MICHIGAN RUNNING NEWS - December 20, 2002 - v.2, no.7

Sponsored by:

Belle Isle New Year's Eve Family Fun Run/Walk http://michiganrunner.com/belleisle/

2003 Detroit Free Press/Flagstar Bank Marathon

Dundee Internet Services http://dundee.net

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__/ AMBER SMITH IS FIFTH AT FOOTLOCKER CROSS COUNTRY, FIRST-TEAM ALL-AMERICAN

__/ WHERE ARE THE COUNTRY'S BEST RUNNERS?

__/ BELLE ISLE NEW YEAR'S EVE FAMILY FUN RUN/WALK, DECEMBER 31, 2002

__/ ANN ARBOR ARCTIC CHALLENGE

__/ NO MORE PIETRO'S RUN FASTA EAT PASTA

__/ CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR'S RACES Jennie McCafferty-Editor

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__/ AMBER SMITH IS FIFTH AT FOOTLOCKER CROSS COUNTRY, FIRST-TEAM ALL-AMERICAN

Amber Smith, a junior at Westwood High School in Ishpeming, Michigan, placed fifth at the Footlocker Cross Country Nationals in San Diego on December 14 with a personal best time of 17:48. Smith's fifth place finish earns first-team All-American honors. In an interview with the Mining Journal, "the Upper Peninsula's largest daily newspaper", Smith said that "the cool conditions were ideal compared with the national race last year in humid Orlando, Florida." Smith also called the course with the "pretty big hill" in San Diego's Balboa Park "not that tough". Smith, named "UP Runner of the Year" by the Upper Peninsula Cross Country Coaches Association, is probably used to the hills of Ishpeming, home of the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame.

Zoe Nelson of Kalispell, Montana, won the Footlocker girls title in 17:30 and Chris Solinsky of ?Stevens Point, Wisconson won the boys title in 14:40.5.

__/ WHERE ARE THE COUNTRY'S BEST RUNNERS?

Last week we were just a little annoyed with USA Track & Field's question "Where are the country's best runners? Boston, Indiana, California, Wisconsin, your state?"

The question failed to mention Michigan: the home state of the Fall Cross Country men's defending champions: Hansons Running Shop Olympic Development Team.

Brian Sell (3rd), Jeff Campbell (5th), Justin Young (7th), Richie Brinker (9th, Donnie Franzen (11th), Martin Rosenbdahl (14th), Kevin Doyle (26th), and Mike Fox (41th) won the USATF Fall Cross Championships in Rocklin, California on December 14th. The Hansons team came out on top for the second year in a row -- handily defeating the Nike Farm Team 35-57. Although 14th place Martin Rosendahl didn't score, it was only because the strong Hanson team didn't need him. Rosendahl finished ahead of Nike's 3rd, 4th, and 5th place runners. Not only that, Richie Brinker managed to finish ninth in spite of losing his shoe early in the race. For details see http://www.usatf.org/events/2002/ USAFallXCChampionships/schedule.shtml.

__/ BELLE ISLE NEW YEAR'S EVE FAMILY FUN RUN/WALK, DECEMBER 31, 2002

The Belle Isle Runners and the Downtown Runners and Walkers with the Michigan Runner will be hosting the 33rd annual Belle Isle New Year's Eve Family Fun Run and Walk. This event is a tradition with generations of Michigan runners. Bill Smith will no doubt be running in his tuxedo and others will show up in costume. Every single kid who runs in the kids' 1 mile gets a trophy. You can pre-register Friday, December 27 from Noon to 4pm at the US Marine Corps Training Center, 7600 East Jefferson in Detroit, 1/4 mile from the MacArthur/Belle Isle Bridge. Late registration on Race Day begins at Noon at the Center. Parking is available at the UAW Headquarters on East Jefferson. Proceeds benefit My Sister's Place. A printable race entry form is available online: http://michiganrunner.com/belleisle/

__/ ANN ARBOR ARCTIC CHALLENGE

The Ann Arbor Arctic Challenge is a three-month event cooked up by the Running Fit stores. Participants are challenged to run/walk all the streets of Ann Arbor between 2pm January 1st and sundown, April 1st, 2003. Runners and walkers try to design their routes with the fewest number of repeat roads. Winners are those who finish in the fewest number of days. Sign-up any time during the event; just make sure you leave enough days to finish. E-mail in your mileage every week. More information is available at the Running Fit website at http:// runningfit.com. Weekly mileage updates will be posted there, too.

__/ NO MORE PIETRO'S RUN FASTA EAT PASTA

Pietro's Run Fasta Eat Pasta was a popular April 5K in Grand Rapids for fifteen years, but folks at Pietro's restaurant say the 2002 race was the last one. The death of Mark Nader in January 2002 ultimately meant the death of the race he founded. According to Scott Sullivan in the May/ June 2002 "Michigan Runner": "Nader, founding director of the Pietro's Run Fasta Eat Pasta 5K, built that event from nothing 15 years ago into one of America's top 100 road runs, according to 'Runner's World' magazine. He introduced kids runs and diaper dashes to West Michigan, held pre-race pasta fests and expos, split men's and women's races so each would receive attention, recruited Kenyans, Russians and U.S. Olympic hopefuls."

One fun aspect of Pietro's was the separate races for men and women. You could run in one and watch the other. Perhaps some other 5K could carry on that Pietro tradition.

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* Michigan Running News is published weekly.

Jennie McCafferty, Online Editor

Michigan Runner, Michigan's statewide road running magazine since 1979

Michigan Running News

(734)507-0251 * (734)434-4765 FAX * jennie@glsp.com