The Pacific Association (PA) of the USATF kicked off the 2010 Road Racing Grand Prix Saturday, and two runners who live a few miles apart at the very southern tip of the PA boundary won at this 10 mile race that lies near the northern border of the PA. Linda Somers Smith, (Arroyo Grande - Asics Aggies) dominated the field in the women's division, smashing the American record for women 40-45 in the process. Sergio Reyes (Los Osos - Asics Aggies) won for the race for the second straight year, although he was two minutes off his winning time from last year.
Women runners after the race at Norcal John Frank Memorial 10 mile, Saturday March 6, 2010. Linda Somers Smith standing far left, Christine Kennedy standing far right. (photo by Lynn Walker).
The previous record was 59:15, but Smith lowered that by more than 2 minutes with a 57:09. The next fastest woman, Kim Conley (West Sacramento - Asics Aggies) was more than 4 minutes back in 1:01:28. Smith, who is 48, had dominated the PA Cross Country season in 2009, not only beating all other masters women, but all of the open division women as well. In this 10 mile race Smith dominated all masters runners of either gender, with only 42 year old Jim Sorenson (San Leandro - Tamalpa) managing to finish ahead of Smith. Smith was the first woman and first masters woman. Christine Kennedy (Los Gatos - Tamalpa) was the first senior woman. Irene Herman (San Francisco - Impala) was the first super senior and JoAnne Kambur (Novato - Tamalpa) was the first veteran.
Reyes had more serious competition on the men's side, with Kevin Pool (Folsom - River City Rebels) pushing him all the way to the finish, coming in a mere 22 seconds back. Sorenson was the first male masters runner and Dwight Smith (Seaside - Strawberry Canyon TC) was the first male senior. John Yamagata (Sacramento - WVJS) was the first super senior, and Hans Schmid (Greenbrae - Tamalpa) was the first veteran.
The weather had threatened rain from a few days out, but the race morning was sunny and warm, probably a bit too warm for most of the runners. A small sampling of runners suggest that times were a minute or more slower than normal, due to the weather. The race is advertised as mostly flat, and it is mostly flat, but the section with hills the runners encounter twice did provide a significant challenge to those expecting a flat course. Most of the course follows a path along the Sacramento River, and snow-capped mountains in the distance were also visible at many points along the course.
This was the fortieth edition of the popular event in Redding, and despite the long drive that most of the runners faced in order to race here, attendance was up by 35-40% over last year. My own age division shows closer to a 60% increase in the number of very competitive runners at this race. Time to train more.
Information about the PAUSATF Road Race Grand Prix.
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