Top Masters athletes enjoyed a beautiful morning in Indianapolis for running the USATF Masters Half Marathon Championships, low 50s at the start, rising to low 60s under partly sunny skies. These Championships were hosted for the first time by Beyond Monumental at their Indy Half Marathon at Fort Ben. No American records were broken on this challenging course; but thirteen race records fell.
OVERALL Jesse Davis got things started by turning on the jets after the ten mile mark, as the lead pack headed into the last major hill. He held it all the way to the finish, winning in 1:08:04, lowering his Masters race record by well over a minute. Ramiro Guillen, Santa Barbara Half Marathon Masters champion, was able to pull away from John Poray; they finished second and third in 1:11:51 and 1:12:56, respectively. The surprise on the Women’s side was not so much that Tera Moody, who was the second Masters finisher at the BOA Chicago 13.1, took the crown. The big surprise was that Fiona Bayly, out of the 55-59 division, was able to surge past Natasha Yaremczuk in the final two miles to claim second. Moody won in 1:22:06, followed by Bayly, 1:24:51, and Yaremczuk, 1:25:11.
AGE GRADING The age grading score, the Performance Level Percentage (PLP), identifies the runners, across all age divisions, who had the best performance relative to the fastest times in the world. Top honors went to Lisa Veneziano, 60, who won her division in 1:28:00, achieving a PLP of 94.05%. Bayly, 57, merited a 93.79% from her silver medal overall performance. Stella Gibbs, 65, completed the podium; her 1:36:39 scored 91.76%. Craig Godwin, 57, had to call on all his reserves to fight off John Fernandez, 55, for the 55-59 win. His 1:16:11 aced the top Men’s age grading score at 90.90%. Roger Sayre, 66, enjoyed the 65-69 win at 1:24:28, and the second-place age grade of 89.46%. It is rare for an overall winner to snag an age grading medal as well. Davis’s performance earned him the bronze age grading medal at 89.30%.
AGE DIVISION National men’s champions were crowned in 40-44 Davis* 45-49 Sean McGrath 1:17:42 50-54 Robb Awe* 1:20:45 55-59 Godwin* 60-64 Rick Torres* 1:23:16 65-69 Sayre* 70-74 Joe Reda* 1:35:48 75-79 Terry McCluskey* 1:46:29 80-84 Harold Rosen* 2:03:09.
National women’s champions were crowned in 40-44 Moody 45-49 Alicia Martinez 1:48:38 50-54 Jennifer Malavolta* 1:26:45 55-59 Bayly* 60-64 Veneziano* 65-69 Gibbs* 70-74 Victoria Crisp* 1:50:53 75-79 Andrea McCarter* 2:40:15. *Set Race Age Division Record
TEAMS: [Score is cumulative time of first three finishers on each team.] WOMEN 50+ The Impala Racing Team H Gudmundsdottir, S Gibbs, A Newman, G Wahl, out of the San Francisco Bay area, won with a time of 4:56:46. MEN 40+ The ‘home team’ Indiana Elite Athletic Club A-Team J Davis, J Poray, recorded a total time of 3:35:59 to take the crown. 50+ The Indiana Elite AC R Awe, M Glover, A Hector won this division as well, with a 4:10:49 team time. 60+ The Ann Arbor Track Club R Power, L Sak, S Fiske, W Freeman, M Mester, out of Michigan, won with a time of 4:31:28. Ann Arbor D Kurtis, E Matsuo, T McCluskey, A Pratt, P Carlin also claimed the M70+ win at 5:05:34.
The final event of the 2024 Masters National Grand Prix is the USATF Masters 5 km Cross Country Championships in Boulder, CO on November 2, 2024. Registration is here.
Submitted by Paul Carlin