New Year’s Day Marathon

Race Results

Operation Desert Storm

Treasurer’s Reports

Race Schedule

New Membership List - Be sure to check whether you are in arrears!!

The past winter was one of the coldest and snowiest in a long time, but that didn’t stop MRR runners from getting out there and running and racing.  They were slipping and sliding on ice and snow at Martha’s Vineyard and wading through slush and water at Hyannis.  Those who thought they could escape bad weather by heading out to Las Vegas ended up running straight into a gale, as described by Marianne Withington in our race results.

Plenty of activity coming up now that the warmer weather’s here, and you can see from our very selective list of upcoming races that you won’t have to go far from Marshfield to get your fill of competition this spring.

Our traditional pre-Boston Marathon spaghetti dinner will be held at the Bridgewaye again this year, on Sea Street on the Marshfield side of the bridge to Humarock.  It’s on April 19 (the real Patriot’s Day) at 7:45 p.m (cocktails at 7) and it’s $15 per person.  RSVP to Mike Coleman at mike@beaconcapital.biz or 508-732-0396.  Maybe we’ll have karaoke.  What fun! 

To prepare for your 26.2 mile jog, show up at the Rexhame Beach parking lot this Sunday, March 30, at 8:00 for the annual Perimeter Run.  You can run about 22 miles around the perimeter of Marshfield, or cut it short (like I always do) and run about 10 miles or so.  Afterwards, go to Tom and Regina Wright’s house at 19 Concord St., also at Rexhame.  Even if they’re not there, just go in and help yourself.  They said to.

Finally, the Boston Marathon Bus will be leaving for Hokinton, as always, at about 8:00 a.m. on race day, April 23.  The cost is $9.00.  Reserve a seat with Matt Byrne.

Scheiber wins 23^rd New Year’s Day Marathon, beating a field of 30 (starters, not finishers).  Five hang in to the end.

About 30 starters (based on a count made from the middle of the pack during the first mile) toed the line at the Martinson Elementary School at 9:00 on a not-too-cold, overcast but dry New Year’s Day morning.  No hangovers here!  Shows what a clean-living (boring?) bunch we are.  Roger Welch and Mike Coleman charged out to a good lead right away, but were caught by other leading runners before the first mile was up.  This didn’t discourage them one bit, as they eventually were two of only five runners who actually completed the whole 26 miles, 385 yards.  Morgan Scheiber arrived late, but cruised by the rest of the pack to finish about six minutes in front of Roger, becoming the eleventh winner of this classic race in its 23-year history.  First and only woman finisher was Deb Lynch.

Since the first loop of this course comes back to the start/finish site at the school after about 12 miles, many runners take the opportunity to call it a day at that point, while others hang on for a longer distance, if not the whole way.  Steve Milt, for one, went 20 miles.  Pretty good, Steve, but no marathon.  (Although we know that as a trail ultrarunner, he’s not afraid of the distance.)

That afternoon, a very well-attended gathering was held at the home of Marianne Withington in Plymouth, where club elections were held, resulting in the slate of officers you see at the beginning of this publication, Morgan was presented with the impressive New Year's Day Marathon Trophy, and it was announced that the five Boston Marathon numbers allotted to the club by the BAA would go to the very deserving Jim Benton, Carole Tierney, Morgan Scheiber, and Deb Lynch, plus a runner to be named later.

Results of the 2003 New year’s Day Marathon:

1.  Morgan Scheiber            3:42:18

2.  Roger Welch                    3:48

3.  Jim Benton                       4:35:19

4.  Deb Lynch                       4:35:54

5.  Mike Coleman  4:35:55

Old New Year's Day Champs:

1981        Doug Rogers        3:23:15

1982        Ed Donovan          3:09:12

1983        George Junior       2:48:57

1984        Tom Dunn             3:07:02

1985        Doug Rogers        2:59:49

1986        Lenny Bicknell      3:05:11

1987        George Junior       2:54:00

1988        Lenny Bicknell      3:04:37

1989        Lenny Bicknell      3:01:49

1990        Lenny Bicknell      3:04:39

1991        Rich Boretti           3:06:30

1992        Dave Donohue     2:51:45

1993        Rich Boretti           2:59:38

1994        Rich Boretti           3:01:08

1995        Rich Boretti           3:11:14

1996        Rich Boretti           3:11:46

1997        Rich Boretti           3:17:02

1998        Bob Hillman          4:00:00

1999        Rich Boretti           3:16:00

2000        Rich Boretti           3:13:00

2001        Roger Welch         3:39:00

2002        Greg Neubauer     3:22:15

*  *  *

Gerry Foote was a little slower than usual in the Thanksgiving Day 5 mile race in Weymouth this year.  Usually he’s right up there giving me a run for my money.  Turns out Gerry ended that day in the hospital with a blood clot in his lung and pneumonia.  They kept him there until the following Tuesday, but as of early January he was back on the roads building up his distance again.  Can’t keep a good 76-year-old down!

Shawn Dahl           3:29:05 (25th in age group)
Lisa Dahl               3:42:47 (6th in age group)

    8  Wayne Alukonis          29:34  (2^nd 50-59)

  65  Joe Gaughan                 37:07  (3^rd 60-69)

105  Burt Bryan                     42:23

(139 finishers)

A nice, sunny winter day, and once again most MRR runners passed up a nearby race with only a $10 post entry fee and good post-race refreshments.  All the more chowder and fritters for the rest of us!

  42  Roger Welch 1:06:56    7:11

  65  Leo Hillary                     1:09:28    7:27

  74  Casey Clancy                1:11:13    7:38 (15f)

  82  Marianne Withington 1:12:24    7:46 (19f)

118  Joe Gaughan                 1:16:58    8:15

132  Janet J. Kelly 1:18:38    8:26 (37f)

133  Brad Powers                  1:18:39    8:26

166  Christie Lawyer            1:23:47    8:59 (49f)

177  Burt Bryan                     1:28:27    9:29

185  Dianne Cullivan            1:34:04  10:06 (62f)

(195 finishers)

Cold and sunny again.  A couple of longish hills in this course, but mostly pretty flat, with some long straightaways where you can look way down the road and see where you’ll be running for the next five minutes.   A very good brunch was served afterward at the Jockey Club restaurant down the road, where the awards were given out, which consisted solely of cash prizes to the first three men and women finishers overall.  Age groups?  What age groups?  Hey, you get old, you get slow.  That’s life, get used to it.  You don’t get any prize for being the fastest of the slow people.  Here, you contend for the overall win or nothing.

Burt Bryan and Dianne Cullivan were listed as finishing 178^th and 186^th, but that’s because Dave Regan got a head start because he’s 75 and finished one place ahead of Burt, even though his actual time was 1:46:00.  No you don’t!  If there’s no age group awards in this race there’s no age handicaps either.  Get to the back where you belong, old man.

Janet J. Kelly, by the way, is the former Janet Jordan.  I wish these Janets would quit changing their names and confusing us.

  7 Marianne Withington    28:38.4  7:21 (1F)

(Abington 4 mi., cont.) 

  9 Brad Powers                     29:05.6  7:28

27 Burt Bryan                        34:50.8  8:56

(37 finishers)

Marianne was first, by a lot, among the 11 women in this race.  Brad and Marianne only showed up because there was supposed to be a series-ending party afterwards, but the place where it was supposed to be was closed for renovations, so no party.  Bummer!

Las Vegas Half Marathon, February 2, 2003

  786 Marianne Withington     1:46:38   8:09

1210 Bob Hillman                       1:54:14   8:43 

(3733 finishers)

Marathon

2158 Steve Milt                          5:25:06  12:25

Run straight into a sandstorm!  See Marianne’s account elsewhere in here.

Paddy Kelly Road Race 5 mi., Brockton, February 9

  56  Roger Welch                 34:06 6:50 (3^rd 60-69)

  83  Marianne Withington 36:37  7:20

135  Brad Powers 39:28  7:54

187  Steve Lanzillotta           43:02  8:37

Won by Nick Richardson of Jamaica Plain in 25:18 and Madalena Boudreau of Fall River (Burt’s home town!) in 30:39.

  70  2:09:57  7:14  Dave Will 

165  2:26:09  8:08  Leo Hillary  1^st, 60-64

166  2:26:10  8:08  Roger Welch  2^nd, 60-64

201  2:31:33  8:26  Marianne Withington 

216    2:33:12  8:31  Renee Demarsh

217    2:33:12  8:31  Mary Kate Shea

218    2:33:13  8:31  Paula McGuiggan 

219    2:33:26  8:32  Morgan Scheiber

288    2:43:09  9:04  Janet Jordan Kelly  3^rd, 50-54

289    2:43:09  9:04  Brad Powers 

335  2:52:32  9:36  Deb Lynch

346  2:54:14  9:41  Fred White

366  2:57:00  9:50  Dave Ballert

369  2:57:17  9:51  Bob Hillman

375  2:58:22  9:55  Joe Geogan

389  3:00:18 10:01  Kelly Keelan

394  3:01:42 10:06  Regina Wright  1^st, 60-64

421  3:12:37 10:43  Steve Milt

(447 finishers)

Cold as hell!  (A frozen-over hell, that is.   As one of only seven who showed up at the school in Marshfield on this morning, and suffering near-frostbite after only eight miles, I don’t even wanna think about what running 18 must have been like.  It was only 18 because they changed the course due to excessive snow and ice on the usual seaside parts of it.  Still too much snow and ice to run on safely.  After slipping and falling, which several of our runners did, most said the hell with a fast time, I’ll just try and get through it without further injury.  Leo wants you to be sure to notice that despite the conditions, he decimated Roger in the 60+ division.  Congratulations to all of you for finishing at all.

Old Fashioned 10-miler, Foxboro, February 23

209    Tom Wright  1:24:42  8:28  4^th, 60-69

(298 finishers)

  27  Brian Noyes 1:26:53   6:38

138  Mike Blake                    1:42:20   7:49

193  Mary Kate Shea           1:44:40   8:00

227  Franny Haney               1:47:26   8:12

232  Beth Kenney                 1:48:09   8:15

253  Jim Hubbard                  1:49:08   8:20

394  Joe Geogan                   1:55:00   8:47

583  Steve Lanzillotta           2:05:47   9:36

618  Dave Ballert 2:06:54   9:41

(855 finishers)

Driving rain, flooding, sloppy, slushy, windy.

These are chip times, which were no more than a few seconds different than the “gun times” in this race.  Hardly worth it, it seems, but I suppose it makes less work for the finish line crew; they don’t have to stand out there in that weather. 

32 Vasilli Manikas  2:10:39  7:01  (3^rd, 50-59)

(358 finishers)

River Dogs Half Marathon, Woods Hole, Mar. 8

  4 Dave Will                         1:24:08

  5 Greg Neubauer                1:24:35

12 Vasilli Manikas                1:28:53  1^st, 50-59

48 Franny Haney                  1:41:58  1^st, 40-49

49 Mary Kate Shea              1:42:02  2^nd, 40-49

52 Paula McGuiggan           1:42:59  3^rd, 40-49

(158 finishers)

Great weather---finally.  Beautiful Woods Hole to Falmouth Harbor and back to Woods Hole route with rolling hills and flat sections along the beach (no white caps today), includes some of the CC Marathon and Falmouth Road Race courses through Nobska Light and Surf Avenue.  Solid showing for MRR, with Dave Will placing fourth overall followed by Greg Neubauer.  Vasilli Manikas won his age group and placed 12^th overall.  The MRR 40 plus women ran to  a master’s division sweep.

– Mary Kate Shea

Mass. Law Enforcement Half Marathon, , Wakefield, March 9

  56  John Noland                 1:15:49  5:47

968  Tom Wright 1:51:36  8:31

(1990 finishers)

Both 10^th in their age groups.

137  Steve Lanzillotta           43:38  8:44
(226 finishers)

  134  Jerry Hanrahan           1:28:26   6:45
  192  Morgan Scheiber       1:32:09   7:02
  355  Leo Hillary   1:39:20   7:35
  533  Marianne Withington 1:44:42 8:00
  577  Ray Belanger              1:46:28   8:08
  661  Mike Shiaris                1:49:29   8:22
  817  Bob Hillman                1:54:20   8:44 3,65-69
  919  Deborah Lynch          1:57:04   8:56
  922  Jim Benton 1:57:05   8:56
1189  Steve Milt                    2:07:15   9:43
1239  Regina Wright            2:09:10   9:52 3,60-64
1240  Judy Duarte                2:09:22   9:53
1369  Fred White 2:18:43 10:35

(1476 finishers)

13  Bernadette Noyes    19:10  6:11  1,40-49  1 F

18  Ann Marie O'Brien  19:43  6:22  2,40-49  2 F

(484 finishers; 211 women)

MRR goes into Boston and sweeps first and second!  Way to go, guys!

Las Vegas International Marathon and Half-Marathon, February 2

On the plane ride to Vegas, I noticed a man with a Martha's Vineyard 20-Miler shirt on, and struck up a conversation with him.  It seemed that he missed qualifying for Boston by 5 minutes when running a Fall marathon with a fierce headwind.  He informed me that there's never any wind in Vegas, so he was flying out there to give it another try.  I thought of that man often in the next two days.

A mighty wind began blowing the night before the race, but we were all convinced that it was just a little temporary thing and would calm down by morning.  Boy, were we ever wrong.  When I stepped out of my hotel that morning to meet Bob Hillman, I thought we were in trouble.  When I found out that the airport was closed due to high winds, I knew it!  All Bob and I could think of was Steve Milt doing the whole marathon.  Bob was thanking his lucky stars that he switched to the half.

Runners are supposed to be tough, right?  That's what I kept telling myself as I had to keep my eyes squeezed shut to keep out all the blowing sand.  Not to mention the dirt I was eating along with the gel!  The winds were clocked at 40-50 m.p.h. that day with all but the final 2.5 miles in our face.  Brad Powers, Mike Coleman, and my husband Cricket were waiting in a car for us near the finish.  They stayed in the car to be out of the wind and sand, but had to jump out when we went by.  Poor things! 

Later on, over brunch at the Bellagio, Bob and I began to feel much better.  We made it through the ordeal and lived to tell the story.  The only thing that made us feel a bit guilty as we sipped our champagne was knowing that Steve was still out there!

Out with the old . . .

MARSHFIELD ROAD RUNNERS

Annual Financial Report

December 31, 2002

Beginning balance, 1/102                    $1,868.07

Income:  Dues                                          $575.00

                Marathon bus                              82.00

                2002 20k                      732.32

                Turkey Trot                                  34.00

                                                                  1,423.32 

Expenses:  Youth Track                         $895.43

                    Donations                              300.00

                    Miscellaneous                       119.00

                                                                 (1,314.43)

Ending balance, 12/31/02                    $1,976.96

Submitted by Matt Byrne, Treasurer

. . . and in with the new.

TREASURER’S REPORT

Opening Balance                                  $1,976.96

Income:     Dues received                           80.00

Expenses:  N. E. Runner Calendar           (90.00)

Balance March 15, 2003                      $1,966.96

Funds on deposit Plymouth Savings Bank

Account #890595986 Marshfield Road Runners

Thank you to Matt Byrne for his ten years of service as treasurer.  In just the first few months I have learned what pain in the butt it is trying to keep track of little slips of paper and $5.00 bills passed here and there.

Apparently it is a bother to many of the members also, since more than half the members on the membership list are in arrears.  We’ll assume it’s not the burden the $5.00 puts on the wallet, so let’s get paid up.  We have deleted a bunch of names who haven’t paid dues since 2000 and who we rarely if ever see.  Those who are highlighted in bold on the dues list are more than two years behind.  Please get caught up by the next newsletter or we’ll update the list again.  Hey, here’s an idea!!  Why not make that check out for an extra $5.00 and be paid a year in advance.

Announcing a new policy: Last year Matt began quietly accepting Member for Life status for members who are 60 or over and makes a one-time payment of $25.00.  It’s a little like buying a lottery ticket, you’re playing the odds, but on the other hand you don’t have to worry about fading memory as years pass.

James Raulinaitis, CPA, an independent auditor with offices in Plymouth and Abington, has been engaged to complete a 10-year audit on changing of treasurers.  When the audit is done our own Gary Edwards, CPA, has agreed to review and interpret the audit for us.  With the exception of a flurry of activity around the time the Dahls moved to Florida and Shawn began his new company, everything looks to be in perfect order. Mr. Raulinaitis reports that the “flurry” appears to be completely coincidental.

Michael Coleman, Treasurer  

April 5, 10:00. Run with USS for the Health of It-3.5 Mi.  Union Street Elementary School, So. Weymouth.  781-337-4161.  Couldn’t they have picked a less awkward name?

April 6, 1:00.  Road Race by the Sea 10k,. Cohasset.  781-383-2811.  www.roadracebythesea.com

April 13, 10:00.  PAC/PSA 5 mi., Martinson Elementary School, Marshfield.  Right where we run every weekend.  Get out and support it!  781-585-9704.

April 13, 11:00.  Doyle’s Emerald Necklace Road Race, 5 mi., Doyle’s Café, Jamaica Plain.  Through Franklin Park, with beer in a very crowded bar afterwards.  617-524-2345

April 13, 12:00.  Shawn D. Patterson Memorial 5k and 10k, Gates Intermediate School, Scituate.  On the traditional Scituate 10k course, with a nice downhill start to get you going, then through Scituate Harbor, out to the lighthouse and back.  Pat @ 508-790-3763

April 21, 12:00.  Boston Marathon.  Bus leaves from Martinson School at 8:00.  Send $9.00 to Matt Byrne, c/o Gen Del 685, N. Marshfield 02059 to reserve your place.

April 27, 11:00.  James Joyce Ramble 10k, Dedham.  www.ramble.org.  781-686-1500

May 4, 10:30.  Evan’s Run 5k/10k.  Norwell High School.  www.evanhenry.org

May 6, and every Tuesday right through August, 7:00.  Colonial Fun Run 3.27 mi.  Woodsdale School, Chestnut St., Abington.  Called a “fun run”, but it’s timed and the results are on Coolrunning every week.  $1.00 entry.

May 10, 10:00.  Run for the Ribbon 10k, Sacred Heart High School, Kingston.  781-585-7511, ext. 345.  Nice rural course with hot dogs afterwards.

May 11, 10:00.  Scituate Fire Local 1464 5k, N. Scituate.  781-545-3745

May 17, 10:00.  Strawberry Shortcake 10k, Plympton  800-232-2423.  www.strawberryshortcakerace.com.  Got to be better conditions than last year.

May 25, 10:00.  Arterial Challenge 4.5 mi., Down by the beach at Fieldston, Marshfield.  617-723-3870.  www.bafound.org

May 25, 10:00.  America’s Heroes 5k, Ames Nowell State Park, Abington.  Park at Wal-Mart, shuttle to park.  774-240-0209.

June 10, 6:30.  Milton 10k, Cunningham Park, Milton.  617-696-3872.

June 14, 10:00.  Clark Chatterton 3.5 mi., South Shore Music Circus, Cohasset.  781-383-6100

Below is the new and improved membership list, in which Treasurer Mike Coleman has thrown out all those who are not paid up at least through 2002 and whom we rarely is ever see.  If your name is highlighted, you’re not paid up but we know you and think you might want to remain a member.  So come on, it’s only $5.00!  We hope to see your dues by next issue, because we don’t want to lose you. Click here for the membership application and address.