Sacramento Running News

Jane Kibii breaking the tape in here debut win in 2015. Sunday was her third consecutive win at SACTOWM (File Photo courtesy of SRA)

This past Sunday, American Aaron Braun, 29, and returning champion Jane Kibii, 32, bested a strong elite field to win the SACTOWN 10-mile race and claim the $2,000 first prizes.

The SACTOWN event, organized by the Sacramento Running Association and sponsored by credit unions from California and Nevada, raised more than $250,000 for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, which includes UC Davis Children’s Hospital.

The race, which emulates the Credit Union Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run held in Washington, D.C. on the same day, has raised more than $1.1 million in the last five years.

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Charlie Brenneman (left) and the author show off their Urban Cow trophies. (SRN photo)

If races have seasons, then we’re definitely in the middle of road half marathon season. October has already seen the Urban Cow, Humboldt Redwoods (part of the PAUSATF Road Grand Prix), and Folsom Blues Breakout.

Next weekend, you have a choice between the Clarksburg Country Run, or the new Run the Parkway Half, hosted by the Sacramento Running Association.

It’s hard to imagine that SRA isn’t directly targeting the Clarksburg events since they are offering similar 20 mile and 5 km distances alongside a more competitive half marathon.

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The River City Rebels masters men’s team ended up on top of the team standings in the 2013 PAUSATF Road Grand Prix!

That’s an impressive feat in this competitive grand prix. Rumor has it that West Valley Track Club will be gunning for the Rebels in next year’s competition.

Complete team results for the Road Grand Prix are here.

In cross-country, the Rebels also took top honors in both men and women’s senior (50+) standings!

Complete team results for the XC Grand Prix are here.

The start of the women’s race at last year’s Rebels XC Challenge. (SRN photo)

While I didn’t need arm warmers, this morning’s run was considerably cooler than the heat we’ve been laboring in over the past few months.

Could fall be around the corner? Why it certainly can be!!

How can I be so sure? (I mean, besides looking at a calendar?)

I know autumn is here because it’s cross country season!

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The end of 2011 is upon us so it’s time to check out the results of the major road race series/grand prix that local runners compete in.

Local

We’ll start with Sacramento’s own Buzz Oates RunSac Race Series. This year-long series of local races is a points competition with over $7,000 in prize money and bonuses. Points are earned based on age-graded performances in more than a dozen top Sacramento-area road races. There are awards for team and individual competition, and in 2011, there were several hundred individuals and eight local teams vying for the prize money.

The top placing individuals for 2011 were Janice Kesterson, 57, running for the Buffalo Chips, and Terry Baucom, 54, running for Fleet Feet Racing.

Second and third individual women were Karen Jeffers, 48, with the River City Rebels, and Stacey Worthen, 38, running for Fleet Feet Racing.

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Saturday morning’s early rain showers let up long enough for runners of Redding’s NorCal 1o-Mile race to enjoy fairly warm conditions on that beautiful, if hilly, course along the Sacramento River.

The NorCal 10 is the first race of the Pacific Association USA Track & Field 2011 Grand Prix, and typically sees a highly competitive field. This year was no exception. There were 37 runners finishing the ten mile course in under an hour, including women’s winner Jane Kibii, of Kenya/Auburn, who ran 57:15!

The men’s winner was Mario Mendoza of Bend, Oregon, who finished in 51:53. Tim Tollefson of Roseville, at 3rd overall in 52:24, was the top area man, and 50-year-old Iain Mickle, of Sacramento, was the top Masters finisher in 55:57.

Jenny Hitchings, of Sacramento, was 4th woman and 2nd master, with a 1:02:40.

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The Pacific Association of the USA Track and Field has posted a reminder of the new requirement for teams competing in their Grand Prix events.

As of March 1, 2011 PA/USATF clubs are required to have a minimum number of certified USATF officials (with an LDR/XC specialty) on their club roster to score team points on the PA Road and Cross Country Grand Prix circuits.

This only applies to teams with 25 or more athletes competing, which is pretty much all the big local clubs.

Clubs fielding 25 to 49 runners need one official. Clubs fielding 50 to 99 need two, and 100 or more need three. Details of the requirement are posted here (PDF).

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As we say goodbye to 2010 it’s time for those of us who care to look back and see which local runners ended up on top of the heap.

There is probably a way that some industrious person could analyze all the results of races run by local runners and come up with a ranking that no one could understand, kind of like NCAA football. Unfortunately for you, I am not this industrious. Fortunately for all of us, there are actual races with results and a few really competitive race series that you can test yourself in.

The big daddy of regional competition for  amateur athletes is the Pacific Association USA Track and Field Grand Prix. The PAUSATF region is much more than Sacramento–running north to the Oregon border down to San Luis Obispo, and from the coast to just beyond Reno, Nevada. There is a lot of talent in that pool (including Kevin). There are team and individual results and you can look up your favorite runners’ results here.

I am not going to break out the individual results because there are too darn many due to all the age, distance, and gender divisions. There are many local runners, from the big local teams, landing in the top-ten of their respective divisions.

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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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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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