*Hello Gators,* EDITORS NOTE: Just realized the e-mail version of this newsletter was still sitting in my "Drafts" folder and since some of our members are not on Facebook, I'm sending it a bit late. It also includes one correction from the Facebook version that went out this past Friday... Jen Ruiz's marathon was also on Sunday, May 1 (vs. the Saturday, April 30 date mentioned in the Facebook newsletter)... So this means that Jen accomplished all of her great results in the same lousy weather that those that participated in the Broad St. Run and Devilman were suffering through. Way to go Jen! Much like a rock star, our newsletter editions have been a bit unpredictable lately. As a result, a few weeks have passed and we have a lot of successes to share. This week’s edition focuses on all of the successes of our most recent running/riding/swimming/triathlon rock stars and one real life rock star… This week's news topics include... - *Accomplishments… *Over the past four weeks we’ve been in LA, MA, NJ, NY, OH, PA, and VA!!! - *Who’s Next?... *Cascading in Maryland, Getting Dirty in Philly, and Spending a Tuesday In the Park!!! - *Workouts Update… *What are your options??? - *Mark Your Calendars… *Lots of upcoming events including Tina Belles and “The Schmidt” live TONIGHT at the Spring City Hotel!!! *Happy Birthday**! *Best wishes to the following Gators who recently celebrated birthdays! - *Tuesday, April 19: Brian Kozera* - *Sunday, April 24: Vince Bellino* - *Saturday, April 30: Jen Ruiz* - *Wednesday, May 4: Steph Bieloski* *Speedy Recovery!* Best wishes to a continued speedy recovery by *Doug Schmidt* on his recent knee replacement! We look forward to seeing you back in action soon, Doug! We also have a number of other Gators recovering from a variety of ailments and injuries… Take all the time you need to get well and we’ll see you soon! *Accomplishments**: *Some new distance records, some PRs, and lots of other great results to report (Please let us know if you participated in an event that is missing so that we can brag about you, too!)… - *SVY Masters Swim Gators Award Winners:* The Gators masters swim team recently announced their annual award winners and two Gators were included… - *Steph Bieloski* won two awards… - *“Best Combined Performance (female)”* for the best performance in a combination of swim strokes and distances including 50 butterfly, 50 backstroke, 50 breaststroke, 50 freestyle, and 100 individual medley - *“Most Valuable Swimmer (female)”* based on a season long point total - *Joe Boris* was also the recipient of the male *“Most Valuable Swimmer”* award based on his outstanding season! Congrats to both Steph and Joe! - *Saturday, April 16:* - *Spartan Citi Field Sprint (New York, NY): Jay Sherman* is once again racing with the Spartan elite division again this year. Jay had a successful finish and when compared to the entire field was in the top 6% overall. Way to go, Jay… Must be the result of all of those tough Sunday morning winter workouts at Valley Forge! - *Sunday, April 17:* - *Ironman New Orleans 70.3 (New Orleans, LA): Suzanne Angelaccio, Brian Kozera, Allison Wesler, and Jon Wesler* all successfully completed this event in very tough weather conditions! For *Brian*, this continues his amazing victory over cancer with his longest post-recovery event finish. And for *Suzanne*, it was her *FIRST HALF IRONMAN FINISH* and Suzanne also finished in the top half of her age group… Fantastic results for all! - *MORE Half Marathon (Central Park, New York, NY): Michelle Sipe* just keeps running and had an outstanding event finishing in the top 10% overall and also in her age group… Great job, Michelle! - *Monday, April 18:* - *Boston Marathon (Boston, MA): Don Mack, Tiff Pfluger, and Tim Pfluger* all had successful finishes. For *Tiff*, this was her *FIRST BOSTON MARATHON FINISH*. For *Tim*, this was another smoking fast result (his 3rd time running in Boston) with a sub-3:00 time and finishes in the top 4% overall and the top 15% in his age group. For *Don*, this was his 5th consecutive race in Boston and he finished with a PR (by 41 seconds over last year); Don also finished in the top 15% overall and the top 20% of his age group. Excellent work, Gators! - *Saturday, April 23:* - *Schuylkill River Trail 50K Relay (Phoenixville, PA): *We had 13 Gators (and a Gator spouse) participate in this event on relay teams that included 3 or 6 participants. While we were not looking to achieve a fast time, both Gator teams finished in the top 40% of all 6 person coed teams. Additionally, *Susan Flavin* (6 person team) and* Ruth Subach *(3 person team) also competed and successfully finished the event. Great teamwork by all! The Gator teams included…. *Gators: Michelle Leonard, Don Mack, Frank Moffa, Susan Ryan, Byron Solvason* and Susan’s husband, *Jim Ryan* *SV Gators: Tina Belles, Vince Bellino, Maureen Pinkerton, Tim Pfluger, Steph Stranick, and Patty Trainer*Sunday, April 24: St. Luke's Half Marathon (Allentown, PA): Mary Donovan successfully completed this event. Way to go, Mary! - *Saturday, April 30:* - *Spartan New Jersey Beast (Vernon, NJ): Jay Sherman *moved on from the sprint event in New York to this much longer event. Jay successfully completed the 15+ mile course that included 5,500 feet of elevation gain in under 6 hours. Jay finished in the top 10% overall. Amazing, Jay! - *Sunday, May 1:* - *New Jersey Marathon (Monmouth, NJ): Jen Ruiz *just 6 weeks earlier completed her first marathon and decided it was time for another, so Jen signed up for the race shortly before it took place and she crushed it! While once again facing tough weather conditions (cold and windy on her first marathon), Jen set a *MARATHON PR* and also finished in the top 30% of all female finishers as well as the top 40% in both her age group as well as the overall field. Great running, Jen! - *Devilman Triathlon/Duathlon (Cedarville, NJ):* “Yuck” is about the best way to describe the weather for this year’s event… Cold and rainy! We had a lot of pre-race attrition due to the conditions, but 8 Gators made it to the starting line and at least part way through the race, which was a significant accomplishment. This includes: - *Half-Lite Triathlon: Bill Cooney, Brian Kozera, Kristin Kozera, and Maureen Pinkerton. *For *Maureen, *she seemed amazingly unaffected by the weather (she’s probably acclimated to cold weather from all of the winter running races!) and this was a *NEW DISTANCE RECORD* that also resulted in a #2 age group finish… *PODIUM!!!.*.. and a top 50% finish of all female finishers. Maureen also achieved a top 50% swim and run! - *Sprint Triathlon: Patty Trainer* - *Half-Lite Duathlon: Michelle Leonard *was the #4 female finisher… *PODIUM!!!*... and also won her age group and achieved a top 50% bike split. And she was accompanied on the run by *Byron Solvason*, who earlier pulled out of the event after the first bike loop due to a groin injury. Byron made a split second decision to accompany Michelle and did so while carrying an umbrella, a coat, and wearing pants. - *Sprint Duathlon: Don Mack *finished #3 overall… *PODIUM!!!*... and also won his age group. Don was in the top 4 for all splits. - *Broadstreet Run (Philadelphia):* “Yuck” also carried over to Philadelphia where 5 Gators completed this 10 mile event straight down Broad St; this included *Suzanne Angelaccio, Susan Flavin, Jeannine Kelly, Gary Walens, and Kelly Walens.* Despite the weather, feedback from our crew was positive all the way around. Included in the results were some outstanding achievements including… - *Suzanne Angelaccio: *Set a PR and also finished in the top 15% of all female finishers and her age group and also finished in the top 25% overall! - *Susan Flavin:* Completed her FIRST BROAD STREET FINISH and was motivated by some nice letters and a pre-race cake from her kids. - *Kelly Walens:* Finished in the top 20% of her age group, top 30% of all female finishers, and top 50% overall! - *Saturday, May 7:* - *Spartan Ohio Beast (Chandlersville, OH): Jay Sherman *made it a second consecutive “beast” of a weekend, this time completing the event in under 5 hours with a group of five friends. Great start to your season, Jay! - *Million Dollar Bike Ride (Philadelphia): *A bunch of Gators participated in this event, which raises money for rare disease research. Specifically, we were riding as part of “Team CDKL5”, to raise funds for the disease that affects Avery Kozera. We had a great turnout despite another chilly, rainy weekend day. Participants included: - *12 mile ride: Susan Flavin, Diane Lynch* - *33 mile ride: Vince Bellino, Kristin Kozera, Michelle Leonard, Don Mack, Tiff Pfluger, and Tim Pfluger* - *73 mile ride: Brian Kozera* *Who’s Next**?: *Best wishes for safe and successful results to the following Gators who will be racing this weekend! - *Sunday, May 15:* - *Dirty German 25K Trail Run (Philadelphia): Brian Kozera, Tim Pfluger, and Jon Wesler* - *Cascade Lake Sprint Duathlon (Hampstead, MD): Don Mack* *Workouts Update**: *In case you are not up to speed with our workout calendar for the April-June timeframe it is as follows… - *Mondays and Wednesdays:* - 10am-11am: Tri Swim workout (led by Don Schlichtmann) - 8:30pm-9:30pm: Tri Swim workout (various coaches on Mondays, Maribeth Baker on Wednesdays) - *Tuesday evenings:* SRT bike intervals followed by an optional run. Starting point is the Reynolds Dog Park in Oaks. Michelle Leonard is most often the leader for these rides. Stay tuned for details including start times (typically around 6:15pm) posted to Facebook. NOTE: Next Tuesday’s workout (May 17) will be replaced by the “Tuesdays In the Park 5K” event that is open to all Gators for FREE entry (thanks to our sponsor Chester County Running Store); see event in Facebook for more details including registration code. - *Thursday evenings:* We have a planned indoor bike trainer ride each week led by Danny Friend or Don Mack. It will only run when there are at least a few participants, so if you are planning to participate, please watch for and reply to the posts and event invites posted to Facebook. NOTE: Since next Tuesday’s bike intervals ride is canceled, we’ll have it on Thursday, May 19 instead. - *Saturday mornings:* Due to some new restrictions on offsite coached workouts, most of these events will now be uncoached, but we still plan to offer the same full set of options… OWS, various venues for bike rides and runs. In cases of inclement weather, we may offer an indoor trainer ride/run workout. Stay tuned to Facebook for more information! - *Other workouts:* Many members also now schedule their own small group workouts. We encourage this to continue. *Mark Your Calendars**: *Upcoming events include… - *May Club Events:* - *Friday, May 13, 8pm-12am: Tina Belles LIVE at the Spring City Hotel (Spring City, PA)… *Join us to see Tina perform with her new band, “The Schmidt” at the Spring City Hotel! - *Saturday, May 14: French Creek OWS Clinic and French Creek Tri Course Preview Ride/Run (Elverson, PA)… *Free to all 4+ hour volunteers for the ToughKids Philly Triathlon (Sat, May 21) or the French Creek Triathlon (Sun, May 22). See event posted in Facebook for more details. - *Tuesday, May 17: Tuesdays In the Park 5K (Pottstown, PA)… *Our sponsor, Chester County Running Store, race director for the “Tuesdays In the Park 5K” series, has graciously offered FREE registration to this event. See the Facebook event for more details including the discount code!... https://www.runccrs.com/event/pottstowns-tuesday-in-the-park-5k-series-and-kids-fun-run/ - *Saturday, May 21: ToughKids Philly Youth Triathlon (French Creek Park, Elverson, PA):* This event is part of the ToughKids event series and is being directed by club sponsor John Kenny Tri. More details including discount code coming soon!... http://johnkennytri.com/events/toughkidsphilly/ - *Sunday, May 22: French Creek Triathlon (French Creek Park, Elverson, PA): *Make it a full weekend by having the kids race on Saturday and you can race in a sprint or Olympic distance event on Sunday! Stay tuned for club discount code coming soon… http://johnkennytri.com/events/frenchcreek/ - *Saturday, May 28: Blue Marsh OWS, Bike, Run, and Picnic (Leesport, PA): *More details coming soon on Facebook! Go Gators! *Don M*