Let's use hump-day to catch up on a few items that have stacked up on the DtB news-desk ...
Athletes of the Month ... USA Tack and Field Minnesota recently named Burnsville High School's Rob Finnerty and Moorhead State University's Jennifer Hensel their Athletes of the Month of June.
The awards, based on May performances, recognized Finnerty's 4:06.49 1600m victory at the Section 3AA meet -- then the #2 Minnesota high school mark all-time in the event. Hensel earned her accolades for winning her second straight NCAA Division II pole vault title with a vault of 13-2 1/4.
You can read the official announcement HERE.
Team Circuit Standings ... With two-thirds of the nine-race USATF-Minnesota Team Circuit in the books, Run N Fun holds a comfortable lead in both open divisions. RNF's women's squad leads TC Running Company 72 to 53 with Team Unattached in 3rd with 47 points. On the men's side, RNF leads the open division over TCRC 84 to 78 with Lundgren Ford 3rd at 68.
In age-group divisions, TCRC leads the men's masters division and RNF leads the women's. The Molar Milers lead the men's grand masters while the Prairie Striders lead the women's 50+ division.
Full standing are available HERE.
Cross Country Circuit Input Sought ... USATF-Minnesota is seeking input on this fall's Cross Country Team Circuit. USATF-Minnesota Long Distance Running Chairman Ed Whetham invites interested parties to a planning meeting scheduled for Monday, June 30 at 7:00 p.m. at Majors Sports Cafe in Golden Valley. (Click HERE for directions.)
For more details or for race directors to have their event considered for the circuit, contact Whetham HERE.
The Great Alex Ratelle ... The Duluth News-Tribune published a nice story HERE on masters superstar Alex Retelle. Ratelle, among his many stunning performances, holds the Grandma's Marathon record for 55-59-year-olds at 2:30:40.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
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5 comments:
Re: Ratelle
MN has produced a lot of great masters distance runners (I'm not going to start naming them because the list is so long). I'm always impressed when I see someone in their 40s, 50s or 60s who is still committed to running fast times.
But 2:30 at age 56 is just ridiculous. It's so far off the charts that it's difficult to comprehend.
If Chad ever interviews me for his blog, I'm listing Dr. Ratelle as the MN runner that I'd most like to run with. He's done a lot of other cool things that weren't mentioned in the article. I believe he was involved in auto racing before he took up running.
Pete,
Of course I'd love to interview you - and Dr. Ratelle too. Unfortunately, I haven't read the article yet, but I agree, you couldn't find a bigger Masters stud around. Hell, most of our top local elites can't run 2:30 in their prime, let alone at age 56.
Darn that word, "elite". Maybe I should have used "age groupers". Or how about "non-professionals".
I've always preferred the term "sub-elite" to describe athletes who are competitive locally but not at the national level.
Elite-wannabes?
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