Photo Credits: Captivating Sports Photos
05/19/2024 Danville, CA
It was a picture-perfect day for a race around the picture-perfect small town of Danville. Under blue skies with bright sunshine and 60 degrees, the three waves of Masters runners traversed the two circuits around downtown. The Women ran first, followed by Men 60 Plus, followed by Men 40 Plus. A record number of Masters Mile entrants, 211, divided themselves evenly over the three waves. Team Blue Sky, who put on the event, and the town of Danville, did themselves proud!
One American Record was equaled and one broken. Sue McDonald is the 60-64 World Record holder for the Mile and 1500 Meters on the track. She matched the 5:44 Road Mile record, set by the legendary Kathy Martin in 2013. Carol Mikkelsen, from the oldest age group, 85-89, broke one of the newest American Mile Records, the 15:25 set by Joyce Hodges-Hite last year. Mikkelsen smashed it by almost a minute, racing to 14:28!
The OVERALL races were dandies. In the Men’s 40+ race, Neil McDonagh descended from the Rocky Mountains and dominated the race in winning his first Masters Overall Championship. McDonagh took it out strong, opening a five-meter gap in the first three hundred meters. He was never headed, winning in 4:31 with 40 meters to spare. Grant Johnson outlasted Mario Fraioli to take second, 4:38 to 4:41. The Men’s 60+ race featured a near blanket finish with just one second separating each of the first three across the finish line. Daniel Filip’s 5:21 led Kevin Ostenberg and Ray Knerr. In the Women’s race, Kristen Rohde dropped down from the Pacific Northwest to pull away in the final stretch, winning in 5:15. Courtney Quirin earned the silver medal at 5:18. Three seconds later, Elizabeth Camy earned her second overall Masters medal in the last month; the bronze here adds to her silver at the 10 Km Championship in late April.
AGE GRADING Age Grading measures each athlete’s performance against the best possible time for that exact age, yielding a percentage that can be compared across age divisions to figure out who ran best for their age. McDonald, 61, not only matched an American Record, she topped the age grading tables at 93.46%. Nancy Simmons, 64, recorded 6:09 for a 90.49 Performance Level Percentage (PLP). Sonja Friend-Uhl’s 5:25 at age 53 finishes off the age grading podium at 90.05. Jacob Nur, American 65-69 Record holder at 5 Km, 10Km, 10 Mile and Half Marathon, clocked 5:23 at age 68. That earned him a 92.86 PLP and the Men’s age grading win. Jaime Heilpern, 54, raced to a 4:48 and second place at 92.33. Mike Madsen’s 4:44 at 511, earned a 91.41 PLP and the bronze medal.
AGE DIVISION National Men’s Champions were crowned in 40-44 McDonagh 45-49 Lee Klarich 4:49 50-54 Madsen 55-59 Darren Morgan 5:00 60-64 Filip 65-69 Nur 70-74 Joseph Reda 6:15 75-79 Jerry Learned 6:42 80-84 Jan Frisby 7:24 85-89 Donald Hillebrandt 12:52. National Women’s Champions were crowned in 40-44 Rohde 45-49 Claire Saxton 5:47 50-54 Friend-Uhl 55-59 Elizabeth Guerrini 6:12 60-64 McDonald 65-69 Stella Gibbs 6:30 70-74 Donna Chan 7:36 75-79 Jo Anne Rowland 8:03 80-84 None 85-89 Mikkelsen.
TEAM Northern California teams dominated the men’s team contests. The Excelsior Running Club took top honors in M40+, with West Valley Track Club winning M50+, and the HOKA Aggie RC finishing first in M60+. The only winning team from outside the area was Colorado’s Boulder Road Runners who edged Northern Cal’s Tamalpa Runners by just 15 seconds in M70+. On the Women’s side, the powerful Impala Racing team, out of the San Francisco Bay area, swept the divisions, winning W40+, W50+, W60+ and W70+!
Submitted By
Paul Carlin
Consultant to USATF Masters LDR
www.runningprof.com
