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Bert Whitson and John Burgos race to the finish at the Pasadena Half/Full/Relay Marathon

While only a few years old, the Kaiser Permanente Pasadena Marathon has created a formula for success in the crowded Southern California road running circuit, selling out all of its events for 2012. Runners who know Pasadena trained for a course that presented some hills, but were also rewarded with a scenic course that includes the Rose Bowl and a route that parallels the beautiful Arroyo Seco River.

7000 runners took to the streets of Pasadena on Sunday, May 20 to race a full marathon, half marathon, 10K, 5K, or a kid’s run 1K. In addition, race director Israel Estrada worked closely with USATF and Pasadena-based Gritty City Track Club to organize an invitational relay marathon event, the first relay marathon in the Los Angeles area since the demise of the fabled Jimmy Stewart Relay Marathon in 2006.

USATF LDR Chair Wayne Joness, ARC Runners Sergio Arias, Brian Ramos, and team captain Gerard Deegan, and USATF member/volunteer Rebecca Trahan

In the full marathon competition, Alexander Garabedian (M20) of the Santa Monica Track Club led the way for USATF runners with a time of 2:58:26. Finishing right behind Garabedian was three-time defending Pasadena Marathon Champion, and 2012 Olympic Trials qualifier Mandy Grantz (F25) representing the home-town favorites Gritty City Track Club. The USATF masters competition was won by the ubiquitous long distance running machine, Joe Ogata (M63), with a time of 3:48:30. In the last ten years, Ogata has run more than 100 marathons, consistently qualifying for the Boston Marathon in his age-group. And rounding out the masters competition was Cheri Rich (F50) with a time of 4:05:09.

In the half marathon, 2012 USATF Southern California Marathon Champion Mark Batres (M27) of Run With Us had a comfortable finish of 1:11:50. Underlining the depth and talent of the Gritty City Track Club was team member Nicole Luque (F32) finishing in 1:31:17. In addition to her athletic abilities, Luque is well-known as a reliable volunteer for various races, and scores the Road Running Grand Prix as well.

Gritty City Track Club runners at the finish line.

While most of the Cal Coast Track Club raced the previous day at the Magic Shoe 5K, distance specialists Matt Ebiner (M51) and Linda Hodgson (F57) represented their team well in Pasadena with first-place masters times of 1:15:57 for Ebiner and 1:44:42 for Hodgson. There can be no doubt that the Cal Coast Track Club is determined to dominate road racing in the Southern California Association: they were the only club to field teams at both the Magic Shoe 5K and the Pasadena Marathon, and Cal Coast won both days, taking a record-breaking 4623 points at the Magic Shoe 5K, and 3593 points at the Pasadena Half/Full Marathon, edging out the Gritty City Track Club with 3593 points.

Relay Marathon runners at the first (10K) handoff point.

Flying under the radar was the Pasadena Relay Marathon, a joint effort of the Pasadena Marathon and USATF Southern California to explore developing a new relay marathon event. Participation was limited to six local teams, with A Runner’s Circle fielding three teams of runners, the Gritty City Track Club contributing two teams, and the Pasadena Pacers with one team. A Runner’s Circle pushed the pace, finishing in 2:35:25, with “True Grit” (Gritty City Track Club) second with a time of 2:42:47. The five person relay marathon was formatted according to national rules, with legs of 10 km, 5 km, 10 km, 5 km and a stretch of 12.2 km to the finish line. Special thanks to Gritty City member Alex Bruno who did much of the organizing to make this event possible, and even drove one of the transport vans used to ferry runners around the course on race day

A festive atmosphere, great weather, a worthy cause, and a fast course greeted over 900 registered runners at the “Biggest little 5000 in Orange County”.  The streets of Newport Beach were host to over 170 SCA USATF participants for the fifth race in the 2012 USATF Grand Prix Road running series.  Coach Sumner usually engineers a fast course and the competitors did not disappoint with 4 men running sub-15 minutes and 20 Men in the field under 16 minutes.

Magic Shoe 5K Start

On the men’s open side, Roosevelt Cook (M32) from Cal Coast Track Club was the top USATF finisher with a time of 14:55.  Carlos Carballo (M29) running for adidas Legacy Run Racing was second at 14:59 and Jorge Jabaz (M25) finished third at 15:03.  Just 8 seconds separated the top 3 USATF men in a very close competition.

USATF Members Peter Magill (left) and Yermie Cohen (right). Magill is on his way to setting a new mens 50-54 5K record: 15:05.

The women’s open field was also very competitive with The Janes Elite Racing runner Erika Akulfi (F36) winning with a time of 16:43. With the strength of her four fantastic races this year Erika is positioned to move to the top of the women’s Grand Prix standings.  Second place went to Jenni Johnson (F32) at 17:01 and close behind in third place was Brooks ID runner and 2012 USATF Southern California Marathon Champion Sara Raschiatore (F31) with a time of 17:22.

Magic Shoe 5K Competitors

In the men’s masters division Peter Magill (M50) from Cal Coast Track Club was first with a 15:05.  Magill’s feat was amazing in the fact that he had just broken Ken Ernst’s 5000M record on the track at the Oxy Invitational on May 5th with a time of 15:11.  The 15:05 is a new American 5K Road Record, run on the recently certified 5K course.  Ken Ernst (M50) and Jeff Ambos (M50) also teammates of Peter from Cal Coast Track Club finished in second and third with times of 15:52 and 15:55 respectively.

Club Ed Running standout runner Nathalie Higley (F42) at 17:02 was the top masters woman and also moved up to challenge for a top spot in the women’s Grand Prix standings.  Ingrid Walters (F40) also from The Janes Elite Racing finished second at 19:06.  Cal Coast Track Club’s Rosalva Bonilla (F49) finished third at 19:10 and will maintain her position as one of the top 3 women in the overall Grand Prix standings.

Team Domination: Cal Coast Track Club

In the team competition, Cal Coast Track Club running on their home turf took the team competition with 4623 Grand Prix points, which is the single highest club score in the history of the USATF Southern California Road Running Grand Prix. This astonishing accomplishment was certainly helped by Magill’s new American Record in the 5K.  Club Ed was second with 4250 points followed closely by The Janes Elite Racing with 4201 points.

Competing in the Youth Road Running Grand Prix, the Equalizers continued their domination with 4347 points, a score which would put them among the top Open- Masters teams. With many teams approaching 5 races, lower race scores will be dropped and we should see all of the team jockeying for position as the Grand Prix will move to Santa Barbara and the Semana-Nautica 15K on the Fourth of July.

It was an excellent course! Great information!

The Long Story