@Challengers Only a fortnight left! (For those under a certain age, that’s two weeks, not a videogame.) 37 people of 155 have now claimed their medals, and we even got another signup today—the speedy Inger Aaberg, who won the 15K at Forest Frolic, was second in the 8-mile at Forge the Gorge, and third in the 50K at Finger Lakes 50s. We’ll see what she can do in the remaining days!
In the meantime, congratulations to Gail Tremblay, Kris Haines-Sharp, Sarah Giesy, Tonya Engst, Laurel Gilmer, Hannah Grazul, William Hartnett, Andy Klepack, James Dean, and Andrew Flyak for finishing the Challenge and claiming their medals. The floodgates on finishers could open this weekend since we have 12 people who need just one more course, and another 12 who need two.
I also want to call out two special completions. First, Gill Haines-Sharp has now completed all ten FLRC Challenge courses an impressive FIVE times. That has helped her stay in the lead for Most Miles through much of the summer, aided in part by our second special completion. Pete Kresock just announced that he met his Personal Challenge for the year by completing all 50 of the FLRC Challenge courses from the last five years. He didn’t get mileage from previous years’ courses, which has kept him in second for a while now.
In fact, only the Community Stars competition is probably locked up with two weeks to go, where Ruth Sproul has a commanding lead. In Most Points for women, Sarah Woodyear is kicking into the finish, having moved into third place with two more courses to go. She’s well-positioned to win it all with two fast times on Abbott Ascent and North Country Half. Patrick Milano remains in Most Points lead for men with Cayuga Cliffs yet to run; his two main challengers right now are Ryan Jacobsen, who’s in fifth with two courses left, and speedster Alexander Simpson, who has only his first place Sweet 1600 and Lakefront Loops 5K times from races so far. For now, though, Andy Klepack is in second, with Brian Harrington in third. Brian also moved into third for Age Grade, though we have a number of people who could move up in that category. And while the @Fabulous-50s remain firmly in first in the team competition, the @Fantastic-40s have moved three points closer from last week.
As September 1 draws ever closer, our weekly mileage continues to increase. We’ll hit 9,000 miles tomorrow, I suspect, and should have no problem exceeding 10,000 miles for the year. Two more courses also exceeded 1,000 miles: Lakefront Loops and North Country Half. Triple Hump may get there this coming week as well.
Remember that the person (or people, if there are multiple signs) who run the most times on each course wins that course’s sign at the end of the year. Most of them are locked up, but Mulholland Waterfalls is a tight contest between Ian Woods and Gill Haines-Sharp, and Triple Hump is currently a tie between Klaas Van Wijk and Gill Haines-Sharp. Will Ian and Klaas be able to limit Gill to just two course signs for Abbott Ascent and North Country Half?
Photos of the week go to Sweet 1600 runners. Paula Klaben found what looks like a paved walking track in Vidin, Bulgaria and was able to record our most far-flung effort of the year there: 4,679 miles from Ithaca!
And then Patrick Milano raced a fast mile at the Triple Cities Running Club meet and was rewarded with a rainbow after the race.
The group run this Saturday won’t get you any completions for the Challenge, but you can use it to remind yourself of last year’s Duck Trails course. Mark your calendars for August 30, though, since that will be the final FLRC Challenge group run of the year on the Fall Creek Trails course, and we’ll be celebrating with a post-run brunch at Jamie and Caitlin Loehr’s house.
Until next week, keep covering the ground!