David Yon
If the mile is a tough race (and having run them all between 1 mile and 54 miles, I believe it is), then maybe our kids are a tougher group than we are. The third annual Breakfast on the Track saw lots of youngster waiting their turn to run the mile and the 400 meter relays. It was great to see!! Co-race director Jamie Wright even left his set up duties long enough to run a 10:17 mile.
As for the adults, I once again heard more fear and excuse making than any other race all year. I had my own list of reasons to run my slowest effort yet, but I will spare you. After moaning about her hamstring, Sarah Docter-Williams bolted to a new women’s event record by running 5:09.08. That was good enough to win the women’s race, 30 grand prix points and bragging rights in our Tuesday morning workouts. Gary Droze loosened up his ailing with a 4:42.97 to crush the men’s field. His time tied for the sixth fastest ever in the event. But Gary, you had best not slow down because the other person to run 4:42 was star pupil Ryan Deak. At least now we know the real reason Gary made his team take this week off before traveling to Mobile for a cross county meet next weekend!
Fran McLean was the women’s masters winner with a PR time of 5:46.06, plenty good enough to win another six pack from me! She was also third overall and ran the second fastest masters time ever and sixth fastest women’s overall time. The men’s masters race was an elbow launching thriller as Bill McGuire (ok, he is really a grand master) and Tim Unger matched strides coming down the stretch. Tim dug the deepest to take the masters title. Tim’s official time was 4:55.15 compared to Bill’s 4:55.68. Tim’s masters winning time was the fourth best time ever, just behind McGuire’s time from last year.
Other performances of note include the following. Jay Silvanima recorded an outstanding time by blazing to the finish to take the second heat in 5:04.42. The 60 and above age groups were extremely competitive for the men. Rex Cleveland led the group with 6:26.04, Bill de Grummond won the 65-69 with a 6:41.32 and John Alderson (73) burned an 8:44.38. Charlie Yates knocked 35 seconds off his time to run 13:00 flat, a race record for 75 year olds! There wasn’t the same depth on the women’s side, but Mae Cleveland and Margarete Deckert ran excellent times of 7:04 and 8:19.
Jamie, Bonnie and Felton Wright did another fantastic job on this race and deserve a big thanks. Here is their comment to everyone:
To those of you who participated in the GWTC Breakfast on the Track we hope you had a good time and a fast time too. You can’t have a race without a lot of help. Our race seems to be an extended family affair (who else could we coerce!) and we want to gratefully acknowledge their help.
Pancake flippers and batter makers include Jamie’s grandmothers Ruth Draper and Beth Wright. Rounding out the team was aunt Nancy Wright, along with honorary aunts Judy Alexander and Kathy Weiss.
The next group of talented assistants isn’t related to us but we would claim them as family. Felton would say that at least one would be the black sheep of the family. (initials of J.N.) At the finish line were Tom Perkins, Jeff Nielsen and Joy Opheim. At registration and results was Jeanne O’Kon, the S.O. to Tom Perkins, and Wendy Smith. Joe and Nadine Dexter deserve a special note of appreciation for being the equipment managers for GWTC; a tough job. Nadine assumed the extra role of videographer and provided technical assistance in setting up the replays.
Thanks to all of you and see you next year!