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Linzy Allen (Reebok Aggies/College Park HS Pleasant Hills) and the National
Cross-Country Championships last weekend in Houston, Texas
(ed note - with an 18th place finish Linzy Allen helped the Reebok Aggies
to a National team title at the Junior level last weekend over the 6k
distance. One sensed from the pictures of the competition that the conditions
were tough, but as Linzy reports below, it was extra-extra challenging,
with the spirit shown by cross-country competitors always amazing!! Congrats
to Joe Fabris and the Reebok group for their support, with the national
level experience in such competitions so very, very significant in the
development of young athletes!!)
A tad wet we would say - read on to hear Linzy's report - 1" spikes
in Cross-Country!!! (Spencer Allen photos passed on by Dan Cruz)
"Well, Texas was a lot of fun! I met up with the other girls in
the airport
and the hotel. We arrived in Texas on Thursday afternoon and Ellen Thompson
and I went to run the course. At this time it was relatively dry and
manageable to run on.
The next day we went shopping in The Galleria, which is the biggest mall
I’ve ever seen. The 5 of us had great time getting to know each
other and we
found some pretty good deals! That afternoon we ran the course again,
a
little muddier, and met with the Reebok Aggies Club Organizer, Joe Fabris.
We found out we would need to wear spikes in the race, we had never heard
of
wearing spikes in XC so obviously we didn’t pack any. We drove back
to the
mall and all over looking for spikes, which we eventually found. By now
it
was 8pm on Valentine’s Day. Big mistake, no reservations!! Dinner
was about
an hour-long wait before we finally sat down. We made it back to the hotel
at around 11pm.
The next day we woke up to pouring rain, and we all knew it was going
to be
a fun race! We got to the course and wrapped ourselves up in garbage bags.
Joe told us we had to wear 1-inch spikes, we were a little nervous about
that, but it was one of the best decisions we ever made. As we warmed
up we
saw a few races before ours. There were people flying everywhere. Without
spikes runners could barely make it up the hill, they dug their hands
into
the ground and took it one slow step at a time. The downhills weren’t
much
prettier. People were sliding and covered in mud, there legs, arms, and
faces!
We got to the starting line just as the skies cleared up and the sun
came
out, not in time to dry the course unfortunately. It was a small group
of
girls; there were about 40 of us. The gun went off and the mud started
flying. The girls in front of me were kicking it up and I ate a ton! We
ran
6000 meters in foot deep mud and even deeper water! Once it thinned out
we
headed up our first hill. Most of the competitors in our race had spikes,
and they still had trouble getting up the hills. They’d slip right
back
down. On one of the turns, a girl right in front of me stepped in a puddle
of water and fell right in. We were already soaked through, so I’m
sure it
wasn’t such a shock to her!
Over all, although the times were slow, it was a great experience and
an
awesome race. Most people will never get the chance to race in such extreme
conditions.
Results
Women 6 km Run CC Junior
1 Clara Horowitz Unattached 23:34.00 (Head-Royce School '02, Duke Univ.)
17 Jennifer James Reebok Aggie RC 26:49.00 2 (Chico State/Enterprise HS,
Redding)
18 Lindsay Allen Reebok Aggie RC 26:53.00 3 (College Park HS '03) (Ken
Reeves correction - the 6100 meters or so is about 1:47.6 per 400, which
is around 7:10.4 for a 1600 - obviously quite affected by the weather
conditions - I'll run by distance computations through him before printing
next time - geeez!).
20 Kelly Ortlieb Reebok Aggie RC 27:01.00 4 (Foothill, Redding HS '02,
Chico St.)
25 Casey Nevitt Reebok Aggie RC 27:24.00 8 (Aptos HS '03)
38 Kim Conley Reebok Aggie RC NT 18 (Montgomery HS)
40 Ellen Thompson Reebok Aggie RC (Mercy HS, Burlingame)
Team Scores
1 Reebok Aggie Running Club 17 2 3 4 8 18 20
Total Time: 1:48:07.00
Average: 27:01.75
2 Wings of America 32 5 6 10 11 13 19
Total Time: 1:50:02.00
Average: 27:30.50
3 Dallas Metroplex Striders-Red 32 1 7 9 15
Total Time: 1:49:52.00
Average: 27:28.00
4 Dallas Metroplex Striders 59 12 14 16 17
Total Time: 1:57:06.00
Average: 29:16.50
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