PA/USATF Elite
► MUT PA’s Backstrom & Hanna: 2021 MUT Runner of the Year Nominees
PA’s Jonah Backstrom & Rich Hanna: 2021 MUT Runner of the Year Nominees
Jonah Backstrom – age 48 – San Francisco, CA
- USATF 100 Mile Road Championships 3rd master 19:08:25 (8th overall male)
- USATF 50k Road Championships 1st master 3:30:40 (11th overall male)
Rich Hanna – age 56 – Sacramento, CA
- Jed Smith 50 Mile New American Age Group Record of 5:50:52, breaking a 39 year old record.
► RR PA’s Jenny Hitchings sets pending W55-59 Half Marathon AR; PA’s Jacob Nur does the same for Men’s 65-69!
At the Clarksburg Country Run Half Marathon race in Clarksburg, CA today, Nov. 14, 2021, Jenny Hitchings, 58, broke her own American Age Group 55-59 record for the Half Marathon road racing distance (pending) by running a 1:20:20 at this USATF Pacific certified and sanctioned race. Her previous record’s time was 1:21:14 set in 2018.
Jacob Nur, 66, also broke the American 65-69 AG record in the half marathon at Clarksburg. His time was 1:18:25 which broke the previous record of 1:23:50.
► RR PA Masters runner, Brian Pilcher, sets 7 ARs in one race!
Yesterday, 10/30/2021, Tamalpa Runners’ Brian Pilcher (65) ran the River Oaks Invitational Half Marathon in Houston TX. The event features a certified course consisting of multiple loops of ~1.0 mile with verified splits of:
8K, 10K, 12K, 15K, 10 Mile & 20K.
Here are Brian’s M65-69 AR splits and H Mar finishing time:
8K – 29:12 (old M65 American Record, 29:41)
10K – 36:35 (old M65 American Record, 37:04)
12K – 44:04 (old M65 American Record, 46:58)
15K – 55:15 (old M65 American Record, 55:16)
10 Mile – 59:42 (old M65 American Record, 1:02:07)
20K – 1:14:55 (old M65 American Record, 1:20:55)
H Mar – 1:19:03 (old American Record, 1:23:50)
To set an age group AR in the Half Marathon, a very competitive event, is a very significant accomplishment, but to set 6 ARs in route is one for the ages.
► RR PA’s Jenny Hitchings wins the Boston Marathon W55-59 Division!
More about this performance:
- Jenny’s 2:45.32 finish time also beat the leaders in the W50-54 division and all but one in the 45-49 division.
- Her closest competitor in the 55-59 division was an hour behind her.
- According to https://www.usatf.org/special-pages/usatf-american-records, she also demolished her 2019 NY Marathon American and World Marathon Records of 2:50:36, but since the Boston course parameters keep it from qualifying for American and World Records, this performance will be categorized as American and World “Best” times.
Screen shot of her splits is below. What a phenomenal performance!
Congratulations Jenny!
► PA USATF Annual Meeting details
2021 USATF Annual Meeting update:
Due to ongoing COVID concerns, this years USATF Annual Meeting will be a hybrid meeting of virtual and in-person attendance. The meeting will take place from Thursday, December 2 through Sunday, December 5, and you once again can participate from the comfort of your own home!
In-person registration will be limited to primarily one representative per association, national committee chairs and members of executive committees, AAC athletes, and national office staff. Individual members not in one of these roles may also register for the in-person portion of the meeting, though will be placed on a space available request list.
Meetings will begin Thursday at 10:00amEST and be conducted both in-person and synchronically via the Bizzabo platform which we used last year. The annual meeting schedule is located on the meeting link below and will be posted shortly.
Annual Meeting information and registration: https://www.usatf.org/events/2021/2021-usatf-annual-meeting. Registration is $125.00 either in-person or virtually
► RR PA’ers Jenny Hitchings and Jacob Nur set Pending 10-Mile AR Records
At the Buffalo Stampede 10-Mile Road race in Sacramento yesterday (Sept. 12, 2021), USATF Pacific Road Racing speedster Jenny Hitchings, 58, broke her own American Age Group 55-59 record (pending) by running a 1:01:15. Fellow USATF Pacific Road Racing speedster, Jacob Nur, 66, set a new American Age Group 65-69 record (pending) by running the certified and sanctioned course in 1:01:00.