INDIANAPOLIS, IN — Temperatures were in the upper 20’s at Pole Green Park in Richmond VA, with winds blasting across the open fields at 30 mph! The Masters athletes were glad they had a large, heated tent where they could change into their gear. But then it was out to the starting line and, with hats, gloves, tights, and extra layers, or not, off they went!
The Masters Women’s race, over 6 km went off at 10:30AM. The favorites were Carrie Dimoff and Renee Metivier, renewing their rivalry from Tallahassee last month. This time it was Metivier who pushed the pace for the first two kilometers. But in the 3rd kilometer, Dimoff started to push a little more to the front. When they hit the halfway split at 3 km, Dimoff accelerated and opened a gap of two meters. When Metivier did not answer, Dimoff pushed the pedal down. By the 4 km mark she had a 30-meter lead on Metivier. As at Tallahassee, Metivier could not recover; Dimoff pulled away to win by half a minute in 21:16. That gives her two wins in two tries for the 2024 Masters National Grand Prix season, Metivier took 2nd over a fast-closing April Lund, the 2023 overall champion. Metivier’s Red Lizard teammate, Chelsea Lenge Warren finished fourth with Kasie Enman fifth. The Masters Men raced over 8 km at 11:30. A 4-athlete group, Forest Braden, Brian Flynn, Adam Otstot, and Jeffrey Redfern held together for the first kilometer. Then Braden accelerated away from the group. Flynn reacted and stayed close, with Otstot staying in touch a few strides back in 3rd. They continued that way until the 3 km mark, when all gaps started to grow. In the end Braden had the win in 25:35, with 80 meters to spare. Flynn was second in 25:52, with Otstot 27 seconds back in third. Matthew Barresi emerged from the chase pack to take 4th; David Angell moved up through the field, kilometer by kilometer, to finish fifth.
The age grading process assigns a score called a Performance Level Percentage PLP that indicates how close the athlete’s performance is to the projected World’s Best for that runner’s age and sex. It identifies the runners, across all age divisions, who had the best performance relative to that world standard. Top honors on the Men’s side went to Nat Larson, 61, who took the M60 title with a 28:52. His PLP was 90.2%. Larson edged Mark Zamek, 60, in the M60 race by just 3 seconds. Zamek’s 89.3 earned him second place. Third went to Rusty Snow, 54, who claimed the gold medal in the M50 division in 27:29, earning an 89.1 PLP. Pete Gibson, 67, was 4th with David Westenberg, 66, fifth. Nora Cary, 68, had the highest score in the Women’s race. With her earlier win at Tallahassee, Cary has two age grade wins in two tries. Cary loves Cross Country! Cary won the W65 division in 27:07 for a 91.3 PLP. Second place went to Mary Cass, 62, who won the W60 division in 25:38, earning an 89.3 PLP. Dimoff, 40, the overall winner, and Amanda King, 62, who finished 2nd in W60 in 26:41 both earned an 85.8 PLP to share 3rd place. Metivier, 42, finished fifth.
National Women’s Champions were crowned in 40-44 Dimoff, 45-49 Jacqueline Cooke 23:29, 50-54 Amy Gannon 25:05, 55-59 Melissa Chiti 27:04, 60-64 Cass, 65-69 Cary, 70-74 Cynthia Lucking 34:50, 75-79 Andrea McCarter 46:19, 85-89 Joyce Hodges-Hite 1:04:00. National Men’s Champions were crowned in 40-44 Braden, 45-49 Angell 27:05, 50-54 Snow, 55-59 Tim Harte 28:35, 60-64 Larson, 65-69 Westenberg 31:18, 70-74 Robert Qualls 34:25, 75-79 Gene Dykes 37:38, 80-84 Jim Assal 54:24.
The Boulder Road Runners and the Atlanta Track Club defended their 2023 championships in Men’s and Women’s 70+ divisions respectively. Otherwise, there were new winners in each division. Men: 40+ Colonial Road Runners, 50+ Blacksburg Striders, 60+ Shore Athletic Club. Women: 40+ Red Lizard, 50+ Greater Philadelphia Track Club, 60+ Liberty Athletic Club. Complete Official Results can be found here. This concludes the cross country portion of the USATF Masters National Grand Prix. The road portion kicks off in Atlanta on February 25th. Check out the details here. Submitted by Paul Carlin