New
Course on Last Day of Summer
Until
the bridge gets fixed, we can't run on the road between the Monument and the
bottom of Chalybes. 
This
takes out about half of our regular courses, the 2.4 mile, the usual 3.55 mile
courses, the two courses on Judd's Bridge Road. As a result, we've been
running south a lot, using High Bridge Road and the Jeep Trail. For the
sake of variety, this week and next we're salvaging the working parts of the
usual 2.4 mile and 3.55 mile courses to make a devilish new 3.55 mile course,
down the steep hill on Chalybes and back up the long grind on Hemlock. So,
with the first day of autumn coming very next day, we got a new course for the
last day of summer.
It was
an interesting race. Ken Merrick, Dan Lamb and Mark Andrejczyk took an
early lead that lasted until they started down the steep hill on Chalybes.
Mark couldn't manage the leg turnover, but Lou Denaro went down like his pants
were on fire. He closed most of the gap on the down hill, and by the time
they were ready to begin the climb up Hemlock, he was in the lead. Lou
likes down hills better than up hills, though, and first Ken, then Dan forged
past him, leaving poor Lou in third.
Meanwhile, among the women, Nora Hulton beat Roxbury Rookie Leanne Flannagan by
about a minute.
Rookie of the Year
and Most Improved
Each
year, we give an award for the Most Improved Runner and to the Rookie of the
Year. It's not too early to think about candidates. If you want to
compare people's performances to last year, you can follow the link to the 2002
page at the bottom of the main Roxbury Page. You can also use that to see
if your candidate ran much last year and find out if he/she is a rookie.
Our
definition of "rookie" is a little fuzzy. Basically, a rookie is
someone who didn't run "much" last year. If the person didn't
run enough to be a rookie last year, then he/she's a rookie this year.
This makes Lou Denaro a rookie, with one race last year. So are Mark
Losacco, Mario Hasz and Marge Demarrais, but not Tom McNulty or Mark Andrejczyk.
Happy Birthday
Charlie
We
celebrated Charlie Yagielski's 66th birthday last week, but we didn't have a
picture. This week, our picture isn't very good because the sun is rising
behind him and that made too much glare, but at least we have one.
Pictures
The top
picture is Al Curtis, at the start. You can find him again in the crowd
scene in the middle picture. You might be able to pick out some people you
know. In the third picture, we see the picture of Charles Yagielski we
mentioned above. Also, check the points standings because there are new
pictures there, too.
The Roxbury Races are now
listed on the Internet both on RunningInTheUSA
and on HiTekRacing.com
This week's Roxbury
results