USATF Mid-Atlantic Association
GPTC M40 Team Places Second In National 5K Championship
.JPG)
GPTC team members, from left: Tom Jennings, Paul Hines, Neill Clarke, Nick Berra, Bryant Nix, Kevin Forde, Chuck Shields, Robert Torchia, Anthony Pugliese, Bill King, Dave Brown, Gene Dykes and friend-of-the-club Ron Kochanowicz. (Photo by Betsy King)
By Chuck Shields
Three men's teams representing Greater Philadelphia Track Club traveled to Syracuse University on Oct. 2 to compete in the Syracuse Festival of Races, which also acted as the 2011 USATF Masters 5K Road National Championship.
This was the fourth year for Syracuse to host this event. The event brings together the fastest masters runners from all over the country. The results are based on cumulative total team time, with the three fastest runners on each squad scoring.
The out-and-back course is flat and fast. About 10 minutes before the men's race time, drizzle turned to a hard driving rain. Conditions were cold (mid-40s), windy and wet, with numerous large puddles to negotiate. All age divisions ran together along with the open runners, making for a quick opening pace.
At the turnaround point, the first GPTC runner was Nick Berra in the top 10 to 12 runners, followed by Kevin Forde a few seonds back. The M40 squad was composed of Berra, Forde, masters rookie Neill Clark (40), Dave Brown and Bryant Nix. The team finished second to the Atlanta Track Club with a total time of 50:03, averaging 16:41 per scorer. The individual times were Berra 16:13, Forde 16:31, Clark 17:19, Brown 17:50 and Nix 19:14.
GPTC also entered teams in the M50 and M60 age groups. The M50 team were defending champions while the M60 was a new category for the club. The M50 team of Chuck Shields 17:50, Paul Hines 19:31, Anthony Pugliese 20:33 and Bill King 22:00 finished fifth. The M60 team of Gene Dykes 20:02, Tom Jennings 21:28 and Robert Torchia 22:39 finished seventh in the most competitive age group of the festival.