Week in Review: Blue Ridge Relay!

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"Post-Blue Ridge Relay Hangover Syndrome" is real.  Symptoms include acute muscle soreness, general sluggishness, dehydration, an inability to stop smelling certain odors, strained vocal cords, and in extreme cases - queasiness.  One way to ensure queasiness, even days later, is a 10-second margin of defeat.

The thrill of the back-and-forth race was intense.  The pain of BRR victory slipping through our fingers cut deep. We plan to document this battle in depth in the coming days / weeks.  In the meantime, check out the recap on the Citizen-Times.

Major props to our rivals and this year’s BRR champions, the Charlotte Running Club.  They showed grit throughout and fought back to take the hard-earned win.  We are grateful to these guys for keeping the rivalry alive and well.  Ok, enough nice talk.  Take care of our championship belt, boys.  We plan to take it back to the mountains in 137 days time at the Winter Classic 8k. 

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Final thoughts on BRR (for today) - there was some seriously impressive racing put forth by Asheville teams and Asheville runners.  We loved seeing friendly (and tired) faces throughout the night. Big ups to Norm’s Maggots (2nd masters), Sole Asylum (1st ultra!), Electro Maggots (2nd ultra mixed), Parkway Poppy-Razzi (1st ultra women!), and many more! 

Surprisingly, the BRR was not the only ARC event of the weekend.  Out in Oregon, our West Coast operative, Scott Williams, was joined by master ace David Workman for the McKenzie River Trail Run 50k.  These guys represented well with 3rd and 4th (1st master for Dave).  

Blue Ridge Relay - 206+ Miles from Grayson Highlands, VA to Asheville, NC
Charlotte Running Club - 1st - 19:48:47 (5:46 mile pace)
Asheville Running Collective - 2nd - 19:48:57 (5:46 mile pace)
Results

McKenzie River Trail Run 50k - Blue River, OR
Scott Williams - 3rd - 3:54:51
David Workman - 4th- 3:59:27
Results

Week in Review - Main Street Miling

The ARC's resident mid-distance aficionado, Javan Lapp, ran his last short-distance race of the season at the Waynesville Main Street Mile this past Friday. Even though he has already transitioned to long efforts and hill climbs with his sights set on the Blue Ridge Relay and Shut-In Ridge Trail Run, he showed some speed by taking the win in 4:14. This was Javan's third victory at the Waynesville Mile and great prep for the BRR's quick downhills.

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Waynesville Main Street Mile
Javan Lapp - 1st - 4:14
Results

Week in Review - Moonlight 5k

It was a light week of racing for the ARC, as most of the crew focused on Blue Ridge Relay prep.  

Over in Bryson City, Phil Latter worked on a BRR simulation by testing himself on tired legs at the Moonlight 5k. He put out a strong effort and grabbed the W along the way.  Nice running, Phil!

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Bryson City Moonlight 5k*
Phillip Latter - 1st - 15:23 (*Phil says “3 miles”)
Results

 

Pop Up Mile Recap

Tucked in among tall pines and surrounded by taller mountains, Montreat College’s new track and field facility was a picturesque setting for Saturday’s Western NC Pop Up Mile.  

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The event kicked off with strong performances in the over-5:00 section. Bob Fay led the way with a very fast 5:14 (age graded to 4:23!) and was followed by string of quick finishes (including many Wedge Run regulars!). The second section kept the theme of “fast” going. Javan Lapp took out the first lap in 63 seconds and kept it rolling for the wire-to-wire win in 4:26. He led the rest of the field to fast times, including a couple of first-time sub-5s and an impressive 5:03 from women’s winner Kate Schwartz.  

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The night finished in true “pop up” fashion with an impromptu 400m dash. Hats off to our men’s and women’s winners, Evan Fisher and Brittany Crisp, who gave it a go in street clothes after about 3 minutes notice.  

Thanks to Coach Jason Lewkowicz of Montreat College Track and Field for hosting, Foot Rx Running for graciously lending the clock, Sir Walter Running for their great partnership, and all the runners and spectators who made it such a fun night.  Let’s do it again sometime (soon?).

Mile
1. Javan Lapp (M) - 4:26
2. Phillip Latter (M) - 4:35
3. Joshua Dubin (M) - 4:37
4. Reece Collie (M) - 4:51
5. Joe Ainsworth (M) - 4:52
6. Parker Hale (M) - 4:55
7. Almon Cox (M) - 4:55
8. David Chandler (M) - 4:58
9. Kate Schwartz (F) - 5:03
10. Bob Fay (M) - 5:14
11. Lance Morsell (M) - 5:19
12. Bryan White (M) - 5:26
13. Wes Miller (M) - 5:35
14. JK Douglas (M) - 5:44
15. Claire Bartholic (F) - 5:50
16. John Douglas (M) - 6:04

400m
1. Evan Fisher (M) - 1:00.18
2. Brittany Crisp (F) - 1:12.19
3. Wyatt Shepson (M) - 1:22.84
4. Brett Miller (M) - 1:26.73
5. T. Miller (M) - 1:55.66
6. Riley Miller (F) - 2:03.51
7. Wes Miller (M) - 2:04.22
8. Aspen Latter (F) - 2:16.02
9. Macy Latter (F) - 2:16.25
10. Willow Latter (F) - 3:03.27
11. Phillip Latter (M) - 3:04.22 

Week in Review - Hot Hot Hot

There was a good deal of action on the roads and “track” (velodrome, actually) this weekend from the Collective.

On Saturday, we kicked things off with some mixed results at the Asheville Beer Mile, which took place on the Carrier Park velodrome during the Mountain Sports Festival. This “unofficial” event has grown in size and competitiveness in the last few years. In the 2015 running, Javan Lapp was the class of the field and easily won the crown. This time around, several members of the ARC’s injured reserve / retired list performed better very well, while many of the healthy guys faltered - very interesting. Victor McHenry had the lead from the start and fought off a late challenge to take the win in a strong 6:48. Frankie Adkins, donning the Collective kit for the first time in nearly a year, had a brilliant third place finish in 7:16. Stuart Moran rounded out the solid performances with a 8:14. This year’s casualties included Mark Driscoll, who struggled home in 10:20-something after earning a penalty lapp, and Javan Lapp, who DNFed early due to early trouble with foam. All in all a great event.

Frankie Adkins is BACK!

On Sunday, Brent Schouler and Chass Armstrong had to handle the heat in longer road races. Fresh off a full day in the car, Brent ran the Johnny Kelley Half Marathon in Hyannis, MA. With the unexpected heat in mind, he kept his effort in control and cruised for a six minute victory in 1:16. While this was a planned moderate effort for Brent, Chass had the bad luck of high temps at his goal marathon. After a solid training block, he had his sights set on a fast time at the Ottawa Marathon. Unfortunately, the temperature hit the high-80s and low-90s all weekend and made for a real sufferfest. In true Chass fashion, he went for it and stuck to 2:24 pace through 10 miles. However, the heat took it’s toll in the later stages of the race and survival mode set in. His 2:39 finish doesn’t reflect his fitness, but he lived to fight another day.

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Chass Armstrong rounding the track in one of his recent marathon tune-up workouts.

Asheville Beer Mile - Asheville, NC
Victor McHenry - 1st - 6:48
Frankie Adkins - 3rd - 7:16
Stuart Moran - ? - 8:14
Mark Driscoll - ? - 10:20-something

36th Annual Johnny Kelley Half Marathon - Hyannis, MA
Brent Schouler - 1st - 1:16:05
Results: http://bit.ly/1Vril6V

Scotiabank Ottawa Marathon - Ottawa, Canada
Chass Armstrong - 28th - 2:39:32
Results: http://bit.ly/1Y0cYfT