Erika Aklufi ran in a very elite group of women yesterday in the Dodge Rock ‘n’ Roll half marathon in downtown Los Angeles running a respectable fifth place in a time of 1:20.39. Erika’s competitors included the winner, Olympic medalist and American Record holder Deena Kastor who ran 1:11.48, Olympian Linda Somers-Smith who at the age of 50 defies her age by placing second in a time of 1:15.17 and sub-2:40 marathoner, Cheryl Smith who ran 1:17.12 for third place.

The course was a rolling-flatish course that started and finished at the Staple Center.

For complete results, click here.

Emily Mitchell-Kreutner finished 5th overall and 2nd woman at this past Sunday’s Nike Women’s Half Marathon in San Francisco. She ran the hilly course in a time of 1:25.30. Sarah Montez was 28th overall running a time of 1:32.28.

Holly Hagerman, from Utah, was the first woman running 1:24.46. Nike elite athletes, Shalene Flanagan, Kara Goucher, Sarah Schwald and Joan Benoit-Samuelson also ran in the race running together coming in between 1:33-1:34.

For complete results, click here.

Cambria and Kimmy post race

The Janes were in full force at the Santa Monica 5000/10000 this past Sunday to take the team win. The Santa Monica 5000 is part of the Southern California USATF Road Grand Prix Series and this race took marks from both the 5,000 and 10,000 meters to go into the team scoring for one race. In the 5,000 meter race, Tania Fischer led the Janes to a 4th overall for women in a time of 17:51.7, Cambria Wu was the second Jane (5th, 17:59.4) followed by Kim Ramirez (8th, 18:28.3). Bethany Nickless, former UCSB alum, won the woman’s division in a time of 17:21.7.

Following the race, Tania said, “It was so great to see so many Janes out there in my hometown representing and helping out the Santa Monica school district in raising money for athletics.”

In the 10,000, Emily Mitchell-Kreutner led the Janes with a 5th place overall finish and a time of 38:29.2 followed by Colleen Joyce (7th, 38:51.3), Amanda Marks (8th, 39:05.2) and Samantha Jones (9th, 39:04.4). Mandy Grantz from Pasadena won in a time of 35:26.9. Amanda said following the race, “…it was great having teammates right there to support each other and work together. I knew I had to stay mentally tough and I did!”

With that team win, the Janes are now currently in 2nd place behind Club Ed Running team with 20,961 points to Club Ed’s total of 21,055 points. Tania has the most points (of both men and women!) with 4,495 points and Cambria is 5th woman with 3,289 points. With one more race on the horizon for the Janes – the Dana Point 10k on Thanksgiving  morning – they look to see if they can make some gains on Club Ed team there with some good marks.

For complete results, click here.

Colleen and Samantha post race

Emily Mitchell-Kreutner was part of a co-ed winning team, Team Optimissport, this past Sunday at the prestigious Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Triathlon. Emily ran the 10k and final portion leg of the tri in a time of 37:19. Her teammates were Alan Morelli and Peter Smith. Alan did the first leg – the .9 mile swim – in a time of 24:10 and Peter biked the second leg of the tri in a time of 57:08 over 24 miles.

The course started as a ocean swim at Venice Beach, then the bike ride went though Venice, the Fairfax District and into Downtown LA. The 10k course was run through Downtown and ended at L.A. Live.

For complete results, click here.

Colleen Joyce who’s been training for longer distances (but also pretty good on the shorter distances too – see Road Mile Results) showed her strength yesterday in the Chico 10 race yesterday in Chico, California. She won in a time of 1:04.27, that’s 6:26 per mile pace, 47 seconds over the second place woman, Julie Shaw. Colleen, who graduated from Chico State, knew the race well and decided to go up and give it a try. Good job, Colleen!

For complete results, click here.