Well, well, well, my athletically-inclined friends, lots of local fitness news to share from this weekend, so let’s just jump right in:
* Erie’s Debbie Mizikowski who is competing in the CrossFit Games ended up placing 9th in the Masters 55-69 division and was cut from the Reebok CrossFit Games at the Home Depot Center in Los Angeles on Sunday. Still an amazing effort by Erie’s most awesome female athlete. We’re proud of you, Debbie!
* It was good to see Kathy Schreckengost behind the registration table at Saturday’s Quad games bike race and….it was quite miraculous she was there because she’s still recovering (and in a lot of pain) from the nasty fall she took in Wyoming on July 6 that halted her attempt cross the country on her bike. Here’s hoping she’s back in the saddle again soon.
Check out the intensity in my gaze. I look like I actually give a crap, right? OK..I did, but mostly because I couldn’t let my Team Behrend members down! Outta my way…ding, ding. (No, I don’t have a bell, but….seriously, I might do that next year JUST for fun.)
Quad Games Bike Race
Saturday morning was the 2nd event in the 2012/2013 Quad Games — the 12-mile time-trial bike race in Edinboro. Mother Nature was kind to the bikers, providing a nice overcast sky for the majority of the morning (though, note to Ma Nature, we can do without the wind…makes cycling kinda challenging).
300+ cyclists, including yours truly, competed/completed the course. I bested my time from last year by 20 seconds — not great, not bad. It’s always fun to see the crowd the Quad draws, though, because you will see a very serious cyclist on a $5,000 bike lined up behind a mom on a mountain bike with her kid in the bike seat. Everyone belongs as the Quad — and it’s awesome. Long live the Quad and the Quadfather Craig Latimer who, by the way, kicked some tailwind himself, hopping on the bike and turning in a very respectable time of 36:00.
Top honors went to
Men:
1. Aaron Garrity with a 26:03
2. Dan Pierce with a 27:27
3. Kris Kocan with a 27:36
Women:
1. Jillian Halmi-Behm with a 28:34
2. Pam McCormick with a 30:31
3. Donnelle Super with a 31:34
Complete Quad Bike Results are here. (LOVE that Jim Lang is now timing the Quad events — yipee! FAST results!).
A few photos from the Erie Times-News here and…this lovely photo from my daughter:
Nice shirt, Lady Elaine. By the way, this lady ran her first half marathon the next day! (Two races in one weekend? Hmmm….sounds like a certain Kenyan I know ;–). Photo by DJ Smith for GoErie.
Cherry Festival 5K
The Cherry Festival 5K in North East was Saturday morning. Not sure who timed the race, but when the results are posted, you can find them here.
Until then….enjoy these 193 photos from the GoErie Street View Crew. (Whistle…It’s OK, I’ll wait.)
After looking through the photos, I’m going to go ahead and hazard a guess that those young boys from North East High School track/cross-country team did pretty well.
I’ve done the Cherry Fest 5K before & it’s no cake walk cherry pie the pits. Seriously…it’s a tough course, or perhaps I just think so because the last time I ran it — which was many years ago– I was severely hungover.
Presque Isle Half Marathon
Lightening and thunder threatened to postpone the Presque Isle Half Marathon on Sunday morning, but….alas…Mother Nature AGAIN smiled on Erie-area athletes. She cleared the skies and turned off the faucets just long enough to get the race done (well, unless you were over 2 hours…then, she threw down some showers to hurry you along).
I had planned to go cheer — something I have never done in my 15+ years of racing — because I had several friends doing their first-ever half marathon, including my own baby brother (OK, he’s like 36 now, but will still always be the baby). ANYWAY…I was all ready to go. I had my foam core signs with witty sayings, a bucket of chalk, a rockin’ CD to blare, pom-poms to shake and cowbell ready to deafen the ears of every runner, but….alas, I also had a sick kid in my bedroom at 5 a.m. which put an end to my cheerleading plans. (Sigh….maybe next race).
Nearly 950 finished the 13.1 mile race with top honors going to:
Men:
1. Martin Zegarelli of Erie with a 1:14:25 (That’s a 5:42 pace!)
2. Carter Denne of North East with a 1:16:26
3. Barrett Kemp of Shinglehouse, Pennsylvania, with a 1:16:27
Women:
1. Tamara Marquardt of Cleveland with a 1:23:46;
2. Kacey Gibson of Edinboro with a 1:25:18;
3. Karen Meraw of Shelby Township, Michigan, with a 1:25:57
See the rest of the Presque Isle Half Marathon results here.
Photos from DJ Smith for the GoErie Street View crew here.
Photo by Andy Colwell for GoErie Street View
Race to the Peak Triathlon
Sunday was the first Race To The Peak triathlon. I thought it was bad timing considering the Quad Bike race was Saturday and the 1/2 marathon was Sunday, but…whatevs….there are more athletes than just in Erie, I guess).
Anyway, a 16-year-old N.Y. boy won and Erie’s Pam McCormick (who did the Quad Bike race on Saturday) took first place among the women with a time of 1:28:50. When I find complete results, I’ll post them here.
By the looks of the photos, it was a wet event.
