The Janes post open race

The Janes traveled up the coast this past weekend to compete in the USATF Club Nationals at Jefferson Park Golf Course in Seattle, Washington. The weather during the meet was chilly, but ideal–no wind, some drizzle for the later races, and the mud was an issue throughout the for the most part flat, grassy course for most of the runners.

The masters team, consisting of Tania Fischer, Amanda Marks and Kelle Taylor, finished in fourth place with 52 points following Tania’s strong third place individual finish in a time of 22:22. Amanda was the second Jane running 24:00 in 22nd place and Kelle ran 25:30 in 57th place. Club Northwest was the first team with 10 points and unattached runner Chris Kimbrough was the overall winner in a time of 22:12.

The open team ran later in the day. They finished in 24th place in the highly competitive meet. Kim Ramirez led the team in a time 22:33 and 131st place followed by Cambria (22:48, 150th place), Tania, who had to run both races so that the team could have a scoring five in the open race was next running  23:06 in 173rd place. Sam Jones (23:20, 188th place) was the next Jane followed by Adrienne Flores (23:41, 200th place).

“I was hoping to break 22 minutes, and from my last few races, I knew that was a reasonable goal, so it was a bummer for me personally to end an otherwise strong season with a weaker performance.” Cambria stated after the race, and continues “It feels like the competition gets stronger each year, and I’m no longer one of the ‘younger’ runners, but that’s great for the sport! We love coming out each year and seeing where we stand against a talented field; hopefully we can get back to earning a higher finish, like we did in years past. Congrats to our inspiring master’s team, who earned a 4th-place finish! It was exciting to watch Tania battle up front for the lead for most of the race!”

For complete results, click here.

To see a photo album from the meet, click here.

To see a masters photo album taken by Michael Scott, click here.

The Janes battle the elements this past Sunday to compete in the USATF Pacific Association Championships in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. Rain, mud and cold temperatures were on order during the first race of the day for the Janes. The team finished fifth overall. The Janes were led by Cambria Wu who finished 13th overall in a time of 24:48 followed by Tania Fischer (20th, 25:14), Kim Ramirez (28th, 25:48). Sam Jones (49th, 26:06), Amanda Marks (63rd, 27:28) and Kelle Taylor (90th, 28:59).

The New Balance Silicon Valley club team were the overall team winners and Catha Mullen (NB Silicon Valley) was the individual winner running 23:16.

For complete results, click here.

The last race of the Southern California USATF XC grand prix series was this past weekend at the SCAUSATF XC Championships at Kenneth Hahn Park. To compete in the series, an individual must run in at least two cross country races in the series during the fall and then compete in the championships. The scoring includes the top scores from two of the series races and the championships.

Cambria Wu finished second overall in the open division with 95 points and Erika Aklufi finished in third place with 93 points. Tania was fourth with 89 points, Colleen Joyce was fifth with 85 points, Kim Ramirez was sixth with 79 points and Sam Jones was with 76 points.

Tania was the first overall masters champion with 100 points followed by Amanda Marks 96 points.

Nike Team Run LA’s Karla Alburez won the overall title with 98 points.

For more information about the series or to see results, click here.

The Janes added another USATF Southern California XC Championship title this past Saturday at the SCA USATF Cross Country Championships at Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area Park in Los Angeles. Individually, Tania Fischer won the masters division winning in a time of 25:50.98 over the hilly 6000 meter course and then she turned around and ran in the open divisional race to help the team to a victory finishing fifth overall in a time of 25:05.02. Cambria was the first Jane across the line running 24:20.19 in third place overall followed by Erika Aklufi (4th place, 24:49.86), Tania, Colleen Joyce (7th, 26:09.09), Kim Ramirez (8th, 26:12.01), Emily Mitchell-Kreutner (10th, 26:34.36) and Samantha Jones (12th, 27:31.98).

Amanda Marks was second in the masters race behind Tania running 25:56.68.

For complete results, click here.

The Janes went to Elysian Park this past Saturday to run in the hilly 5k ECO Run. The ECO Run is part of the Southern California XC Grand Prix Series – one of the final two races of the series before the final on November 5th – and the Janes dominated. Erika Aklufi came in second in a time of 16:54, Cambria third (17:12.88), Kim Ramirez was fourth (18:09.16), Emily Mitchell-Kreutner was fifth (18:21.27) Sam Jones was sixth and (18:28.22)Amanda Marks (18:52.50) was seventh.

Karla Alburez, from Nike Run LA Team, won in a time of 16:44.31.

For complete results, click here.