Lee, So Cal eat up Turkey Trot* (Updated)

Paced by Debbie Lee‘s second-place finish in the W50 bracket of the Masters 5K, So Cal Track Club runners aquitted themselves well in one of the club’s primary off-season races, the Dana Point Turkey Trot on Thanskgiving.

Lee, less than a year from exiting the W50-54 bracket, covered the 5K course in 21:21, bested only by a new 50-year-old.

Lee’s Turkey Trot feat followed on her victory in the W50-and-up division of the Southern California USATF Cross Country Grand Prix series.

In the 10K,  Barry Givens battled to second place in the M35 division and 28th overall, clocking 33:59. Teammate Jon Coletti was next in the M35 bracket, clocking 36:20.

Moving back to the Masters 5K, Mark Hulme grabbed sixth in the M45 division with his 17:15 effort. Darren Cox (17:41) won third-place honors in the M40 bracket. Matt Armbruster was ninth among the M45s at 18:01. Mark Cleary was fourth among the M50s, clocking 19:07.

Siri Kristjansson grabbed third among the 35-39 women, clocking 20:05.

Full results are at http://www.turkeytrot.com/raceresults.shtml

 

SoCal harriers dash for cash

The USATF Southern California Association for the first time this year offered cash prizes for the top Masters (40-plus and 50-plus) runners during the five-race Cross Country Grand Prix, and four So Cal Track Club runners earned paydays at the finale, Nov. 13 at Huntington Beach Central Park. (For full results, go to http://www.scacrosscountry.org).

Debbie Lee was the top point-scorer among the 50-plus women, earning $200. She won her 6K race at the SCA Champs (26:51.5)  to lock up the title. Right behind Debbie in the 50-plus standings was So Cal’s Jan Tefft, who picked up the $75 second-place money. Jan also second in the finale (29:23.6).

Debbie Lee (731) at Sacramento Nationals.

Mark Cleary’s fifth-place finish in the finale (23:49.8) gave him enough points to grab the $75 second-place series money.

Also placing in the 50-plus top 10 in the Grand Prix were So Cal’s Tim Anderson (5th), William Ward (6th), Chuck Douglas (7th), Perry Forrester (9th) and Brian Nelson (10th).

In the men’s 40-plus Grand Prix, John (Andy) Van Sciver piled up enough points to take third place and the $50 prize.

Other So Cal runners who placed in the 40-plus series standings included Mark Hulme (10th), Michael Wixted (11th), Matt Armbruster (13th), Darren Cox (14th), Mike Dietz (16th), Steven Rivera (17th), and Robert Gates (23rd).

So Cal also had two runners finish high in the series rankings for Open men: Barry Givens took fourth, and Jon Coletti took 19th).

Congratulations to all our teammates who toughed it out during the fall cross-country season and good luck to anyone competing Dec. 11 in the USATF National Club Cross Country Championships and Open and Masters 6K Championships, in  Charlotte, N.C.