Sacramento Running News

The World Masters Athletics Championships (AKA World Masters Track & Field Championships) are coming to the good old USA this July, for the first time since 1995.

As exciting as that is, you should be thrilled to pieces to know that they will be held right here in River City! (Right here!)

I know what you’re saying: “But I’m only 37! I’m too young to be a masters athlete!”

Well, fortunately for you, you sprightly younger person, for purposes of the Masters Track & Field World Championships, a masters runner is anyone 35 or older!

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This coming July, Sacramento will be hosting the Masters World Athletics Championships (AKA Masters Track and Field World Championships).

If you had a chance to watch or run in last year’s Masters National Championships you know what a great event this should be.

While it may seem a bit early for me to be writing about a July event, registration closes on April 24. You can register online now, and event management says that more than 900 athletes had already registered as of March 23rd.

For track and field, a masters athlete is anyone over 35. There are events from the 100 meters to the marathon, plus the field events, and the venues will be centered around California State University Sacramento.

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If you’ve been reading race reports here you’ve noticed I am constantly amazed by the racing dominance of a handful of local masters women.

Sam McManis profiles these local speedsters in today’s Sacramento Bee. The article is titled: 40-It’s the new fast. Be sure to check it out! Try not to be intimidated.

As with last month’s PAUSATF Grand Prix half-marathon in Humboldt, locals dominated at Clarskburg in both individual and team results.

This year, the traditional 30Km PAUSATF race was dispensed with, but there were still a boatload of overlapping races associated with this event. There was a 20-miler, a half marathon, a 5 Km, and a kids half-mile. With the half-marathon being the PA (i.e., faster) event and starting just 20 minutes after the 20 miler, half-marathon runners enjoyed the special thrill of weaving through the endless, and often clueless, ranks of slower 20-mile runners.

I was pleased to see locals–Kevin Pool of Folsom and Lindsay Nelson of Roseville–get the win in this PA race–both with solid times. Pool’s 1:07:56 would, in a typical local race, give him a commanding lead. Here, however, runner up Sergio Reyes was only seconds back in just over 1:08. In fact, there were eight men under 1:10!

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Several years ago, I ran in the Heritage Oaks Bank Paso Robles 10Km, which was at the time the US masters’ national championship. I was struggling after a season of trail ultras and barely kept it under 40-minutes.

In that same race, Eddy Hellebuyck was having the race of his life (as a masters runner) and set a new American Masters record for the road 10Km. Finishing in an astounding 29:05, Hellebuyck was so far ahead of the 2nd place runner, they had a separate lead motorcycle for him.

A short while later, I was not surprised to hear that Hellebuyck had failed a doping test for EPO. Disappointed, but not surprised.

The December Runners World has an excellent article by John Brant wherein Hellebuyck finally comes clean about the doping allegations and gives some insight into why he did it.

The story left me with an uneasy mix of feelings about this runner. He cheated and stole other runners’ prize money. He’s also coming clean without being compelled to do so. If confession truly is good for the soul, there are many other prominent athletes out there who would do well to follow his example.

Each fall, I make an enjoyable visit to the Humboldt Redwoods for another go at one of my all time favorite half marathons.

This past Sunday’s aptly named Humboldt Redwoods Marathon and Half Marathon is the nearly identical twin (the stereoisomer really) of the Avenue of the Giants Marathon (AKA “The Ave”) with one major difference. The Humboldt Redwoods Half Marathon is part of the PAUSATF Grand Prix and therefore draws a very fast crowd. (Also, The Ave is run in April.)

This is how a small race that starts in a little turn-off of Highway 101 has 33 finishers under 1:20 and a woman running 1:18:19 comes in 2^nd.

The weather was perfect. The race was well organized. And this year, they replaced the usual terrible cotton shirts with pretty nice technical ones.

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Jaymee Marty last month on her way to winning the Buffalo Stampede.

After years of very publicly training for it, and a couple near misses, Sacramento’s Jaymee Marty knocks out a Olympic Trials qualifier at the Chicago Marathon yesterday.

Under unusually warm conditions, Marty qualified with almost a minute to spare in 2:45:09, improving on her prior personal best of 2:46:26 from last year’s Twin Cities Marathon.

Marty is the third local woman to meet the Olympic B standard of sub-2:46. At 43, Marty also builds on a trend of local masters women superstars–Midori Sperandeo and Mary Coordt–who have already qualified for the 2012 trials. Will any “open women” runners (i.e., women under 40) qualify in this cycle? And what about the guys?

Jaymee Marty writes all about her race experience in her blog. Read it. It’ll bring tears to your eyes.

This past Sunday,  Paul Ngeny of Auburn (by way of Kenya) came to town and ran away with a commanding win of the now officially huge Urban Cow Half-Marathon.

Ngeny’s time of 1:07:51 was announced as a new course record, leaving this reporter confused as the race’s website lists Dennis Rinde’s 1982 course record as 1:05:38. (We promise to post an update when we figure this out.)

UPDATE: Race Director Rich Hanna explains that Dennis Rinde’s record is the “Race Record” set on the old Sacramento marathon course, but Ngeny’s time is the new course record for the Cowtown/Urban Cow course.

Following up in second and third were Chad Worthen of Sacramento and Ben Deland of Pleasanton, who finished in 1:13:17 and 1:14:35, respectively.

In the women’s race, masters runners dominated with Midori Sperandeo, of Folsom, picking up the win in 1:20:17, and Jenny Hitchings, of Sacramento, coming in second with 1:23:34.

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This weekend, Mary Coordt of Elk Grove, known to many local runners as “that woman in front of me” finished 2nd place in Sunday’s IAU World 50Km championships.

The race, held in Galway City, Ireland, included a deep field of the world’s best ultra distance runners.

In the process of her silver finish, Coordt, 41, has tentatively set a new American masters record of 3:28:30, besting Oregonian Kami Semick’s time of 3:29:47 from last year’s championship on the island of Gibraltar.

The weather was fine up until race day which brought wind and rain, says Coordt. “But the worst was the cars and exhaust…and I got almost hit twice, had to stop. And no one to run with for the entire 50k!”

The top woman was Susan Harrison of Great Britain, who finished in a rather brisk 3:15:42.

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The 09-10 Montrail Cup ended in June with the Western States 100, but the 10-11 Montrail Cup began Saturday with the Where’s Waldo 100Km in Williamette Pass, Oregon.

Some of the top US ultrarunners lined up again this year and a few local standouts ended up with top-flight results.

After declining to defend his 2009 Tahoe Rim Trail 100 mile championship (3-weeks after Western States 100), Erik Skaden took on Where’s Waldo and finished 4th overall in 10:21, closely followed at 10:28 by a surging Mark Lantz who came in 5th overall and top master.

The overall winner of the men’s race was Timothy Olsen, who came in at 9:25. The women’s winner was 49-year-young Meghan Arbogast, coming in at 10:52.

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