Regional USA Track & Field honors two Modesto runners

Jon Olsen (right) receives the PA USATF male ultra-runner of the year award.

Much like they do in their respective races, Modesto residents Jon Olsen and Barbara Miller have been on a tear, this time on the awards circuit.

Olsen was named the Pacific Association of USA Track & Field's male ultra-runner of the year at its awards ceremony, Feb. 19, in Berkeley.

Among Olsen's accomplishments during 2012 were placing seventh overall at the IAU World 100K Championships in Seregno, Italy; winning the North Coast 24-hour Endurance Run and setting a pending 12-hour track record at the Desert Solstice Track Race, Dec. 15, in Phoenix.

In Italy, Olsen also was the second U.S. finisher, covering the 100K (about 62 mile) course in 6:48:51, or about 6:35 per mile.

Olsen recently was selected as one of six members of the USATF National 24-Hour Team, which will compete at the International Association of Ultrarunners (IAU) 24-Hour World Championship, May 11-12, in Steenburgen, Netherlands.

PA USATF honored Miller for the best age-graded performance among PA women last year. She age-graded 96.76% with her 1:47:38 at the Clarksburg Half-Marathon in November.

Age grading is a formula that takes into account your time and age to project what you would have run if you were in your prime—your 20s and sometimes into your 30s, depending on the distance.

Miller also was reocognized as the top woman within USATF nationally in the 70-74 age group with her time of 23:47, run in the Women's Fitness 5K last summer in Sacramento.

Merced Road Running Series:A group of sweet races

There's a new race series in the valley.

Actually, it's not super new—it started last year, but it's still relatively new.

The cool thing about this three-race series is it has the state-of-the-art technology of big races but the friendliness of local events.

The second annual Honey Bun Run 5K and 10K, held Feb. 10, took runners through the streets in and around downtown Merced.

Traffic control was right on, with more than 160 volunteers—mostly Buhach High School students and their parents—directing runners and keeping cars off the course. Merced police also patrolled the route.

The course itself was well marked with cones delineating the route. Yellow safety tape also stretched across a few intersections that possibly could have confused runners.

Timing involved chip timing using the Chronotrack B-tag, the thin RFID tag on the back of the bib. Results were posted promptly.

A person near the finish line announced runners on the PA system as they approached, just like in big races.

How did he do that? He'd call out the bib number to a computer operator next to him, who would read out the runner's name.

To show the small-town friendliness, people cheered on the last few runners as they crossed the line. There also were snacks, homemade breakfast burritos and an awards ceremony for medal winners.

The Honey Bun Run was the first in the Merced Road Running Series.

The Livingston Feet for a Cure is April 14, followed by Storm the Castle in Atwater a few months later. They all have both 5K and 10K courses and benefit local groups.

Turlock resident wins the Super Bowl...10K run, that is

Only hours before one of Turlock's most celebrated sports stars took the field, another Turlock athlete was collecting her bling.

 

Turlock runner Kimberly Cloud won the women's division of the Super Bowl Sunday 10K run in Sacramento, Feb. 3, with a chip time of 38:18.4.

 

Not far behind her was Trish Frisella of Modesto, who ran 39:52.8, good enough for first in the female 25-29 age group and sixth female overall.

 

View an interview with the team from Turlock on Channel 10 news. (You have to wait for the commercial before the actual news clip begins.)