Spartans Track and Cross Country Club

Hello Spartan runners and supporters,

The event at Shoreline was a little greener this past Saturday due to some of the recent rains. The course was in great shape and the weather was wonderful. Thanks to the Aggies for also broadcasting some good music, the day was a fine day for some cross-country action. Some memorable tunes were “War, what is it good for ?”, and “Love Shack” among others.

This year cross-country attendance is up….a significant increase in fact. On Saturday, the women’s race featured over 125+ finishers, the men’s combined race over 200+ finishers. These are large races for a cross-country course.

The course traverses the “garbage pile hill or landfill dump” next to the Shoreline amphitheatre. …..and circles a small portion of the golf course and environs. I think one of the worst parts of the course is a spiral out-and-back along the asphalt ….this makes it seem much more like a road race. I think the worst part of the race however has got to be the start. Even though it surpasses the Garin Park start, it is very crowded and narrows quickly after negotiating some obstacles directly in the path. I did not even pass the WHEEZER until like the first mile…..Don’ t know if anyone went down but I would not be surprised if someone did. The good news is that the course is longer so that you have more time to reclaim your lost time.

One of the interesting things for this event is that most of us did not pre-register. The race-day registration ran out of BIBS ….so we all got little strips of paper for our registration. ……I don’t remember this ever happening. It was hard keeping the “paper” attached until the race was over….. it caused as few interesting situations at the finish…so for $20, we got even less…..not even a momento! Continue reading →

Hello Spartan runners and supporters,

Saturday we had a strong contingent travel to Folsom to run the first Willow Hills open. Over the past few years, a few of us had run a similar course but not the same course. The new course is the high school course and is a very good cross-country course. It is beginning to solidify much like a seasoned ski run. The most noticeable thing to me was they have a nice grass starting line…when I last ran here, the grass area was a barren hillside. The course may not be so friendly if it had been raining or if it was muddy. However, we got the course on a beautiful day…a wonderful day for some cross-country action. Sunny, mild temperature with a cooling breeze, and a dry course..

The course is tough but in a different way than the Presidio course. This course gets your attention up front like going on a roller coaster ride. I think roller coaster best describes it.

So, we had Art, Sal, Kurt, Nick, Paul, and I take on the challenge.

The day started out fine as everyone basically showed up on time…..however, we lost a little time in route to picking up Paul and taking a rest room break at a nearby doughnut shop. The short story is that this put us to the race with little or no time to spare….we arrived at like 20 minutes before race time. We did not know the course, we had to register, and of course after a long ride, we needed another rest room break. The start came up very quickly. I think all of us paid a price for this. The lesson is that when traveling a long distance to a race, it is better to allow for more time than thought. It is probably safe to say that you also need more lead time before the race…like having a warmup, being able to use the rest room, and getting familiar with the course…..and not feeling so rushed or anxious. Continue reading →

Hello Spartan harriers and supporters,

What a beautiful day it was in San Francisco this past Saturday for the 5th of 9 cross-country races for this season. This race was held at the Presidio and the weather was perfect and brisk for some fine xc action. With four races to go, the Spartans are holding their own…at least they appear on the leader board. They won’t be competing for the cadillac which will go to the first spot….I think 2nd gets a set of steak knives. Currently the Spartan seniors team is in 7th place knocking on the door for 6th place. The best we can hope for this year would be 5th place and that may take a miracle over the next four races.

The Presidio course is probably pound-for-pound the best course in the entire series. It is only 3.5 miles but you get to do the same tough loop (with two hills) twice…so, if you don’t get it right the first time, you get another shot at it…and one of the hills is soft sand.

I think the best performance of the day had to be Linda (formerly Somers) Smith. She’s 48 and devastated the woman’s field. The runner up is only 24….looks like “mom” took it to the kids big-time!

NOTE: Her time of 21:43 would have placed her 3rd in the men’s master’s race (ahead of many outstanding runners mind you) and 35th in the men’s open. She didn’t look pretty but she certainly got the job done. Continue reading →

SPARTANS

who is in for garin park? i can drive from usual rendezvous: sjcc.

how many to we need for a team, and do we have one? i’m reluctant to
make the trip if we don’t have a team.

asap: who’s in?

kurt

SPARTAN SENIORS TAKE FIFTH AT SANTA CRUZ–PICK UP NINE POINTS !

The brave SPARTAN SENIORS once again sent their tired, their poor, their huddled harriers yearning to run free to compete against the corporate clubs of storied pomp.

And once again the SPARTAN SENIORS refused to be shut out!

In a slight rewording of Winston Churchill, Never have so few done so little for so much.

GO SPARTANS !

kurt

hey harriers!

hard to believe, but the first x-country race is only 18 days away! (santa cruz, august 22).

i don’t think it’s too early to see how many brave lads we have who will dare to toe-the-line this year.

just wondering if we have a team.

so, can we start locking in the commitments? i’m going to try to make them all, including the new course in folsom.

Kurt

Hello Kurt et. al.

Thanks for your interest. You are a true Spartan!

Yes, we are all slower….”spearheading” can mean many things. However, I think it mostly means that we need someone to HEAD or LEAD the effort. Be the focal point or xc team captain.

I think it also means that to pull this off, we need help in several areas. I think Paul pretty much defined these obligations the past few years. All of us have issues to deal with that competes for our time and commitment.. ..whether it be work, family, injuries, or selfish endeavors. The point is that all of the little things add up.

Here’s a short list.

FIRST: Someone needs to contact each prospective team member….remember, not everyone has email or answers to it…

To start with, we can use last year’s roster.

SECOND: What teams do we want? 40’s ? 50’s ?, 60’s ?.

THIRD: We need to be respectful to everyone…. we all have other life commitments and issues beyond this.:

1. Maintain a team roster with race commitments, phone and email contact, etc. Distribute to all team members.
2. Ensure that each team member has a current PA card designating Spartans. Also has a singlet.
3. For each race, handle the details to make sure everyone that wants to run has a way of getting to the race.
4. Summarize race and submit score sheet. Communicate to the necessary PA and race officials any scoring issues.
5. Keep the team posted as each race gets nearer. This also means trying to motivate and get enough runners to score a team!!!
6. Help keep the team morality high and support each and every team member as best we can. If you can’t run, maybe you can come and cheer ?
7. Try and solicit more team members and get them registered. Looks like we may only have a possibility of fielding a 50’s team…but 40’s and 60’s runners are also welcome and can count in scoring on occasion.
8. etc. etc. etc.

Some good news. There are only 8 races. Actually 7 if we skip the first one (as we have done in the past few years).

Thanks, patrick

Greetings fellow Spartans,

I’m trying to organize a carpool for the California Senior Games on Saturday, June 7th. As you may already know, this is the qualifier for the 2009 National Senior Games that will be held at Stanford in August 2009 (see website at HERE). It can be quite expensive to travel to this meet. An overnight stay is pretty much required, unless you can schedule your flights pretty tightly around your event. Southwest has some $59 fares (one way), so you are looking at a minimum of $120 for travel plus $75 for motel. The registration is $35 and $6 for each event entered. You probably need to rent a car to get between the airport, motel and track meet. So you could pay $300 or more to run one lousy race.

Here’s my plan. I can take my minivan, which will accommodate up to six runners. I figure that it will take about 40 gallons of gas for a round trip. I’m assuming that gas will be about $4.50 per gallon (price keeps going up after Memorial Day and it’s more expensive on I-5). That would be about $180. Even if we have just four people, that would be $45 per person. If we double up on rooms, figure $40 for the motel. Throw in the registration fee and now, we’re down to about $125, still a lot, but much more reasonable. A lot longer than a plane trip, but probably more fun.

The track events are contested between 8:00 am and 2:00 pm on Saturday. We could leave on Friday morning, take a leisurely drive down (with frequent rest stops, so that we don’t cramp up), check in to a motel at a reasonable hour and be well rested for Saturday’s meet. We could leave right after the meet and drive back home. Even with a break for dinner, we should be able to get home by 11:00 – midnight.

So who wants to go?

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