Five Janes went to El Toro Airfield to run the USATF Road Mile this past weekend posting some fast pre-season times. Emily Field was the first Janes to cross the line in 5:05 with Cami , Tania, Adrienne and Kirsten right behind, all coming under 5:20. Emily was third in the open division and Tania placed second in the Masters Elite picking up some cash. The Janes continued scoring points for the Southern California Grand Prix by running this race and are currently in third place for the team standings.

Next up Santa Monica 5000M on September 12th. See you there!

The former British Olympian Zola Budd shown here with Erika inset photo. Photo taken by Tom Coat.

Erika Aklufi couldn’t get enough racing on Saturday where she ran in the USATF Club Nationals 5k, so she ran in the Keep L.A. Running 10k this past Sunday, finishing in first woman (sixth overall) in a stellar time of 34:50 that was also a course record bettering the race record of 35:43 by almost a minute. She bolted to the lead and won it running wire to wire.

Erika beat out former British Olympian and distance star, Zola Budd (now Pieterse) who ran second in a time of 36:41, her fastest 10k time in years. Zola, now 44 years old, lives and trains in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina with her husband and three children and evidently now wears shoes when she races. Erika was thrilled to meet the quiet and gracious legend.

For complete results, click here.

For a story on the race on the Keep LA Running website, click here.

With the team of Erika Aklufi and Kirsten Leetch running in the 5000 meters at San Francisco State at the USATF Club Track Nationals, the team scored enough to land the Janes in 10th place by the end of the meet. After running in first throughout the race and creating the pace, Erika was outkicked in the final 100 meters by Club Northwest’s Rose Wetzel to finish in second in a time of 16:40.50 to Rose’s time of 16:37.45. After hanging onto the pack of Erika and Rose through a little over two miles, Kirsten dropped off and finished in fifth running a season best of 16:59.19.

Norfolk Real Deal Track Club from Norfolk, Virginia finished in first place for the women scoring 160 points.

For complete results, click here.

For the USATF club track nationals photos, click here.

Kirsten Leetch competed in the Village Runner Redondo Beach 4th of July 5k this past weekend running 3rd women in a time of 17:37. Cambria Wu also ran in the race but she ran it as a workout since she has been working her mileage and work back up since her injury earlier this season. She ran a very respectable 19:07 for fifth woman as a tempo run.

For complete results, click here.

In Pacific Palisades, Amanda Rondash competed in the 33rd Annual Will Rogers Palisades 4th of July 10k running 41:58 at 6:46 per mile average over the hilly terrain. She was the 7th woman overall. Amanda too is just coming back from a knee surgery so her attempt was not all out but tempo pace.

For complete results, click here.

It was a nice day to start the holiday!

Barbara Parker competed in the very competitive 3000 steeplechase today up at the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field in the Prefontaine Classic. She finished 6th overall running a time of 9:35.17. At one point, Barbara took the lead in this fine field of steeplechasers to try and take it. Milcah Chemos Chieywa won the race in a time of 9:26.70.

For complete results, click here.