After a two-year pandemic hiatus, FLRC brought the Hartshorne Memorial Masters Mile back to Barton Hall on January 21st, 2023, putting on mile races for 65 local and elite masters runners from the Ithaca area, upstate New York, and throughout the US and Canada. The event went well, with fast times, exciting races, and a new W55 American record!
We have full results on the FLRC site with age-grade percentages and times. Leone Timing’s results are also worth a look for their split times and position changes. Don’t miss the fabulous race photos and race videos!
Race Results
Combined Women & Men: Our leadoff race showcased some of our older runners, with 63-year-old Laura Helmerick cruising to the win in 7:55, followed by 82-year-old Dennis Featherstone of Ottawa in 8:08 and 73-year-old Robert Vidulich in 8:13. 75-year-old triathlete Deb Bliss was the second woman across the line in 9:25.
Men Section 2: After 56-year-old Jack Salisbury went out hot for the first 800m, the more level-headed 61-year-old Neal Coffey took the lead and held it through the tape to win in 6:02. He outpaced the 71-year-old Spider Rossiter, who met the legendary Don Farley’s goal of “under 7:00 at 70” with an impressive 6:09. 66-year-old Gary Passamonte was third in 6:20.
Women Section 1: After some last-minute scratches, this race was small, with only five runners. Without the expected competition, 58-year-old Roxanne Springer ran alone for the win in 6:10, with 54-year-old Kim Jackson bettering her seed time handily with a 6:43 for second place and 59-year-old Betsy Stewart third in 6:58.
Men Section 1: 48-year-old ultramarathoner Damian Clemons found out just how tough short distances can be by leading through six laps before 50-year-old Mike Middendorf took over and ran the last two laps for the win in 5:38. 53-year-old Rob White laid down a 5:45 for second place in his second mile ever, and 63-year-old Keith Eggleston kicked hard in the final straightaway to run a 5:48.39 that snuck past both 51-year-old Steve Vanek (5:48.79) and Clemons (5:48.95).
Men Elite 2: This race proved one of the most exciting of the day, with three top area runners facing off. 58-year-old Mike Nier, the organizer of the Pete Glavin XC Series, tucked in behind rabbit Patrick Milano to take the early lead, with 61-year-old Joe Mora and 57-year-old Jim Derick hot on his heels. Derick moved past Mora into second in the fifth lap and ran on Nier’s shoulder the rest of the race but couldn’t match Nier’s kick in the final 100m. Nier finished in 5:02.47 for the win, with Derick second in 5:03.25 and Mora third in 5:09.08, barely holding off the fast-closing 46-year-old Tristan Lambert in 5:10.88.
Women Elite 1: Expectations were high for this race, not because three-time Olympian Michelle Rohl had any competition, but because she was attempting to break Kathryn Martin’s 16-year-old W55 American record of 5:19.87, set when Martin was 55. At 57, Rohl was on a roll in 2022, taking over the indoor and outdoor 800m records, the outdoor 1500m record, and the indoor 3000m record.
After a 15-minute delay for the third USATF official to arrive so times would be eligible for records, rabbit Bella Burda took off at the gun, with Rohl slipping past 40-year-old Jennifer Boerner in the first lap to move into the lead. From then on, it was textbook, with Rohl clocking even splits that never varied by more than 1.4 seconds, running a 2:36 800m en route to a 5:16.70 win that broke Martin’s record by 3.17 seconds. 44-year-old Carly Shea outkicked Boerner for second in 5:34 to Boerner’s 5:35. 45-year-old Alison Schwalm was fourth in 5:49, 48-year-old Andi Camp was fifth in 5:54, 54-year-old Amy McMahon took six in 5:58, 40-year-old Liz Hartman ran 6:00 for seventh, and 57-year-old Melissa Chiti was eighth in 6:03. Although she was last in the heat, 61-year-old Lorraine Jasper’s 6:10 gave her a 92.33% age grade, second only to Rohl’s 100.81% for the entire meet.
Men Elite 1: In the final race of the day, despite rabbit Henry Williams sprinting out at the desired pace, the pack didn’t stay with him, resulting in the first two laps being surprisingly slow at 39 and 37 seconds. Then 41-year-old Jaret Herter started to ratchet the pace down, clocking a 35, three 34s, a 33, and a final 32.25 to win in 4:41. More exciting was second place, where 41-year-old George Young worked his way up from ninth place after the first three laps and closed with a blistering 31.29-second final lap—the fastest of the day—to sneak past 43-year-old Mark Walchinsky at the line, 4:48.44 to 4:48.59. Walchinsky’s teammate, 43-year-old James Coates, was just behind them in 4:49.70, and 50-year-old Scott Weeks came next in fifth in 4:51. Multi-year Hartshorne winner Mark Williams, also now 50, took sixth in 4:52.72, outkicking 42-year-old Dan Timmerman in 4:52.89. 43-year-old Jordan Varano was eighth in 4:53, 40-year-old Chuck Terry was ninth in 4:54, and 45-year-old Ian Golden rounded out the race in tenth in 4:56.
Volunteers
Hartshorne requires a significant volunteer effort, starting with my assistant race directors, Charlie Fay and Tom Hartshorne. Jim Miner and John Whitman arrived early to help set up, along with Carl Franck, who configured our PA system. Jim and John continued to manage the registration table with help from Brenda Featherstone until Jim had to warm up for his race and John moved to help Charlie with race operations, after which Rebecca Lambert and Kathleen Gibson took over registration. Bruce Roebal took over as clerk of course this year, and Dan Hurley once again started all the races. Tonya Engst handed out shirts to volunteers before assisting Megan Powers with the saddle-stitched race booklet (and special thanks to Megan for all her work before the race getting the booklet ready to accept results). Rich Bernstein counted laps and rang the bell, and David Rossiter read lap splits to runners. Izzy and Ursula Silbert helped runners take photos in front of our photo banner, and Patrick Boyle, Aaron Proujansky, and Walter Silbert helped keep bystanders off the track during the races. Thanks to you all!
Sponsors
Finally, I’d like to thank the sponsors who make Hartshorne possible. It takes a lot of money to put on a national-level meet like this, with rabbits, an announcer, extensive race photos, video of all the races, a post-race banquet, and cash prizes to attract some of the top talent in the US and Canada. The race’s 2023 sponsors include Joe Daley, the Hartshorne Family, Sean Nicholson, Javier Martinez, Cayuga Medical Center, and Bangs Ambulance. The masters running community is tremendously appreciative of their support. Just because we’re not so young anymore doesn’t mean we don’t take our racing seriously!
See you next year!