Chris Chavez of Transports and Clara Peterson won the men's and women's races, respectively, at the PAUSATF 5k Championships. Staged as the elite men's and elite women's races at the Zippy 5k they are also PAUSATF Road Race Grand Prix events on the short course circuit.
Zippy in Golden Gate Park for the Zippy 5k. Sunday April 18, 2010. (Photo by Carolynne Juarez)
The event is hosted by New Balance Excelsior in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. The course begins on JFK Drive near the Conservatory of Flowers, circles Stow Lake once before returning to finish in front of the Conservatory. While there are moderate climbs and rolling stretches on the certified course, the competitive field encourages fast racing times.
This year's race featured bright sunny skies, but cool enough temperatures to keep it comfortable for racing. Times in both races were very fast. Peterson improved upon her winning time from 2008, and had the fastest woman's time on the course since 2005. With five times under 14:35, the men's field may have been the fastest ever. I could not find a men's race within the past decade that featured times as fast as these. Chavez may have set a new course record, or at least ran one of the fastest times ever on this course.
In the first race of the day, Transports edged the Aggies for the open team title. While final team outcomes depend on the final assignment of runners to the specific teams, I project the Aggies will win the Masters division, WVJS will win the Seniors, with Tamalpa taking the Super-Senior and Veteran divisions.
In the women's race I project that most of the team titles will go to the Impalas and Tamalpa. Until club coaches have made their final team assignments the results are too close to call.
Attendance was down in both the men's and women's races, reversing a trend over the past year at local races where participation levels have climbed. Race fees at this event are reasonably low, and not suggested as a reason for the change. At least two top masters runners, Dennis Kurtis and Christine Kennedy, were back east for the Boston Marathon, but this race conflicts with Boston participation each year. An informal survey suggests injuries are on the rise among top local runners, but could that alone explain the lower participation? I suspect other, intangible factors are involved. This is a question which will require more correlation with other races in the near future.
