Congratulations to our very own Club Ed team for winning 1st place with a total score of 21350 points in the USATF Running Running Grand Prix! Right behind us was "The Janes" Elite Racing with 21002 points. Coming in third place is Track Club L.A. with 19476 points.

The top three finishers in the club were Alison Atikinson finished in 3rd place, Jon Megeff in 5th & Rich Gust in 7th.  Other notables were Diane Silva, Barbara Frank & David Norwood among the 375 runners who made the top list.

Club Ed had 27 club members participate in the Grand Prix and only a handful of runners met the minimum of 5 races to be in the qualification list.  So next year Debbie Richardson, Natahlie Higley and Ed Avol will be needed to help defend the title as they had the highest averages.  The following list is sorted by average score.

155	Richardson	Debbie	47	Female	1	897
3	Atkinson	Alison	43	Female	5	874.2
28	Higley	Nathalie	40	Female	3	872
5	Megeff	Jon	47	Male	5	859.2
69	Avol	Ed	58	Male	2	849
7	Gust	Rich	51	Male	5	844.4
80	Dodson	Rick	47	Male	2	817.5
193	Williams-smith	Renee	49	Female	1	813
83	Spencer	Michael	48	Male	2	810
87	Courtney	John	47	Male	2	801
21	Silva	Diane	47	Female	4	795.25
209	Sanchez	Humberto	35	Male	1	791
89	Reinhardt	Sue	64	Female	2	788.5
88	Notaro	Steve	62	Male	2	788.5
93	Wickens	Patrick	69	Male	2	779
217	Shalvarjian	Mark	47	Male	1	779
218	Anderson	Emily	33	Female	1	774
228	Longyear	Willis	46	Male	1	760
23	Norwood	David	49	Male	4	752
238	David	Mihaela	43	Female	1	744
48	Shaw	Levi	30	Male	3	741.7
106	Cortez	Michael	31	Male	2	728
107	Delgado	Michael	53	Male	2	728
132	Poirier	John	49	Male	2	659.5
295	Cohn	Jeff	37	Male	1	658
22	Frank	Barbara	50	Female	5	625.2
134	Cooley	Kristin	33	Female	2	621.5

An impressive subgroup of our triathletes made a statement at the IronMan Arizona. Over 2300 competitors started the race, and over 2200 finished, with pride and qualifiers for Kona on the line. Here are some Club highlights:

Our ever-amazing wunderkind, Ian Mikelson, finished 8th in the Men's Pro Race, clocking in at 8:41, closing with a 3:03 marathon. And to think we knew him when...

Jason May continued to impress with a strong 9:14 finish, good for 2nd in the M35-39. He was 1st in his age group out of the water (50:50) and finished with a 3:19 marathon.

Bill Macleoud, who all but disappeared from club running this year to focus on triathlons,showed it was all worthwhile, winning the Men's 50-54 Division in 9:47, and closing it out with a 3:23 marathon (2nd fastest in his group).

Kevin Sullivan worked his way to a 11:19 finish, good for 46th in his age group (M45-49).

,,,and Cherryl Rose had a breakthrough, grabbing an impressive 2nd place in the Women's 50-54 competition with a 12:08 finish, leading her age-group competitors in with a 4:26 marathon.

By virute of their awesome-ness, Jason, Bill, and Cherryl qualified for the IronMan in Kona! Congratulations to all our racers (nice work out there!), apologies to anyone I may have missed (I'm a runner, not a triathlete, and I get distracted by all the spandex and equipment)...and we have some work to do to whittle down some minutes from those marathons. See you at the track! -- Coach Ed.

This year's Manhattan Beach Yuletide 5K will be held on Saturday, December 18th, at 2:00 pm in the afternoon. Bring all your friends and family down to the pier for a spectacular low tide in the afternoon. Stay to watch the kids race and enjoy a fabulous sunset.   Kids races start at 3:00 pm.

Run, Walk, or Baby Jog Along the Sea!

The Only Afternoon Run in Los Angeles!

Jingle Bracelets and T-Shirts For All Participants!

For more information or to register online visit: www.mb5k.com

Club Ed Training Routes list in USATF Map Database

• PV Drives (20.91 miles)
• Hawthorne Over the Top (13.92)
• Quarterhorse w/ Golf Course (13.18 miles)
• Silver Spur (12.96 miles)
• Marineland (11.82 miles)
• Over the Top w/ Golf Course (11.26 miles)
• Telephone Pole Trail (11.15 miles)
• Monday Night Madness (9.45 miles)
• Hermosa-Manhattan Chips / Strand Loop (9.21 miles)
• Monday Night Madness Return (3.59 miles)

See Workout Schedule for Time and Location

Washington DC - This just in from the the 35th running of the Marine Corps Marathon on Halloween morning...Jon Megeff runs 2:49, Mark Shalvarjian and Rich Gust run 3:00...these are unofficial chip times and may be adjusted as the day goes on. Mark says he never saw Rich in the race...Rich says it got hot at the finish. Megeff is probably out for a cooldown 10-miler, and could not be reached for this update...More later!

LISTEN UP! -- Congrats to all on a successful racing year...or a year of suitable frustration such that you are determined to make the next year better...

We are working on a club racing schedule to "motivate" you to race and improve. This would consist of several races, at differing distances, for you to compete against your peers, to expand your horizons, improve your times, get you off the couch, etc...

To make things easier, we probably won't launch this until January, but if there are races, distances, courses, etc that you think are unique, different from the typical road 5K or 10K, or offer something you want to share (or wreak) on your fellow club members, post the idea to send me an email, and we will build the schedule. Marty is leading the effort, and has a good start on this already. -- Coach Ed

The 2011 Boston Marathon had 22,000+ entrants in one day to run 26 miles in April 2011.  Does this suggests changes (faster qualifying times or larger fields or both, and other things) are probably in store for 2012?  This also means that you better have a qualifying time by October 2011 if you want to run Boston in 2012.

Runners were allowed to start signing up for the 2011 marathon at 9 a.m., and the registration window closed just after 5 p.m., meaning about 21,000 people filled out their forms in eight hours. That's 65 times as quick as last year and more than 200 times as quick as five years ago, when it took almost seven months to fill the same number of spots.

Here's how long it has taken, since 2006, for the Boston Marathon's field to fill up.
MARATHON REGISTRATION STARTED FILLED UP DAYS
2011 Oct. 18 Oct. 18 1
2010 Sept. 9 Nov. 13 65
2009 Sept. 3 Jan. 25 144
2008 Sept. 5 Feb. 26 174
2007 Sept. 6 Mar. 14 189
2006 Sept. 7 Mar. 29 203

Source: Boston Athletic Association from WallStreet Journal Article

Video courtesy of Mike Whitcombe and pictures from Rich Gust

Jon Megeff makes a great pass during the 1.20 mark of this video

SCA USATF 2010 Road Mile Championships El Toro Airfield - Highlights

USATF Southern California Announces 2010 Cross Country Grand Prix -- Kicks off Sunday

Correct Prize Money: Open - $350, $150, $100, Masters (40-49) - $200, $75, $50, Masters (50+) - $200, $75, $50. Detailed rules here.

The winning men’s and women’s open teams will earn a $500 travel stipend for travel to the 2010 USATF National Club Cross Country Championships in Charlotte, N.C.

The Grand Prix features $2,500 in prize money, to be awarded in three divisions: open runners, masters (40-49) and masters (50+). To be eligible for prize money, runners must compete in 2 preliminary races, and the final Association Championship race at Huntington Beach Central Park.

USA Track & Field Southern California Association is proud to announce the launch of a new 2010 Cross Country Grand Prix series. The five-race series kicks off this Sunday, October 17, 2010 at the Free Spirit Cross Country Invitational, at Mount San Antonio College (Mt. SAC) in Walnut, CA.

With 62 years of history, the Mt. SAC Cross Country Course is one of the oldest and most famed courses in the world, challenging generations of runners against each other. This is a challenging course over asphalt and dirt trails with flat and rolling hill combinations, plus switch backs and tough hills.

The Open and Masters Cross Country race will start at 7:30 a.m. before the youth competitions. Medals will be given to 1st thru 8th place overall.

Athletes can register on race day for $10.

Mt. SAC is between the Pomona and San Bernardino Freeways and west of the Orange Freeway (57). Click here for directions to Mt. SAC.

The exciting Free Spirit Cross Country Invitational is the first race in the 2010 Cross Country Grand Prix series:

10/17 – Free Spirit Cross Country Invitational
10/24 – Will Rogers State Historic Park
10/30 – Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area
11/06 – Elysian Park 5k Eco Trail Run
11/13 – USATF Southern California Association Cross Country Championships, Huntington Beach Central Park

Cross Country Grand Prix Information

The Grand Prix provides a total of $2,500 in cash awards to Open and Masters runners. To be eligible for Grand Prix prize money, runners must compete in a minimum of two preliminary races, plus the final Association Championship race on 11/13 at Huntington Beach Central Park.

The USATF Southern California Association Cross Country Championships (November 13) is part of the USATF Open Club Cross Country Travel Grant Program. The winning men’s and women’s open teams will earn a $500 travel stipend for travel to the 2010 USATF National Club Cross Country Championships in Charlotte, NC.

Contact:
Mike Mahurin
Chair, Open Athletics Cross Country Committee
USATF Southern California
Cell (310) 384-6974
info@scausatf.org

Alison Atkinson, Jake Courtney, Barb Brown Frank, Jon Megeff, Ed Avol, Nathalie Higley, Rich Gust, Jim Newman, Levi Shaw

Check out this video. You might see a few people you know...