Just Run Wrap Up for 2023

by Ken Skinner

I thank all the school leaders and HMRRC club volunteers for a very successful two days of cross country running for the Just Run students, wrapping up our cross country season this November. The weather couldn’t have been better, and the marking and organization of the course we used at Mohonasen High School was challenging, but the course presented a good variety of terrain for the students to navigate. A special shout out to Bill Sherman, the Mohonasen High cross country/track coach, for laying out the course and providing 10 Mohonansen track/cross country athletes to assist our club volunteers in managing each race. As far as I know, there were no injuries amongst the students except for one bee sting.

Bill Meehan and Ray Lee, who were our photographers for both days, and Chris Bishop, for one day, who took great school photos as well as action shots on the course, a big Thanks to all! Our club administrative assistant, Carol Reardon, helped immensely in the preparation for the meets, handling any trouble-shooting necessary during the races and compiling the race results for the 23 races run both days. Thanks, Carol. That mellow voice you heard excitedly announcing the play by play of both days of races was that of John Parisella, our HMRRC clubhouse/equipment manager. John enjoyed himself so much that he put our usual announcer, Jon Rocco, out of business. But Jon handled himself well and proceeded to add himself to the course marshal group out on the course. In addition, two of our club members, Tom McGuire and Barbara Bradley, assisted me in organizing the meets, and hopefully we will continue as a 3-person leadership team next year. Thanks, Tom and Barb.

All the race results and photos have been posted on the HMRRC website (www.hmrrc.com). In addition, Bill Meehan just completed a short video with some still images mixed in from both days of the meets. Click here for Just Run XC 2023 Day 1 Race 9 Video.

Finisher Awards for the Just Run Cross Country Meet in Fall 2023

Some program facts:

19 schools participated in the fall program, 11 at the Tuesday meet and 8 at the Wednesday meet.
There were approximately 1200 students participating in the program and it looks like about 630 of them participated in the cross country meets (290 on Tuesday and 330 on Wednesday).
Several new leaders headed up the Just Run program at their schools: Susan Paultre at Eagle Point; Jennifer Earley at Montessori; Liesha Sherman at Pinewood; and Jessie Carroll at Westmere. Thanks for getting the program at your school re-started or joining as a new school for the first time (Pinewood).
Including the Mohonasen athletes, we had about 50 volunteers working each day and practically all came both days.
On Tuesday, the largest number of competitors in a race were the 50 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th grade boys in the 1600m race. On Wednesday, 43 4^th grade boys competed in the 800m race.

Athletes race around the track at the spring 2023 Just Run meet

Bill Sherman and I had a discussion about scheduling the two spring program track meets at Mohonasen, where they were held last year. We agreed, so the track meets to end this spring are scheduled for Tuesday, June 6 and Wednesday, June 7, with Thursday, June 8 as a rain date. Leaders have recieved an email in January about the spring sign-up, along with a registration form similar to the fall form. The number of participating schools may reach 30 this season. We are looking forward to another group of successful young runners this spring.

Ken Skinner is the HMRRC Just Run Coordinator. For more information contact Ken at kennyskin@earthlink.net

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