Cross-Country Relay: Racing, Grilling, and Grinning

Bill Newsham; photos by Roger Perham

The Lynn Woods cross-country relay (4x2.5 miles) usually kicks off the Greater Boston Track Club fall season. The race is hosted and managed by runners for runners with a strong tradition of the comical laced into the selection of team names and categories. Junyong Pak organized the GBTC open team and lead the team with its fastest time and the third fastest time of anyone in the race. The team placed second in the open men's category with the help of big Al "Mactruck" McCabe. Ryan Eckel ran a terrific leg pulling the team up a place while John Blouin, running his countless Lynn Woods relay, held position.
The masters men's team placed 4th and the mixed team placed 5th in the "Coed" division.
The best part may have been Junyong's cooking. He set up his gas grill and flipped burgers, rolled dogs, and poured beer for the team.

3 . GREATER BOSTON TRUCKING COMPANY 56:16

JUNYONG PETERBILT PAK 13:11 13:11
AL MACKTRUCK MCCABE 28:16 15:05
RYAN 18 WHEELER ECKEL 41:55 13:39
JOHN INTERNATIONAL BLOUIN 56:16 14:21

18. GBTC FASTER THAN TOM 66:14

BRIAN HARE 15:55 15:55
BRIAN MCCLAIN 33:31 17:36
KEN ROSS 49:45 16:14
MIKE URQUIOLA 66:14 16:29

28. GBTC: HEIRLOOMS 71:39

BILL NEWSHAM 14:25 14:25
TOM DERDERIAN 31:31 17:06
CYNTHIA HASTINGS 50:55 19:24
WENDY NEWSHAM 71:39 20:44

72 teams

Full results with a plethora of splits: http://www.lwrun.org/

More photos if you click on "More"

Cynthia Hastings

Ryan Eckel

Wendy Newsham

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GBTC Invitational: 1st Stop to an Olympic Medal ?

As the US fans watched in stunned silence during the 100m women's race - shut out for the first time since 1980 . . . . . we watched Kerron Stewart power to 10.80 to secure a bronze medal.

Ms. Stewart, competing for Essex CC, actually competed at the GBTC invitational in 2004 before transferring to the NCAA Div. 1 level at Auburn University.

2004 GBTC Invite Women 60 Meter Dash
=======================================================================
  Name                     Age Team                    Finals  Points
=======================================================================
Finals
1 Nolle Graham                 LeMans TC                 7.37
2 Kerron Stewart               Essex County Col          7.42
3 Jovanee Jarret               Essex County Col          7.64
4 Chioma Ukapai                Long Island Univ          7.84
5 Amber James                  Wheaton College           7.85
6 Destinee McCray              Long Island Univ          7.94
7 Aspen James                  Wheaton College           8.12

The GBTC invitational: Providing great competition at all levels, even for future Olympic medalists.

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Dramatically Close Women's Team Race

Avi Kramer and Kevin Somers in the lead pack at the gun on the Bridge of Flowers.
photo by Paulina Smith

Only five GBTC open women could race at the USATFNE Grand Prix 10 km at the Bridge of Flowers in Shelburne Falls, MA. That would require everyone on the team to finish. Few doubted that each these women could finish the a 10 km race. To fail to finish a team would be devastating to a club's overall Grand Prix series score. It looked like the team could pull it off and score, then reports came in that Morgan Clark-Coller had crashed her bicycle and could not race. She could go to her job on Friday but could not race on Saturday. The team needed a fifth. Jen Lee rose up to race. The women's team race proved to be exciting with only 35 seconds separating the GBTC team from first place Central Mass Striders. The BAA (Boston Athletic Association) team that leads the women's series failed to finish a team. The GBTC women now wait in second place in the series a mere four points behind MVS (Merrimack Valley Stiders), but tied with today's winners CMS.
Two women represented GBTC for the first time. Meghan Lynch, a 2008 graduate of Mount Holyoke College, and lab worker at Mass General Hospital, and Jane-Marie Ovanin who graduated recently from Wisconsin and the Rhode Island School of Design. She makes artistic jewelry.
Ted Breen, Max White, Junyong Pak, Dan Smith, Matt Haringa, Andrew Wommack.
front, Gretchen Chick, Allison McCabe, coach Tom Derderian, Jane Ovanin.
photo by Paulina Smith
In the men's team race GBTC sought to repeat their win in Newburyport, but the BAA had other ideas and descended with a powerful team into the picture perfect town of Shelburne Falls where there really is a lovely Bridge of Flowers and real water falls and glacial pot holes for swimming. After a hill on the third mile so steep and long that most runners ran that mile two minutes or more slower than their average, runners flew downhill into the valley. After a final sprint-turn onto a Bridge parallel to the one with the lovely flowers officials tallied the scores. The GBTC men placed third also behind the new club, R.U.N. composed of many former Greater Lowell Road Runners, But R.U.N. is way down in the point standings so GBTC emerged in a solid second place with two Grand Prix Races remaining. Avi Kramer again led the club in what might be his last race for GBTC for a while because he will leave for a year in India on a journalist assignment. Kevin Somers returned to action after a forced layoff to take fourth for the team.

The women's team stayed in the Hastings family farm in Orange on the night before the race and the men stayed in the Dan Smith neighborhood right in Shelburne Falls. After the race team members enjoyed a cookout arranged by Dan Smith and later team members went tubing down the Deerfield River. Floating downstream proved to be a fitting reward for the agonies of the infamous Crittendon Hill.

full results: http://www.coolrunning.com/results/08/ma/Aug9_30thAn_set1.shtml
USATF site to find the total Grand Prix standings, www.usatfne.org


30th Annual Bridge of Flowers Classic 10K Road Race And 2 Mile Road Race
August 9, 2008 10K (USATF Certified #MA97015RN) Shelburne Falls, MA
USATF New England 10K Gran Prix Championship


1 GENN TUFA 1/162 BRONX NY W/C 31:05 5:01
13 AVI KRAMER 12/162 GBTC 33:08 5:21
20 ANDREW WOMMACK 18/162 GBTC 33:57 5:29
25 MATTHEW HARINGA 22/162 GBTC 34:15 5:32
33 KEVIN SOMERS 26/162 30 GBTC 34:33 5:35
35 DAN SMITH 28/162 30 GBTC 34:36 5:35
43 JUNYONG PAK 36/162 GBTC 35:04 5:40
52 RYAN ASCHBRENNER 43/162 GBTC 35:42 5:46
62 EDWARD BREEN 47/162 GBTC 36:21 5:52
75 DAVID BEDOYA 51/162 M GBTC 36:58 5:58
109 ALLISON MCCABE 8/126 GBTC 39:13 6:20
118 MEGHAN LYNCH 10/126 GBTC 39:50 6:26
137 JENNIFER LEE 13/126 GBTC 40:32 6:33
139 GRETCHEN CHICK 15/126 GBTC 40:44 6:35
148 MAX WHITE 73/162 24 GBTC 41:09 6:39
149 JANE-MARIE OVANIN 16/126 GBTC 41:16 6:40
172 JOEL BARGMANN 7/49 56 GBTC 42:50 6:55
204 TOM DERDERIAN 10/49 GBTC 44:13 7:08
399 CYNTHIA HASTINGS 9/25 GBTC 51:31 8:19
734 finishers
Dan Smith, Andrew Wommack, and Matt Haringa at the Glacial Potholes for a post-race swim.
photo by Paulina Smith

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GBTC at USATF New England Masters

Above: Aaron Binkley, Francis Shen, Jim Watts, Mike Servizio, Chris McConnell (competing but not pictured: Everad Samuels, Sarah Lawson)

Sunday, July 27, 2008

GBTC was well represented at the USATF New England Masters Track and Field Championships held at Springfield College last Sunday. Both Sarah Lawson and Everad Samuels ran national caliber times in the 100m and 200m sprints, and Chris McConnell wasn't far behind -- picking up multiple medals on the day.

Also getting ready for Nationals was Jim Watts, running the open 400m and a leg of the 4x400m to get speed work in before competing in the 800m in Spokane.

In his GBTC finale (for now, though we hope we can talk him into coming back for a race again), Aaron Binkley jumped in the 200m and then ran a leg on a 4x400m relay. Mike Servizio was the workhorse of the day, running the 400m, the 200m, and coming right back (with a very compressed meet schedule) to anchor the 4x400m. Yours truly ran both hurdles races, then joined in with the 4x400m fun.

Good luck to those competing for GBTC at Masters Nationals in Spokane, and for the rest of us -- get rest now for base training in the Fall!

Click here for full results

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