The Pace Setter - Hudson Mohawk Road Runners Club
The Pace Setter - Hudson Mohawk Road Runners Club
The Pace Setter - Hudson Mohawk Road Runners Club
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<strong>The</strong> 31st Annual CDPHPWorkforce Team ChallengeBy Douglas SecorWell, for those who remember last year'sinstallment, this year's Team Challenge wasn'tquite as hot and humid as last year. But no matterwhat the weather, the Team Challenge is alwaysa great time. A time to get together withco-workers in a fun way and get away from thehustle and bustle of the workplace. I alwayslove this race, it is my Super Bowl. I rememberone year after the race our Assistant ExecutiveDirector made the comment, "Training for nextyear's Challenge begins tomorrow." For me thathas been true the past two years.<strong>The</strong> atmosphere of this race is almost electric.You get there and the music is crankingand there are thousands of people wanderingaround looking for their teams. Occasionallyyou even run into a few people who used towork with you and get to catch up on what youeach have been doing. I work for SchenectadyARC and we have had a tent the past couple ofyears as we prepare for the race. It's been fun,and this year we were proud to have more than180 people register for the race, which wasamazingly about one third of our workforce. Everyonewas walking around, talking with eachother, asking each other what we were hopingto accomplish timewise while others joked thatthey just hoped to make it up that first hill. It hasalso developed into quite an interagency competitionover the past few years as a race we allget to measure ourselves against people havebeaten us in the past.<strong>The</strong>n, after a year of anticipation, it is almoststart time. I run seven minute miles, but alwaysmake my way to the start line about 20 minutesbefore the race starts so I can get near the front.I found in the past that if I don't, by the timewe get to Washington Park I'm already passingpeople who are walking. Before long everyonestarts filtering onto Madison Avenue and you'rejust surrounded by people. <strong>The</strong>n we get to hearfrom someone from the charity of choice. <strong>The</strong>ncomes the moment that really gets the adrenalinegoing - the National Anthem is sung by alocal person and as they finish you hear and feelthe sound of thousands of people clapping andcheering. Finally the moment we've all beenwaiting for - runners set, go. And we're off. <strong>The</strong>uphill at the beginning is a bit cruel, but it's niceon the way to the finish. I just have one questionfor all of you who did the race and were upin the front. What was the deal with the kid inthe race who couldn't have been more than 12?He's lucky he didn't get trampled.Overall, I have to say that this race is alwayswell put together. It's amazing how well thisrace comes off each year with the huge numberof people who sign up. I can't even imaginepulling off a race of this size and having itgo that well. This year's race saw yet anotherrecord of entrants with 8,654 runners/walkers,almost 1,000 more than last year's race. Allthose runners and walkers represented 449 organizationswhich included 15 that didn't participatelast year. Even with a new sponsor therace still seemed to be exactly the same as inpast years. Time clocks at the 1, 2, and 3 milemarks so everyone can keep track of their splitsare wonderful. It's always great, coming downthat final straightaway to the people standingoutside the bars cheering you along, and keepsyou going when you think maybe you haven'tgot anything left. <strong>The</strong>n you reach the Plaza andthe sound is almost deafening. And one lastthing I have to mention about the course itself.Whoever's idea it was to have the fire engine atthe end of the race, you are a genius. That is thebest thing ever!!!I was extremely excited with this year's installmentas I managed to set a PR for the fourthstraight year. But at 24:30 that was nowherenear the winner's, so here are the highlightsof the results. On the men's side, Chuck Terryreturned to his winning ways, claiming victoryfor the third time in 17:35. Apparently Ben Engelhardtdidn't fly in at the last minute fromArizona for his "internship" with Fortitech Inc.Chuck Terry becomes only the third man to winthe race three times, trailing Rich Coughlin with4 wins, which includes two ties with fourteentime winner Tom Dalton. Terry was followedby Eamon Dempsey and Justin Bishop. On thewomen's side Emily McCabe came across firstfor the women with a time of 20:49 followed by2009 winner Tonya Dodge and 2007 winnerEileen Combs.But hey, this is a team race so let's take a lookat the team results. On the men's side ARE EventProductions took top honors, placing 4 finishersin the top 10, combing for a time of 1:13:17. <strong>The</strong>team from the College of Saint Rose finished insecond about 4 minutes behind ARE. Roundingout the top 3 was the first team from GeneralElectric. I want to see a job application for themto see if they ask about running abilities. <strong>The</strong>yjust have an absurd number of good runners, asthey also placed teams at 7th, 11th, and 15th.As I looked at race history it is littered with GEwinning the men's, women's, and Co-Ed divisions.<strong>The</strong> team I was on finished 37th out of252. As for the women, General Electric wonwith a time of 1:40:28 followed by my almamater Siena College and the NYS ComptrollersOffice. Finally with the Cooed teams, RPIcame in first with a time of 1:25:36, followed byQueensbury UFSD and Shenendehowa CentralSchool. It was a great day and a great time.<strong>The</strong> Boys and Girls <strong>Club</strong> was a great choice asthe charity of choice and received some donationsthat I'm sure will be put to good use. Ifyou didn't do it this year, do this race next year!<strong>The</strong>re were 15 organizations that were new thisyear. So, if you work for an organization thatdidn't do the race this year, put together a teamfor next year, you only need 4 men, 4 women,or 2 men and 2 women. 0NewN~I!I!C~embersHoward BancroftCarol BendallBill BennettRyan BoisvertGerry-Lynn BreslerLori BuckleyGeorge Bushey IIIDan Capuano<strong>The</strong> Carlow FamilyRoy CasperLaura DibbleMichael DonovanChris Duwejennifer ElliottAlan Elmorejoe FaulStephanie GatesKerry j. GebhardtDaniel GeorgeLeigh Ann GilsonMary HamiltonKeith HangenStephen HarrisWilliam HuberCynthia KellyMatthew LandyBill LearnSandra Matzeljill McGarryDerek McKendreeVicki McqueeneyShirley MerkertThomas C. MesserSylvia MlynarskaFrank MuellerColleen MurrayKimberly PeaseDiane PeverlyMary ReaDaniel RobertsLetticia Aviles-RudermanDavid RudermanLaurie ScheuingAnne-Marie SheehanMark & Vanita ShoemakerStephen j. Snyderjohn SplendidoRik StevensCollin StewartTim StowellKimberly ThomasGary Weinlein<strong>The</strong> <strong>Pace</strong> <strong>Setter</strong> - 17