This year, we accomplished much, with a great deal more to work toward in the years to come. Looking back over the past year, here is a sampling of our club highlights:
Our annual overall totals, by the numbers:
330 race performances, including
76 individual victories, in
34 cities in California,
21 states, and
10 different countries
Club members contested US, British, German, and Greek national championships. International highlights included:
Ayla Granados, USA (began the year with her first US team at the Great Edinburgh Cross Country match relay, and ended it selected for her second at the 2019 edition, this time at 6K)
Natalie Tanner, Germany (14th at European Championships in the 10,000m, team bronze at the European Cup)
Tori Tsolis (Greek National Champion, 1500m)
Maya Weigel (improved her personal best over 30 seconds to qualify for her first USA Outdoor Championships, where she finished 13th at 5000m.
Matt Leach (7th at British 10,000m championships, held concurrently with the European Cup, and improved his 5000m personal best by 10 seconds, earning top 15 at his first senior outdoor championships)
Dena Evans (Assistant Coach, Women’s Distances for Team USA at the 2018 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Birmingham, England)
As a cross country team, we weathered a slightly altered season to finish strongly on both sides at the USATF Club Cross Country Championships. The women again earned 4th as a team, with a team record low point total (139) and several 6K personal bests, led by an 11th place Ayla Granados. Chandler Kemp led the men to 13th (of 50 scoring teams) and a 58 second 1-5 spread over 10K, second only to last year’s 12th place for top club finishes. Granados also became the eighth female club member in nine years to take individual honors at the Pacific Association meet, while the women ascended the podium for the 10th straight year.
This year’s list of personal bests and those who set them is long, but Tasia Potasinski certainly registered her name the most times, setting new PRs at 800m, 1500m, 1 mile (road and track), 3000m, 5000m, and half marathon. Next year’s race schedule will obviously include the 400m, 10,000, and marathon.
In the longer distances, we celebrate debuts and new milestones. A course record for Maggie Yount at the grueling Imogene Pass 17.1 mile run in Colorado, a debut victory for Jake Shoemaker at the Mount Desert Island in Maine, and a fourth place (top Canadian) finish for Chandler Kemp at the Calgary Marathon in his first attempt at the distance.
We are a developmental club. Our athletes live and breathe the ethos of a hard working Silicon Valley in and out of their running shoes, seeking ways to make our stretch goals come to fruition. Our partners and supporters make it possible for the athletes to keep the main thing the main thing, and have filled the gaps to help with key support such as team travel to Club Cross Country Nationals, individual travel to US championships, subsidization of our strength training program and physio needs, and much more. To our primary sponsors Strava and rabbit, as well as our community partners Sports Medicine Institute, Agile PT, ElliptiGo, Performance Gaines, we are enormously grateful for your belief in our athletes and the village you have helped create to facilitate their opportunities to succeed.
As we head toward 2019 and 2020, we have much about which to be encouraged. Caitlin Chrisman and Amy Schnittger have already qualified for the 2020 US Olympic Marathon trials, and top national level and international competitions await for many. We have big ambitions and many miles to run. Your support on this next journey could make the difference as we hope to have more athletes going more places, with greater opportunities at stake. We hope you will join us, and we look forward to sharing the roads, tracks, and trails ahead with all of you.