At the close of our 13th fall season, Peninsula Distance Club has had plenty to celebrate as we embark on the new decade in January. Some of our results by the numbers:
Over 250 race performances, with
10 all-time club records, set in
10 countries worldwide,
19 US states, and
31 different cities in California
Internationally, PDC athletes represented the United States, Great Britain, and Greece this year, led by Matt Leach, who was the third scoring team member as Team GB took team silver at the European Cup 10,000m in June. Dena Evans also served as Head Women’s Coach for Team USA at The Match (Europe vs USA) in Minsk, Belarus, and Assistant Coach for Women’s Distance at the IAAF World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar. Marissa Ferrante enjoyed a breakthrough year in international professional sprint triathlons, winning both CAMTRI sprint events in Richmond, Virginia and Magog, Quebec. Tom Tayeri heads to the April 2020 World Marathon Majors Age Group Championships as the 55-59 age group champion at the 2019 Bank of America Chicago Marathon, winning the division by nearly five minutes.
Nationally, 5 team members (Caitlin Chrisman, Jeannette Mathieu, Mara Olson, Stephanie Pancoast, and Amy Schnittger) have qualified for the US Olympic Marathon Trials in February 2020, with still more attempts yet to come in January after Pancoast and Mathieu’s successful runs at the California International Marathon in December. In 2019, PDC team members competed at the USA Indoors and USA Outdoors on the track, while in cross country, our women’s team finished sixth at the USATF Club Cross Country Nationals, our 9th consecutive year with a top 10 team finish. Maya Weigel led all PDC athletes with a 12th place individual effort in Lehigh.
At the USATF Pacific Association level, Maddy Berkson won the women’s short course road Grand Prix in her first post-collegiate season. Trevor Halsted took third in the long course series with an outstanding year which included a victory at the Kaiser Permanente Half Marathon in February. Newcomer Chris Olley made an immediate impact with individual PA wins both at the Silicon Valley Turkey Trot as well as the PAUSATF Cross Country Championships, our first male athlete to take home top honors at that event. Olley extends a run of 9 of 10 years in which a PDC athlete of either gender has won the meet, this year leading the men to their first runner-up team finish. The women finished second to maintain a streak of 11 years with a podium team finish at this event. Also with a One Mile Bang team victory, they began a new victory streak at the inaugural PAUSATF Oakland Marathon Relay competition with a team featuring Mara Olson, Victoria O’Neil, Tasia Potasinski, and Olivia Mickle.
Our terrain this year has been varied, with competitions on the road, track, cross country course, trail, and over triathlon venues, while our competitive distance has varied from 300m to the marathon. In 2019, we have been fortunate to gain the adaptive and innovative support of financial network cryptography leaders Eian and parent organization Findora, and have had the opportunity for a footwear partnership with On while enjoying another year wearing rabbit gear in competition. Our community partners Sports Medicine Institute and Agile Physical Therapy have again been absolutely crucial and invaluable to our ongoing success.
Heading into 2020, many opportunities await. The work well underway to achieve next year’s personal bests, and we look forward to sharing with you the teamwork, growth, and breakthroughs that result.