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Let the Good Times Roll
Let the Good Times Roll by Charles Clines Is there a reason to spice up road racing? Competing in road races will always be fun because each is different. Some are better that others. But to add a little something extra, remember 1995 when the Luke's Fall Road Race Series was conducted. It was fun. It had many of the runners talking about it, and it probably boosted the number of entrants at the participating races. I realize it's not an easy project to start a series because someone has to get the approval of several races, then someone must compile the results and tabulate the individual standings in each age division. In 1995, road-racers were fortunate that everything came together in the series that was sponsored by Luke's and Integrated Racing System. It was Marty Leichts's IRS that tabulated the results, and at the end of the series the results were published in a booklet that was available to the participants. The races that participated included the HEB Benefit 10K run in Bedford, the Eastside Stride 8K in Fort Worth; the Dash For The Timber 5K in Fort Worth; the St. Vincent's Chili Trot 10K in Bedford, The Great Pumpkin Trot 5K in Fort Worth, the NRH Dash For The Arts in North Richland Hills, and the Luke's Challenge 10-mile in Fort Worth. The series went from Sept 9 to Nov 18. After the final race, an awards party was held. It was fun to compete against many of the same runners througout the series, especially when two or three were close enough in speed to challenge each other. It definitely made you train to stay competitive. It's also interesting to compare the times of runners in 1995 to what they're running now. Some runners have slowed, and others have become faster. One of those who has remained fairly steady, especially to which position he finishes, is Jim Engstrom. When he was 54, he was consistently winning the 50-54 age division with times consistenly in the 18-minute range for the 5Ks and 39-minute range for the 10Ks. His times are sometimes about a minute slower now, but that hasn't stopped his winning. Then there are some of us who have put on our tortise shoes, at least complared to what we were running then. For example, at the The Great Pumpkin Trot, there were several of us - Sam Yearta, Bud Tomlinson, David Henley, Frank McGinty, Walter Delashmit and myself - who ran in the mid-21 - to low-21-minute range over the 3.1 miles (though I believe that course was short). Anyway, it's been awhile since most of that group has been that low. Sometimes injuries have been a problem for some runners, including Phil "coach" Cisneros, who was among the faster runners in 1995. On the other hand, other, such as Ed Kopiak, have become faster. At the Dash For The Timber, for example, Kopiak ran a 27:34. He'll hit the 22- and 23-minute range these days. And then there are those who aren't running in the area anymore. including the speedy Peter Ogango and the tough-running Robert Rose. Anyway, the point is that the series was fun. It kept everyone's interest, and put more importance on the participating races. It gave everyone a goal. Maybe someone can revive a similar series. I'll volunteer to run in it. |
