2004 Roxbury Race #15

The Roxbury Mile

Akselrad, Behling Nab Roxbury Mile

    It was short and fast.  A pair of runners we remember from their high school days ran away with the second-ever Roxbury Mile.

    Jordan Akselrad, now an engineering student at Northeastern University, was a star at New Milford High School a couple of years ago.  He took the race out fast enough that, just before he disappeared, someone asked "Is that a Kenyan?"  He won in 5:04, exactly the same time as Luis Amaral ran to win last year.  We haven't seen Jordan since Spring Break back in March.  Now that it's summertime, maybe we'll se him more often.

    Among the women, some of us remember when Andrea Behling was a star for Immaculate High School.  We've seen her four of the last five weeks, but this is the first time she's won.  She ran a 6:05, shaving two seconds off the course record Joan Murphy set last year.  Joan was a freshman at New Milford when Andrea was a senior.

   Joan's dad John finished right beside Andrea. Scott Benjamin might have finished ahead of both of them if he hadn't had to spend the last quarter mile compensating for loose elastic on his running shorts.

    The Roxbury Mile was popular.  Among the 47 runners, we welcome eight Rookies, including old friends Katie Neils, John Kane and Betsy Daniels, and new friends Chris Norris and a trio of Rossiters, Cole, Noah and Bruce.

Readers

    It really is true that some people run Roxbury just to help them keep in touch with their families!  Last week's note filled Web Guy's mailbox, a welcome change from the spam that usually deluges.  (WebGuy's spam filter is over 90% effective, but he still gets at least 20 spams a day.)  We thought we'd share some of the eMail.  Read the first one (in green) with an Irish accent, and the second (blue) one with a New Jersey accent.

From: Dermot Quigley

Sent: Friday, May 28, 2004 9:34 AM

Subject: Readers (alias the Roxbury World Circle)

Dear Web Guy
Very many thanks for the publicity last week and the ongoing stimulating reports and photos.You are right that they help us to keep track of Sinead who sometimes moves very quickly for us older ones!The tracking does not just take place from Ireland(which,by the way, is free of snakes as well as dragons as a result of the activities of Saint Patrick many centuries ago).My other daughter Blanaid also reads from Luxembourg and we also pass on the reports to son Padraig in Bangladesh as well  as to three other siblings at home.In case you might think we are a partisan crowd here let it be said that I also watch out in your reports for mention of the other good folks I was fortunate to meet when I visited your races in person at Easter.Many thanks again and good luck to you all in the Roxbury Mile tomorrow.
Dermot(better known now as Sinead's Dad)

From: The Derringer Family
Sent: Sunday, May 23, 2004 8:56 AM
Subject: Checking In

You're right...still have the site bookmarked and I visit for the weekly results.  Noticed the improvement in Mark Andrejczyk's times over the past few weeks.  Wish I was there to mix it up with him.

I might be interested in the Roxbury Marathon.  Sounds like it could be a lot of fun.  I may run Philadelphia, which is a few weeks earlier.

How is the Achilles problem?  Hope it is improving.

boB

    Others in the Extended Roxbury Universe are welcome to send Web Guy stuff that isn't spam, at esandifer@earthlink.net.  

Romance

    Some people think The Media are All Powerful.  A couple of weeks ago, the Editors of RoxburyRaces.com tried to test their power by giving Kurt Thoennessen a different fiancé than the one he already had.  Everybody involved politely pretended that it was just a mistake, but the Editors have learned their lesson and we'll try to set the record straight.  See below.

From: kurt thoennessen
To: esandifer@earthlink.net
Sent: Sunday, May 23, 2004 11:54 AM
Subject: Web site update

Hey Ed,
Just wanted to remind you to switch Andrea Behling with Amy as my current fiance. We got a good laugh out of it but now Andrea would like her job back. LOL. Talk to you next week.
Kurt

This year vs Last year

    Seventeen people ran the Roxbury Mile both years.  They were an average of two seconds slower this year.  Among these 17 people, Tom McNulty showed the most improvement.  He brought four fans to encourage him to go 51 seconds faster.  Kate Neils was most consistent, improving by one second since last September.  Complete statistics are at the bottom of the page.

Pictures

    Ron Karl took photos at the finish line today.  He send us these shots in time to get them on the web page.  Up top we have the crowd milling around the finish line talking about who beat whom and whose running shorts almost fell off.  Below that, we have Lee Ann Zarger and most of Copper, near the finish line.  Even farther down, we have John Murphy and Dave Harvey trying to help an unidentified, mostly naked guy in sunglasses try to get the results fixed.

    Then we have Sinead and Charley Euston.  Way down at the bottom we have a dragon.  We don't often see dragons in Roxbury.  There are no dragons (or snakes) in Ireland

Marathons

    Response to the idea of a December Marathon has been positive.  Scott Benjamin has offered to take the lead in getting it organized.  Nothing is firm yet.  If you have ideas, talk to Scott, or talk to Fossil, or eMail Web Guy (address above)  We'll remind you of the issues.

1. When?  Second week in December has been suggested.  Someone else suggested just telling people it's 2.4 miles, then surprising everyone.  
2. Where?  We get exactly 26.2 miles if we run the 2.4 mile Chalybes course 5 times (makes 12.0 miles) and the 3.55 mile Hemlock Road course 4 times (for 14.2 miles) That's not very flat, but nowhere in Roxbury is flat. Lots of little loops get a little boring, but it is good for volunteers.  Someone suggested going past Judd's Bridge to Rt 199 and back, about 8 miles each way, as the main part of the course.  Scenic, but unless we get a ton and a half of volunteers, the water stops will be pretty far apart.
3. Certify?  Should we go through the effort of certifying the course and getting the race sanctioned?  Then people could use their Roxbury times to qualify for Boston or Olympic Trials or whatever.
4. Relays?  Some people like to do Marathon Relays.  Would we want to include that, too?  How about a half-marathon at the same time?  
5. Who?  Who wants to take charge of all this? (Answer:  Scott Benjamin, plus whoever wants to help)

Other Races

Saturday June 26th
Danbury High School:  2nd Annual Danbury Area Track Club Twilight Track Meet sponsored by Road and Track Sports.  Youth events 100m, 800m, 4 x 200m, Long Jump and Shot begin at 4:30 pm.  Adult events 100m, mile, 400m, 5000m, 4 x 100m, shot, discus, hammer, long jump and pole vault begin at 6pm.  Entry fee is $10 on the day of the meet and $5 for DATC members.  $100 first prize to the first man under 4:15 for the mile and the first woman under 5:00.  For more information go to www.datc.us or call Marty Ogden at 730-2868. 

    The Roxbury Races are now listed on the Internet both on RunningInTheUSA and on HiTekRacing.com

This week's results

Last modified: May 29, 2004