Gate City Striders

Some of the Racing Team at New Bedford (photo courtesy of Justin Platt)

The 32nd annual New Bedford Half Marathon definitely had a festive atmosphere surrounding this year’s event. Perhaps it was due to the warmer than normal weather. Or, maybe it was the unusually slight puff of wind the runners had to deal with out on the course. But, I’d like to think that just maybe it was because of the post-race “birth” & “re-birth” day celebrations taking place within the GCS-Triad Racing Team. The birthday party was in honor of the 26th & 39th anniversaries of the terrestrial arrival of TRT members Donna Pitts & Julie Hanover, respectively.  And, the re-birthday party was in honor of the Gate City Striders re-emergence as a major player in the New England Road Racing scene! Because, at the end of the long day in New Bedford, GCS sat 3rd overall in Club Scoring (out of 28 teams) in the 2009 New England Grand Prix Series. With our Mens Team in 2nd & our Womens Team in 5^th!   

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 1:12:29 (5:32 pace) which was good enough for 52nd place overall, 3^rd in his 35-39 age group and first on the Mens Open Team ahead of Erik Kress (1:18:41) 8^th in his 35-39 age group & Chris Bougopoulos (1:25:43). Randy Macneill was the next fastest GCS-Triad runner after Erik finishing in a time of 1:18:51 which was just enough to hold off Steve Wolfe (1:19:55) & Joe Rogers (1:20:33) for first place on the Mens Masters Team. Steve Tomasi finished first on the Mens Seniors Team with a time of 1:23:50 outpacing Jeremiah Fitzgibbon (1:25:22) & Len Hall (1:26:14) 3^rd in his 55-59 age group. And, John Lewicke led the way for the Mens Veterans Team with a time of 1:35:34 which was good enough for 6th in his age-group amongst all of the 60-65 year old competitors and first on the team just ahead of Denny Leblanc (1:42:42) 2^nd in his 65-69 age group & Steve Moland (1:44:22) 3^rd in his 65-69 age group.

On the Womens side, Karen Long took her surname seriously as she went the distance finishing in a time of 1:28:12 which was good enough for 8^th overall in her 40-44 age group and first on the Womens Masters Team ahead of Karen Pattelena (1:28:25) 10^th in her 40-44 age group & Tammy Gaffey (1:35:02). For the Open Women, Amber Cullen lead the way with a 1:32:38 finish ahead of Callie Hartnett (1:33:43) 6^th in her 19-24 age group and Donna Pitts (1:34:02).

Not only did our individual runners shine, but our teams also excelled as well. Our Womens Masters Team of Karen Long, Karen Pattelena & Tammy Gaffey took second place (out of 18 teams) and claimed the $200 team prize money for the club! That’s like 8 race entry fees for the next NEGP race! Woo Hoo! Way to go girls! Our Mens Veterans Team of  John Lewicke, Denny Leblanc & Steve Moland finished 2^nd in their 60+ age group just one spot out of the money. Also putting on a show but just missing the dough was our Mens Seniors team of Steve Tomasi, Jeremiah Fitzgibbon & Len Hall who finished in 4^th place. A mere 2 minutes from the cash. 

Finally, we had 4 GCS-Triad Racing Team members grab an "asterisk" for achieving the USATF age group guideline for that distance. They were: Randy Macneill, Karen Long, Karen Pattelena & Len Hall. Nice job guys!

Full GCS-Triad Racing Team results for the New Bedford Half Marathon can be found here. Additional photos from this race can be found in our photo gallery. And, updated standings for the 2009 GCS NEGP Intra-Team Competition can be found here.

Our next New England Grand Prix race is The Bedford Rotary 12k on May 16th 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.