2004 Roxbury Race #38

Ken, Mark, then Ken and Mark, in the snow

  An early season snow storm made conditions treacherous at the start of this week's 6.7 mile Roxbury Road Race.  A relatively small field of 33 toed the line at 8:30, and only 28 of those chose to run the longer 6.7 miles, the others opting for shorter ordeals.

    People mostly started slowly, as they picked their ways along the polished ice of West Apple Lane, then up the slightly better conditions on South Street.  Rt. 67 was mostly OK, but then Ranney Hill Road was a trial again.  Conditions gradually improved as the race went on, but the dirt of Upper County Road was completely snow-covered, and West Apple Lane was still in bad shape, even after almost an hour of sunshine.

    After a mile, a group of three, two Ken's and a Mark, were about 50 yards clear of a pack of seven.  The last 5.7 miles were mostly just to sort out those two packs.  As it was, the order of finish was unusual: Ken, Mark, Ken, Mark, then an Ed.

    Among the women, it was a clear win for Rapid Lynn Zuback, her second of the season, but second place, two minutes back, was decided just inches from the finish line.  Sinead Blevio had been stalking Kyle Knight.  A hundred meters out, she was five meters back (see picture).  She pulled even with about ten meters to go, but Kyle's desperate lunge saved second place by just a fraction of a second. 

This week vs Last time

    This was only the second time we've run this course.  The first time was back on August 14 when Mark Andrejczyk ran a 43:12 to win the race.  Like most people, Mark was slower this time, and he finished second.  

    Tom McNulty showed the most improvement.  He shrugged off the hostile conditions and knocked more than six minutes off his time.  Think of him if you're voting for Most Improved, though Mark A is also a strong candidate.

    Roxbury native Mo van Moffaert had a tough day, and it showed in her time.  The elementary school gym teacher donated blood late yesterday, then braved the conditions, but it cost her more than twelve minutes.

    Among the fifteen who ran both times, the average runner was two and a half minutes slower this week.  Most consistent was Ken Moffitt, only 52 seconds slower.

Green Wave XC Repeats in New Englands!

    At about the same time that the rest of us were running 6.7 miles in Roxbury, the New Milford Boys Cross Country team was defending its New England Championship in similar conditions in East Hartford.  The team of Nick DeCrescenzo (19th), Dave Hunt (28th), Pat Viklund (41st), Mike DeCrescenzo 44th), John Reilly (76th) Anthony Vento (85th) and Anthony Socotch (139th) took 87 points to beat runners-up Londonderry NH by 14 points.  They turned the tables on Guildford, who upset the Wave a week ago in the State Open, but finished 6th in New Englands with 212 points.

    If this year is like previous years, some of these guys will run at Roxbury a couple of times over the next couple of weeks, now that their season is over.  At least five of them have already run this year, with four of them scattered between 30th and 50th place in the Prestigious Roxbury Points Race.

    An informal team photo, taken earlier in the season on a warmer, sunnier day, is at the right.

Pictures

    At the top, four of the top six finishers pose next to the sign after the race.  Left to right we have Mark L, Ken Mo, Mark A and Brian V.  Then we have Sinead closing on Kyle about 50 meters from the finish, with Chris Norris just a speck on the horizon, about 40 seconds back.   Then is the photo of the Green Wave cross country team as they are about to begin a workout about a month ago after a Roxbury race.  A little farther down, we see Paul Teixeira, about 150 meters from the finish, in hot pursuit of John Murphy. Paul caught John and put seven seconds between them.  Below that is Dianne Hasz, helping at the finish line last week, and then a bunch of happy people after last week's race, when it was obviously warmer.  Way down at the bottom we have Fossil in Germany, six time zones east of here, meeting another dragon.  Both the Fossil and the Dragon survived the encounter, only slightly the worse for wear. 

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.

1. When?  Saturday, December 11 
2. 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.  
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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  

This week vs Last time

Created November 13, 2004