August 2010 THE INSIDE LOOP TOM BYRNES and FRIENDS

August 2010

THE INSIDE LOOP

TOM BYRNES and FRIENDS

PPTC had six finishers at the Pepper Martin 5 on Staten Island July 4th. PPTC took third place women’s masters team and third place men’s masters team. Hoorahs to Maggie Deschamps, Danielle Hansen, Charlene Kohler-Britton, and Frank DeLeo, Tom Tobin, Arthur Gonzalez. Check out the race results section for the best of times!

Lots of PPTC Group conversation on the PPTC Open Forum in July about our club’s efforts with printing and distributing Park User Safety Cards, using PPTC funds, for at least the past two years but few police and Park Personnel seem to deal with the enforcement of the rules. To many of us, this is similar to the issue with the law about using cell phones while driving. Paul Soskind put it not so mildly when he wrote that without teeth so to speak there will always be accidents in our park because most people do not possess a strong enough sense of justice to obey rules unless fear of consequences hangs like the Sword of Demosceles over their "it's about ME" heads! Biking in the park requires one to be hyper vigilant. Heads up out there!

Sad news. James J. BUCKLEY passed away on July 16, 2010. James was the proprietor of Buckley's Restaurant on Nostrand Ave. and Ave. S as well as Kennedy's Restaurant of Breezy Point. In addition to the pasta party, Jimmy sponsored the Buckley’s Shamrock Running Club and the infamous Buckley's to Kennedy's Run Buckley’s to Kennedy’s Run. This race was once one of the great local runs, a 10K from Brooklyn to Queens with a huge post race party on the beach. Jimmy was always there to start the race and celebrate with us at the post race barbecue. Let’s keep Jimmy and family in our thoughts and prayers.

David R Chen psyched to compete in the 2011 Finger Lakes International Dragon Boat Festival. Sure hope that David and teammates delayed the Finger Lake winery visits until after the competition!

PPTC’s Patti Perlo along with other animal activists and local residents attended the vigil condemning the gassing death of over 250 Canadian Geese in Prospect Park lake area. There apparently was no other way to deal with these geese other than to kill them on July 8th. Sure…..

The NYRRC Queens Half Marathon sure seemed to be a ‘’hot’ race, pun intended. Congrats to PPTC runners who gave the 13.1 miles their best shot on such a hot day!. PPTC times in the Race Results section. Great to read Robert Elkin‘s piece on PPTC’s Will Abrahms after his performance. Abrams covered the 13.1 mile course in 1:28.17 for second place in the 50-54 age bracket and overall placed 46th in a field of 4996 entrants. As Elkin indicated, Will trains in Prospect Park twice a day - 10 miles in the morning and 10 miles in the afternoon. One of Will’s favorite mantras is “It’s all in your mind ….” Talk with him about it.

Bobby Fisher and Team Doherty, Clair and Danny, all biked the Harlem Valley River Ride the end of July. With the heat and the hills, an admirable feat!

On July 31, 2010, the Central Park Track Club hosted a 5k race in our very own Prospect Park. Forget the details of the race, what’s more important is that all attendees had the special honor of meeting Dave and Carolyn’s granddaughter, Blythe Lansner, who is coming up on three months old.

Great to learn that Michael Ring is back. “1,250 horizontal miles and 1.25 vertical,” he says. Now for ten points, the first question on the pop quiz is "where did he go?" Just in time to direct another 5k summer speed race too!

A sign of the times as summer passes. Rosemary and Piet Bezuidenhout’s daughter Nikolien pondering her choice of school uniforms and would seem to prefer colors of her own choosing. Now if you ask Lady Ga Ga what she wore when she went to school.

Check out the glorious changes to the PPTC.ORG site if you haven’t been there lately. New pics of some of the usual suspects and the opportunity to order PPTC garb on- line ! Get thee to the website if you haven’t been there in a while.

Congrats to Geoff Vincent on his qualifying for the XTERRA Trail Running USA National Championship in Bend, Oregon on September 18th. To qualify Geoff placed 1st in his age group (55-59) at all 4 races in the XTERRA Long Island Trail Run Series between March and July in Syossett. Bethpage, and Montauk. I can't seem to remember a PPTC athlete qualifying for a National Championship event of any sort, even back in the day. Refresh my memory oh yee of more memory bits, if it comes to your mind.

"Yes, Virginia,” the sun really is setting earlier and earlier each day. Get out there and enjoy summer 2010! See you on the roads.