Volume XLIX Number 6 March 2024
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Table of Contents (Note: links might not work if you are reading this on your phone) Save the Date: Spring Banquet on May 18th Winter Series 2023-24 - Tower Climb Hill Recap February Business Meeting Minutes President's Columnby Patrick Gale ROY & VOYOne of the traditions we have in this club is to recognize ROY & VOY award recipients each year. No, ROY & VOY are not protagonists in Scandinavian American jokes (that would be Ole and Sven). Then who are ROY & VOY? ROY is ‘Runner of the Year’ and VOY is ‘Volunteer of the Year’. There is no rigid formula for award selection of ROY & VOY. The meaning of what makes an exceptional runner might not be first place finishes. It could be a runner who mentors other runners or simply exemplifies a love for running that is contagious to others. Of course these qualities could also apply to VOY recognition, so the proverbial lines between these two categories are blurred at times. The point being, the recognition for runner or volunteer of the year does not always meet the expectations of what we may consider worthy of the recognition. Each year a few nominations are submitted by club members, but the award selection generally falls on prior award recipients to decide who they would like to receive the awards (taking into account any nominations submitted by others). Again, this process isn’t perfect. There are always many club members who I find worthy of recognition but do not win the ‘award lottery’. With that in mind, if you know someone who exemplifies what you consider to be a runner or volunteer of the year, let them know. Tell them how you appreciate how they inspire you, or move you (pun intended) to be a better runner, or whatever it is that they inspire or you appreciate about them. Even if you do not submit a nomination for ROY or VOY through our online form, take a moment to tell someone you care via a card in the mail, a phone call, or a pat on the back and a few words. Kindness and caring goes a long way.
Email me at president@carolinagodiva.org Editor's Cornerby Patrick Gale If you have experienced any technical difficulties with, or have suggestions and corrections for the newsletter, let me know. Feel free to submit run reports, random musings, and your must-do races to us at newsletter@carolinagodiva.org. Sincerely - Patrick Gale AnnouncementsAwards Nominations Now Openby Kim Manturuk It is time to nominate club members for the annual Godiva Runners of the Year and Volunteer of the Year awards! Runners of the Year can be people whose names show up on the awards list at races, but they can also be people who have demonstrated running excellence in other ways. Maybe you know someone who took on a big challenge, tried a new distance, or came back after some time away from running. Those all sound like Runner of the Year nominees! Anyone who had an outstanding year of running in 2023 is a good nominee - even you! Other club members might not know about your accomplishments, so please nominate yourself and tell us what you've done. We also award Volunteer of the Year, so let us know who did the work to make club events and the local running community a wonderful place last year. Submit your nominations by Friday, April 5, 2024. Save the Date: Spring Banquet on May 18thby Kim Manturuk The Godiva Spring Awards Banquet is set for Saturday evening, May 18th at the New Hope Improvement Association Community Center (same spot as last year). Winter Series 2023-24 - Tower Climb Hill Recapby Bill Harris The 2023-2034 Winter Series wrapped up on March 10th with the Tower Climb Hill Run in Pittsboro. There were 48 participants this year, the biggest showing since the event had to be moved out of Duke Forest. The showing was buoyed by nice running weather with cool starting temps and clear skies, as well as a large showing from some of the local running crowd in Pittsboro, taking advantage of a local event, with 15 of the runners residing in Chatham county. In the 10 mile event, runners get multiple climbs, including an almost mile long ascent up Firetower Road where there's over 220' of elevation gain. Last year Adam Gaines ran a 1:12:41 and passed Julius Martin after the halfway point and won by roughly a minute. This year he defended his crown, passing Warren Bein with less than a mile to go during the last uphill section of the race. He dropped over 5 minutes off his time to run a 1:07:15. Warren, still running strong, came in 11 seconds later, making for an exciting finish. Sean Bartlow wasn't far behind, admitting he'd tried to hang with those two as long as he could, and got a 1:09:03 finish. On the ladies side, Kate DiCato set a 10 mile PR as the first female across the line with a 1:26:40 finish. Heather Woodie got the nod as first female masters finish with her 1:32:46 finish and reveled in letting her wife pick out the chocolate bar prize as Heather doesn't eat chocolate. In the 4 mile event, runners get the same starting uphill climb along Suttles Road, but veer off towards a Water Tower at about 1.75 miles before heading back. They gain about 80' of elevation in their last quarter mile, because as you know, they don't put water towers at the bottom of hills. Kevin McCabe finished first with a time of 27:57, while Kevin Rumsey was on his heels about 90 seconds later. Kellie Bossert took first female with her 33:55 finish. A veteran of the course and unfazed by the elevation, Kellie went back out to grab a couple more miles afterwards. Gabreilla Bein took first female in the non-masters division with a 41:12 finish. David Wood, who's eyeballing an upcoming knee replacement opted to squeeze a little more out of his existing joints, and Deanna Springall get recognition for the endurance awards for toughing out the ten mile event, with both folks finishing in roughly 2:20. Afterwards, several folks headed down to House of Hops, and enjoyed some beverages with food from the adjacent Marco's Pizza, while sharing tales of running hijinx and watching some soccer and basketball games on the big screen. We look forward to holding this event next year and hope to be able to maintain the course. Chatham Park is slowly building out and the first couple miles take place on the periphery of the construction. At some point alterations will likely be coming. We hope that when that happens we can keep the elevation counts high! Visit our website to read additional details about the series 2024 Umstead Trail Marathonby Event Volunteer It took us 20 years, but we had a first at Saturday's marathon. Looking back, here's our overall winners and times over the years: 2004: Cid Cardoso 3:03:57 M 34 2005: Mike Aldrink 2:50:59 M 28 2006: Jon Flaherty 3:06:55 M 45 2007: Paul DeWitt 2:40:35 M 38 2008: Paul Potorti 3:04:34 M 44 2009: Brian Kistner 3:01:07 M 38 2010: Erik Johnson 2:54:17 M 33 2011: Mike Aldrink 2:45:33 M 34 2012: Mark Manz 3:00:36 M 26 2013: Brandon Carter 2:54:01 M 27 2014: Wayne Crews 3:01:16 M 45 2015 : No race - wintry conditions 2016: Erik Johnson 3:00:24 M 39 2017: Jase Tischer 3:05:08 M 42 2018: Luke Paulson 2:55:23 M 25 2019: Suresh Bhushan 3:04:02 M 29 2020: Yi-Tin Lai 2:56:40 M 29 2021: No race - Covid 2022: Erik Johnson 3:10:43 M 45 2023: Tyler Winters 3:11:07 M 35 2024: Cassidy Heaton 3:03:23 F 29 Congratulations to Cassidy Heaton for becoming the first female overall winner we've had at our event! Her 3:03 finish is technically a course record now as well, since we had to switch things up a bit this year, and in our opinion, created a slightly more difficult course. In previous years, runners would do a loop out and back on turkey creek, and while it's a roller coaster, there was a bit of a lull in the middle by where the bridges are (were), giving runners a chance to recover a bit. This year, runners got to do a ~0.75 mile climb up Reedy Creek Lake Rd, twice. While you get to run down the hill also, you never gain back what you give up. The course change meant that the last 6 miles contain the following climbs, on some likely dead legs. (Below is the poster that was designed for this year using all the critters of every running of the marathon over the prior race years.) 2024 Summer Trackby Patrick Gale Well yeah, of course there will be a summer track season. We just don’t know where it will be located. It’s a secret. Meaning, the details are still being worked out. Membership Cornerby Julie Messina New members Quintyn Bobb Ibraheem Cattaneo Jasmaine Joy Beyond Joy Beyond Joy, Jr. Membership Anniversaries (five year anniversaries) 20 years Emil Malizia Graduating to a new age group (Happy birthday!) Sharon Benz Chris Gould Sarah Kaufman Roxanne Springer P.J. Eric Stallard
Want to include something in next month’s Membership Corner? Send notes to me, Julie, at membership@carolinagodiva.org. @ The Racesby Kevin McCabe This month in @ the Races, we are beginning to see the spring uptick in results. We had 33 results by 27 different club members. @ the Races is welcoming back a few members who have not had any results posted in the past 6 months. Both Allison Allen Dease (1:40:20) and Tina Clossick (2:02:08) took part in the Wilmington half marathon, which last saw them last appear in the @ the Races logs in the Cantaloupe 5k last July and the Tarheel 4mi last April respectively. Another novelty of this month's results saw two club members travel to Arizona to run separate marathons. Kim Manturuk ran the Mesa Marathon in 3:48:26 and Randy Kauftheil ran the Lost Dutchman Marathon in 5:06:46. To see where all the other club members ran last month check out the table below. If you have a result that we missed please send us your results!
> View past results for @ The Races February Business Meeting Minutesby Patrick Gale Board Meeting Minutes – Feb. 13, 2024 The meeting started at 7:05pm on Zoom. We started by reviewing the most recent Winter Series race, the Eno Equalizer, and the event was well attended and enjoyed by all.l Umstead marathon planning is underway and an adjustment to the course needed to be made due to bridge maintenance on Turkey Creek. Kim Manturuk is working on the spring banquet planning and setting May 18th for the date. Summer Track track planning is underway, and as usual we are considering where to host track this summer. Some possibilities that were suggested were to:
Julie Messina discussed the possibility of promoting the club during the Durham Parks Foundation membership drive on one of those days: May 11 - 500th Park Run (Durham) June 29 - 11th anniversary Meeting ended at 7:35pm Assorted Member MusingsGodiva Weekly Runs
Our club weekly runs are on Thursday evening (American Tobacco Trail) and Saturday morning (Umstead State Park). Please check with the listed run coordinator to confirm details. Additional information about the club can be found online using the links below:
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