Many say, it's the standard by which all runners are measured...
How fast can "YOU" run the mile?!

THE NICK BOTTONE TRACK MILE

Tuesday, July 21st, 2009 6PM
Westerly High School Track
25 Ward Avenue, Westerly RI

Registration begins at 5:30
Timed heats for children & adults

Presented by Westerly Track & Athletic Club - TOM McCOY FAMILY FUN RUN SERIES
Timed by Southern New England Road Race Officials (SNERRO)
(NO ENTRY FEE)

Info: Call (401) 377-2306
E-mail: nbotjr@cox.net
www.westerlytrackclub.org

CARE TO ANSWER THE QUESTION?

As summer is approaching, we are drawing closer to the Annual Bishop Hendricken Wild Dog Triathlon. It is a great pleasure for us to be able to host athletes from Rhode Island and around the world every year for this fun event. This year the race will be taking place on Sunday, August, 16th at Colt State Park and Bristol Town Beach in historic Bristol, Rhode Island.

Since its inception in 1996, this event has raised over $80,000 for the Alumni Scholarship Fund. However, this would not be possible without the amazing help we receive from volunteers each year. We need volunteers for registration, lifeguards, massage therapy, bike and run route stations, refreshments and take down. We also have sponsorship opportunities where with a minimum donation of $300 you will receive acknowledgements in all publications and recognition on the day of the race as well as on the back of our trendy commemorative tee-shirts. So come on out to this enjoyable event and help us continue to provide valuable scholarship opportunities for deserving Hendricken students. [The deadline for submitted artwork is July 13]

We would greatly appreciate your support of the Bishop Hendricken Wild Dog Triathlon and we thank you for your important part in fostering our school's mission.

Contact Peter Thomas by e-mail at pthomas@hendricken.com

Fly Away 5K and 2 Mile Walk set for June 7th

The Barrington High School Booster's 2nd annual Fly Away 5K and 2 mile walk is scheduled to go off (rain or shine) on June 7th at the Barrington Middle School on Middle Highway.

The event will start at 9:30 a.m. with a kid's fun run and the 5K run and 2 mile walk will follow at 10:00 am. There will be child activities for the kids after their race, so that the parents can run or walk.

The proceeds from the event will benefit the Barrington High School Boosters program and the high school's athletic programs.

There will be cash prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place male and female finishers ($100, $75 and $50). The top team (based on an aggregate time of its top 3 members) will receive $50. There will also be prizes for various age brackets. All kids fun run participants receive a prize.

The course is USATF sanctioned and certified and will head down Middle Highway, go right on Nayatt Road, north on Washington Rd, right on South Lake Dr. and finishes back at Barrington Middle School. It is truly one of Rhode Island's most scenic road races!

In addition to the races, there will be many other race day festivities including a runner's raffle, professional booths, a DJ and MC and three Barrington High School student bands including: The Valar, Absence of Sanity and Childe Harold.

For more information, or if you'd like to register, go online to: www.flyaway5k.com. Day of race registration begins at 8:30 a.m.

Fly Away 5K and 2 Mile Walk set for June 7th

The Barrington High School Booster's 2nd annual Fly Away 5K and 2 mile walk is scheduled to go off (rain or shine) on June 7th at the Barrington Middle School on Middle Highway.

The event will start at 9:30 a.m. with a kid's fun run and the 5K run and 2 mile walk will follow at 10:00 am. There will be child activities for the kids after their race, so that the parents can run or walk.

The proceeds from the event will benefit the Barrington High School Boosters program and the high school's athletic programs.

There will be cash prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place male and female finishers ($100, $75 and $50). The top team (based on an aggregate time of its top 3 members) will receive $50. There will also be prizes for various age brackets. All kids fun run participants receive a prize.

The course is USATF sanctioned and certified and will head down Middle Highway, go right on Nayatt Road, north on Washington Rd, right on South Lake Dr. and finishes back at Barrington Middle School. It is truly one of Rhode Island's most scenic road races!

In addition to the races, there will be many other race day festivities including a runner's raffle, professional booths, a DJ and MC and three Barrington High School student bands including: The Valar, Absence of Sanity and Childe Harold.

For more information, or if you'd like to register, go online to: www.flyaway5k.com. Day of race registration begins at 8:30 a.m.

The former American record holder in the 3,000m steeplechase, Anna Willard won the women's 800m in a world-leading 1:59.29 Saturday at the 2009 Reebok Grand Prix at Icahn Stadium.

Running a conservative race for the first 700m, Willard kicked into high gear over the last 100 to overtake three-time Olympian Hazel Clark and 2008 Olympic finalist Kenia Sinclair of Jamaica.

After making the Olympic Games final in the steeplechase and finishing ninth, Willard decided she needed a change and made the move to the Mammoth Track Club and Coach Terrence Mahon. Since the switch, Willard won the USA Indoor 1,500m title 4:17.37 and the BAA road mile in 4:38.6.

Asked about her win, she said: "The plan was to show I had another gear at 700. Even though I was third, with the last 100 I knew I could just kick and win."

The former American record holder in the 3,000m steeplechase, Anna Willard won the women's 800m in a world-leading 1:59.29 Saturday at the 2009 Reebok Grand Prix at Icahn Stadium.

Running a conservative race for the first 700m, Willard kicked into high gear over the last 100 to overtake three-time Olympian Hazel Clark and 2008 Olympic finalist Kenia Sinclair of Jamaica.

After making the Olympic Games final in the steeplechase and finishing ninth, Willard decided she needed a change and made the move to the Mammoth Track Club and Coach Terrence Mahon. Since the switch, Willard won the USA Indoor 1,500m title 4:17.37 and the BAA road mile in 4:38.6.

Asked about her win, she said: "The plan was to show I had another gear at 700. Even though I was third, with the last 100 I knew I could just kick and win."

Her time of 9:26.85 was the fastest time ever run on American soil. Lindsay Anderson, runner-up to Willard at the Olympic Trials, again placed second to Willard with her time of 9:37.88.

Westerly Track & Athletic Club

Every Wednesday, June 17th - Aug. 19th
6 PM

Pleasant View Inn - 65 Atlantic Ave.
Misquamicut, RI

Childrens' Races - 1/4 & 3/10 Mile
Scenic Runs of - 1, 2, & 3 Miles for Adults

(NO ENTRY FEE)

A liability waiver is required.
One signing is good for the season.

Contact info - Tom McCoy (860) 599-1219
Nick Bottone Jr. (401) 377-2306
(e-mail) nbotjr@cox.net

www.westerlytrackclub.org

The road wasn't exactly smooth, but Jason Pisano added two more marathons to his resume over the past several weeks and is now five marathons away from reaching his ultimate goal of 51.

"I'd like to thank my entire crew and all of my supporters," said Pisano, communicating via e-mail by typing with his big toe. "It was a bad two marathons for me this year. I was a little depressed about my times, but I'm better now. I promise I'll be back better than ever."

Journal photo/Kathy Borchers

The 37-year-old West Warwick native, who has cerebral palsy and propels himself backward in a wheelchair, completed marathon No. 45, last month at the Boston Marathon. He was determined to make his 15th straight appearance at the famed race despite injuring his right foot in mid-March.

"It wasn't fractured but I have a bursa on my little toe knuckle, a precursor to a fracture," Pisano said. "I felt good in Boston up until about 9 miles. I hit my foot and that really did me in, and my hip always hurts after 13 to 15miles in."

Accompanied by longtime college friend Randy Spellman and Spellman's co-worker "Q," Pisano - who holds a personal best of 6:32 at Boston - continued on despite the pain, crossing the finish line in 9 hours, 54 minutes.

Then it was on to marathon No. 46 - the Cox Sports Marathon, May 3 in Providence.

At the advice of his foot doctor, Pisano took about a week and a half off from training after Boston to allow his injured foot time to heal before embarking on that endurance run. And what an endurance run it turned out to be.

A wrong turn at some point along the route sent Pisano way off course. He did not quit, however, and finished in 14 hours, 40 minutes, finally crossing the finish line at about 9 o'clock that night.

"It was very long and very hard!" said Pisano, who was accompanied by aide Nathan Tompkins for the first 15 miles and aid Gus DeSimone the rest of the way. "Betwen my hip, foot and my age, I don't know. I wasn't in that much pain for this one. I took ten days off before to rest my foot. It was just that the course was so flat and the uphills didn't allow me to get my pace up at all. However, I was already off pace before we got lost so it was just a recipe for a long race. However, the thought of quitting never crossed my mind '26.2 or die' is my motto."

And regardless of the time it took him to finish, Pisano still moved two marathons closer to achieving his ultimate goal. He was originally aiming to do 50, but says he upped it to 51 after a conversation with former boxer Vinny Paz.

"One night we were out, and I told him I'd do him one better," Pisano said. "Because he had 50 wins in his boxing career, I told him I'd one-up him and get 51 completed marathons without ever quitting!"

Pisano next plans to tackle the Blessing of the Fleet 10-Miler in Narragansett this summer.

In the meantime, he is embarking upon two new ventures - motivational speaking and personal training. A two-time gold medalist (thrust kick and distance kick) at the 2005 Cerebral Palsy-International Sports and Recreation World Championships, he recently gave a presentation at Hope High School and hopes to do more. He says he has also begun offering personal training at Gold's Gym in Warwick.

In addition, the University of Connecticut graduate and freelance journalist has written a children's book about a young boy in a wheelchair learning to adapt to a regular school for the first time. He says he is currently trying to find a publisher.

Read more about Pisano and his exploits on his "Team Pisano" blog at http://teampisano.blogspot.com/ He can also be reached via e-mail at jprunr@aol.com

The road wasn't exactly smooth, but Jason Pisano added two more marathons to his resume over the past several weeks. He is now five marathons away from reaching his ultimate goal of 51.

"I'd like to thank my entire crew and all of my supporters," said Pisano, communicating via e-mail by typing with his big toe. "It was a bad two marathons for me this year. I was a little depressed about my times, but I'm better now. I promise I'll be back better than ever."

The 37-year-old West Warwick native, who has cerebral palsy and propels himself backward in a wheelchair, completed marathon No. 45, last month at the Boston Marathon. He was determined to make his 15th straight appearance at the famed race despite injuring his right foot in mid-March.

"It wasn't fractured but I have a bursa on my little toe knuckle, a precursor to a fracture," Pisano said. "I felt good in Boston up until about 9 miles. I hit my foot and that really did me in, and my hip always hurts after 13 to 15miles in."

Accompanied by longtime college friend Randy Spellman and Spellman's co-worker "Q," Pisano - who holds a personal best of 6:32 at Boston - continued on despite the pain, crossing the finish line in 9 hours, 54 minutes.

Then it was on to marathon No. 46 - the Cox Sports Marathon, May 3 in Providence.

At the advice of his foot doctor, Pisano took about a week and a half off from training after Boston to allow his injured foot time to heal before embarking on that endurance run. And what an endurance run it turned out to be.

A wrong turn at some point along the route sent Pisano way off course. He did not quit, however, and finished in 14 hours, 40 minutes, finally crossing the finish line at about 9 o'clock that night.

"It was very long and very hard!" said Pisano, who was accompanied by aide Nathan Tompkins for the first 15 miles and aid Gus DeSimone the rest of the way. "Betwen my hip, foot and my age, I don't know. I wasn't in that much pain for this one. I took ten days off before to rest my foot. It was just that the course was so flat and the uphills didn't allow me to get my pace up at all. However, I was already off pace before we got lost so it was just a recipe for a long race. However, the thought of quitting never crossed my mind '26.2 or die' is my motto."

And regardless of the time it took him to finish, Pisano still moved two marathons closer to achieving his ultimate goal. He was originally aiming to do 50, but says he upped it to 51 after a conversation with former boxer Vinny Paz.

"One night we were out, and I told him I'd do him one better," Pisano said. "Because he had 50 wins in his boxing career, I told him I'd one-up him and get 51 completed marathons without ever quitting!"

Pisano next plans to tackle the Blessing of the Fleet 10-Miler in Narragansett this summer.

In the meantime, he is embarking upon two new ventures - motivational speaking and personal training. A two-time gold medalist (thrust kick and distance kick) at the 2005 Cerebral Palsy-International Sports and Recreation World Championships, he recently gave a presentation at Hope High School and hopes to do more. He says he has also begun offering personal training at Gold's Gym in Warwick.

In addition, the University of Connecticut graduate and freelance journalist has written a children's book about a young boy in a wheelchair learning to adapt to a regular school for the first time. He says he is currently trying to find a publisher.

Read more about Pisano and his exploits on his "Team Pisano" blog at http://teampisano.blogspot.com/ He can also be reached via e-mail at jprunr@aol.com

Click here to check out their newly-updated web site.

Men's field reprises last year, plus Low - plus Wyatt?
Women's race: Erholz defends title, Pichrtova likely returning

When the 49th running of the annual Mt. Washington Road Race begins at 10 a.m. on Saturday, June 20, the front of the starting line will look a lot like what it looked like in 2008: intense. Five of the top six male finishers in last year's Run To The Clouds, including two-time defending champion Eric Blake, of New Britain, Conn., are returning to face the triple challenge of the hill itself, the unpredictable Mt. Washington weather, and the tight competition they provide for each other.

Just one significant difference is likely: Clint Wells, who lost a thrilling duel against Blake in the final staircase-steep 50 yards of the 2008 race, is not entered this year. Instead, former U.S. Mountain Runner of the Year Paul Low, of Northfield, Vermont, kept out of last year's race by an injury, will return for his sixth attempt to win a race where he has finished 2nd three times, 3rd and 4th once each.

Joining the battle up front will be Rickey Gates of Boulder, Colorado, 3rd last year; Joe Gray of Lakewood, Washington, 4th in his debut here in 2008; three-time Mt. Washington champion Simon Gutierrez of Alamosa, Colo., 5th overall last year in a new master's course record; and Matt Byrne of Scranton, Pennsylvania, 6th in his debut here last year. Others in the men's field include local favorite Kevin Tilton of North Conway, NH, Jason Bryant of Elkin, NC (9th here two years ago), and Juan Guillermo Jaramillo, a Colombian mountain runner living in Milford, N.H. who placed 6th at Mt. Washington in 2007.

One uncertainty hovers in the background. Jonathan Wyatt, the World Mountain Running Champion who holds the course record at Mt. Washington, is considering including a return to the White Mountains for this year's race. Watch for updates.

The women's race may be easy to call - or not. Brandy Erholz, of Bailey, Colo., who won last year in her first appearance at Mt. Washington, is returning and may be regarded as the favorite, but veterans of this race know that the outcome most likely depends on what kind of shape Anna Pichrtova is in. Pichrtova, of the Czech Republic and one of the greatest mountain runners in the world over the past ten years, is planning a return to Mt. Washington after an assortment of injuries that kept her out of the 2008 race and have compromised her training. In seven previous appearances at Mt. Washington, Pichrtova has won six times and finished second once, outkicked in 2006 by then-World Champion Melissa Moon of New Zealand after Moon ran just off Pichrtova's shoulder for most of the race. Moon, who finished just two seconds shy of the course record that year, has not returned to Mt. Washington.

The women's field will include several other strong contenders, among them Alison Bryant of Elkin, N.C, who finished 3rd at Mt. Washington in 2007 and 5th last year; Camille Herron of Lafayette, Indiana, 6th here last year; Keri Nelson of Gunison, Colo., 7th last year; Kelli Lusk of Manitou Springs, Colo., who has several times placed in the top ten; and Lisa Goldsmith of Nederland, Colo., who will contend for the women's masters prize, which she won here in 2007, and may finish in the top ten in the open race as well.

Last year Blake won the men's open race in one hour and 39 seconds, and Erholtz won the women's in 1:11:08.

The men's masters race will be a battle as usual. Although Gutierrez is the clear favorite, the field also includes three-time Mt. Washington winner Dave Dunham of Ward Hill, Mass., and Eric Morse of Berlin, Vermont.

Mt. Washington veterans pay considerable attention to age-group prizes, and several age-group records may be in jeopardy this year. Two in particular that are likely to fall are the men's record for ages 50-54, as Craig Fram of Plaistow, NH, the 1997 Mt. Washington winner and formerly the master's course record-holder, is now 50 years old; and the record for women aged 80 years and up, as Mt. Washington veteran Hildy Fosse of Holderness, NH, recently turned 80. The men's 60-64-year record may also be threatened, as Mike McMusker of Buckland, Mass., squares off against fellow-60-year-old Barry Spitz of San Anselmo, California. The oldest runner entered in the race is George Etzweiler, 89, of State College, Pennsylvania.

Sponsored by Northeast Delta Dental, with additional support from New England Runner magazine, Bridgton Academy and La Sportiva, the Mt. Washington Road Race is a 7.6-mile ascent to the 6288-foot summit of the highest peak in the northeastern United States, at an average grade of 12 percent. Each year the race attracts close to 1000 runners for the steepest all-uphill race on a paved road anywhere.

The weather, the available parking space for vehicles that bring finishers back down from the summit, and the capacity of the Auto Road all contribute to limiting the size of the field. At the same time, the number of runners hoping to run the race each year typically approaches 2000. Granite State Race Services, organizers of the event, operate a computerized lottery to give an equal chance to every applicant who signs up on line any time between March 1 and 15. Entrants this year come from 35 states and 4 Canadian provinces.

The top runners will compete for the first prize of $1000 for first male and female finisher overall, with a $5000 bonus for breaking the men's or women's course record and a $2000 bonus awarded by New England Runner magazine to a man or woman breaking the master's record. The men's course record for the Mt. Washington Road Race is 56 minutes 41.0 seconds, set in 2004 by New Zealand's Jonathan Wyatt, three-time World Mountain Running Champion. The women's record is one hour 10 minutes 8.2 seconds, set by Sweden's Magdalena Thorsell in 1998. The masters records are 1:01:33.7, set last year by Simon Gutierrez of Alamosa, Colorado, and 1:13:33.6, also set last year, by Laura Haefeli of DelNorte, Colorado.