By Brad Zanetti
It is New Year’s Eve 2021, a mixed cloudy and sunny day. The weather report for tomorrow’s race is cold with fog in the morning becoming sunny and clear. The ‘eve’ is my time to pre-setup the course for the Resolution Run. Due to some poor planning is took much longer to set up than anticipated and the wind was ripping through my sweatshirt and it seemed like about 20 degrees colder. I was expecting a very cold New Year’s morning for set up.
I was bundled up nicely at 0730 as I got in the car for the ride over to Place to Play Park (PTPP). The air temp was crisp, but the air was totally still, the sun just rising up in a clear blue sky. Over the next hour as I marked and finalized the course it was obvious how perfect of a day it was turning out to be. We have been pretty lucky over the last 15 years with very nice weather for the Januar 1 race, but this year the weather was near perfect.
The Piner XC team and alumni were working hard and placed in their positions around the course along with the Dale Peterson led timing and finish line crew readying for the 1000 start. Nearly 100 runners toed the line and listened to a quick review of the course, starting directions and showed their appreciation to our race day volunteers. After a minute of silence remembering some of our fallen ER family: Doc Isabeau, Mojo Royston (aka ‘Doc and Mojo’), Mike McGuire, Michelle Zanetti, Bob Shor and Ralph Harms a long blast from the marine horn punctuated the air and propelled the group forward.
It seems like more than 2 years since hearing the sound of the start of a race at PTPP. There is a woosh of accelerating movement, a variety of whoops and hollers and individual comments. There was palpable excitement in the cold, clear air. As the group circumnavigated the soccer fields and came back through the 1K mark, already the leaders were spread out with Noah Forrey leading MHS junior, Jude Devries by about 15 secs A further 15-20 secs back SRHS senior Sebastian Bohn and Bryce Ward, a junior at Piner HS were locked in step in the 3rd and 4th spots then followed by the rest of the field including, MHS freshman, Hanne Thompsen, master runner, Brandon Bannister and Ezequiel Molina among the top 8 spots overall.
For many minutes the rest of the crowd ran by us at the 1K mark and headed back out to run around the Lake and out the Western Gate to SR Creek Trail.
Out of our sight the race continues in an eastern direction on the Creek Trail passed the eastern reentry gate, passed the 2-mile mark and passed Malibu Circle to the turnaround at around the 2.3mile mark. The runners than head back in a western fashion retracing the course until re-entering and following behind the baseball fields and transitioning back onto the parking lot and the last 150 yards finishing kick.
As we awaited the finishing results there was general discussion of who would win. Would anyone break 16 minutes? How fast will Hanne run? And a slew of other thoughts about running, the weather and life. With 15:25 on the clock our first finisher was running alone toward the finish line. After announcing his approach, the smallish crowd began cheering our leader in, exhorting him to “kick it in”, to try and break 16 minutes. With a furious rush among the excited crowd
Noah Forrey was our winner finishing in 15:56, followed by MHS Junior Jude Devries in 16:21 in 2nd place and in 3rd a top master’s runner, Brandon Bannister in 16:57. We didn’t have to wait long for the first female finisher in 5th Place Overall and an extremely fast time of 17:35, MHS Freshman, Hanne Thomsen. This is now the All-time best female finish for the Resolution Run. Following Hanne in 21:21 in 2nd Place and 23rd O/A was Danielle Steffen and in 3rd place for females and 25th Place O/A in a time of 21:25 was Gretchen Forrey.
A nice group of nearly 100 runners finished the race. This is about 40% of our “normal” entry size but in these times we don’t expect our race numbers to be “normal”. Shortly after the last runner crossed the finish line the award ceremony commenced. All children 13 and under received a finishers ribbon and a protein bar. The top 3 overall received a Resolution Run long sleeve running shirt from Heart and Sole, a portrait mug and a bottle of champagne or beer. The top 3 in the Under 13, 14-20 age groups received medals and a bottle of Martinelli’s. The top 3 in all of the other age groups received choice of beverage and a portrait mug.
The portrait mugs were special bird photos selected from ER Hall of Famer, Brendan Hutchinson’s very impressive personal collection of nature photos taken over the last 40 years. Besides their excellent quality, Brendan’s photos were all taken with a film camera (not digital) and only prime lenses which entailed that Brendan spend a prolonged time “sneaking up” on his subject(s) until he was close enough to get an excellent photo. We are so proud to present his art to those lucky runners.
The Resolution Run was a success on many levels; from the perfect weather to the fine racing to the awards and this couldn’t have happened without the many volunteers who gave up the morning to help me make it a success. I would like to thank Luis Rosales and the Piner HS XC group whom I couldn’t direct the race without, Dale Peterson and his finish crew (Lon Wiley, Tori Meredith and Larry Meredith, Andrea Guzman (award hand out) and Mike Zanetti helping wherever he was needed and Kenny Brown from Heart and Sole. Extra hands showed up to facilitate cleanup and we all left by 1145. Finally, I would like to thank everyone who showed up on race day to start the new year on the “good foot”
Phaby-Gray 44th Annual Resolution Run 2022 Results:
Overall Top 3
Men:
Noah Forrey 15:56
Jude Devries 16:21
Brandon Bannister 16:57
Women:
Hanne Thomsen 17:35
Danielle Steffen 21:21
Gretchen Forrey 21:25
Age Group Top 3
Male
13 & Under
1. Cooper Cheney 20:57
2. Samuel Steinberg 21:24
3. Fletcher Crowell 21:30
14-19
1. Sebastian Bohn 17:23
2. Bryce Ward 18:28
3. Caden Devries 20:43
20-29
1.Dylan Moberly 23:08
30-39
1. Kelsey Cody 18:07
2. Brendan Powers 21:09
3. Brian Tuohy 22:50
40-49
1. Ezequiel Molina 18:13
2. Juan Marquez 19:28
3. Cam Tully-Smith 19:52
50-59
1. Niels Thomsen 18:52
2. Kenny Brown 20:44
3. Andy Lieberman 20:45
60-69
1. Don Stewart 19:20
2. Troy Tuscher 20:59
3. Steve Enos 21:04
70-79
1. Phil Penna 29:03
80+
1. Darryl Beardall 1:06:26
Female
13 & Under
1. Vivienne Finn 24:25
2. Jordan Cheney 24:46
3. Becklyn Devries 24:56
14-19
1. Elena Marquez 23:10
2. Kylin Devries 24:28
3. Audrey Moberly 26:18
20-29
1. Samantha Moberly 28:18
30-39
1. Meredith Letso 25:40
2. Kim Barba 30:31
40-49
1. Kerry Hanlon 21:44
2. Kerry Gesell 23:24
3. Rachel Mckenzie 28:08
50-59
1. Cathy Dubay 21:37
2. Cynthia Nakatani 24:33
3. Patricia Hurtado 24:35
60-69
1. Karen Kissick 26:32
2. Tatjana Omrcen 27:25
3. Lisa Titus Isabeau 28:13
70+
1. Sherri Guinn 47:37
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