The USATF (USA Track and Field) off-road series is coming up very quickly. For the last two years, the Wanderers entered a team under the leadership of Polly Jansen and Chris Verry. We did absolutely great although it is hard to

find enough Wanderers to fill out the team towards the end of the season.

We have to quickly decide whether we are going to enter a team again this year.

 

As of 1/30, the following Wanderers have expressed an interest in joining:

  • Phil Ranly
  • Randy Clever
  • Sharon Schmidt-Mongrain
  • Noah AnStraus
  • Jim Millar
  • Josh Dennis
  • Helen Cheung
  • Noah Schusterman
  • Chris Verry
  • Polly Jansen

Polly is waiting to hear back from Doug Dubrosky, Tammy Leigh DeMent, Matt Mauren and Jan Deruiter.

If you are interested, please contact Polly or post a comment below.

Here is how the scoring works. The USATF takes the top five club finishers (the performances are weighted by age and gender so that it is not necessarily the top five fastest finishers), but one of the five has to be a woman. To field a team comfortably we need to have a team of 15 runners who wish to compete in the series.

We picked the target of 15 runners total because every weekend some of the team members will have other commitments. We figure that with a team pool of 15 we should be able to field at least five runners for each race. Please let us know if you would like to be a member of the Wanderers team for the USATF Off Road series. If we do not get 15 interested runners, we will not enter a team.

Here are a couple of factors you should take into consideration. First, we do not care about performance. If you are a slow runner and are worried that you will drag down our team result, do not worry!! We are going to try hard, but we do not care where we finish. Secondly, to enter, the club has to be a member of the USATF and each runner to count must be an individual member of the USATF.

The individual fee is $30. The USATF is a good organization which we should be supporting.

LISTED BELOW IS THE SCHEDULE OF RACES MAKING UP THE SERIES. If you want to participate, you do not have to go in all the races. However, we would ask that you commit to going in to at least three of them. Please let us know if you have questions. We had fun doing the races the last couple of years, but it does require some sacrifice.

If you are interested and/or want to participate:

  1. If you will be joining us or if you have any questions, please post a “comment” below (you will need to log into the site before you can post a msg below). Posting a comment below will give fellow Wanderers an idea of who will participate this year.
  2. Also let Polly know you are interested in joining. She will make sure we have all 15 team members lined up before we register individually.
  3. Once we have the 15 Wanderers lined up, you can sign up for your USATF membership (the Wanderers “Club ID” is 92)

 

USATF 2009 Schedule:

February 22, 2009
11:00 a.m.		 Ugly Mudder 7.25 Miler
Ron Horn – 610-779-2668
pretzelcitysports.comCheck out Mudder reports and photos from 2008, 2007, 2006		 7.25 Miles
April 4, 2009
9:00 a.m.		 Tyler Trail 10K XC Run
John Greenstine – 610-891-0806
delcorrc.org		 10K
April 25, 2009
10:00 a.m.		 Trail Triple Crown 10K (Trail Run)
John MacKenzie – 302-373-3723
traildawgs.org/tc		 10K
June 6, 2009
9:00 a.m.		 Wissahickon Trail Classic 10K
Suzanne Low – 215-951-0330 x-2101
Wissahickontrailclassic.org		 10K
June 28, 2009
10:00 a.m.		 Double Trouble 15K Trail Run
Ron Horn – 610-779-2668
pretzelcitysports.com		 15K
October 11, 2009
9:00 a.m.		 Radnor Red Run 5K Steeplechase
Tom Chaves – 610-316-5461
Radnorredsteeplechase.org		 5K
November 29, 2009
10:20 – 11:30		 Delaware State Open XC Championships
(MAUSATF Championship)
Jim Walsh – 302-892-2829
delawarerunningclub.com		 5K

 

Race reports from previous years: