 1:47:04 (I was elated that my streak of 1st place W60-64 was still alive, but I was really tired afterwards – still tired as of this writing 8 days later!)This experience has given me much more admiration for my teammates, Judith & Deb who run long distance races day-in & day-out!

It is to be noted that Deb, Judith & Sylvie also got 4th place in the W50+ team competition. As of this writing, the CPTC W60+ team is in 1st place. Unfortunately we do not have a team for the NYC marathon (however, we do have a W50+ team with Yumi, Deb & Judith). So the final standings will be decided in the last race of the year, the “Join the Voices” 5 miler on December 4th. Let’s hope that we will have a strong W60+ team for that race to keep our overall 1st place! Please email me if you are planning to run. Thanks! GO ORANGE! GO 60!!! Sylvie

From Hank Schiffman of the 60+: 

CPTC Mens 60+ 2011 5th Avenue Mile Wrap Up

 What a difference a second makes. Mens 60+ hinged on a second for the first 4 teams in this year’s 5th Avenue Mile. Taconic RR had a total of 1070 seconds, we had 1069! GNY had 1116, Witold’s 1117 while Front Runners 1216 gave them 5th.
I want to send a big Thank You to Bob Haig who ran unbeknownst to me. And to Hal Lieberman for adding to the team effort. Sam Mann had a death in the family and did not run. It’s always nice to have extra gas in the tank.

Chris Neuhoff, you are great. You have been a rock to our team. At 6:08, you were our 3rd scorer.

But I’ve got to metaphorically hoist The Great Sid Howard up on my shoulders. Or should I say, at 72 and a half he carried us on his shoulders, taking our second scoring position mens 60+ in crossing the line in 6 minutes flat. Need I say that at Tony’s Tuesday workouts he has consistently been kicking my sorry a$$. What a great finish Sid! You are The Master. Mariano Rivera is no better a closer than you.

All of this brings us up to the current Men 60+ club standings. Unofficially (as NYRR has not posted their calculations as of this writing):

Taconic is first with 117, 

we are second with 63, 

Witold’s third with 58, 

GNY fouth with 55, 

West Side, who did not have 3 scorers for today’s race, fifth with 55,

Front Runners sixth with 46

Van Cortlandt seventh with 44, also did not have 3 scorers today.
And what does this all boil down to? 

Taconic doesn’t have a worry in the world. 

West Side Runners and us both have used our mulligan. 

The next 2 races have the potential to point out the hole in the bucket of mens 60+ club racing. If we can’t field 3 runners to cross the line at these venues and others can, even if they do it pushing a peanut with their noses, the market is due for a serious correction. Like all races, the podium belongs to the final order at the end of the event. Dan Molloy and Dave Delano have answered the clarion call to run with me for CPTC in Grete’s Half. We have a possibility of 3 starters for the NYC Marathon, a race that is really no country for old men… Should our fortunes change and find ourselves a card short of the podium on Club Night, we have done very well for ourselves. Consider that we didn’t run 2 events and had no expectations. We have donned our singlets and laced our running shoes. Central Park Track Mens 60+ has stirred from the ashes, and risen like a phoenix.  

The final NYRR Club Point Race is Join the Voices 5 miler (1.2 miles shorter than Joe K 10k, which it replaces) in Central Park on December 4th. This is a good time to start training towards making it a race goal. May we have an overwhelming showing of our guys on the starting line! 

See you at our CPTC Benefit in October,

Hank

^^^^^^^

From Andrew Moore of the 50+:

 Congrats to the 50+ team for their great showing at the 5^th Avenue Mile last Saturday. The team came through on top of the division, led by strong performances by Coach Tony Ruiz (4:54), Peter Allen (5:08) and Alan Ruben (5:13).  Harry Lichtenstein and Collin Mitchell also competed. Tommy Raymond, I saw photos of you running but you aren’t in the NYRR results! 

Next up is Grete’s Half Marathon this Saturday October 1 – see you there!

 ^^^^^^^

From Sylvie Kimche of the 50+ and 60+

 The CPTC runners burned the asphalt of Fifth Avenue yesterday (Saturday 09/24/11) in the 31st edition of the Fifth Avenue Mile: 8 teams with 7 first place teams and one 3rd place! Amazing!!! 

The W60+ team of Deborah Barchat, Marie-Louise Michelsohn & Sylvie Kimche came in 1st place in a total time of 20:08 (2 minutes & 41 seconds ahead of the 2nd team: the Mercury Masters)

The 50+ team also came in 1st place ahead of Athena (by only 11 seconds) with Yumi Ogita who recently turned 50, leading the charge in 5:18. Sylvie & Marie-Louise rounded out the W50+ team. 

Deb, for her first time running down Fifth Avenue finished in 7:13, slightly ahead of Judith Tripp, to take 3rd place for the team. It is to be noted that both Deb and Judith are training for the marathon & currently doing long runs, which are not propitious for running the mile. As George Wiznewski, our coach of old, once told me after the 1989 NYC marathon (my last one!)

 ”Sylvie, the mile & the marathon don’t mesh. You have to choose one over the other…..”, so congrats to both Deb & Judith to step up to the line. 

Marie-Louise, only a few days shy of her 70th birthday, was 1st in her age group & 2nd for the team in 6:45 (a 97.5% AG performance), despite not having a good race because of the humidity and troubles breathing. One can only imagine what she would have run in dryer conditions! It is to be noted that Marie-Louise holds the Fifth Avenue Mile record for W60+: 5:51.1 which she ran in 2002. Yesterday’s race was her first run down Fifth Avenue since 2006. 

Sylvie was pushed hard by Corinne Steinbach from Pompei NY and fought hard to keep her steak of 1st place age-group awards. In the process, she ran 6:10, a 3 seconds improvement on her time of 2 years ago, good for a 98.5% AG performance!  (guess coach Wiz was right, the mile is really my best distance!) 

In the W50+ category, Yumi’s time of 5:18 (a 94.11% AG performance) was good for 1st place in her new age group (she would also have scored 1st place in the W40-44 and in the W45-49 age groups. She would also have finished 2nd in the W35-39 age group – or she may have won if she had be pushed by the competition….). 

It is to be noted that Yumi also scored 1st for the CPTC W40+ team.  

So congratulations to all and thanks to all the cheering squads out there. It really helped!

Overall a great day of running! 

GO ORANGE!

 Sylvie

^^^^^^^

From Ani Go of the W 40+: 

For our third club points race in a row, the 40+ women’s masters dominated top place!  Burning up 5th ave, Yumi Ogita ran like the wind finishing in 5:18, followed by Jill Vollweiler flashing by in 5:29, and rounding up the top of our scoring crew, the fiery Sue Pearsall in 5:52.  Also representing our strong team was Wanda Wang (5:59) and Andrea Ostrowski (6:41).  Congrats, and fantastic job to all who ran! 

A month before, on a warm evening in Northern Manhattan, Lisa had found herself in a  very different place:  on the way to the emergency room. While training for the hurdles she had crashed hard to the Rekortan, hitting her head and bruising just about everywhere else.  Her coach got her to the ER, but would that be the end of Lisa’s world championship dream?

As Lisa, a lawyer by trade, might say – no, your honor. She was soon back training, learning intermediate hurdle technique with intensity and ambition. Sacramento was the finish line, not the hospital. She had set out to win at Worlds, and if she had to train with a mouthguard, she would do it.

From talking to Lisa, you get the sense that she actually welcomed the challenge of playing hurt. She had already been to Worlds twice in the 200 and 400, but she decided to add the hurdles. “I like challenges,” says Lisa, “I thought that at 40 I would like to add spice to my track career.”

The ones who win often think that way. In an interview with Flotrack, Bernard Lagat said that one of the things that he believes makes champions is the desire to keep improving, never being satisfied with where he or she is. Maybe we should all try a new event every time we hit a new age group.

The way to improvement for Lisa was through learning a new event. Despite only having raced the event a few times, she entered the 400 hurdles, hoping her training and 20 years of track experience would get her through the event. “It was harder than I thought,” she said later.

She ran cautiously in the prelims and was not the top seed going into the final. Rather than being discouraged, she put together a race plan to take advantage of her underdog status. She would attack the first four hurdles, hoping her relative anonymity would cause the field to assume she would come back to them. “The last couple of hurdles were ugly,” she laughed later, but she held it together to take her first win.  She crossed the line in 63.95,  .45 of a second under her old American record.

Knowing she still had seven heats and finals to go, Lisa used everything in her toolbox to help her recovery. Massages after each event, ice baths, epsom salts baths, proper cooldowns and stretching took up much of her time between events.

The 200 began a few hours after the hurdles final. Pushing back against her nerves with breathing exercises and memory of the hard work she put in, she was the top seed going into the final, and took gold with a 26.16, versus an Australian at 26.71.

Even after winning the 200 decidedly and heading toward her specialty race, the 400, Lisa could not relax because a long-time friendly rival, Charmaine Roberts (USA), was waiting for her. Since 2006, the two had raced against each other in every big meet. In the best tradition of masters racing, they hugged before the race and went to the blocks.

The 400 posed a challenge to Lisa because she had already been on the track all week. She had tried to get enough sleep and do the little things right, but racing that much takes a toll on your legs and your confidence. Adding to her nerves, she knew her rival, Roberts, liked to put the hammer down at around 300 meters, just when Lisa’s week might start to drag her back.

The only way for Lisa to win would be to have the right race plan, which she summed up as ‘I want to win.’ In practical terms, that meant ignoring what she had already done that week and going out hard to put some distance between her and her rival’s fast finish.  At 300 Roberts made her move, but Lisa relied on her hurdler’s strength to stay ahead by a head, 57.42 vs 57.76.

The individual meet was over,and Lisa had executed like a Goldman trader circa 2007:  three golds in three finals. Lisa was therefore invited to compete on the relays, and she was eager to participate. After her 400 gold the team got together to practice handoffs for the 4 x 1, knowing the Australians would be tough. Lisa asked for the second leg, figuring that the slightly longer leg might be right for her as a long sprinter.

“It was a good effort,” she said later. “It doesn’t matter how tired you are – the team aspect of the relay gets you going.” The Americans got the stick around and crossed the line second, but the Australians were disqualified and Lisa got her fourth gold.

Two hours later she was back for the 4 x 4. She had no doubts about racing for the ninth time and finishing the meet in style.  Racing with her rival from the 400, Charmaine Roberts, the Americans ran 4:03.49, winning by 40 meters and, particularly gloriously,  beating the time of the W 35 winners.

After the meet, Lisa’s only bittersweet thought after winning five golds and setting a national record in the hurdles was wondering how fast she could have gone in the 200 or 400 had she raced less.  Bernard Lagat would have approved.

Flights from Sacramento to JFK were weighed down by more gold than just Lisa’s. Neil Fitzgerald won an incredible M40 800 (1:55.70), with all three medalists finishing within 13 hundreths of a second of each other. Neil won a second gold in the  4 x 4.  Darnell Gatling won the M50 400 hurdles in 56.86.

Back home in New York, gold was rarer than in post-gold rush Sacramento. I’ll start in June, when Wanda Wang won her first-ever age group championship in an NYRR event at the Front Runners 5 miler. First out of 139 is a good percentage.

The very next day at the Achilles 5 miler, Yasuhiro Makoshi continued his comeback with an age group win, as did Yumi Ogita with a strong 87.3% age group score.

And then we come to the first of the scoring races of the summer, the July 16 four miler. As Coach Tony has pointed out, the scoring races are testaments to the overall depth of CPTC. Take a look at the men’s competition – despite not a single 52-week age-graded PR, the masters team scored a first and two seconds in the team competition. The women did have some strong individual races, and won two the age groups and finished 4^th in another.

The fast women on the day were Jill Vollweiler, who ran at 6:05 pace for her 83.52% and an age group win, Sue Pearsall, who medalled in her age group with a 52-week PR of 6:42 pace/77.1%. Audrey Kingsley medalled in the 40-44 with yet another age-graded 52 week PR – 6:40 pace/75.7%. Marie Michelson and Deb Barchat also won age groups on the day.

On the men’s side, despite no age group wins and no spectacular individual runs, the 50s won and the 40s and 60s finished second.

And then on to the amazing race we call team champs. The women were the stars of the day, as Yumi, Jill and Audrey rolled over the hills to the win in the 40+ and Sylvie Kimche, Marie-Louise Michelson and Deb Barchat won the day in the 60+.

On the men’s side, the M40+ was the highlight with its second place team finish. Michael Ahern had the race of the day, as he pulled out his best ever age-graded race in Central Park with his 5:48 pace/79.7%. Always fantastic to see a peak performance at champs. Otherwise, the pack was the key to the race, as CPTC finishers 2,3,4,5 in the 40+ finished within  53 seconds of eachother.

Also setting nice 52-week age graded PRs were Casey Yamazaki and Michael Siegell.

Standings as of press time (not including team champs)

First Place: M 50+

Second Place: M 40+ (up from third), W 40+

Third Place: W 60+ (up from fifth)

Fourth Place: W 50+ (up from fifth)

Fifth Place: M 60+ (up from sixth)

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