12/9/06 - Schieffer Wins National XC Title
Super Seniors Team Places 4th
 Joe Schieffer - 55-59 Champ
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In one of the most competitive age-group cross country National Championship, the Strider's Joe Schieffer prevailed at the 55-59 National Champion. Michael Allison of Seattle Washington placed second in that division, a mere 8 seconds back. Joe's time was 39:05 for the muddy 10K. An amazing field of 430 runners competed in the Masters Men's race. Masters Men 55-59 1 188 714 Joseph Schieffer 55 Oakland CA 39:05 The Strider Super Senior team made a very strong showing in place 4th in the 60-69 division. 4. 31 Pacific Striders - A (42:09 126:27) Other Striders competing in the Championship included masters Jeff Mann (96th), Gerry Valverde (127), Craig Whichard (157) and John Lehman (190). The lone Strider Open Male was Sylvester Coons who placed 306th in 39:09. |
Len Goldman |
With their second win in as many weekends, the Strider super-senior team is only two races away from securing its second division team title in two years. At last Saturday's Garin Park 5K meet in Hayward, the Striders missed a near perfect score by one place, going 1-2-4. Perry Hayden, fresh off his 10K National Road title, led the squad with a 20:36 for the very hilly course. Len Goldman was just 7 seconds behind, while Fred Martin grabbed the final scoring spot, in 21:17, just behind Tamalpa's Steve Stephens. Doug Butt was the next Strider 60s runner, but was dropped all the way down to score on the team's Senior squad, which placed 4th. The Strider Seniors team took 2nd in their age group, led by division-winning Fletcher Lesley, who is on his way to the individual title in the 50-59 category. The following week at the just-as-hilly Presidio course in SF the Super Seniors outdid themselves going 1-2-3 this time, easily outpointing the second place Spartans. Len Goldman led the charge with a 24:59 for the 3.6 mile course. Fred Martin was second in 25:48 with Doug Butt 3rd in 26:29. The Striders also fielded a solit Seniors team led by Fletcher Lesley and Joe Shieffer who placed 4th and 6th in that division. Brendan O'Neill and Julios Ratti completed the team which finsihed 3rd. |
Striders Win Kickoff Race at Empire
The Pacific Striders started off the 2006 XC series with a bang. Not only did the Super Seniors continue their winning ways, but the masters men dominated the team competition. The Empire Open race returned back to Spring Lake Park from the mega-hilly Windsor course much to the appreciation of many runners. The new shorter 3.43 mile course was by no means a walk in the park. The course ran a figure-eight route up one dam hill and the across the other side to surmount another dam.hill Three good uphills, accompanied by bone-jarring downhills, along with some trecherous winding rocky trails in between made this a technically challenging route. Only the 400+m of bike trail near the midpoint gave the competitors any "easy" mileage.
From the early part of the masters race it was clear the Striders were going to dominate. Alan Dehlinger and new-member Martin Kunz jumped into the lead, with much of the remaining team all in the top-20 or so. At the halfway point the Striders were solidly in control of both the masters and superseniors race. Jeff Mann took over the first Strider spot at about 1.5 miles, while Thom Trimble moved into the #2 spot shortly thereafter. Excelsior's top two men were leading most of the race, with Tim Wallen going wire-to-wire for the narrow win in 19:13. Jeff Mann tailed Iain Mickle much of the way to outkick him for second (19:16 to 19:17). Thom Trimble moved up from 9th at the mile mark to finish 5th overall (19:32), just behind Tamalpa's Tom Lyons. Alan Dehlinger held on for the #3 spot in 8th (19:47). Chatham Ross grabbed the last "Top 10" t-shirts with his 10th place finish (20:00). Martin finished another 13 seconds back in 13th place. Also running for the masters squad were Craig Whichard, Mike Maguire and Kevin Brunson. Unofficially the Striders outpointed there nearest competitor (WVJS) 25 to 74.
Fletcher Lesely ran smartly to capture the seniors title in 19:54. He was running back in 3rd or 4th early before slowly moving through the field to record a 6 second win over Empire's Christopher Cole. With only Julios Ratti as the other Strider Senior, Fletcher was dropped down onto the masters scoring team.
The Super Seniors also dominated the 60+ field, placing 2-3-4 for an easy win. Only super-supersenior Don Porteous was able to outleg this threesome. Len Goldman held off Perry Hayden for second, while Doug Butt took the #4 position and 3rd scoring Strider.
Malia Lehman was the lone Strider woman racing and she recorded a 60th place finish in the womens race (27th master). The open race also had only one Strider, new-member Jeff Huxhold who ran a blazing 18:27 to place 9th.
 Steve Whitelam
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11-6-05 Super Seniors Sweep Champs to Wrap up Season Title
Doug Butt outran Len Goldman to earn the PA Super Champ title for the race. Perry Hayden was the third 60+ runner in the race giving the Striders a perfect 6 point score (1-2-3). Len's second place finish allowed him to easily win the Super Senior Grand Prix title with 438 points. Second place in the Grand Prix was Doug and Fred Martin, who missed the last four races of the season ended up 4th.. The women's masters scoring team was led by new-member Kris Denney in 27:18 for the challenging four mile course. Christine Chapon was 35 seconds back as second woman, and Karin Kuffel recorded a 28:30 to round out the team. They scored 4th-8th and 12th for 24 points, outrunning Fleet Feet, Empire and Tamalpa. The Strider "B" team consisted of Jeanine Holmlund (30:06), Malia Dinell (31:03) and Jessica Lilie (34:30), Jessica's time was a full two and a half minute improvement on ther 2004 time! The Striders pieced together a masters men's team (9th place)which was led by Damien Curry who completed the 3-loop 6 mile course in 36:36 for 20th place. The Seniors team came in 7th place lead by Joe Schieffer who grabbed 5th in that division. The fastest time of the day for the club was run by Open runner Steve Whitelam who posted a 34:12 |
8-27-05 Super Seniors Cruise in Santa Cruz
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Our Super Seniors team scored a perfect score of 6 points in the second Grand Prix Cross Country race of the season, as Len Goldman, Fred Martin and Doug Butt went 1, 2, 3 in the 60-69 age group. All three ran under 27 minutes on this hilly 4 mile course to totally dominate their competition. Last year's winner of the Pacific Association's cross country 60-69 age group, Len Goldman eked out a narrow win over Fred by 11 seconds, 26:15 and 26:26 respectively. Doug was very close behind and led both runners in the early stages of the race as he ran a Personal Best for this course in 26:49. The next Super Senior finisher was almost 2 minutes behind Doug which illustrates the quality of the Strider team. If all three can make it to 4 more cross country races and the championship (and stay healthy of course), they would be the favorites to win the Super Senior team title which Tamalpa has dominated for the last 10 years. The Strider Masters Women and Empire both scored 50 points, but the Striders got the edge for 4th place by virtue of having a faster 3rd woman. Malia Dinell led the team with Karin Kuffel right behind. Tracy Dziedzic edged Empire's third runner by one place. The Men's Open team was a compliation of 3 masters, a senior and an actual open runner. Damien Curry placed 7th in the 40+ division with the fastest time of the day for the club (23:28) with John Lehman only 8 seconds behind in 8th. Mike Maguire was the third master/open member, with Julios Ratti and his son Nicholas filling out the team. They placed 8th in the Open Men's division. |
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The Santa Cruz course features a narrow, uphill start which is made even more congested by the fact that the Open and Master age groups all start at the same time. The other cross country races feature separate starts for these age groups. The first two miles are basically uphill, nothing too severe, just a steady climb with several stretches in the open sun. The 2nd half of the race is perhaps the nicest, primarily downhill on a shady trail through the woods. This is the section where other runners can be caught, especially if you are able to let it all out on the downhill. . There are still plenty of opportunities to run in a cross country race or two this season, so join us for the fun and a chance to hit the trails. |
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8-20-05 Striders Second at Garin Park XC
 Womens Start
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Just in case you were confused about the difference between road racing and cross country, the 2005 season kickoff for the PAUSATF Cross Country Grand Prix held at Garin Park, made a point of clearing up that confusion. With every step of this Hayward race on dirt or mud and either up or down the new course was anything but fast. Fortunately it was short - one of those 5Ks that felt like 4 miles short. The Strider mudders were out in force, nearly 20 in all, and ready to get their new Nikes dirty. The club scored teams in four categories - mens and womens masters, mens seniors and mens super seniors. The masters womens race took off at 9 AM and the team of Karin Kuffel, Malia Dinell and BZ Churchman took home a fourth place finish. Also running was Jessica Lilie and open runner Mihaela Dobos. Karin turned in the fastest time of the day for the women with a 24:17. Malia was about 40 seconds back. BZ made a point of taking off slow and was almost the last one out of the meadow, but she slowly moved by several runners, including two Striders before reaching the finish. The Strider women plan to score teams in most of this year's Grand Prix! The 9:45 mens race featured nearly 150 runners. The masters men took second behind Excelsior. Thom Trimble placed 35th overall and 10th master with a 17:59. Damien Curry (18:21) and Tim Keenan (18:36) ran together most of the way until Tim tweaked his hammy on a late downhill. Jeff Teeters, fresh off a 50K last week, ran an impressive 18:48 with what legs he had left. Craig Whichard outlegged Mike Maguire, 19:40 to 19:50, to grab the final scoring spot. Mike Plummer also ran for the masters with a 21:41. Seniors The Seniors also came away with a second place finish, led by Joe Schieffer in 19:43. Bill Brusher traded in his track spikes for XC spikes to claim the team's second spot in 22:05, with Mike Rossi close on his heals in 22:29. Julios Ratti completed the team with a 22:56. The Super Senior Striders of Fred Martin and Doug Butt went 1-2 in their division but were narrowly edged by Empire's 3-5-7 combo. John McDougall was the Striders third scoring member in 14th place. TheChips appeared to take third in that division. |
2005 XC Planner
The new automated race planner for the 2005 Cross Country season will be posted soon. Jeff Teeters is working hard on getting this new feature out before the start of the season. Unlike the previous planner, which relied on a form-submittal and hand tabulation, this one will automatically tabulate all inputs for quicker viewing.
However, in the meantime if you plan to run the first two races, let me know and we can start organizing teams. If you plan to run Garrin Park (Aug 20) or Santa Cruz (Aug 27) send me an email - tct3@pge.com
2005 PAUSATF Cross Country Schedule FIRST RACE IS AUGUST 20 IN HAYWARD
10/23/04 - Goldman Sets Course Record at Shoreline XC
Len Goldman running only his second XC race as a super senior (60-69) totally destroyed the existing age-group record on this hilly 4.6 mile trail race, with a time of 26:59 . The old course record, held by ex-Strider Robert Gormley, was 28:37. Not only did Len obliterate the record, he left all of the 60+ runners well behind, over 2 1/2 minutes ahead of 2nd place.
Joe Schieffer was the top Strider of the day in 26:15, which placed him 3rd in the Seniors division. The team was completed by Doug Butt (27:58) and Julios Ratti (30:05).
Shoreline XC Results
09/04/04 - Empire Open XC 4 Mile
A 3-man senior team was the best we could do at this hot and hilly Windsor race. Joe Schiffer grabbed 2nd in that division just behind Empire's Butch Alexander. Joe and Butch are tied atop the senior's standings in what proves to be an interesting dual between them for the rest of the XC season. Doug Butt and Julios Ratti completed the scoring team. Fletcher Lesley again represented the master's team with a nice 6th place showing.
08/28/04 - Santa Cruz Challenge 4 Mile
Joe Schieffer and Fred Martin took the win in their respective divisions, and led the seniors team to a 3rd place finish behind Tamalpa and Empire. Doug Butt, Julios Ratti and John McDougall rounded out the team. Fletcher Lesley was the lone master in 10th, while Nicholas Ratti ran for the Open
11/23/03 - Cross Country Champs
 Kris Luckin, first lap
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The Strider teams had a rough going at the 2003 PAUSATF Cross Country Champs. Going into the last XC event of the year the club's Seniors and Masters Men's as well as the Masters Women;s teams had reasonable to longshot hopes of finishing first or second in the Grand Prix. The Senior men needed to win the race to claim second over Tamalpa. The Masters men needed to beat River City by two places, while the Masters Women needed to finish ahead of both Fleet Feet and Empire. Unnnnnnnnfortunately, not much of that happened....... The Masters women looked like they were on their way to defeating both Empire and Fleet Feet until tragedy struck. The club's top runner, new-member Lynn Pidoli pulled up with a bad knee half way through the race. Without her, Kris Luckin, Malia Dinell and Karin Kuffel were still able to outrun Fleet Feet, but got nipped by Empire for 3rd in the race. This left the club women in 3rd for the Grand Prix. It's not second, but it was most assuredly the team performance of the year in any Grand Prix! The Seniors ran into a newly stocked Tamalpa and Empire team, with some just-turned-50 guys, and the rare appearance of Hoys, pushed our seniors back to 4th place in the race, and 3rd in the Grand Prix. Joe Schieffer grabbed 5th in the very competive field. The Master's men were putting up a brave battle with Chatham Ross leading the way. Things looked grim half way into the race as River City held the edge. Then, on the third lap, another tragedy struck. One of Tamalpa's runners' collapsed on the race course on the single-track section on the NW portion of the course. Fletcher Lesley, running with Gerry Valverde and Thom Trimble as the teams 2-3-4 men, turned back to assist with the fallen runner - Tamalpa's veteran runner Ed Mooney. Fletcher performed CPR along with another spectator for several minutes before paramedics arrived. Much to the dismay of everyone, the attempts to revive Ed were unsuccessful. The master settled for 4th in the race and 3rd in the Grand Prix. Club results on RACING page.
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 Karin & Kris After Race |
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These photos by More race photos at: |
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 Christine Chapon |
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11/1/03 - Strider Women Second at Tamalpa
Boosted by the recent participation of Kris Luckin and Lynn Pidoli, the Strider Masters women ran their strongest team of the season in placing second at the super-competitive Tamalpa Challenge. With what appeared to be a tune up for the upcoming PAUSATF XC Champs, nearly all the teams brought their "A" team to this event. Only the powerhouse Impala team was able to best the Striders.
Lynn Pidoli, who recently joined the team, placed 6th in the 40-49 divison with an amazing 30:04 for the 4.612 mile challenging course. Kris Luckin, who led the team at last weeks Shoreline race, was 8th in 31:04. Team captain Malia Dinell outlegged Karin Kuffel for the 3rd scoring spot with a 33:57.
The 13.5 points earned by the women at this race kept them in the hunt for a superb season-end finsihs. Only 1.5 points behind Empire for second place in the Grand Prix Standings, and tied with Fleet Feet, it will all come down to who finished first at the XC Champs on November 23.
Meanwhile the Strider Men's Masters and Seniors had a harder time. The masters had to settle for a 5th place finish in a 11-team field and the Seniors took third out of nine teams. The masters are still in the hunt for second if they can defeat the River City Rebels by 2 spots at the finals. The seniors (70.5 pts) can finish anywhere from 1st to 3rd depending on how they run against Tamalpa (72 pts) and Empire (69 pts) at the finals.
10/11/03 - Masters Women Sneak into GP Lead
While it may not last, the Pacific Striders masters women's team can lay claim to the top spot on the Masters Womens Cross Country Grand Prix. Their fourth place finish at the Sierra College Challenge temporarily boosted them ahead of the Impalas 73.5 to 69. With only three races remaining on the schedule the women have an excellent shot at a second place season finish. Scoring for the team at this meet was Karin Kuffel, Malia Dinell and Maureen Robello.
The Strider Senior Men are in a neck-and-neck battle for the season title with a renewed Tamalpa team. The three-man scoring (it is now 4 man in the road GP) has made it difficult to rely on our club's depth to win meets. Tamalpa has beaten the Striders in the last three meets and is in a virtual tie with us. The scoring Seniors at Rocklin were Fred Martin, Doug Butt and Lion Caldwell.
The Masters Men's team continues to run well, but the competition seems to improve each meet. The 40+ boys had to settle for third behind the Ags and River City. Short of a miraculous comeback the masters appear to be headed for a third place finish in the GP. Fletcher Lesley led the squad with a 12th place finish, followed by Mike Maguire, John Lehman, Chatham Ross and Craig Whichard.
9/13/03 - Strider Women Turn in Gem at Crystal Meet
 BZ Churchman |
Not satisfied with just scoring a full team at every XC meet this year, the Strider Masters Womens' Team chalked up a team victory at the Crystal Springs Challenge in Belmont. The core of the Strider team - Karin Kuffel (6th Master), BZ Churchman (8th) and Malia Dinell (14th) outdualed Fleet Feet and Impala by two and three points resepectively to earn the title. This is the first women's masters PA title in the 20+ year history of the club! The win keeps the team in 2nd place in the GP, only 4.5 points behind Impala. Also, BZ Karin and Malia are now sitting in 7th, 8th and 10th places respectively in the GP Masters standings. The Senior Men had their usual full contingent of runners; enough not only for a full "A" team but enough to drop down to fill out an Open team, with the help of open runner Jeff Townsend who turned in the fastest time of the day for the club (20th, 23:15). The Seniors were just nipped by Tamalpa for the win, but enhanced their Grand Prix lead over Empire. Joe Schieffer just missed winning the division, finishing only 3 seconds down on the winner - Ken Grebenstein of Tamalpa. Fred Martin placed 7th in his division while Brendan O'Neill completed the scoring team in 10th. The Senior men also are flooding the top of the Senior standings with 6 of the top 11 places! |
9/6/03 - Thirtyone Striders at GGP XC Meet!
WOMEN'S RACE
Eight is enough! At least to field two women's team at the Golden Gate Park Open. Two teams for one cross-country race was a first for the Pacific Striders women thanks to some dedicated women who made time in their busy schedules for a run in The Park. Strider standout Michele Byrnes (28:03) finished first for the strider's Open team and 38th overall! BZ Churchman's "I will pass everyone in the second loop in my nifty new cross country shoes" strategy worked as she kicked passed women right and left to be the first strider on the Master's team in 28:54. Malia Dinell (29:38) and Karin Kuffel (29:43) finished together to complete the Master's team. Second open runner, Kim Roche (30:55) had company this week after two races as the team's only Open runner. Running a break-through race and good for 3rd on the Open team was Maureen Robello in an impressive 32:24. Julianne Warner (35:08) and Jessica Rider (35:45), finished strong for their first cross race of the season! Thanks to everyone for making the women's effort count this year!
MEN'S RACE
The Strider Seniors won their second meet in three tries with an incredibly deep and talented team. A record sixteen (16) 50-and-over club members participated in this race. Joe Schieffer led the squad placing 4th in that division in 25:15. Len Goldman (265:55) and Fred Martin (26:17) completed the 3-man team which narrowly defeated Tamalpa 15 points to 17. Empire was third with 22. This win extends the Pacific Striders Senior team lead in the Grand Prix to 6 points over Tamalpa. For a complete listing of the ENTIRE senior contingent, see the RACING section.
The Masters team fought a three-way battle with the River City Rebels and the Ags, and had to settle for second, only 3 points down on RCR but 2 points up on the Ags. Thom Trimble led the squad with a 3rd place finish in that division and a time of 22:12. Fletcher Lesley (23:07) came in 9th, with Mauricio Maia and Mike Maguire finishing together in 14th and 15th master. Craig Whichard was the final scoring member as 26th master.
Steve Reugg was the one and only OPEN Strider and led the team with a 22:35 in 39th place. One master and three seniors combined with Steve to score the first men's open team of the season.
Full Results
8/30/03 - Masters Win Empire Open, Seniors Second
The Pacific Striders masters went head to head with three other strong teams at the Empire Open in Windsor and came out on top. Fine efforts by all five of the team members were necessary to keep the Golden Valley Harriers (GVH) , River City Rebels (RCR) and Hoys behind them. It was not evident who had won until the results were posted. The Striders edged GVH by 13 points and RCR by about 21. Empire and Hoys were also close behind. This puts the Striders in a tie with RCR for the Grand Prix lead after two races.
Leading the team was Thom Trimble, who despite breaking the course record by 38 seconds, had to settle for second, 3 seconds behind Hoy's Craig Steinmaus. Fletcher Lesley was about 40 seconds back in 5th. John Lehman (8th) and Mike Maguire (11th) ran very strong races to ensure a solid team finish, and Craig Whichard cemented the victory with his 20th place finish.
The Seniors had the same team that won Santa Cruz but fell to a well-prepared local host - the Empire Runners, by about 4 points. Fred Martin (8th), Brendan O'Neill (9th) and Jim Flanigan (10th) finished in a very close group, as Lion Caldwell came in about 45 seconds later in 14th to complete the team. The Seniors also scored a "B" team of Doug Butt, Julios Ratti and John Monteverdi.
The Strider masters women placed 3rd behind the ever-tough Impalas and the local Empire crew. The squad was led by BZ Churchman who finished 9th in the 40+ division. Malia Dinell and Karin Kuffel were close behind to complete the team. Kim Roche represented the open team with a fine 32:28 to place 33rd overall. Team times posted in Racing Section. FULL RESULTS
8/23/03 - Seniors Win Santa Cruz Challenge; Women Second!
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12/14/02 USA Fall National Cross Country Championships - Rocklin, CA
SENIORS CAP XC SEASON WITH 4TH PLACE AT NATIONALS The EBS/WVTC Seniors team ended their finest cross country season ever with a 4th place finish at the Fall National Cross Country meet in Rocklin. The Senior team handily won the Pacific Association cross country 10 meet season, finishing first in 7 of the 10 meets. The team had remarkable depth, often fielding 10 runners or more, and on several occasions helped supplement the Master team in their scoring. The seniors were led in scoring during the regular cross country season by Fred Martin, Len Goldman, and Jim Flanigan who finished in 4th, 5th and 7th places respectively in the Senior men's standings. Consequently, our hopes were high heading into the National meet and it appeared we might be able to duplicate our 3rd place finish at the Winter National cross country meet this past February. The course at Rocklin featured rolling hills, with part of a cinder track and the perimeter of a baseball field thrown in. The entire course is about 2000 meters, so for Nationals we would have to run 5 loops of it for the 10K distance. Some of us had run it previously, as it was the site of the Sierra Challenge meet in October. However that was when the weather was warmer and the course dry, now course conditions were different, much different. Our own club meteorologist, John Monteverdi, started giving us weather forecast weeks in advance. The outlook wasn't good and it kept getting worse. Finally the storm hit on Friday, the day before the meet. It rained the entire day, several inches, accompanied by high winds, it looked like we might be running in a typhoon. In fact, the drive up to Rocklin and back promised to be an adventure in itself. I went to sleep Friday night with rain still pounding down and tried not to think what it might be like to run in such conditions. Saturday morning turned out to be relatively clear, with no rain. It looked like we might catch a break between storms, the question was how long would it last. We left the Bay Area at 8:30 a.m. and the drive up went smoothly, still no rain and the sun actually made a brief appearance. We arrived with plenty of time to spare, and made ourselves at home in the school gym awaiting the arrival of our other teammates. During the wait for our race to go off, I talked to several others about our team chances. The Hoys/Excelsior team appeared to be the frontrunners led by Dan Paul and Jim Gorman. They had dominated the road race series for Senior teams and were at Rocklin with all their top guys. After that, the other teams were unknown quantities. I knew the Tamalpa team was slowed by injuries and other problems with several of their top runners, and there was talk of some Boston based teams as being quite good. So, we were in the hunt for a possible team medal, but no one knew what it would take to capture one. The Master women raced before us and they came back mud splattered and wasted from their effort. The baseball field was a quagmire and it was very windy, 40 mph gusts, but still no rain so at least it looked like it would hold off for a while. The field was very large, about 300 runners and we lined up in our assigned box. The gun went off and everyone took off in a mad stampede as their was a rather sharp right-hand turn after about 300 meters and the course narrowed. It wasn't until we made that turn that we felt the wind for the first time but the large pack helped block it temporarily. After running a corner of the track we hit the baseball field and almost came to a stop as the runners feet sank into the saturated grass and mud, we picked our way through the grass looking for solid footing, and not finding any, just soggy grassy and mud. Thankfully, this portion was relatively short and now we were on a slight grade heading for the trail through a wooded area. However the course designers decided to throw in a hay bale at this point, just to make sure we knew this was a cross country race. After clearing this hurdle it was downhill into the woods with the wind at our backs. We wound our way through the woods and the trail was in good shape, the footing was solid. As we neared the end of the woods and headed for an open clearing, two things hit us, first was the uphill pull during this section and second was a strong headwind, that made it difficult to catch our breath and run hard. The wind was in our face this entire stretch and over time began to wear us down. After finishing one loop, we now knew what to expect the rest of the way and knew it would be a difficult race and splits were virtually meaningless. Loop after loop we ran, expecting rain, but to our relief there was none. The wind however seemed to get worse each lap and several times, it felt like it blew me back a step or two. As we entered the last lap, I was just going to be happy to get the race over with. I still had no idea which teams were our rivals, other than Hoys/Excelsior. I passed some Senior runners I knew, and in turn was passed by others in my age group, but couldn't tell how many of them were from the same team. I knew Joe Schieffer was ahead of me, but didn't know how my teammates were doing. Fred Martin and I usually finish close to each other, but I hadn't seen him since the start. It felt great to finally get on the cinder track and head toward the finish line, they told us to run through it, so I put on a final burst and just passed another runner at the tape. As it turned out, Fred was close on my heels, finishing several seconds behind me. I saw Joe up ahead in the chute so I knew three of us were close together time-wise, but it took five to score based on total time. Our 4th and 5th placed runners finished two minutes later, now we had to wait to see if it was good enough. As we waited back in the gym and put on warm clothing, we talked about the race. We all agreed that the conditions made it very difficult and that our times were several minutes slower as a result. As it turned out, only a small number, nine, of the Senior runners broke 40 minutes for the 10K, something which most of us do on a consistent basis. While we waited, we went out and watched the Open Women's race. It was starting to sprinkle, but you could tell it was going to get worse. When we got back from the Women's race, the results were up. Our team had finished 4th behind Hoys/Excelsior and two Boston area teams, five minutes out of a third place finish. Although we didn't quite achieve our goal for the meet, it was fun to run in a meet of this caliber, despite the conditions, and hopefully we will have the chance again at some future date |
 Malia Leads EBS
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11/17/02 PAUSATF Championships The EBS/WVTC Seniors capped off a club-best season with a very strong showing at the XC Champs at Golden Gate Park. They finished the season with 116 points, easily outdistancing second place Tamalpa with 98 points. The Spartans were a close third with 96 points. XC Team Standings A record eleven seniors toed the line of the 6.05 mile, 3-loop course. Fred Martin, Len Goldman and Doug Butt were the scoring trio and placed 8th, 9th and 17th respectively in their age groups, but were not enough to overcome a surprisingly strong Hoys squad (16 to 22). However, to show the benefits of our club depth, we outpointed Tamalpa 22 to 23 by virtue of our #4, 5 and 6 runners. Tamalpa would have snuck in for second had it not been for the displacing of their third scoring runner (21st) by Jim Granahan (18th), Jim Flanigan (19th) and Lion Caldwell (20th). The EBS/WVTC "B" team placed 6th and was comprised of Lion, Bill Brusher, John Monteverdi, James Manley and John McDougall. They finished ahead of the Aggie Seniors and Empire "B" team. See Racing Section for times. The EBS Women found themselves one woman short as they failed to score with two masters and two open women. Malia Dinell led the team as 23rd master in 29:39 for the 4-mile course. Elizabeth Fordyce was close behind in 29:56. BZ Churchman and Amy Lam rounded out the team. The Masters squad fielded a strong team but came up just short of being the second fastest club of the day...and the season. With 102 points they found themselves behind a very strong River City (95 pts) and Hoys club (96). Not only did we have to settle for 5th in the race (including the Aggie "B" team) but we dropped to 4th place for the season, only 4 points out of second. Thom Trimble led the 40+ squad with a 34:56, with Gerry Valverdi on his heels in 35:06. Jeff Teeters, Mauricio Maia and Tim Keenan filled out the scoring fivesome. |
11/02/02 - Tamalpa Challenge
For once the master's team garnered the club headlines in a hotly contested and very deep field at the John Lawson Memorial XC Meet in San Rafael. The team duked it out with both Hoys and River City for the #2 spot in the race, while the Aggies easily took the title. Finishing second for the men of BAM was critical in keeping their hopes alive for a 2nd place finish in the XC Grand Prix. Not only did they achieve their goals by the narrowest of margins, but they were also fortnuate enough to see the Rebels push the Hoys team to 4th, thus pulling EBS/WVTC within 2 points of the men in yellow. The PA Champs will thus decide who will take the silver medal for the year.
 Thom (obscured in white) hangs with lead masters in mile 1 photo by Brian Mcguire |
Thom Trimble led the team with a 25:49, good enough for sixth in the challenging race. While Hoys placed two men in the top 5 and the top RCR men took 3rd and 7th, the depth of EBS/WVTC prevailed. Jeff Teeters and Mauricio Maia grabbed 10th and 11th, with Fletcher Lesley only seconds behind in 15th. John Lehman completed the team placing 32nd. New-member Chris Berka placed 6th for the club, displacing both Hoy's and RCR 5th man. The close team battle for 2nd saw EBS/WVTC with 73 points, just ahead of RCR with 89 and Hoys with 92. Tamalpa edged Golden Valley for 5th while Empire (7th), Tamalpa "B" was 8th, SCTC 9th, Empire "B" 10th and Spartan 11th. This rates at the DEEPEST masters field in PA XC history. |
The EBS Women brought five members to the race and scored their third team of the season. Christine Chapon again led the team with a 11th place fiinish in the masters division with a time of 32:21. The three-woman masters team was completed with fine performances by Malia Dinell (34:29) and training partner BZ Churchman (34:40). Elizabeth Fordyce was the second fastest Strider woman of the day with a time of 33:06 while weekend run coorinator Amy Lam rounded out the club finishers with a 35:35. The masters team took 4th behind the Impalas, Tamalpa and Empire.
The Senior team had their 6-race win streak upended by Tamalpa 15 to 17 with the last minute addition of Richard Govi to the Tam sqaud. Leading the BAM Seniors was Fred Martin placing 3rd in his division with a 29:22. The team was completed by a pair of Jims - Flanigan (29:59) and Granahan (30:03) - with Doug Butt about 80 meters back. John McDougall was the final senior fiisher as he gladly knocked nearly a minute off his 2001 time. EBS/WVTC Finish Times
10/12/02 - Sierra College XC
The EBS/WVTC rode another convincing win at Sierra College to their first ever team title. The team has accumulated enough points to all but guarantee a season victory. All that remains is to show up at the PA Champs and finish. So convincing were the 6 seniors who ran this 8K race, they were able to drop down their 2nd and 3rd men (Fred Martin and Jim Flanigan) to the once-again short masters team.
 Len (L) dukes it out with Mike Ammon of River City |
Top club finisher, Len Goldman, was backed up by the teams 4th and 5th men - Doug Butt and Lion Caldwell - allowing the seniors to defeat runner-up Spartan by a score of 12 to 22 Empire and the Chips also outran our closest rival in the series, Tamalpa, to ensure a season victory for EBS/WVTC. See the Sierra Team Scores for details. Meanwhile, the Masters Men's team remained in the hunt for a 2nd place season finish by placing fourth at this meet. Fletcher Lesley, Gerry Valverde and John Lehman were supported by senior drop downs Fred and Jim to barely nip Empire for 4th place 88 to 91. This keeps the masters in a neck and neck battle with both Hoys and River City for the XC Silver medal. |
10/5/02 - Presidio Challenge XC - The Seniors XC Team continued its domination of the 50+ field by scoring its 4th victory in a row, 5th of the season, and 6th out of the last 7 races going back to 2001 PA Champs. A record 10 seniors showed for the Presidio Challenge 3.55 mile race. This short but hilly race kept the pace slow but allowed the seniors to place 4-5-6-8-11, easily outrunning runner-up Empire.
So deep was the seniors team that they were able to drop down thier top two members - Len Goldman and Fred Martin - to the struggling Masters team to move them from 6th to 5th place. Scoring for the Seniors were Jim Granahan, Jim Flanigan and Lion Caldwell.
The Masters team was led by a Mauricio Maia (9th) and Fletcher Lesley (10th). John Lehman was third to fill out the 5-man team along with the two senior drop downs.
The victory by the Seniors all but guaranteed a season Grand Prix victory, even with 4 races remaining. Outpointing second place Empire by over 30 points. Last year's Senior XC Team Champs - Tamalpa - are struggling this year back in 4th, behind the Chips.
The Masters team is in a tight race with Hoys and River City for 2nd. While we should overtake River City easily, we will need some top-2 finishes in at least 3 of the reamaining 4 races if we hope to surpass Hoys.
The EBS Women's masters team is still in position for a top-3 placing if they can rally full teams for most of the reamaining races. Presidio times are listed in the racing section.
