Central Park Track Club » John Affleck

Holiday Classic at the Armory Registration Info

John Affleck — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 08:44:52 +0000

If you plan to run the 1000 meters at Friday s Holiday Classic in the Armory, we strongly recommend arriving early.

The meet begins at 9 a.m. with a racewalk that should last roughly 20 minutes, so the first heat of the 1000 will go off after that. Another reason to plan to be early: On Sunday, at the MAC season opener, registration was a little chaotic. The line of athletes trying to sign up was very long, and the meet was just for open and masters. This one includes youth.

Want to Try VCP One More Time?

John Affleck — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 19:34:00 +0000

If you want to sneak in one more 5K on the Van Cortlandt Park course this year, there s still time.

Front Runners hosts its Fifth Annual Cross Country Race this Saturday. Registration is at 9 a.m., and the race is at 10 a.m. Prizes to the top three male and female finishers. It s a low-key, fun race and a good workout.

Gold and Bronze at the USATF Masters 5K

John Affleck — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 21:47:51 +0000

And here, as promised yesterday, is the report from Saratoga and the USATF Masters 5K championships.

The best news was on the women s side, where Sylvie Kimche (orange) crushed her competition and won the 60-64 age group. She also finished fourth in age-grading.

Our other medal winner was Mike Trunkes, who ran very tough in a really competitive field. He was thrid in the men s 45-49 age group.

Other notables: Anselm LeBourne knocking 17 seconds off last year s time, Margot Sheehan (Darby to the discerning reader) who took nine seconds off her 06 finish, and baby master Armondo Oliveira. He debuted at 16:05. Look out, old people.

It was a great day for racing and upstate New York was in all its fall glory. In short, a fun weekend. Now, if we could just a few more of you to the champs next time, we could snag some team awards…

We Medaled! Empire State Games Wrap

John Affleck — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 21:32:27 +0000

Every Central Park runner entered in the Empire State Games last weekend medaled … at least we think so. Anyway, we haven t found a contrary example, so we re sticking to that story.

It was a master s crew including (but not necessarily limited to) Glen Carnes, Darnell Gatling, Val Barnwell, Ligaya Mishan (season PR in the 800 â€” 2:28), Mike Potter, Margot Sheehan, and even yours truly that accomplished the feat.

The ESG is a fun, fairly well-organized event â€” although officials did leave Ligaya s heat literally at the line when they went for a lunch break. She stayed cool, though, letting one of her opponents freak out on behalf of the group.

Nice job, gang.

USATF T&F Club Champs – Women Claim 3rd

John Affleck — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 10:33:52 +0000

The Nike Central Park women s team took third place this weekend at the National Club Championships meet at Icahn Stadium, their best-ever finish. The men were sixth, as they were two years ago when the event also was held at Icahn.

Now in its seventh year, the National Club Champs are becoming a popular and increasingly tough event — which makes what the CPTC athletes and Coach Devon accomplished that much more impressive. For perspective: 67 teams were entered, with about 450 athletes.

Also, by taking third place, the women claimed a $1,000 prize.

CPTC put on a show and claimed a lot of points in the relays on Saturday, probably the most exciting two hours of the outdoor season. We won both the women s and men s 4 X 800 and the women s distance medley, while the men took second in the distance medley.

The roster of great and gutty performances is long, so we ll just mention two people — Aileen Conlon, who won the 5000 meters on Friday and anchored the gold medal DMR on Saturday, and, on the men s side, Jeff Williams, who race a smart race and was second by a tenth of a second in the 800 on Friday night and then anchored us to victory in the 4 X 800 on Saturday. He then ran the 800, again, in the DMR.

There may be more to come on this, so stay tuned, but the bottom line is the meet was a big success.

Pride Run

John Affleck — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 17:02:36 +0000

Our friends/competitors at Front Runners, who do great work with their annual indoor track meet, host their other major event next Saturday: The Pride Run in Central Park. It s a five-miler.

They wanted to let CPTCers know about increased cash and prizes this year. This from FR s Rob Lennon: “We re offering more prize money than ever — $500 for the overall male and female winner plus a round trip domestic ticket on Continental … and $300, $200, $100 and $50 for the second, third, fourth and fifth place finishers, respectively. PLUS we are giving $100 bonus if a course record is logged.

“You guys have such strong men s and women s teams this year … (so know that) we are also awarding the top three male and female running teams with $300, $200, and $100 respectively.”

Summer Track Series at Icahn

John Affleck — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 15:08:01 +0000

The NYRRC s Tuesday Night at the Races, the outdoor version, is back a week from Tuesday at Icahn.

These meets are a great chance to get in some competition in a low-key atmosphere at a nice facility. Check out the schedule … racing starts at 7 p.m.

Tuesday June 12th â€“ 1500m, 400m, 3000m
Tuesday June 26th â€“ 1500m, 800m, 5000m
Tuesday July 10th â€“ 1500m, 800m, 3000m

CPTC Rocks Master’s Nationals

John Affleck — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 19:29:59 +0000

Our master’s team had an outstanding performance in Boston this weekend at indoor nationals.

We re still awaiting final team results but you can basically pick your superlative. The bottom line is that, as a group, it was probably our best performance ever.

Gold medalists included: Sprint Coach Shaun Dietz (60 meters); Mitchell Lovett (400 – followed closely by Darnell Gatling); Mary Louise Michelsohn (3K, mile, 800); Sid Howard (mile, 800); Frank Handelman (800); Neil Fitzgerald (800); plus, our men s 4 X 400 team for the 40+ age group.

Van Barnwell, Alston Brown and Darnell Gatling all scored multiple medals and club prez Alan Ruben and Coach Tony Ruiz also took home some hardware.

If we missed anybody, sorry, it s just that we’re sooo darn good it s hard to keep track of it all.

More From Thursday Night at the Races

John Affleck — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 15:05:09 +0000

In addition to Natalie s hella good win, the other orange spike award (we just made that up; it s kind of like a game ball) goes to Mike Potter, who dropped 4.7 seconds in the 800 over his race two weeks ago. That s more than a second per lap.

American Record X 2

John Affleck — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 08:13:40 +0000

Congratulations to our American masters phenom, Marie-Louise Michelsohn, who set two American records for women 65-69 — outdoors in the mile in Florida on Jan. 20, and then five days later indoors in the 3K. Not a bad week s work, MLM. You can take the seventh day to rest. (Official times to follow — but lemme tell you — they were fast).