Kim Conley, National Champion
“When I was still in contact with 100 to go, I knew I could do it. When I really need to do it, an emotional moment for me, very important, I can pull it out.” Awesome photo courtesy of Painani.org.
By John Schumacher
Nationals Are Off With a Shot!
The USA Track and Field National Championships went off with a shot yesterday, with an unusual hosting of the shot put on the west side of the State Capitol building.
It was a brilliant idea and brought large, enthusiastic crowds to this often overlooked field event.
Michelle Carter and Joseph Kovacs came out on top, with Kovacs wowing the crowd with a world leading throw of 22.03 meters.
The remainder of the championship events move to California State University Sacramento starting today, and a schedule can be found here.
Complete results of yesterdays competition can be found here.
Mo Bartley Needs No Excuse
Mo Bartley takes home a sweet, sweet plaque for her effort. (SRN photo)
On Saturday, several hundred runners kicked off the Memorial Day weekend with a run of the No Excuses 5K, Sacramento’s long-standing, age-graded race.
The key to winning this event is to be unusually fast for your age, and this year it was Mo Bartley, 59, of Auburn, who hit that sweet-spot and trounced all comers with a 20:44 finish that age-graded to 14:11.
Finishing in second place was Janice Kesterson, 60, of Oakdale, with a 21:07 that age-grades to a 14:15.
Parkway Update
Ranger Ollie sez: “Be careful!”
It’s the weekend and I’m sure most of us are planning to spend part of it on the American River Parkway. There are a couple of things to keep in mind.
On Saturday, May 17th, the American River Parkway Trail will be closed from Discovery Park to Del Paso Boulevard, from 6:00 a.m. to noon, for the Eppie’s Kid’s Duathlon and Fitness Festival.
The event starts and finishes at Discovery Park. More details about the closure and the race can be found here (PDF).
Then, on Thursday, May 22, Parks staff will be removing a large dead oak tree just east of the Ambassador parking lot near the 18.5 mile marker on the American River Bike Trail (near lower Sunrise).
Work will begin at 8:30 a.m. and should be completed by 11:00 a.m. There may be delays on the trail due to the size of the tree and its proximity to the trail.
Plan accordingly!
Pfeifer, Medina Tops at Gold Rush 100K
Kirsten Schneider on the way to a 50K win. (Photo courtesy of Gold Rush 100K)
McDonald, Schneider earn Gold Rush 50k victories
By John Schumacher
Paulo Medina and Jen Pfeifer took the long way home to individual titles and Mike McDonald and Kirsten Schneider ran point-to-point for their victories on a pleasant, picturesque Saturday in the second annual Gold Rush 100k/50k.
Orangevale’s Medina won the men’s 100k, completing the course that began and ended in historic Folsom in 10 hours, 6 minutes and 2 seconds. He ran conservatively for most of the course that followed the American River and Folsom Lake into the foothills before catching leader Brian Miller of El Dorado Hills with 12 miles to go and pulling away.
Miller finished second for the second consecutive year, this time in 10:22:56.
The Bar Has Been Raised: Hail the Sub-Five Beer Mile
While you may have never heard of James Nielsen before today, he is now one of the most famous (infamous?) runners in modern track and field.
James Nielsen, purportedly ran the world’s first sub-5:00 beer mile. (We’re still waiting for verification by Beermile.com, or a bit more detail about when this was done and who witnessed it.)
Nick Symmonds (Beer Mile PR 5:31) has famously announced his intentions to break the beer mile world record. Now, it looks like he’s got a bit more work to do.
Notes on Boston
I don’t know about you, but I was pretty happy to see Meb Keflezighi win at Boston–running out in front for miles and miles before anyone, finally (too late) took him seriously.
It was also thrilling to see Shalane Flanagan pulling the women out to a record pace, forcing the top women to pay dearly if they wanted to go along for the ride. I was sorry she faded, but super impressed at her run, just the same.
Here is a great analysis of the race, putting the women’s record setting race and the men’s upset into perspective.
The news that the top-American runners worked together to help another American win (and many earn personal bests for themselves) was also pretty sweet and a sign that American distance running is maturing.
Yes, Running is Good For You
This mouse will live longer and look better than her lazy cousin!
In the continuing debate on whether running is helping or harming you, we turn to a recent article by Gretchen Reynolds, over at the NY Times Well blog.
Building on previous animal studies, researchers at McMaster University studied the skin of volunteers and found that people who got regular exercise had skin that appeared younger at a cellular level.
To see if the difference was truly due to exercise and not some other factor, the researchers put a group of sedentary volunteers on an exercise program and examined their skin before and after. Read the rest of this entry →
Biwott, Conley Prevail at Sactown 10
Bryan Hacker and Ronald Hess fly to the finish. (SRN photo)
By John Schumacher
Folsom’s Shadrack Biwott overcame two untied shoes and a short recovery time from a half marathon, pulling away from two-time defending champion Tesfaye Alemayehu in the final 100 yards Sunday to win the fourth annual Credit Union SACTOWN Ten-Mile Run.
West Sacramento’s Kim Conley, a 2012 Olympian, came down from high-altitude training with enough energy to pull away from Auburn’s Jane Kibii in the final three miles to win the women’s title on a pleasant, blue-sky morning in Sacramento.
Biwott and Conley, teammates on the Sacramento Running Association’s Elite Team, each took home $2,400 for their victories in the event, which featured a $15,000 purse and served as USA Track & Field’s Pacific Association Ten-Mile Championship.
A Big Crowd Takes on the New Course at American River 50
Top Women. Left to right: Tomory, Laird, Guijarro. (SRN photo)
Taking advantage of beautiful conditions, Joel Frost-Tift, 25, of Los Angeles, bested the field of more than 800 runners at the 35th running of the American River 50 Mile Endurance Run in 6:26:52.
In a pretty close 2nd place, Matthew Morales, 24, of Visalia, made it to the finish line at the American River Overlook in 6:30:40.
Coming in 3rd overall was Thomas Reiss, 46, of San Luis Obispo, with 6:39:59. Reiss was also the top male masters finisher.