New England Walkers Newsletter May 2003 Cambridge, MA. Next race is Sunday, June 8. 20K for everyone The results so far: May 11 The longest event on our 2003 regional Women Men schedule, the New England 20-kilometer HollyWenninger 29:47 Tom Knatt 31:28 racewalking championship, will be held at Michelle Bouchard 33:06 Richard Ruquist 31:32 9:30 a.m. Saturday, May 31, at Ninigret Park Pat Godfrey 33:14 George Curti 37:02 in Charlestown, RI. The area is scenic and Heidi Duskey 33:46 the course is a flat and smooth 1360 meter Pamela Hoss 35:07 bicycle criterium loop. The success of the Dotty Fine 35:26 race, as always, will depend on the help of Joanne Maynard 35:36 volunteers to judge, count laps, hand out Christine Rafal 42:02 water, and otherwise keep things proceeding Miriam Hawley 44:52 smoothly. We're hoping for a strong turnout Gina Kantner 44:52 of club members to race, to assist, or both. Florence Dagata 45:19 Judges: Bill and Joanne Harriman Race fee, $12. For further information, call April 13 1Holly Wenninger, 38, Malden MA, 30:32 Joe Light, 401-596-3173. Please also 2. Tom Knatt, 62, Villemagne L'Argentiere, contact Joe if you are available to judge. France, 32:22 3. Michelle Bouchard, 49, Concord MA, 35:42 From the North (Boston, Providence): I-95 4. Dotty Fine, 58, Boston MA, 38:16 south through Providence. About 10 miles Judges: The Harrimans, Charlie Mansbach south of Providence take left lane Exit 9 onto Clamdigger 8k – Westerly, RI, April 27. A RI Route 4 South toward Narragansett and splendid time as usual. The next day’s Westerly, Newport. This will eventually merge with US RI, Sun offered this account: Route 1. Follow US Route 1 approximately “Two other friendly rivals, Bob Keating and 30 miles to Charlestown. Watch for Ninigret Brian Savilonis, found themselves not out in Park signs. You will need to make a U-turn to front, as they had been the last two years, but get to Ninigret Park. Race course is just second and third in the USATF-sanctioned beyond tennis courts near entrance. From the Grand Prix 5-Mile Racewalk held in conjunction West (New London, New Haven): Take I-95 with the run. north to Exit 92 onto Connecticut Route 2 “Marcia Gutsche became the first woman to South. Go about 2 miles and take RI Route 78 win the racewalk at the Clamdigger, and earned East toward Westerly beaches. After passing her third straight women's title. 3 exits, make left at your first traffic light Gutsche finished in 40:22, well ahead of onto US Route 1 East. Follow US Route 1 Keating (42:05) and Savilonis (43:24). about 8 miles to Ninigret Park. Note: Don't “Gutsche, like [five-mile run winner confuse Ninigret Park with Ninigret Wildlife Anthony] Crudale, has found plenty of practice Refuge. They're contiguous but Ninigret over the rough winter months, but in a stranger Wildlife Refuge is federal property. Ninigret selection of locale. The Newton, Mass. resident Park is operated by the Town of Charlestown. has sought to walk a marathon on every continent. Six are down, with South America the only one left. Race results " ‘I just did the Antarctica Marathon in early 5Ks Galore – Year five of the popular March,’ Gutsche said. ‘Antarctica was a monthly series is underway at Danehy Park in challenge. It was really hilly. Everyone was a lot slower. Forty-five percent of the runners dropped Men 60-65 out at the halfway point.’ 1 John Elwarner 63 Sterling, M I 6:28.19 “Gutsche, the only walker, made it through 2 Thomas Knatt 62 Concord, MA 17:55.53 and took 32nd in 5:39:50. 3 Carl Kane 63 Conestoga, PA 19:06.17 “Next to that experience, requiring trail DQ David Baldwin 60 Harrington, ME shoes and including a glacier and snow drifts, the Men 65-69 flat course along Atlantic Avenue was easy, 1 Paul Johnson 65 Venice, FL 15:30.50 albeit with strong winds. 2 Bob Barrett 69 Smallwood, NY 16:09.93 “The Clamdigger is the traditional season 3 Ed Lane 66 Mill Valley,CA 18:48.54 kickoff for the area, the first race of the year held 4 Don Murray 68 Dorchester, MA 19:43.42 by the Westerly Track and Athletic Club, timed DQ Spencer Parrish 66 Waterbury, CT by SNERRO and bringing in people from all Men 70-75 over eastern Connecticut and Rhode Island. 1 Jack Bray 70 Green Brae, CA 16:07.46 “Counting racers, race walkers, recreation 2 Dick Petruzzi 70 Carmichael, CA 17:02.61 walkers and the children's run, there were about 3 Alfred DuBois 71West Allis, WI 17:02.63 200 participants, many of whom stayed DNF Jack Starr 74 Newark, DE for another hour out on the town beach, Men 75-79 relaxing and enjoying the clam chowder.” 1Edward Gawinski 76Wilmington, DE 18:27.14 Women Women 35-39 Marcia Gutsche 40:22 1 Kai Ajaye 39 NewYork, NY 16:16.57 Joanne Harriman 55:16 Women 40-44 2 DQs 1 Marcia Gutsche 41 Newton, MA 14:03.73 Men 2 Maryanne Torrellas 44 Clinton,CT 14:45.20 Bob Keating 42:05 Women 45-49 Brian Savilonis 43:24 1 Nanci Patten Sweazey 47 OH 15:01.51 Charles Mansbach 51:37 2 GloriaRawls 46 Mountaintop, PA 16:55.03 Richard Ruquist 51:54 3 Luanne Pennesi 48 Ringwood,NJ 17:07.16 Bob Beaudet 55:21 DQ Lynette Heinlein 46 Club Glow Bill McCann 55:25 Women 50-54 Lou Free 57:14 1 Deb Topham 50 Pegasus Athletic 16:25.45 Gus Davis 58:46 2 Ann Gerhardt 51 Sacramento,CA 17:05.72 George Curti 62:21 Women 55-59 1 Kathy Frable 57 McKinney, TX 18:50.64 National Masters 3K – Boston, March 31. Women 60-64 Racewalkers from around the country made the 1 Joanne Harriman 60 Tewksbury, MA 19:18.95 trip to the Reggie Lewis center for these masters DQ Lana Kane PA Doris Cassels CA track and field championships. It was the seventh Women 65-69 consecutive year that Boston has played host. 1 Joanne Elliott 66 Deerfield, FL 19:11.51 Men 30-35 Women 70-74 1 Patrick Collier 33 Wakefield, MA 13:24.11 1 Shirley Dockstader 70 CA 19:08.86 Men 40-44 2 Kate Marrs 74 Milwaukee 20:39.33 1 Rod Craig 44 Pegasus Athletic 14:13.62 3 Mary Alice Stookey 70, MD 24:27.40 2Douglas Johnson 42 Morganfield, KY 14:17:39 Men 45-49 107th Boston Marathon, April 21. No, there is 1 Richard McElvery 45 Hollis, NH 15:08.74 no official racewalk division. But these walkers Men 50-54 all had official numbers and went the 26.2-mile 1 Robert Ullman 54 Nashua, NH 17:16.78 distance. Men 55-59 1. Litt, Erik S. (M34) Philadelphia PA 1 Bob Keating 56 Nashua, NH 14:20.72 official time 5:11:33 chip time 4:54:072. 2. 2 Donald DeNoon 59 Clermont, FL 14:30.27 Keating, Bob H. (M56) Nashua NH USA 3 Gary Null 58 New York, NY 14:54.30 official time 5:32:35 chip time 5:13:33 4 Norman Frable 57 McKinney, TX 15:40.14 3. Gomes, Gerald F. (M70) Delray Beach FL 5 James Carmines 59 Etters, PA 15:44.45 official time 5:33:27 chip time 5:14:25 6 Bill Harriman 55 Tewksbury, MA 16:50.98 4. Holsti, Ole R. (M69) Chapel Hill NC 7 Charles Mansbach 58 Newton, MA 18:27.39 official time 5:39:46 chip time 5:21:32 DQ Marcus Kantz 56 Westfield, NJ 5. Hewitt, Emily C. (F58) Washington DC official time 5:59:30 chip time 5:38:43 “I've heard similar complaints from RWers in 6. Gawinski, Edward J. (M76) Wilmington DE their 20's and 30's. As you probably know, the official time 6:08:30 chip time 5:49:26 times in the AG tables are based on World Best 7. Druckenmiller, Eileen (F41) Emmaus PA Performances, smoothed to fit a curve, with official time 6:08:30 chip time 5:49:27 consistency between distances. In a nutshell, the 8. Attaya, Steve (M54) New Orleans LA discrepency between the times of younger US unofficial time 6:10 walkers and the WBPs is greater than the 9. Danahy, Maureen L. (F46) Brookline MA difference between US Masters and the WBPs of unoffical time 6:11 their international peers. US men in their 20's DNF Buckley, Dennis (M55) Marlborough MA and 30's aren't walking sub-3:40 50Ks, sub 1:20 20Ks. Grand Prix results “The WBPs I used for Masters are the single The first guy to finish four races is not age bests. The curve that the standards follow the winner. shouldn't be too easy, since it had to Our 2003 Grand Prix still has a long accommodate some outstanding international way to go. The next event is the 20K at Ninigret veterans (Grimwade, Weidner, Tibbling, etc.), Park in Rhode Island on May 31, followed by the and we had to keep all scores under 1.00 Also, Bay State Games 3K on July 12. Participants are since international documentation and standards ranked by their times in their four best were usually unknown, especially for the older designated events, as measured against age- marks, I gave the benefit of the doubt regarding graded tables. judging and course length unless I had other info Following are the standings so far, with that the course was short. thanks to scorekeeper Bill Harriman. “As WR's have dropped, especially for the Women Women's 20K, revised AG tables will 3 races become tougher for the younger walkers. Marcia Gutsche 267.18 Among Masters, I haven't seen any Maryanne Torrellas 260.58 new WBPs that might move the standards. This Joanne Harriman 229.56 might mean that the shape of the curve would Holly Wenninger 208.28 change, showing a greater drop-off with age. I 2 races understand the tables are being revised, but I Jasmine Brooks 157.81 don't know who's doing it for RW. Pat Godfrey 140.21 “I think another possible factor in the Men relatively high scoring AG performance of US 4 races Masters is that we have more opportunity and Charlie Mansbach 283.71 acknowledgement for competition than most of 3 races the rest of the world (with some notable Bob Keating 261.34 exceptions). For cultural and economic reasons Patrick Collier 231.73 the international pool of outstanding older Tom Knatt 229.01 RWers may be much smaller, relatively, than for 2 races younger elite RWers. So it's possible that out Brian Savilonis 160.53 there somewhere there are older potential RWers Joe Light 158.36 who could shatter the current WBPs--we just Rich McElvery 154.57 don't know. Bill Harriman 152.35 “My--I rambled on. Your question is a good Bill McCann 149.92 one, and I've pondered over it now and then for Bob Beaudet 142.13 years (as my age graded times improved).” Mark Dennett 138.56 About those tables 2003 race calendar Do older walkers fare especially well on the As always, our list of racewalking events is age-graded tables? (I’m often inclined to make not engraved in stone. Some races are added that assumption as I see my Grand Prix scores go during the season, others are changed or higher even as my times get worse.) Do younger canceled. It’s always best to verify time, date and walkers face a more difficult challenge? Bev location with the race director before setting out. LaVeck, who was instrumental in setting up the May racewalk tables, sheds some light on the subject: 31 – New England 20K, Ninigret Park, September Charlestown, RI., 9:30 a.m. Joe Light, 401-596- 14– 5K, Danehy Park, Cambridge, MA, 9:30 3173. a.m. See June listing. June 28 - Ollie Road Race Classic 5-miler, Fleet 8 – 5K, Danehy Park, Cambridge, MA, 9:30 a.m. Boston Pavilion, 290 Northern Avenue, Boston, Contact Bill Harriman at 978-640-9676 (before 10 a.m. 617-268-1619. Organizers of this 9:30 p.m.) traditional running race have agreed to add a 13-14 – 1500-meter and 5K racewalks, racewalking division this year. Massachusetts Senior Games, Springfield. For athletes age 50 and above. 413-748-3812. Phone any time 15 – 3K, NE outdoor track and field For up-to-the-minute information on championships, MIT track, Cambridge, 12:50 race schedules, clinics and other events, call the p.m. Twenty-minute time limit. New England New England Walkers hotline at: track and field office, 617-566-7600. 781-433-7142 July 4 – Dedham 5-miler, Dedham, MA. An unjudged Racewalking down memory lane walking division as part of the town’s holiday August 1995 – After 42 dry days, the skies open road race. on seven intrepid walkers at the New England 12 - 3K, Bay State Games, MIT. 781-932- 20K championship in Charlestown, RI. “If 6555. you’re going to DQ me, do it early; don’t wait 13 – 5K, Danehy Park, Cambridge, MA, 9:30 till 19K,” Stan Sosnowski implores the judges a.m. See June listing. during the first lap in the driving storm. Stan and ? Easter Masters 5K championship, Springfield the rest of the starters go the distance, with College, MA. New England track and field former Moroccan racewalker Hassan Kouchaoui office, 617-566-7600. winning in 2:02:44. Two of the finishers were in August their first race and, perhaps daunted by the 10– 5K, Danehy Park, Cambridge, MA, 9:30 experience, have never been seen again. a.m. See June listing.

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