Racing Around the Bay - Endurance Racing in the SF Bay Area

Free Race to Kick off Climate Week

by Craig Benson

4/22/24 - A Runners Mind in San Francisco is hosting a free, roughly four mile, race to commemorate climate week. The race will start and finish at the Runner Mind store on 3575 Sacramento Street. There will be coffee and pastries and ASICS shoes to try.

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Big weekend of racing for St. Patty's Day

by Craig Benson

3/12/24 - St. Patty's day weekend will really kick off the racing season. There's something for everyone this weekend, whether it's Guiness after your race at the San Jose Shamrock run, a full on running festival in Oakland, or running by the beach in Pacifica. See the running event page for all the above.

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Be careful out there

by Craig Benson

2/20/24 - Apparently there are some assholes out there trying to hit cyclists in the East Bay. As many as two dozen cyclists were targeted by cars or car doors.

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A quick recap of a busy weekend

by Craig Benson

It was an eventful weekend for running. Or, not running, as the case may be. First off the US Olympic Marathon trials were held in Orlando, Florida. The Bay Area was well represented by the likes of Malcolm Richards (West Valley Track Club, 44th, 2:18:32), Zachary Hine (Peninsula Distance Club, 131st, 2:28:07), Maya Weigel (Peninsula Distance Club, 20th, 2:32:16), and Holly Clarke (Peninsula Distance Club, 63rd, 2:39:55), among others. The women's race was won by Fiona O'keefe in a time of 2:22:10 (breaking the trials record) and on the men's side by Conner Mantz in 2:09:05.
The big bay area race, The kaiser Permanente 1/2 Marathon, had some serious weather issues. It began with a change in course, due to concern of falling trees in Golden Gate Park, and ended with a full cancelation on race morning.
Out at Rodeo Beach, Coastal Trail Runs hosted many a brave runner in the Golden Gate Winter Trail Run with distances from 5 miles to 50 K. The queen distance, 50K obvi, was won by Cameron Braaten in 5:11:20 and Jennie Nicholson in 5:20:33 for the men and women respectively. And, incidentally they finished in that order overall.

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A Recommendation: Checkout Amby Burfoot on Medium

by Craig Benson

Amby Burfoot has been putting out bi-weekly, or thereabouts, updates on the latest running and training science on his medium account. He does nice little snack-sized summaries with comments on the latest articles, theories, and fads.
In case you don't know who he is, Burfoot is an accomplished runner (winner of the '68 Boston marathon) and writer (former editor of Runner's World).
Examples of topics he's recently covered, ' 8 Fitness Myths You Should Totally Ignore', 'For Optimal Performance, Adopt A Flexible Midrace Mental Strategy', and 'Why Do Running Shoes Have Heel Counters?'. I highly recommend you take a look.

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New Year's Race Results.

by Craig Benson

Many intrepid souls braved the elements and raced before and/or after New Year's. The big race, in terms of time and distance, was the New Year's One day held at Hellyer park in San Jose. And the ladies were rockin' it! The top two spots overall were women. First place was Ayako Murai, with 118.6455 miles covered, followed by Lara Salamacha with 110.39 miles. Third place was Daniel Chang who covered slightly less than Lara with 109.36 miles.
Brazen racing had a set of races on New Year's Eve ( Full Results) and the same set of races on New Year's Day ( Full Results). For the premiere NYE race, the 1/2 Marathon, the men's winner was Misha Galant, in a time of 1:35:56. And the women's race was won by Erin Gunther with a time of 1:49:49.
The New Year's Day women's 1/2 was won by Alejandra Arroyo Rivera, with a time of 1:53:05, and on the men's side the winner was Anders Fox in 1:16:14. On a side note, my good friend, Pamakids board member, and the hardest working retired person I know, Pen Perez was second in her age group in the NYD 1/2. In other results, on New Year's Eve, Grant Johnson was first in the DSE Windmill 10K in 35:05, and on the women's side the winner was Nicole Moiseyev in 44:41. In New Year's day action in the Kiwanis New Year's Resolution Run, the first woman was Alex Baron with a time of 45:34, and the men's winner was Alexandros Zisimidis in 36:13.

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Healthy Alternatives to New Year's Drunkfests.

From Outdoorsbayarea.com by Craig Benson

Traditionally New Year's Eve is chock full of wild revelry, accompanied, on occasion, by regrets come New Year's Day. There are many people, though, either tired of the same old drunken scene year after year or simply by nature who would prefer something healthier and less fraught with questionable decisions. Here in the Bay Area, there are all kinds of opportunities to ring in the New Year with alternative, active, outdoor celebrations...

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WVTC Christmas Relays

by Craig Benson

The West Valley Track Club's PAUSATF Christmas Relays took place last weekend, Dec. 17th, and by all accounts a good time was had by all. Truth be told, I didn't actually talk to anyone, I'm assuming because it's usually a fun event.

The winning team in both the men's and women's open categories were the Peninsula Distance Club.

On the women's side, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th went to The Impalas, West Valley, and Excelsior.

And in the men's it was West Vaelly A and B, then Mean Mugs for 2nd - 4th.

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24 Hour Running World Championships

by Craig Benson

Miho Nakata set a new world record in the 24 Hour running world championships. She broke the existing world record, held by Camille Herron, by running 167.996 miles.

In second place was Olena Shevchenko, from the Ukraine, with 158.12 miles, and third was Patrycja Bereznowska of Poland who completed 155.06 miles.

The men's competition was won by Lithuanian Aleksandr Sorkin with 187.52 miles, followed by Fotios Zisimopoulos, from Greece, with 181.59 miles and another Ukraininan, Andrii Tkachuk, in third with 176.8 miles.

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50K World Record Set at Ruth Anderson!

CJ Albertson sets new world 50K record in 2:38:43

The Ruth Anderson Memorial Endurance Run took place in San Francisco this last weekend. There were multiple distances raced on the 4.5 mile, multi-loop course around Lake Merced. The men's winner for the 50K was CJ Albertson in a world record time of 2:38:43. He was followed (not closely) by Fermin Villagran in 2nd and Jeffrey Stern in 3rd. The womens 50K was won by Verity Breen in an Australian record time of 4:00:03. Second and third place in the women's category were Orly Liba and Louise Stephens, respectively. The 50 Mile men's race was won by perennial Bay Area favorite Chikara Omine and the women's 50 miler was won (and 4th overall) by Thia Angelo in a time of 6:36:47.

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USARA ADVENTURE RACE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP - Sept. 16-17, 2022

Team Toyota Tundra are national champions for 2nd year in a row

What's adventure racing you may ask? Well, it's a team ultra-distance multi-sport offroad endurance competition that typically includes running, mtn. biking, kayaking, ropes work, and other evil things depending on how mean the race director is. Teams must navigate during the whole race and the nature of the course isn't known known until race day. Just to be clear this isn't a relay, the whole team does everything.
This particular race is a 30 hour event which is an estimate by the race director how long the fastest teams will take.

52nd Annual Walt Stack DSE Runners Double Dipsea - Aug 27, 2022

Another Double Dipsea is in the books

Another Double Dipsea is in the books and another great race by Brazen racing. This year's version of the out and back handicapped 13.7 mile race was won by Quinn Coyle, 26 of San Francisco, followed closely Jonah Backstrom, 48 of San Francisco. in the women's race the winner was Virginia Calkins, 34 of San Francisco, followed less than a minute later by 61 year old Vicky Bray-Johnson of Angels Camp.

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Skyline 50K - 8/7/22

The 40th running of the Skyline 50K took place this past weekend in the hills of the East Bay. This race is one of the longest continuously running ultras in the country ( barring COVID interruptions). And as always it didn't disappoint. The women's race was won by the ever dominant Kristina Randrup, winning wire to wire in a time of 4:34:11 and 11th overall. Randrup has reached legend status for the Skyline 50K having won three of the last five races and coming in second in the other two, including her first ultra ever in the 2017 version of the race. Second place in the women's was Isabel Diaz with a time of 5:11:26 and very quickly (in ultra terms ) followed by Verity Breen in 5:15:46.

The men's race was won by Chikara Omine in a time of 3:36:08. Omine, a well known and highly accomplished Bay Area ultra runner, first ran, and won, the Skyline 50k all the way back in 2005. Andrew Catanese came in second with a time of 3:53:14, repeating his results from 2021 and improving his time by 1:16. In third place was David Tran, also, like Omine, representing the Excelsior Track club, in a time of 3:59:21

Full Results »

24 Hours in the Enchanted Forest

From medium by Craig Benson

It’s 3 AM, I’m laying in the back of the spotlessly clean rental car tormented by feelings of inadequacy and self-doubt, anxiously checking if the charged indicator on the bike light has turned green, as if the more I look the faster it will recharge — a watched pot and all that. I’m 15 hours into a solo 24 hour... ....

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