Another RKR Victory XC Race #2

Regular readers of this blog will know that I am not the biggest fan of pre-race ceremony.  Once I get up on the line all I really want to hear is runners set and then the gun, but I understand that for various reason race directors often feel compelled to impart certain information, wisdom, or blessings upon the runners.  At this past weekends cross country race we were treated to the most bizarre pre-race speech I have ever heard..

Coach Reif of GVH started out by thanking everyone for coming out, and gave a brief but heart felt dedication to Pete Glavin.  Pete founded the Upstate cross country series 20 years ago and was instrumental in running it right up until he lost his battle with a brain tumor last year.  Reif quickly turned the race over to an older runner with wispy white hair who I can only assume has some affiliation with the Buffalo Track Club as they were the ones hosting this race.  He thanked us for coming and proceeded to say the following…

I was in a diner the other day and an elderly fellow holding a newspaper said “the last ten years of his life must have sucked.”  I walked over and thanked him for giving me the opening to this weeks track practice.  Lets have a moment of silence for a great American, Steve Jobs.

I have endured all manner of nonsense before someone got around to pulling the trigger on the starting pistol but this was without a doubt the most inappropriate garbage I ever had to stand through.  A great American, really?  I’m not sure that I would consider someone who made their billions by exploiting cheap overseas labor a great American, but that isn’t really even my problem with the pre-race Jobs worship.  If this was a tech conference fine, but it is a cross country race and unless Alan Culpepper (or someone like Pete directly tied to the event we are about to participate in) just keeled over I don’t want to hear it.

Despite this obvious attempt to befuddle us, RKR cruised to an easy victory in what was essentially a dual meet between us and GVH.  None of the other open teams managed to field 5 open runners.  Syracuse Track Club had 2 Checkers had 3 and High Noon had 2.  Only 1 GVH runner cracked our top 5 with Adam Crandall coming in just behind our newest addition Dan Lane.  3 different Roadkill runners held the lead after the first mile, but it was Dan who stayed strongest throughout the race to finish just a second out of first place.

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