CPTC at 2009 NYC Marathon

By Dan Seidel

CPTC had 83 athletes complete the ING New York City Marathon this past Sunday, winning some team age-group awards outright and competing strongly in others. Despite the difficult windy conditions, many runners still set impressive PRs or gutted out their races to the finish, even after falling a bit off their pace. Most important, as anyone can attest who was at the Wall of Orange near Engineer’s Gate at mile 24, was how confident those in orange singlets seemed at this late stage in the race; this is a testament as well to the quality of our coaching.

Before turning to some of the outstanding individual performances, though, here’s a summary of the team awards, which were scored by the top three runners for each group by cumulative time: the open men took fifth, all running under 2:34; the 40+ men grabbed second, with all three under 2:48; the 50+ men won their age group; the open women (including two outstanding debuts!) were second, all under 2:54; and the 40+ women were fourth.

Those watching the elite women’s early start on TV would have seen CPTC’s Rebecca Yau lined up with the likes of Paula Radcliffe and eventual winner Derartu Tulu. Rebecca, 23, was making her debut at the marathon distance, and had a chance to chat with the some of the elites beforehand. Once the race started, she worked together with a group for the first eleven miles, then ran much of the rest of the race alone, struggling after twenty miles but still finishing with a sparkling debut of 2:51:22. Toward the end of the race, she said, “the consolation … was seeing the elite men passing me and getting a sense of how the race was playing out; when Meb passed me Cheriuyot was still with him, and they both looked strong.”

Thirty seconds behind Rebecca was Felice Kelly, taking second in the 25-29 age group and running 2:51:55 (a PR of several minutes). In third for the open women, and making her marathon debut as well, was Kristin Lucas, 25, who ran 2:53:19. With three women so close to the Olympic B standard for the marathon (2:46), and considering the difficulty of the course and conditions, the possibilities for CPTC’s young women marathoners seem exciting.

On the men’s side, another 23-year-old, Steve Kinney, was making his marathon debut as well. In what he would describe afterward as a “crazy day,” Kinney led the men’s team with a 2:31:58, and fed off the support from the crowds: “In the those last few miles seeing my family, friends, and random fans going crazy just made it so much easier for me to go for it at the end.” Not far behind Steve was new member Tom Dichiara, who ran a very intelligent even split and came in at 2:33:13, a huge PR; followed by Ulrich Fluhme, with a one-minute PR of 2:33:31. Ulrich was struck by the number of CPTC supporters out on the course: the orange jackets “appeared after every corner in my blurred vision … Even the most quiet street in the Bronx was taken over by CPTC’ers.” He wanted especially to thank Coach Tony for his “always positive attitude and relentless support”; and “2:25” Thom Little, who is “definitely a role model when it comes to fierce racing … I kept saying all summer, ‘If I can still see Thom in the Bronx, I’ll have a great race.’”

Our team-award winners were the tip of the iceberg. There was a slew of impressive performances, including a three-minute PR for Jay Barry, who just missed cracking 2:40; a two-minute PR for Scott Stamp (2:44:59); a nearly five-minute PR for Steve Rosenbaum (2:53:29); a five-minute PR for Maria Pavkovitch (3:07:38); and a twenty-minute PR for Alma Liebrecht (3:18:01). This is hardly an exhaustive list; please visit http://www.ingnycmarathon.org/Results.htm for full results.

And here is David Greenberg reporting on the Masters:

“The fabulous men’s 50+ team was the collective star of the marathon in the master’s division. Alan Ruben (2:47/84.7%), Michael Rennock (2:48/82.9%)) and Yasuhiro Makoshi (2:58/83.2%) won their division by over 17 minutes over West Side Runners. In true master’s time reversal fashion, that time was 8 minutes faster than the CPTC 50+ M’s victorious effort in 2008. Michael’s race was particularly impressive, setting a New York Marathon PR by four minutes. The depth of the 50+ team is amazing – they dominated the race despite not having Stuart Calderwood (2:48 in 2008) and Jeff Wilson (2:51 in 2008). Alan also took fourth place in his age group as an individual competitor.

In the 40+, Robert Siegel’s 2:52/75.4% was a big PR for him, and perhaps a lifetime age-graded score PR. Peter Allen ran a quick 2:50/81.0% at age 49, and Josh Rayman came down from Vermont to run 2:39/80.1%. With Alan Ruben’s help, the 40+ took second in their division, with Josh and James McQuade (2:45/77.5%) also scoring.

On the women’s side, the standout race was Judith Tripp’s 3:46/84.8% – that was a marathon PR by over three minutes for her, good for 4th in her age group, and, like Robert, a lifetime best on the NYRRC age graded tables – a double rare feat at the marathon distance. Yumi Ogita also edged over the 80% marker, running 3:13/80.5%.”