Another huge "4th Sunday" success for Raptors at Lake Merritt

Post date: Jan 21, 2013 4:33:53 PM

November 25, 2012

Since many of our runners were coming off major successes at Thursday's "Nitro Turkey" and other races I wasn't sure what to expect for this race. But of course this is RAPTORS so I should have known the results would be somewhat spectacular.

We had five runners in the 5K and they were led by Nikhil who took off like a rocket and never slowed down. He finished eighth overall and first in his age division with a new 5K PR of 21:45 to go with his new mile PR (see right hand column)! Next up was Krisna with yet another PR (23:32) and another Raptor age group win, his first at Lake Merritt!

'Belle finished next with a run just a tad off her PR but still an excellent effort in 27:19.

Lily approaches the finish looking great!

Five minutes later came Belle's sister Lily. That's Belle's seven year old sister Lily! That's right, she attacked the 5K and finished happy with no problems in 33:25! The all-time Lake Merritt record for 7-year olds in the 5k is 32:34! That's right, Lily is less than a minute off the record in her her first-ever distance race!

Not long after Lily came Marina who is returning to racing after a longish layoff. Excellent effort!

In the 10K, Glen did us proud (we have got to get these people uniforms!) with a third overall finish in 43:30. Amazingly, this performance only netted him third in his age group as the first three were all "semi-oldsters." Glen was trailed by Esme's dad Jeff who won his age group with a nice 52:53. I think he said this was his first competitive race since 9th grade cross-country? We are trying to convince him to race more, since:

a.) he's doing great

b.) being 50 he is at the youngest end of his 50-60 age group!

Next up was Esme (yup, Dad beat her!) in 56:27. Esme not only won her age group, but set a new Lake Merritt record for 12-year-old girls in the 10K! Way to go Esme!

Esme finishing first loop of 10K looking happy!

On to the 15K. Jared was first Raptor finisher, 6th overall and age group winning (of course!) with a time of 1:10. This was Jared's last race before departing with dad for the Las Vegas 1/2 marathon where he will be running on the "Strip" which will be closed down for this race! Good luck, Jared!

Maureen was our next finisher at 4th woman and (need I even say this?) first in her age group with a 1:26 15K!

The 15K record-holders.

Our next two finishers, Chaia and Delaney virtually tied in 1:28 and in so doing became the youngest women ever to complete the 15K since LMJS tallied records! Since they are a year apart, these will both be established as age-specific records in the LMJS history database. Wow!

Sooo, we all decided to call this a very successful day and now it was time to eat! Fenton's of course is the official Raptors "post 4th Sunday" place of repast. I think as the club grows they are very happy (ka-ching!) to see us and we are even considering asking them to sign on as a club sponsor!

The post-race gang.

Nothing is wasted in Raptor land!

C'mon kids. Try to at least look happy!