Volume XLIX

Number 11

August 2024

Table of Contents

(Note: links might not work if you are reading this on your phone)

President's Column

2024 Summer Track Recap

Editor's Corner

Announcements

Cross Country Series 2024

The Hour Run Recap

Membership Corner

@ The Races

July Business Meeting Minutes – July 13, 2024

Assorted Member Musings

Godiva Weekly Runs

President's Column

by Patrick Gale

2024 Summer Track Recap

I’m not only club president, but I’m also the water cooler secretary for Godiva’s popular Summer Track Series. Being water cooler secretary is much more enjoyable than trying to write up changes to our outdated club constitution (more on that later).

Summer track is the highlight of my weekly activities in the summer. I would have loved to have held a few more sessions at the track, but gaining access to a track in 2024 is surprisingly difficult.

We were once again fortunate to have so many generous folks to donate their time, money, and sweat equity to making this event happen. Gordon Keeler would magically show up each week with a roller cart to haul tables and gear to and from the track. If Gordon was late, coach Richard Kohrman would be there to carry the load. Andy Snipes took the sweaty wet pages of results from each track meet and interpreted the data into something usable, and Patrick Bruer kept the website updated with the results. Charlene Flahiff was always at the ready to help wrangle a timing crew when needed. Coach Brendan Murray kept everyone running fast and furious and helping runners squeeze out just a bit more effort they didn’t realize they had. Former club presidents, Bill H., Heiko R. and Patrick B. were also strong volunteers, always willing to step in where needed. Everyone seemed willing to do what they could to keep the summer track tradition alive and well. I hope the new summer track participants felt welcome and if there are any suggestions or criticisms, send them my way.

Rees Stiles reached out this past week to thank us and to say “Thank you for recording my 1500m stopwatch time for the last summer meet (7/24). For all current 2024 listed times M70-74, this puts me #4 U.S. (mastersranking.com)”.

Some photos from summer track at:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/or746WQ4SbckRnV89

See you out there next year.

Sincerely,

Patrick Gale

Email me at president@carolinagodiva.org 

Editor's Corner

by Heather Bucurel

Let me know if you have experienced any technical difficulties with the newsletter or if you have suggestions and corrections for it. Feel free to submit run reports, random musings, and must-do races to newsletter@carolinagodiva.org.

Sincerely - Heather Bucurel

Announcements

Cross Country Series 2024

By Patrick Bruer

This year marks the 12th edition of the Godiva Cross Country Series.

The season will begin on September 4th and continue on Wednesday evenings throughout the month of September. Events will alternate between UNC's XC trails adjacent to Finley Golf Course and Duke's Al Buehler Trail, with at least two distance options offered each evening.

Please use this online series registration form to sign up for the series.  You need complete this form only once for the season.

Schedule:

• September 4: Durham's Al Buehler Trail @ Duke, 5k, 8k, or 10k
• September 11: Chapel Hill's Finley XC Trail, 5k or 8k
• September 18: Durham's Al Buehler Trail @ Duke, 5k, 8k, or 10k
• September 25: Chapel Hill's Finley XC Trail, 5k or 8k

Races begin at 6 pm sharp and will be held rain or shine. We'll have a donation bucket with a requested offering of $1 per evening.

We'll provide a cooler of water, but please bring your own cups or bottles.

Runners who complete a race in at least 3 of the 4 weeks will earn an award presented at the club's spring awards banquet.

Questions? Email xc@carolinagodiva.org.

The Hour Run Recap

by Bill Harris

An annual rite of passage with our club is the summer suffering endured at the hour run.  The recently retired Misery Run from the Winter Series has always had its summertime counterpart.  Rather than cowpatties and felled logs, hour run participants battle the monotony of the same course over and over and over and over....far more than a simple three laps (for most participants!) under undesirable running conditions.  The weather this year did not disappoint.  On July 31st at 6:30 PM, the start temp was 90 °F, with a heat index of 95 °F.  

Bill Harris led the event this year and had timing support from Anthony Corriveau, as well as some help with registration from Shannon Johnstone and Susan Carl.  Susan Harris kept an eye on the liquids and snacks to help folks keep moving when they came in for a refill.  Patrick Gale and Mark Sillman graciously carried a bunch of supplies off to be returned to the garage mahal and countless other people assisted with teardown of the event.

36 participants turned clockwise laps around the ~1 km loop at the Finley Fields complex.  As time dragged on, several folks threw up the white flag in surrender after completing a certain number of laps, and simply hung around to cheer on the others.  Nineteen year old Eli Welsh, one of Brendan Murray's former proteges from Durham Jordan, very nearly clipped the 10 mile mark, completing his 16th lap just before the horn buzzed, but alas, there was not enough time left on the clock for him to make up the shortage.  His 9.77 miles was good enough for first place overall however, and was also one of our longer results in recent history.  Laura Huning was not far behind and completed 15+ laps and clocked a distance of 9.15 miles.  Mark Sillman gets the call out for the biggest partial last lap, going an extra 819 meters and requiring the most wheeling to get his final distance.  Folks chowed down on potato chips, popcorn, pretzels, and watermelon at the end of the race as they cooled off.  

Eli declined his prize, entry into the Umstead Trail Marathon, as first finisher.  Laura said she would likely claim her entry.

We look forward to putting this on again next summer, hopefully with even warmer temps.

Membership Corner

by Julie Messina 

New members

Tyler Ford

Membership Anniversaries (five year anniversaries)

35 years

Jim Clabuesch

20 years

Jay Smith

5 years

Emily Vinson

Big Birthdays (five year anniversaries)

Jo Chiti

Kenny Finch

Susie Hansley

Want to include something in next month’s Membership Corner? Send notes to me, Julie, at membership@carolinagodiva.org.

@ The Races

by Kevin McCabe

This month in at the Races was dominated by the Le Tour de Carrboro Four on the Fourth with twenty members taking part.  All other races combined for the month of July produced eight results.  We had two results submitted via the online submission form that were missed from the Weekly Roundup so we'll share them here.  Allen Baddour took first place male with a time of 1:22:34 at the Wilson Creek Half-Marathon (formerly known as The Scream Half Marathon) and Natalia Love took 2nd place in her age group F40-49 with a time of 1:44:07 at the Common Rush Trail 10 mi in New Hill, NC.  To see how everyone fared at the 4 on the 4th, or any of the other races this month check out the table below. If you don't see your results listed please let us know and Send Us Your Results!

> View past results for @ The Races

July Business Meeting Minutes – July 13, 2024

by Ben Barker

The Board scheduled a planning retreat in lieu of our regular monthly board meeting.

Assorted Member Musings

Godiva Weekly Runs

Our club weekly run is on Saturday morning (Umstead State Park). Also track nights on Wednesday during the summer. Please check with the listed run coordinator to confirm details.

Additional information about the club can be found online using the links below:

• CGTC Homepage
• About the Club
• Club Officers
• Club Member Discounts
• Race Calendar
• Join/Renew Membership
• Contact Us