Team Circuit Standings All Tied Up

There's a knot at the top of the USATF Minnesota Open Men's and Women's Team Circuit Standings following the suddenly controversial Get in Gear 10K last Saturday.

Run N Fun, the runner-up open team in both divisions at the Human Race 8K in March, beat rival GEAR Running Store's men and women at Get in Gear to tie things at the top of the standings after two events.

The RNF and GEAR men both have 38 points; Lundgren Ford is third with 30. The two stores women's teams are tied with 16 points; the Prairie Striders are third with 8 points.

Run N Fun's men -- led by Ed Whetham -- benefited in part from GEAR fielding a lesser squad due to injury on Saturday. Their five scorers beat GEAR 2:40:19 to 2:41:46. The RNF women, who were edged by GEAR at the Human Race, swamped their rivals at Get in Gear -- 3:07:48 to 3:17:16. Amy Lyons, who didn't compete at Human Race, led RNF.

GEAR is -- sort of -- the defending men's Team Circuit champion: the now defunct Runner's Edge store team that won the 2006 title moved en masse to GEAR in 2007. RNF is the defending women's open champion.

RNF currently leads both Masters divisions; the Molar Milers lead the men's Grand Masters men's standings, while the Prairie Striders to that division women's list.

The next Team Circuit event is the New Prague Half Marathon on May 12. The eight race Team Circuit runs through early September.