The Summer is Definitely Here

With temperatures already soaring into the 90s in early June, there is no doubt that the summer is here.  Along with it have come some blazing fast times by our men and women.

At Damien's Run this past weekend, the line was filled with a number of "bounty hunters", aiming to score some prize money and potentially a $500 bonus for breaking the course records (Men - 14:32, Women - 16:37).  Both races saw the records broken, with finishing times of 14:23 (Abiyot Endale) and 16:35 (Teszata Desalage).

Behind the leaders, there was a strong contingent of Striders, with some outstanding performances:

-- Jeremy Rea, who has just recently begun to do track work again, ran a solid race (16:56, 6th).
-- In his first race as a master, Jason Tripp (17:33) began his winning streak with a convincing victory over fellow Strider master runner, Mike Colaiacovo (10th, 18:23)
-- Craig Lebro made it under the 18-minute barrier (17:53)
-- UnSong Ostrowski, suffered her first defeat of the year to a record-breaking winner, but still ran a very strong 18:46, good for 2nd
-- Kelly Westlake ran a great race, finishing less than 10 seconds behind UnSong (18:56) and taking the award for first female master.
-- Robyn had a tough day, but still managed to run a 19:27, which is nothing to frown at
-- John Chall and Dorothy Beckett took the grand master awards, with times of 19:01 and 22:08, respectively
-- Bobby Gessler finished 2nd in the grandmaster category (19:46)

Photos from the race are available here and full results are available on the Striders website.