2022 USATF Masters 12 km Championships

NEWS

Sayre's Third Place at Masters 12 km Championships Leads Boulder Road Runners to Third Place Team Finish in New Jersey

IN THEIR WORDS - Boulder Road Runners team recap

The Boulder Road Runners had been leading the men’s 60-69 age division in the USATF Masters Grand Prix (MNGP) series with Shore Athletic Club’s (NJ) hot on our tails. We traveled to New Jersey to hold onto that lead in our quest to take the series title by next month’s concluding race, the 5K cross country championship, to be held here in Boulder. 

With the Pikes Peaks Ascent and Marathon this weekend we were down two of our top three runners. Shore Athletics were also missing their top scorer because he too was running Pikes Peak. That would only make things more interesting!

Race day was warm with temperatures in the 70s and 88% humidity. The flat mostly out and back course at the Gateway National Seashore along Sandy Hook beach. A persistent 12 mph wind blew in from the southwest. With more than 300 masters athletes from 40s to 80s running for teams from all over the country, we knew the competition would be fierce and that the race would start out fast, aided by a tailwind, but would be challenging as the temperature climbed as we returned into the headwind. 

Each of us had our own individual plan and through the first half of the race we were right on, but mid-way through his race Mike developed a hamstring injury and had to walk and jog just to finish. With a 3rd, 8th, and 34th place in the 60-69 division, our time was 2:36:04. While that was still good enough for 3rd place as a team and a bronze medal, with Shore taking the team win and Greater Philadelphia taking 2nd, Shore wrapped up the Grand Prix series for the year. We needed to be within one place of Shore to maintain a chance to wrap it up in Boulder next month.

Roger Sayre placed 3rd in the 60-64 age division. Gary Ostwald, of the Boulder Road Runners 70+ team, placed 3rd in the men’s 75-79 division. 

The best part of being on a team is traveling and competing with friends. We had a great weekend staying at a comfortable beach house on the Jersey Shore, talking about all levels of road, cross country, and track and field, and even watched some videos of Team USA competing at the Edinburgh cross country races from 2018.

One of best part of these championship races is making friends with runners from our rival teams. We’ll have fierce competitive efforts on race day, but afterwards, we’re all friends who get together a few times a year, or maybe once every few years. We follow each other online and encourage those who might be going through a rough patch with health or injuries, and celebrate their triumphs from afar. We know Colorado has a lot of fast runners, master and otherwise. While it’s fun to compete locally, it’s another thing to race against runners from around the country. Seeing what other people are doing motivates us to stay fit for the competition.

The races on the national USATF masters circuit are competitive but also fun. We appreciate the opportunity to represent Colorado and the Boulder Road Runners. And we hope that more runners from around the state will consider joining the Boulder Road Runners or other Colorado teams. And we hope you’ll join us in Boulder, on October 22 for the USATF Masters 5 km Cross Country Championships!

The MNGP is an annual series that starts in December with Club Cross (Dec 10, Golden Gate Park, in SF), and runs through November. There are 9 races – 6 road from 1mi to ½-marathon, 3 XC including the USA National Championships, (Jan 21, Richmond, VA). The road races are scored based on cumulative time. The XC races are scored by place. You don’t need to compete in all the races. Teams compete in 10-year age groups starting at 40+. Individuals compete in 5-year age groups starting at 40+. There is prize money for masters teams and individuals.

In addition to overall and age group competition, there is also age graded scoring. This allows an 85yo to compete against a mere 40yo. There are awards to individuals for achieving an 80%, which Gary and Adam achieved, 85%, which Roger achieved, just under 90% age grade and placed 6th among all ages combined.