Merrick, Neils Win Offroad
Mike
Abraham and Mark Andrejczyk took the start of the 26th Roxbury race of 2004 out
hard and fast. Meanwhile Roxbury's winningest runner Ken Merrick sat back
and waited for the course to take its toll. The Jeep Trail course is
deceptively easy those first two miles. By mile 3 you are knee deep in
rolling hills and thinking about the 2 minute trek up the rutted, leaf-strewn,
and often muddy Jeep Trail. Ken worked his way up the pack and passed Mark
Andrejczyk at the top of Jeep Trail with only about a half mile remaining.
It was Ken's 16th victory this year as he covered the 3.95 mile course in 23:37.
The youngest Roxbury winner of the year was crowned
today as the women's winner in the person of 12 year old sensation Katie Neils.
Katie went out fast and held on for an unchallenged win. Congratulations!
Pictures
Up top, this week's women's winner Katie Neils.
Below Tom
McNulty, Lynn Zuback, Paul Teixeira and Cindy Scannell, running after the race,
with John Kane's soccer team practicing in the background.
Below that Mario Hasz warms up just a week after running a 4:06 at the
Hartford Marathon. He'd been aiming for a 4:30. He's wearing a jacket as
colorful as the foliage.
By the results is a shot of the New Milford boys cross country team.
They showed up two weeks ago to run a workout from the Rec Area shortly after the race.
Then they went out and won the SWC Championship decisively in the middle of last
week, with just 21 points. Who would suspect that such an innocent band of
runners would rampage over other teams so ruthlessly. The Newtown team is
a very good team this year, yet they finished 40 points back of these
guys. Congratulations NMHS.
Travels
Old WebGuy is in Germany for a math even and has left WebGuy Jr.
with complete control over the web site for the next two weeks in his absence.
Before leaving, Old WebGuy
put a sneaky link to the Dragon back on the page. WebGuy Jr. can live with
it. Here's to hoping Old WebGuy encounters no new Dragons seeking photo
opportunities in Germany.
Speaking of traveling, he's not the only one who's been traveling. Paul Teixeira just got back from a trip to India. If you get a chance to run
with him, ask him about the bottles of water and the bananas. New Milford
Cross Country coach Mike "Abe" Abraham spent much of the summer in
China and and Viet Nam (as he plummeted in the prestigious Roxbury Points
race). And Terry Lyons and Carl Hunt ran into each other unexpectedly as
they were both running the same marathon in the shadow of Mount St. Helens in
Portland, Oregon.
Spelling
We had some new runners this week, some of whom were
apparently in a bit of a hurry when they signed up. WebGuy Jr. might have
misread some of their names. He asks that you send
him corrections, improvements or corrections at
marksl2@earthlink.net.
Marathons
Scott Benjamin has taken the lead in getting it
organized. If you have ideas, talk to Scott, or
talk to Fossil, or eMail Web Guy (esandifer@earthlink.net
) We'll remind you of the
issues.
- When? Saturday, December 11
- Course - 8.4 miles down to Judd's Bridge and back,
followed by five 3.55 mile loops (Down Hemlock). This makes it so we can have LOTS of water stops with
just a few volunteers.
- Relays? People seem to think we should include a marathon relay. How
does this sound for a relay - one 4-mile leg down to Judd's bridge, another
one back up, two 7.1 mile legs, two laps each, and then one 3.55 mile leg,
just one lap? Tell Scott if you like the idea.
- Who? Scott Benjamin is Race Director, and many people are already
volunteering. When you volunteer, be sure to tell him what you are
willing to do to help. He'll try to keep a list.
- If we want to use this to qualify for Boston or anything, there are some
hoops necessary, like getting the course certified and sanctioned. To
certify the course, we need to calibrate the bicycle wheels on an accurate
three or four mile stretch of road. Does anyone know where there is a
long stretch of smooth state or US highway with those green mile markers on
it? Contact WebGuy at esandifer@earthlink.net
if you know such a stretch of road.
The
Roxbury Races are now listed on the Internet both on RunningInTheUSA
and on HiTekRacing.com
This week's results 
