Old and new Raptors have one of the club's best days ever at Brazen "Nitro Turkey."

Post date: Jan 21, 2013 4:27:08 PM

November 22, 2012

Once I got to this race all was great. But the lead-up was a mess! First, all dressed in warm riding clothes I hopped on the Triumph and hit the starter button. "Ruh-ruh.-ruuuh." Dead battery. Crud. Well, I'll hop on the Suzuki. Same thing: ruh-ruuuh." Sheesh! So, I dashed back into the house, shed the riding gear and grabbed the keys to the Miata. All was now fine as I ventured up 880 until about Cutting Ave. when this incredible noise began. It was kind of a shrieking and grinding sound, like the hounds of hell were in my car! Frantically I scanned the gauges and idiot lights. All looked fine and the car seemed to be running normally. Finally I noticed the speedometer. It said I was going 120 mph! Then it said I was going 40. . . then 80. Aha! Either the cable or the speedo itself was screwed up. Well, whatever damage there is is already done so no reason to stop!

So, I came howling into the parking area, shut the car off and proceeded to the starting line. This race was sold out so the crowd was immense. Even so, there were enough Raptors there that it was easy to find familiar faces.

Ben, before the start.

Like most Brazen races, the Nitro/Pt. Pinole races are geared to the runners, not the spectators (quite different from our middle school XC league where we strive to put the best show on for the parents, in terms of seeing their kids as much as possible) so everyone basically disappears and then comes back at the end. This allows me to enjoy the snacks and free coffee that make me like Brazen races so much!

When the runners began returning the results, club-wise were spectacular. First Raptor across the line was Sebastian from Longfellow middle school in Berkeley. Sebastian had just emailed me the day before asking if he could join Raptors since, with XC season over he now had more time. Sebastian is a great kid and a very good runner so I of course I enthusiastically said "Yes!" But I might have made even more fuss had I known. . . Sebastian was third overall in the 5K. Not in his age group but overall. He's an 8th grader!

As the 6K and 10K runners began to arrive in clumps it became obvious that this was an excellent day for the Raptors.

Here's what happened:

Ben won his age group (Boys 9-12) with Krisna second.

Raptors girls finished 1-2-3 in the girl's 9-12 division! Isabelle, who was just out for an easy, fun run was first, followed by new Raptor, MLK runner and first-time-ever 5K'er Mia and then what appears from the results to be Sebastian's sister Natalie who will instantly be drafted into Raptors if this is the case!

Mia, in her first 5K, flying down the hill.

Toby, still on a roll, finished a spectacular tenth overall in the 5K and third in his age group. And it looks like Isabelle's grandpa, Joe, finished third in his age group!

That was just the 5K!

In the 10K, first Raptor's finisher was Abe's dad, Gabor who finished second overall in the 10K and first in his age division with a rapid 38:15!

Not to be outdone, Chaia finished first in her age division and Delaney took first in hers and, Delaney's mom Maureen took third in her age group!

Chaia and Delaney enjoy the spoils of victory.

OH! Nolan's dad John won his age group in the 10K!

Chaia presents a closeup of the typically cool Brazen medals.

So let's add all this up. We had:

2nd overall in the 10K

3rd overall in the 5K

Six age group winners

Twelve top-3 finishers in various age groups!

Some of the winnahs!

Wow! And let me stress again that this was not some podunk, "chery pick" of a race. It was sold out. While some of our runners had eaten, gotten medals, taken pictures, etc. and were preparing to leave, there were still runners--lots of them--still visible out on the course!

So that's quite mind-blowing but the best is yet to come! Here's a list (off the top of my head, sorry if I forget anyone) of those who were not there:

Annabel (see right hand column), Nikhil (ditto), Max, Henry, 'Belle, Lily, Jamie, Michael, Riley, Shelby and. . . Jared!

NOTE: this is not some chastisement for those not there! We only want our runners to run when they want to run. It's just to show that this club is getting very powerful!