The week started out muggy for the big group that did the Abbott Ascent group run on Sunday, but the heat has broken today, sending several @Challengers off to tackle longer courses like Triple Hump. It should remain cool this weekend for Trackapalooza, which has two opportunities for faster Challenge times in the 1600m (Sweet 1600) and 5000 (Lakefront Loops 5K).
Speaking of the Sweet 1600, we have a new option for that course: the Sweetgum 1600, a field-based figure-8 course on Harry Greene’s tree farm on West Hill. Along with our usual Google Maps pin, Challenge sign, and RunGo directions, Harry created a narrated drone tour of the course. There’s even a bathroom.
With six weeks to go in the Challenge, the competitions are starting to heat up. Although 63-year-old Gill Haines-Sharp has dominated the women’s Most Points race (and leads Most Miles and Age Grade) thanks to finishing all ten courses, 2022 and 2024 winner Nora McIver-Sheridan has now moved into second place with three courses left to go, and Caitlin Loehr is in third place with two courses left. The real wild card is Trail Circuit Pebblehead leader Bella Burda, currently in eighth place with four courses left, but with a hard stop later this month when she leaves Ithaca for a post-doc at Princeton. And then there’s Sarah Woodyear, who has run only three courses but has the fastest time on all of them.
Speculation also swirls around Most Points for men, where 2023 winner Patrick Milano has led all year (and still has two courses to go), but could see competition from young bucks like Ryan Jacobsen, Seth Bywater, and Aidan Lazzaro. The big question is whether newly registered Alexander Simpson, who boasts a 4:19 mile PR, will be able to apply his speed to all the courses by September 1.
Finally, could this be the year that the @Fabulous-50s move out of their perennial second place to win the Team Points competition? Right now, they’re solidly in first place with 30 points, and the @Super-60s-70s are in an unaccustomed second place with 46. (Remember, the team competition uses cross-country scoring, so lower is better.) The @Fantastic-40s winners of the last three years are in third with 51 points, and the @Thundering-30s, who won in 2021, are mired in fourth with 77 points.
In terms of statistics, we recorded significantly more runs and miles this week than last, pushing our totals toward 1,400 runs and over 6,400 miles.
Kudos are due to our four finishers this week: Gretchen Gilbert, Scott Dawson, Amy Dawson, and Laura Taylor, all of whom braved the heat last weekend to notch their final courses and claim their medals. We’re now up to 21 finishers, with Brian Harrington, Yamil Molina, and Matt Clark on deck with just one course to clear away this weekend.
Since Tonya Engst asked about picking up a community star for her manually timed Triple Hump run with Laurel Gilmer, I wanted to reiterate that you can now change the start time (but not the date) for a manually entered effort in Webscorer. Just edit it so that it’s within 5 minutes of the other person, and the leaderboard will award your star.
My favorite photos this week all come from the Sweet 1600. First, Kim Jackson documented the fact that we are far from the only species to appreciate track workouts.
Then, Tammy Walsky commemorated the inaugural Sweetgum 1600 effort with a photo of an unusual Queen Anne’s lace and the finishing tree tunnel.
And finally, Molly Doruska flew into the lead in for the farthest Sweet 1600 from Ithaca, running four laps in Basel, Switzerland, with her boyfriend Alec. Her 3,928 miles from Ithaca handily beats Tristan Lambert’s 2,418 miles for a track at Stanford and Steve Ryan’s 2,239 miles for a track in Seattle.
We still have plenty of FLRC Challenge yard signs to adorn your lawn—pick yours up at Trackapalooza or any workout or group run I’m hosting, or let me know and we’ll figure out how to get one to you.
Until next, keep covering the ground!