We have just five weeks left in the FLRC Challenge, and I’m starting to see people get focused on their remaining courses. Some of the competitions are also heating up, with Liz Hartman and Nora McIver-Sheridan trading the top spot in Most Points for women. Nora took it over with a fast Six Mile Creek that put her into second place behind Jilene Demont (currently in third overall) on that course, but then Liz answered with an 18:53 Ellis Hollow Creek Crossings that was 2 seconds faster than Nora’s previous first-place time. In 2022, Nora took the win by a good bit, Liz was second, and Jilene third, but it’s too close to call this year.
On the men’s side, Patrick Milano remains comfortably atop the standings, but the question remains if Crosby Woods (second in 2021 and 2022) or Mik Kern (fifth in 2021, third in 2022) will finish their remaining six courses with fast-enough times to challenge Patrick. The dark horse is Charlie Hale, one of our top cross-country runners, but he has completed only one course so far.
Also, pay attention to Caitlin Loehr. Not only is she still leading Most Miles and Age Grade, and in second in Community Stars, her Age Grade of 74% has improved from 2021 (71.56%) and 2022 (73.15%). In other words, she just keeps getting better. But never bet against ultramarathoner Pete Kresock when it comes to Most Miles—he tied for first in 2021 and was fifth in 2022.
We have five more finishers this week, so congratulations to John McKain, Rachel Neugarten, and Melanie Smee, who gets points for walking/hiking all the courses due to a hip injury. And this photo from her ultimate Cornell Scenic Circuit is too good.
Kudos as well to our first two Personal Challenge finishers, 7-year-old Simon Wood (shown below on Blueberry Patch), who did seven courses this year, and 12-year-old Elizabeth Brown, who completed eight.
Our green FLRC Challenge shirts are in, but the straight (men’s) style ones are sized a little oddly. The medium that fit me perfectly last year was skintight this year, and when USA Racing chased down the problem, it turns out the employee at the supplier who cut them simply made mistakes (there were others, too), and they’re redoing the entire order. The upshot of this is that when you get your shirts from me (at Sunday’s group run, for instance), try it on. It may be totally fine for your particular body, but if not, you can either trade for the next size up or wait for the next order, hopefully with properly sized shirts. This second order should provide enough extras for those who missed getting in on the first order, and once I figure out the inventory issues, I’ll open up ordering.
Pete Kresock gets the Good Neighbor award this week for weed-whacking the increasingly overgrown section of the Six Mile Creek course. When I was hiking that course in November, it was hard to imagine it might get overgrown as the summer wore on.
Our final photo of the week goes to Steve Ryan, who joined Team Ice Cream on his Dryden Lake Lollipop completion.
This weekend, you have two Challenge running options. On Saturday, if you run FLRC’s Fillmore 5K in Moravia, you can submit your time for the Lakefront Loops 5K. And on Sunday, our group run will tackle the 11-mile Ludlowville Loop, which is going to be a lot more fun with company.
Finally, don’t miss signing up for Trackapalooza, my big track meet at Ithaca High School on July 22. Although we’re running the mile instead of the 1600m, you can still submit a pared-down time for the Sweet 1600, given that the mile is 1609 meters. Plus, there’s a 5000m race to start the day, and that’s probably the fastest 5K you can get for a Lakefront Loops 5K time.
Hope to see lots of you this weekend!