Gate City Striders

Palmer's Island Lighthouse - New Bedford, MA

We had 51 GCS-Triad Racing Team members toe the line at this year’s edition of the New Bedford Half Marathon. And, with the favorable weather conditions (despite the usual ocean-spawned headwind) many of those runners went home with brand-spanking new PR’s to boot! And, to top that, at the end of the long day down in New Bedford, GCS sat 2nd place overall in Club Scoring (out of 28 teams) in the 2010 New England Grand Prix Series.

This race was the second of seven New England Grand Prix Races and our Club had its highest turnout and best results yet! Rich Smith was again our fastest male runner. He finished in a time of 1:14:09 (5:32 pace) which was good enough for 60th place overall, 4th in his 40-49 age group and first on the Mens Masters Team ahead of Todd Callaghan (1:16:43) & Joseph Rogers (1:18:32). Dan Ferreira was the next fastest GCS-Triad runner after Joe finishing in a time of 1:18:33 which was enough to hold off Justin Soucy (1:23:13) & Stephen Rouleau (1:33:16) for first place on the Mens Open Team. Rich Stockdale finished first on the Mens Seniors Team with a time of 1:28:46 outpacing Ken Snow (1:30:02) & Steve Piper (1:30:35). And, Trevor Ward led the way for the Mens Veterans Team with a time of 1:30:47 which was good enough for first on the team just ahead of Milt Schumacher (1:34:48) & Joseph Noonan (1:35:49).

On the womens side, Amber Cullen-Ferreira finished off an already great winter of racing by taking the prize of our fastest female with a time of 1:27:53 which was good enough for 24^th overall in her 20-29 age group and first on the Womens Open Team ahead of Lauren Eyenation (1:39:16) & Cassie Wright (1:45:08). That time also enabled Cassie to finish second in her under 19 age-group. The next fastest GCS-Triad runner after Amber was Cathy Merra who finished in 1:28:24 which gave her 1st  place in her 50-59 age group as well as first place on our Womens Seniors Team ahead of Lori Hennessey (1:47:48) & Suzanne Long (2:32:04). Karen Long continued her comeback by taking first on our Female Masters Team with a time of 1:31:30 ahead of Tammy Gaffey (1:35:23) & Janice Platt (1:42:06). And last, but most certainly not least, was our Womens Veterans Team lead by Aline Kenney with a 1:56:51 and followed closely by Emily Strong (2:07:08) & Jane Levesque (2:12:39). These three ladies also took home the New England Half Marathon Championship Trophy as the fastest 60+ female team! Nice job girls!

Not only did our individual runners shine, but our other teams also excelled as well. Our Women’s Masters Team of Cathy Merra, Karen Long & Tammy Gaffey took second place (out of 14 teams). And, our Men’s Masters Team of Rich Smith, Todd Callaghan, Joe Rogers, Randy Macneill & Steve Wolfe did the ladies one better by taking second place (out of 18 teams). Both second place Masters Teams also each claimed the $200 team prize money for the club! That’s like 16 race entry fees for the next NEGP race. Woo Hoo, way to go guys!

Full GCS-Triad Racing Team results for the New Bedford Half Marathon can be found on Coolrunning.

Our next New England Grand Prix race is The Bedford Rotary 12k on May 22nd in Bedford, NH. This race is always highly attended amongst Club members and this year will surely be no exception as it’s our opportunity to show the rest of the region what NH running is all about! For additional race information, including a course map and directions to the start please check out the race website.

Any current club member can run any of the seven New England Grand Prix races free of charge regardless of the number Grand Prix races you're able to run. And, the race entry fees will all be pre-paid by the club so that there are no up-front costs for you. Just show up and run! It couldn't be easier! If you would like to join the Team for another great GCS-Triad Racing event please e-mail me right away and let me know.