JOURNAL

• The Al Gordon 15K was the first men's scoring race of the year, and drew more than 30 entrants from our team.  The fact that this was a two-loop race meant that there were multiple opportunities for our photographers.  In the end, there are 83 photos on this one page.  While this cold, blustery day was not pleasant for outdoor activities, our photographers were heartened by the heavy presence of the orange singlets among the race leaders.  The men's team won this race, placing 10 people among the top 30 finishers of the race.

PRE-RACE

• Photo 01:  Our two candidates for the most under-dressed runners of the day are Toby Tanser and Alan Ruben.  Alan loses due to the additional headband and gloves.  This was a cold, blustery day that only the brave would go out like this.
• Photo 02:  Our triathlete he-man Scott Willett has already done one hour of swimming and two hours of biking before getting here.  He plans to do two hours of running before heading back to the pool for more swimming, after which he will bike home from south Manhattan to Westchester.  The preceding schedule is fiction, but perhaps not too far from the truth.  What is definitely true is that he was observed (by Tyronne Culpepper) to be sprinting up the big hill repeatedly on his bike last weekend in New Jersey.
• Photo 03:  Ross Galitsky sneaks up to the V.I.P. podium for a photo op.
• Photo 04:  An unusual warmup exercise by Olivier Baillet.  We advise him to obtain a patent immediately.
• Photo 05:  Up to the start, right in front of the first mat is Toby Tanser.  His main rival today is Fouzi Alaoui of Warren Street.

1200m MARK (West 97th Street; top of the hill)

• Photo 11:  Toby Tanser and Fouzi Alaoui made a clean break away from the rest of the field immediately.
• Photo 12:  The pair of Erik Goetze and Richie Borrero
• Photo 13:  Craig Plummer looked like as if he was taking a stroll in the countryside --- Walkman on this head and bottled water in his hand.  You can visit his personal website at the aptly named www.bodycraig.com .
• Photo 10:  Arthur Cooke

1-1/4 MILE MARK (West 86th Street; top of the hill, of course) (credit: Bola Awofeso)

• Photo 31:  Alan Ruben
• Photo 32:  Rob Zand, Erik Goetze and Richie Borrero in the next pack
• Photo 33:  Isaya Okwiya, Tom Phillips, Josh Feldman and Craig Chilton in the next pack
• Photo 34:  Graeme Reid
• Photo 35:  Michele Tagliati.  To his left is Alec Rainsby (New York Harrier) who would become a major figure for Michele later.
• Photo 36:  Bob Summers
• Photo 37:  Jerome O'Shaughnessy.  No listed race result --- lost chip!
• Photo 38:  Running along with the race is Fasil Yilma, who stopped after one loop saying about how it was impossible after doing a long run yesterday.
• Photo 39:  Kellie Quinones does the one thing that should never be done --- making faces at the photographers.  It makes their hands shake from the laughter!

4 MILE MARK (Cat Hill) (credit: Bola Awofeso)

• Photo 41:  Toby Tanser with Fouzi Alaoui in tow
• Photo 42:  Only the brave lead --- Rob Zand surging uphill ahead of teammates Erik Goetze and Richie Borrero
• Photo 43:  Isaya Okwiya and Tom Phillips
• Photo 44:  Stuart Calderwood
• Photo 45:  Vincent Trinquesse
• Photo 46:  Jerome O'Shaughnessy, ahead of Bob Summers and Blair Boyer
• Photo 47:  Roger Liberman
• Photo 48:  Arthur Cooke, in an astonishing close-up that will allow you to count the number of skin pores on his face
• Photo 49:  Irene Jackson-Schon and Laura Miller, with Carlos Stafford trailing
• Photo 50:  Frank Schneiger.  No finishing time?

5 MILES (East 94th Street)

• Movie 01:  Toby Tanser and Fouzi Alaoui (WS)
• Photo 21:  Alan Ruben shadowing Jerry Macari and Alem Keshay
• Photo 22:  The next big pack contained three more Central Park Track Club runners: Erik Goetze, Richie Borrero and Rob Zand.  As Rob Zand later recalled, "At a latter point in the race, someone yelled at me that I was fifteenth overall in the race.  Since I knew that there were four teammates ahead of me, I thought that we must be doing really well today."
• Photo 23:  The insurance money comes with Tom Phillips (2nd Master, too) and Isaya Okwiya.
• Photo 24:  Craig Chilton
• Photo 25:  Stuart Calderwood (our 3rd Master, for another Men's Master team win)

6 MILES (West 93rd Street; top of the hill, of course)

• Photo 14:  Josh Feldman and Tom Phillips, and that is of course the ever-present Stacy Creamer on the roadside
• Photo 15:  Isaya Okwiya
• Photo 18:  Craig Chilton, with Stuart Calderwood right in tow
• Photo 16:  Rick Shaver
• Photo 17:  James Siegel had this request after the race, "Is it possible not to publish my race time?"  But we are the website of record, aren't we?  So not only will his race time be published, but we must also publish this photo of him grimacing from the cramp that hit him after the first loop.

8 MILES (Cat Hill; top of the hill, of course) (photo credit: Bola Awofeso)

• Photo 51:  The cat looked at the two mice, Toby Tanser and Fouzi Alaoui, and wondered, "Which mouse is going to pounce on the other one first?"
• Photo 52:  Alan Ruben near the top, Erik Goetze half way up
• Photo 53:  Richie Borrero
• Photo 54:  Rob Zand (everything in the photo is out of focus except for the team singlet ...)
• Photo 55:  Josh Feldman
• Photo 56:  Craig Chilton
• Photo 57:  Steve Eick
• Photo 58:  Olivier Baillet
• Photo 59:  Rick Shaver
• Photo 60:  James Siegel
• Photo 61:  Adam Riess
• Photo 62:  Josh Friedman
• Photo 63:  Roger Liberman
• Photo 64:  Blair Boyer and Peter Smith
• Photo 65:  Bob Summers
• Photo 66:  Kellie Quinones and Shula Sarner ("Please annotate that this was a training run for me!")
• Photo 67:  Arthur Cooke
• Photo 68:  Carlos Stafford
• Photo 69:  Laura Miller

9.2 MILES (150m to go)

• Photo 81:  This is the distance between the race leader Fouzi Alaoui and our Toby Tanser.  O so near and so close!  This meant that Toby Tanser's amazing streak of 6 wins in Central Park is broken.  But what are streaks for except to be broken?  So Toby said, "All this does is to motivate me to train even harder."  And if Toby had won today, he would have to contemplate the prospect of the next Central Park race --- the Metropolitan 50K or 50 Miler the next day!
• On this first scoring race of the year 2001, our men's team swept into first place with a strong across-the-board finish.  Here are the other people in the top ten of our team after Toby Tanser (2nd overall, 48:17)
  --- Alan Ruben (7th overall, 51:13)
  --- Erik Goetze (8th overall, 51:22)
  --- Richie Borrero (12th overall, 51:43)
  --- Rob Zand (14th overall, 51:52)
  --- Josh Feldman (18th overall, 52:51)
  --- Tom Phillips and Isaya Okwiya (22nd overall 53:15 and 21st overall 53:11)
  --- Stuart Calderwood (29th overall, 54:00)
  --- Craig Chilton (30th overall, 54:15)
• Photo 90:  Just as his workouts indicated, Graeme Reid is ready for the "A" team now
• Photo 91:  Michele Tagliati had an eventful day.  He was right on PR pace until he reached the five mile, whereupon he felt his knee pop out the socket.  He hopped on one leg and stopped to pop it back it to continue and finish the race, missing his PR by 20 seconds.  He said that he wants to thank Alec Rainsby (New York Harriers) who saw what happened and talked him back into the groove.  Was that scary?  "No," he said.  "This has happened to me hundreds of times before."
• Photo 92:  Tyronne Culpepper in the foreground, James Siegel and Adam Riess in the background
• Photo 93:  Compared this to the previous photo, Adam Riess is almost up to James Siegel now and will pass him immediately afterwards  From James Siegel: "Thank you for highlighting, in graphic detail, how I was easily passed in the final 200m of Saturday's race! You made my weekend!!"
• Photo 94:  Vincent Trinquesse wears his union label ("triathlon") on his tights.  He has double honor status on this team --- triathlete + French.
• Photo 80:  There is no worse sin on this team than this one by Blair Boyer --- letting someone step in between himself and the camera!  This photo was barely salvaged.
• Photo 95:  Josh Friedman
• Photo 97:  Arthur Cooke
• Photo 96:  Carlos Stafford

AWARD WINNERS

• Photo 71:  Josh Feldman, 4th M20-29, in his Central Park Track Club debut race
• Photo 72:  Rob Zand, 7th M30-39 ("Bad race for me, but also a PR")
• Photo 73:  Richie Borrero, 6th M30-39
• Photo 74:  Erik Goetze, 4th M30-39, showing us how 200m sprints on the track can be effectively used for 15K races
• Photo 75:  Toby Tanser, 1st M30-39
• Photo 76:  Carol Gelman (Millrose), 2nd W50-54.  Carol said, "No one took pictures of me getting my award."  That is not true, since she can always count on us and, what is more, we'll have a bigger audience too.
• Photo 77:  Team captain Stuart Calderwood accepted the first-place award for the men's team.  It is unclear when the last time we had won in a scoring race.

BONUS PICTURES

• Photo 98:  Do you wonder how Stacy Creamer piles up those google ratings?  She earned it the hard way.  So on a cold, blustery day like today when she did not race, she came and cheered all over the course, east side and west side.
• Photo 99:  Just-in-time arrival by Audrey Kingsley on a training run, thus making sure that she does not lose her position in the google ratings chart.