Gray, Frisby, Boulder Road Runners Win USATF Masters 10 km Titles in Massachusetts

Colorado Results Scoreboard

On Sunday (28-April) ten athletes from Colorado competed in the USATF Masters 10 km Championships in Dedham, MA. The event was held in conjunction with the James Joyce 10k for the tenth time. A total of 286 (185 men; 101 women) athletes from 22 states competed in the event that was conducted over the rolling hills of Dedham. Temperatures were in the upper 50’s under cloudy skies. It was the fourth event in the 2024 USATF National Masters Grand Prix (Grand Prix).

The story of the day for the Coloradans were the three national titles won by Joseph Gray (men 40-44 - pictured above), Jan Frisby (men 80-84), and the Boulder Road Runners (men 70+ - pictured right).

Nine (9) of the ten athletes turned in national class performances with scores over 80% on the age grading tables*.

Gray, of Colorado Springs, who turned 40 in January was making his masters debut. The two-time world mountain running champion and 16 time USATF champion in trail and mountain running charged to the the lead from the gun and never faced a challenge as he stopped the clock at 30:44. At the end he was 18 seconds clear of runner-up Mario Vazquez of Connecticut.  

"My career has officially come full circle from a young pup to the old man category. It is a blessing to be here still competing after all of these year. The ride continues...," stated Gray on social media.

Like Gray, Frisby (Boulder Road Runners) of Grand Junction, recently "aged-up" as he entered the 80-84 division just five days before competing here. He did not make haste of entering the new division as he earned his 35th USATF title, dating back to 1994. His winning time of 52:02 was over 10 minutes ahead of runner-up Clayton Zucker of Maine. Frisby is a four-time USATF age division athlete of the year; earning the honor in 1994, 1995, 1999, and 2015.

Three other Coloradans earned trips to the awards podium for their top-three finishes. Picking up the silver medal in the men's 75-79 division was Gary Ostwald, 78, (Boulder Road Runners, Denver) as he stopped the clock at 45:32. He only trailed Gene Dykes of Pennsylvania who ran 44:01. Dykes currently holds six national records. Ostwald's runner-up finish moved him from seventh to third in the Grand Prix.

In the men's 50-54 division Robbie Genzel, 51, (Denver Athletics, Colorado Springs - pictured above bib #51) finished third running 34:45. He was just 36 seconds behind the division winner Mark Andrews of New York and 33 seconds behind runner-up Richard Falcone of New Jersey.

Doug Bell, 73, (Boulder Road Runners, Greeley) finished third in the 70-74 division running 43:45. Joseph Reda (43:20) of Wisconsin and John Barbour of Massachusetts (43:31) finished first and second, respectively. Finishing just three seconds after Bell was his Boulder Road Runners teammate Douglas Chesnut. Bell's third place finish catipulated him to the lead in the Grand Prix. 

Bell, Chesnut, and Oswald teamed up to lead the Boulder Road Runners to the M70+ team title. It was their fourth straight team title in the 2024 Grand Prix and their ninth team since January 2023. They currently lead the Grand Prix with 400 points with the Atlanta TC second with 300 points.

The top age graded scores* for the Colorado athletes were (place out of 185 men):

Joseph Gray        89.15 (8th)
Gary Ostwald       88.34 (9th)
Jay Littlepage      86.44 (17th)
Robbie Genzel      85.52 (24th)
Doug Bell             84.47 (28th)
Douglas Chesnut  82.62 (44th)
John Borthwick    82.50 (46th)
John Blaser          82.45 (47th)
Jan Frisby            80.65 (65th)

The full Colorado results scoreboard can be found here.

The next USATF masters road running championship will be the 1 Mile Championship on May 19 in Danville, CA.
 

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*Each athlete earned an age-grading percentage rating which compares their time to the best-possible performance (100%) for runners their age. Age-grade scores allow comparison of performances across all ages.

Performances over 90% are classified as world-class and performances in the 80-90% range are classified as national-class performances.