4.5
miles - up Chalybes, down Hemlock
8:30 am. 60 degrees, sunny |
|
Ken Moffitt won a lot of races back in the 1970's, but he hadn't run a lot of races since then. Now that he lives nearby, though, he's been running Roxbury almost every week, and he's been getting faster again. After a near miss last week, he won this week. He thinks it's his first win since 1978, and we think that, aged 51, he's the oldest winner we've had since we started keeping track.
Old guys run sneaky. Fifth place Dave Harvey reports that he was part way up Chalybes, about a mile and a half in to the race, when Ken went striding past to take over fourth place, still well behind a pack of three leaders consisting of Roxbury mile winner Nelson Azevedo, last week's winner Mark Andrejczyk and last year's points winner Mike Abraham.
Behind them, Andrea Behling was out-running Peg Molina and LeeAnn Flanagan to take the women's race for her second time this season.
The field was a little smaller this week than we're used to lately. A number of people seemed to be taking the day off in advance of the Litchfield Hills race the next day, and some of the people who did run Roxbury were taking it easy.
Last
week vs this week - we got slower
Half of this week's field ran this same course last week. There were a few others who were at both races, but ran an alternate race either this week or last. On the average, we were 42 seconds slower this week, probably because so many people took it easy for Litchfield. Ken Moffitt didn't take it easy. He was 28 seconds faster and he won the race. Women's winner Andrea Behling didn't take it easy either. She was Most Improved, knocking 58 seconds off her time, and she won for the women. Steady Tom McNulty ran the same 34.27 both weeks.
This week was a little unusual. Most of the time we run the same course two weeks in a row, people get faster from one week to the next.
Handicapped Race
Next week is the annual Handicapped Race. It is complicated, so you might want to plan ahead. Basically, we make the fast people start later. (You could say we let the slower people have head-starts. It amounts to the same thing.) Web Guy will spend all week figuring out how far ahead of Ken Merrick you get to start. If Web Guy does it right, everyone will finish at almost the same time.
Before the race, you should check when you're starting. Then you should listen closely at the start. People will be starting every 15 seconds or so, so everyone has to be ready.
As far as the technicalities go, we use a 90% handicap, based on your 75th percentile race pace. That is, if you've run eight times this year, we take your 2nd or 3rd best time and use that to predict a good 2.4 mile time for you. Then, if we predict that Ken will run 10 minutes faster than you, then you get 90% of that as a head start, so he starts 9 minutes behind you. If you run your best, and he only runs well, you'll beat him.
To calculate points, we use the handicap times to
reconstruct a hypothetical race, and figure out how people would have
finished if they hadn't had head starts. It's all very complicated.
That's why we only do it once a year. It's usually great fun, though.
Pictures
Ron Karl took photos at the finish line at the Roxbury Mile. He sent us these shots for the web page. Up top we have happy runners standing in the sun, glad the race is over. It's hard to go so fast and so short. Below that, we have Lee Ann Zarger and most of Copper, near the finish line. Then we have Chas Greystone, and below that we have Prasama, not stopping at the stop sign, being pursued by two more people who probably won't stop at the stop sign either. We don't often see dragons in Roxbury. There are no dragons (or snakes) in Ireland
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.
July 5 at 9am in downtown Bethel, the zillionth annual Bethel Firecracker race. Information at www.bethel-firecracker.com.
The Roxbury Races are now listed on the Internet both on RunningInTheUSA and on HiTekRacing.com
This week's results
| 1 | 27.18 | Ken Moffitt | 51 | ( | 6.04 | min per mile) |
| 2 | 27.29 | Nelson Azevedo | 45 | ( | 6.06 | min per mile) |
| 3 | 27.39 | Mark Andrejczyk | 31 | ( | 6.09 | min per mile) |
| 4 | 28.18 | Mike Abraham | 45 | ( | 6.17 | min per mile) |
| 5 | 29.04 | Dave Harvey | 40 | ( | 6.28 | min per mile) |
| 6 | 29.58 | Mark LoSacco | 35 | ( | 6.40 | min per mile) |
| 7 | 30.50 | Ed Sandifer | 52 | ( | 6.51 | min per mile) |
| 8 | 31.07 | Charlie Greystone | 49 | ( | 6.55 | min per mile) |
| 9 | 31.09 | Dan Lamb | 42 | ( | 6.55 | min per mile) |
| 10 | 32.07 | Bruce Goulart | 54 | ( | 7.08 | min per mile) |
| 11 | 32.43 | Mark Zerbe | 43 | ( | 7.16 | min per mile) |
| 12 | 33.10 | Andrea Behling | 25 | ( | 7.22 | min per mile) |
| 13 | 33.11 | Paul Teixeira | 44 | ( | 7.22 | min per mile) |
| 14 | 33.48 | John Kane | 52 | ( | 7.31 | min per mile) |
| 15 | 34.02 | John Murphy Jr | 54 | ( | 7.34 | min per mile) |
| 16 | 34.15 | Mario Hasz | 55 | ( | 7.37 | min per mile) |
| 17 | 34.29 | Peg Molina | 46 | ( | 7.40 | min per mile) |
| 18 | 34.37 | Tom McNulty | 38 | ( | 7.42 | min per mile) |
| 19 | 34.40 | Scott Benjamin | 46 | ( | 7.42 | min per mile) |
| 20 | 34.53 | LeeAnn Flanagan | 45 | ( | 7.45 | min per mile) |
| 21 | 36.50 | Kurt Thoennessen | 25 | ( | 8.11 | min per mile) |
| 22 | 37.02 | Hugh Fullman | 47 | ( | 8.14 | min per mile) |
| 23 | 37.22 | Paul Butler | 46 | ( | 8.18 | min per mile) |
| 24 | 37.37 | Jay Hubelbank | 52 | ( | 8.22 | min per mile) |
| 25 | 42.24 | Chris Powderly | 52 | ( | 9.25 | min per mile) |
| 26 | 43.27 | Ron Karl | 63 | ( | 9.39 | min per mile) |
| 27 | 46.37 | Dennis Harrington | 50 | ( | 10.22 | min per mile) |
| 28 | 48.10 | Prasama Sangkachand | 44 | ( | 10.42 | min per mile) |
| 29 | 48.18 | Corinne Bellemare | 46 | ( | 10.44 | min per mile) |
| Alt 2.4 mile race | ||||||
| 30 | 19.51 | Bob Lewis | 39 | ( | 8.16 | min per mile) |
This week vs last week - Slower
| 1 | Andrea Behling | 33.10 | 34.08 | 0.58 |
| 2 | Jay Hubelbank | 37.37 | 38.34 | 0.57 |
| 3 | Ken Moffitt | 27.18 | 27.46 | 0.28 |
| 4 | Kurt Thoennessen | 36.50 | 36.54 | 0.04 |
| 5 | Tom McNulty | 34.37 | 34.37 | 0.00 |
| 6 | Corinne Bellemare | 48.18 | 48.09 | -0.09 |
| 7 | Paul Butler | 37.22 | 37.12 | -0.10 |
| 8 | Mark Andrejczyk | 27.39 | 27.28 | -0.11 |
| 9 | Prasama Sangkachand | 48.10 | 47.42 | -0.28 |
| 10 | Scott Benjamin | 34.40 | 34.08 | -0.32 |
| 11 | Dan Lamb | 31.09 | 30.01 | -1.08 |
| 12 | Paul Teixeira | 33.11 | 31.51 | -1.20 |
| 13 | Mark LoSacco | 29.58 | 28.12 | -1.46 |
| 14 | Mark Zerbe | 32.43 | 30.57 | -1.46 |
| 15 | Chris Powderly | 42.24 | 38.21 | -4.03 |
Created June 13, 2004
