Spartans Track and Cross Country Club

Have you signed up the Bay Area Senior Games? The mail registration has passed, but you can still register online until March 10.

This will be a good tuneup for the California State Games, which will be held in Pasadena on June 7th. That meet will be the qualifier for the 2009 National Senior Games to be held at Stanford in August, 2009.

The qualifying standards for the national meet (which must be achieved at the State Meet) can be found HERE

I’m entered in the 400m, 800, and 1500m for M55. I’m not in shape, but then nobody else is at this time of the year. I saw Bill Bengivino there last year running the 50+ 8k race, which is usually held in conjunction with the meet, although I don’t see it on the schedule for this year. Franks James was there last year also, running the 1500m for M65.

Hope to see you there.

Paul Tjogas

Hello Spartans,

Please note that after the Presidio team scoring, the Spartans seniors team are in 3rd place behind Tamalpa and WVJS. This is wonderful news!

Thanks to the great efforts of the Spartan runners, Paul, Bill, Kurt, Cisco, Sal, Leroy, Nick, and Art. Jay has also ran well but has no 40′s team support .

pb

spartan harriers,

i just noticed that the sacto xc run is in november and my play is
over at the end of october. i could make the sacto run if we can
field a senior team. it may be a good chance to pick up some points
if wvjs and tamalpa pass–or we could pad our current standing if
empire doesn’t show. would anyone else be up for the drive?

kurt

Yes, Inquiring Minds,

The Spartans Holidaze Party is on,
on the date you reserved:
4:00 PM Saturday 1/27/07

Eat at 6ish.

At Chris and Ken Irving’s home
(in north SJ, driving directions to follow.)

Potluck!

Can’t wait to see you.

RSVP to either me or Chris,

Jerome

Hello Spartans

We need to coordinate our entry for the Club Nationals quickly if we want to save money. The entry fee increases as shown:

Online entries received on or before 5:00 EST on 12/1 are $30
Online entries received after 12/1 and before 5:00 EST on 12/4 are $55
Entries after 12/4 must be made onsite (in San Francisco and paid with cash or check) before 5:00 PST on 12/8 and are $75 (what a pain)
Faxed and race day entries are not accepted

The procedure for entering online is fairly straightforward. All you need is your Pacific Association number and password. Here is the link http://www.usatf.org/events/2006/USATFClubXCChampionships/entry/ for entering. You don’t need to declare a team just yet. We have until 12/4 to sort that out. However, if you are not listed on the club roster, you need to take a few steps to be added so that you are eligible to run for the team. Here are the people listed on the club roster:

Bill Bengiveno
Greg Burke
Pat Buzbee
Brian Conroy
Leroy Daleen
Jay Elkerton
Lino Fabula
Kurt Gravenhorst
Sal Martinez
Rhoda Mirabeau
Jose Pina Sr
Jose Pina Jr
Steve Radigan
Art Sanchez
Claire Saxton
Paul Tjogas
Francisco Verduzco
Jerome Woehl
David Woodruff

Here is what you need to do to add yourself to the club roster (from PA website): (more…)

Today is deadline for 2007 PA cards at reduced price
The cost for a USATF membership (aka PA card) is increasing from $20 to $29.95 next year. You can buy next year’s PA card for this year’s price of $20 if you do it today and online. The price goes up to $29.95 tomorrow. This is a good deal for those who already have their 2006 PA cards.

However, if you don’t already have a PA card for 2006 and you plan on running the PA championships or club championships this year and running at PA races next year, then it is better to purchase a membership after tomorrow, since $29.95 will get you a PA card that is valid for this year and next year. Here is the link for purchasing cards online:

https://www.usatf.org/membership/application/index.asp

On a related topic, we had another scoring issue with race day registrations. In the past, club members bought their PA cards on the day of the race and got scored for it. We can no longer count on a PA rep being available on the day of the race. Approximately 90% of Pacific Association members buy their PA cards online. The PA encourages this for two reasons, 1) if everyone buys their cards online, they don’t have to have someone at the races signing people up and 2) online registration is seamlessly and quickly entered into the PA database and the score sheets for road racing and cross country. Applications for PA cards that are not submitted online have to be processed manually, this takes longer. In the meantime, a dummy membership number has to be created for the member so he/she can be scored. When the membership number finally comes in from the PA office, the records for the dummy membership number and membership number have to be merged for all the race results. Needless to say, it is a lot of extra work. The folks that are doing this work are volunteers and we should avoid causing them extra grief if possible.

On a second related topic, we need to assure that all our club members have Spartans (Club #154) listed as their club affiliation on their PA memberships. Most of us do. If you don’t, you are assumed to be unattached and can’t be scored for our team. We don’t want to wait until race day to declare our club affiliations. The PA association and its scorers take a dim view of this. Their position, since we turn in score sheets after the race, is How do we know that you didn’t pick out a fast unattached person at the race and add them to your team?’ So let’s get these resolved before the PA meet and Club championships. You can check as to whether you are listed on the club roster by going to the following link: http://www.usatf.org/assoc/Pacific/data/members.asp?page=adult Scroll down the list and find your name. You should have club # 154 next to your name. If not, you need to add it.

Happy Halloween to everyone. – Paul

Rich Santoro who laced up his running shoes for several years to run track intervals with the Spartans, has shelved his track shoes in a return to his dancing shoes.

Check his sister and him out this Sunday on NBC 11t 10:00 A.M. He was always fun at the track, this interview should not disappoint.

Jerome

“TUNE IN TO SEE SINGER-DANCERS RICH SANTORO AND JOYCE MCULLOCH ON NBC 11′s BAY AREA VISTA ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 15 AT 10:00 A.M. Rich Santoro and Joyce McCulloch, a brother and sister singing and dancing duo, will be featured on this week’s Bay Area Vista, airing this Sunday, October 15 at 10:00 a.m. on The Bay Area’s NBC11. Santoro and McCulloch share their passion for swing music with host Janice Edwards. Santoro also promotes his upcoming variety show at the Improv in downtown San Jose on October 22.

This week’s episode also features an interview with Teresa Alvarado, Marlene Bjornsrud, and Selma Murillo from the Hispanic Charity Ball; Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, star of the movie “Gridiron Gang;” CHP Officer Mike Wright, with the Smart Start driver’s education program; and Tony Estremera, vice chair of the Santa Clara Valley Water District.

Anchored and produced by NBC11 Community Relations Director Janice Edwards, Bay Area Vista began in November 2002 with the goal of covering the compelling personal stories of people who are making a difference in the Bay Area community.”

Next Race
Presidio 3.55 miles
7 Oct ’06
Start times – Women 8:30; Men Masters 9:15; Men Open 10:00

The car pool leaves SJ City College at 6:30 for the women, 7:15 for the men. If you are going and/or car pooling, call or e-mail Jerome at 408 230-0689, jeromewoehl@yahoo.com. The car pool assembly location is on Leigh Avenue, adjacent to the City College stadium.

———–

Last week’s race at Garen Park ended with these Spartans conquering the
hills of Hayward:

OPEN – 5 needed
Jose Pina – 36
Dave Woodruff -48
Jose Pina, jr – 9
Paul King – 26
-
SENIORS – 4 needed
Paul Togas – 53
Sal Martinez – 53
Art Sanchez – 53
Jerome Woehl – 61
SUPER SR – 3 needed
Greg Burke – 60
Bill Bengivino – 62
Leno Fabela – 64

WOMEN OPEN – 5 needed
Claire Saxton – 29
Rhoda Mirabeau – 52
Susan Hu – 43

It was good to see a couple new faces out there. One being a WOMAN! Rhoda Mirebeau joined the ladies, so now we are over half way to having a team. Since the age group would be that of the youngest member, we probably wouldn’t score too well, but, hey, we would be on the scoreboard. Claire continued her speedy ways, leading all but two of the Spartans. Only Jose Pina and David Wooldruff could best her.

Paul King was a new male runner. A young guy! Nice to see him out there. If we had had ONE more male to help that team of Jose Jr, Paul and the older guys filling down, we would have had an open team – that would be a first time ever event for as far back as I can remember.

We did field a mens’ seniors team, thanks to Art limping in on a sprained ankle. At least he didn’t get lost this time. But gee Art, spraining your ankle by picking up your shirt after practice. Now THAT is lame. Pat B raced a mountain lion last week. Would have caught him but sprained his ankle. Now THAT is a macho reason for not running. Filling the Seniors’ last spot was the last Spartan, me – I proved once again that a lot of bicycling doesn’t much help running. And again we had a Super Seniors team. they are in about third in the standings. Don’t ask how many teams are in that age group – the old guys probably could hear you ask, and if they did, they wouldn’t remember.

I think there are two elements to a successful appeal. The first element is just showing up. I think it is a lot harder for the PA committee to look someone in the eye and tell them no than it is to e-mail a rejection. The second thing is to keep answering questions.

Your protest was read and that set things up. After that, the committee had
questions. As long as you can keep answering questions, you are going to be all right.

- Paul

Thanks Paul!

For those of you that are first reading of this appeal, I’ll insert some background info. Our 50 years team drove all the way up to Santa Rosa about a month ago to run in the first cross country race of the season. They planned to register with the PAUSAT&F at the race but there was no one there to register new members. We entered the race anyway, planning to register later. Obviously, we were not scored because we were not PAUSAT&F members at race time. Our protest was that our lack of registration was because of the shortcoming of the organization, not the runners; we should not be penalized for their omissions.

I lodged a brief e-mail appeal, but expected it to be denied because we would not be represented at the meeting. Paul Tjogas volunteered to go to the meeting and present our case. Below are his comments and observations. He didn’t say anything about his presentation – it must have been good.

Personally, it is really cheering when Paul and others step up to help the Spartans. I appreciate the thank-yous for for the work that I do for the club. Getting help in these things are especially welcome. It energizes me when people help. Thank all of you, either for chipping in when money is needed, showing up for races, practices and socials and also doing these other orginizational things.

And thank-you Paul for presenting our appeal. I know you presented it with tact and grace, understanding that these people are doing their best to keep the series going without receiving any compensation and probably very little thanks. Your comments below give us a peek at the efforts they put in.

The next race is is a 5k on Sep 30 starting at 9:00 for the women & 9:45 for the men. It’s at Garin Rgnl Park in the hill of Hayward.

Jerome