ROSE CITY RUNNERS CLUB

The tenth USATF-NJ Championship race for 2009, the USATF-NJ Cross Country 8K Championship, was held on Sunday, October 25. The 8K race was a USATF-NJ Championship race for all divisions. The weather was cool and windy at the 10 in the morning start. The cross country course at Deer Path Park in Readington was wet and muddy from rain the night before. Eventually 222 runners completed the course including 25 people from the Rose City Runners' race team.

At this 8K cross country, we had two athletes making their Rose City Runners race team debut. They were Aileen Flanagan and Paul Murray. Welcome Aileen and Paul to our race team!

The race was also noteworthy for the participation of a famous marathon legend. Amby Burfoot, who is the Editor-at-Large for Runner's World Magazine and the winner of the 1968 Boston Marathon, competed in this Championship event for the Raritan Valley Road Runners. Mr. Burfoot finished in 3rd place in the very competitive 60-64 age division in a time of 33:10. He just missed winning his age division, however, as he was just 1 second behind the 2nd place finisher and 5 seconds in back of the 1st place athlete.

At the 8K cross country race, the Rose City Runners entered one Open and one Masters women's team. The best showing came from our Open women, who placed 3rd in their age division. This team consisted of Lynda Brush, Denise Byrnes, Julie Delimon, Aileen Flanagan, Kathy Hale, Elizabeth Jennison, Grace Kennedy, and Eileen O'Brien.

We also had a strong showings from our 40s women, who finished in 4th place. Runners for this team were Lynda Brush, Denise Byrnes, Aileen Flanagan, Elizabeth Jennison, and Eileen O'Brien.

Our fastest woman at the 8K distance was Julie Delimon, who completed the course in a smoking time of 35:03. Julie was also the 4th woman overall at this very competitive Championship race. Also having great times at the 8K race were Elizabeth Jennison (39:46), Denise Byrnes (41:02), Grace Kennedy (39:46), Eileen O'Brien (48:52), Kathy Hale (48:58), Aileen Flanagan (49:07), and Lynda Brush (49:15).

In the individual awards, Julie Delimon won an award for placing 3rd in the Open Division. Rose City women cracking the top ten in their age group included Denise Byrnes (4th; 40-44), Lynda Brush (5th; 60-64), Liz Jennison (5th; 45-49), and Aileen Flanagan (7th; 45-49).

The Rose City Runners also entered six men's teams at the cross country 8K. One of our best showings came from our 50s "A" team who placed 4th. We also had a second 50s men's team that came in 9th place. Our 50s men included Dave Allen, Lee Brush, Jamie Button, Karl Fenske, George Grosso, Lou Grunfelder, Jerry Kloby, Joseph Mannaerts, Franz Mitterer, Chuck Paul, and Mark Washburne.

Our other men's "best" showing came from our 40s "A" team that also placed 4th in their age division. We also had a second 40s men's team that came in 7th place. Our 40s men were Dave Allen, Jamie Button, Karl Fenske, Mike Flynn, Jerry Kloby, Doug MacGibbon, Franz Mitterer, Paul Murray, Chuck Paul, Rob Powers, and Mark Washburne.

We also had strong showing from our Open Men who came in 7th place and our 60s men who placed 8th. Our Open team consisted of Mike Flynn, Doug Goodale, Lou Grunfelder, Paul Murray, Robert Powers, and Tom Slocum. Our 60s men were Lee Brush, George Grosso, Doug MacGibbon, and Joseph Mannaerts.

Our fastest man at the 8K was Chuck Paul who completed the distance in a cruising time of 33:01. We also had strong outings from Franz Mitterer (33:29), Doug Goodale (33:52), Paul Murray (33:54), Jamie Button (34:58), Tom Slocum (35:25), Mark Washburne (37:03), Karl Fenske (38:02), Lou Grunfelder (38:39), Robert Powers (38:55), Dave Allen (39:14), Michael Flynn (40:15), Jerry Kloby (41:28), Joseph Mannaerts (41:57), George Grosso (49:04), Lee Brush (51:14), and Doug MacGibbon (86:17).

In the individual awards, Franz Mitterer won an award for placing 2nd among 55-59 men and Joseph Mannaerts won the same for placing 3rd among 70-74 men. Breaking the top ten finishers in their age group for men were Chuck Paul (5th; 50-54) and Paul Murray (8th; 45-49).

Our next USATF-NJ Championship race is the Giralda Farms 10K on Sunday, September 27. This race has team competitions for Masters (40 years of age and older) men and women. The race is also sponsored by our running club. We, therefore, strongly encourage all our Open team members to volunteer for the race and any Masters athlete running for our team to volunteer for a job either before or after the race or find a family member or friend who might substitute for you as a volunteer. Click here for an application: http://compuscore.com/cs2009/novdec/giralda.pdf

Thank you to all those who competed in the USATF-NJ Cross Country 8K Championship and I look forward to seeing even more of you wearing the proud blue singlets of Rose City at our races in the future!

Congratulations also to all the finishers at the Steamtown Marathon in Scranton, Pennsylvania and the Long Beach Island 18 Miler down at the Jersey Shore. Below is a list of the some of the finishers. (Please let me know if I missed anyone.)

STEAMTOWN MARATHON

October 11, 2009

Barry Lass 2:54:01 (2nd age; Qualified for Boston)

Maureen Zeman 3:30:16 (PR; Qualified for Boston)

Lou "Triple Loop" Grunfelder 3:36:46 (1st Marathon; Qualified for Boston)

Karl Fenske 3:43:54 (Qualified for Boston)

Vivian Wilson 3:59:07 (9th age; Qualified for Boston)

Tom Hand 4:08:17 (Recovering from broken toe)

LONG BEACH ISLAND 18 MILER

October 11, 2009

Carl Weaver 2:09:07 (1st age; 60-64)

Jamie Button 2:09:22 (5th age; 50-54)

Franz Mitterer 2:11:45 (2nd age; 55-59)

Jane Albright 2:16:06 (2nd age; 25-29)

Will DeRoberts 2:20:39 (9th age; 50-54)

Mark Washburne 2:24:27 (10th age; 50-54)

Susan DeRoberts 2:52:46