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10th Annual
Red Rooster Ramble
5 Mile Road Race Series
September
11th, 2008
Season Wrap-up
by David Simmons
R.D.
I
want to thank everyone for their participation and support this year
and making this Ramble the most attended series ever. We had 154
runners and 10 walkers. A special thanks to the contingency of
walkers who joined us this year. I apologize for last week for
overlooking your times ... but I had never had four pages of race
results to read in the 10 years I have been doing this, so for that,
please accept my apology. It has been great having you join us
this year and I hope you will return next year. All of you have
given so much through your time and dedication, and without
it, this series would not be the success that it is.
We had four people join the Rhode Island Road Runners during this
series:
David Croft
Michael Holtman
Linda Karppinen
Matt Sherman
I have told you over and over again that the Ramble is my way of giving
back to the running community. Well, I read a quote in
Runners’ World last winter that I have to borrow because it says
it all. Dave Macilvary, the race director for the Boston Marathon,
was quoted as saying,
“I participate in road races to build my own confidence and
self-esteem ... and I direct them so others can have the same
opportunity,” and that is how I feel as well.
I want to thank our sponsors, Jamiel Financial Advisors, Market Street
Pub, Fuel Belt, Cumberland Farms, Delta Electric, and the Gob Shop, for
all their support. I want to thank Mike Soyka for doing the flyers
for me again, and Bob and Ann Noyes for letting us use their yard
for our water stop. I want to thank the Brennans for picking up my
signs and the banner when they accidentally got left behind.
There was a great deal of help with the water stop this year and this
allowed Bob Rutkiewicz to participate in many of the weekly races this
year. I want to thank Milt Schumacher, Matt Sherman, Bob Levkulic,
Scott Caldwell, Brian Govednik, Bob Rutkiewicz, and Bill Caine for
sharing in that responsibility. I want to thank Penny Catalano and
Kevin Sweet for their assistance last week with registration and the
finish line. Last week was the largest turnout we have ever had
and registration and the finish line went like clockwork. Many
thanks to Steve Donato for his tireless effort doing the registration
every week as well as working the finish line ... it got very busy and
hectic, but I really appreciate all his help. Bill Caine was up on
Sowams Road so much that he was becoming pretty cozy with the neighbors
up there … so much in fact, rumor has it they were bringing
shots and beers to him out at the water stop on Thursday nights. I
also want to thank Scott Caldwell for his effort at the finish line as
well. It was actually a little comical when Steve and Scott both worked
the finish line with me, and I say this in pure humor … but
it was like having Laurel and Hardy with me … I had one guy who
said nothing … and the other guy who just wouldn’t shut
up. Many times, I had to keep looking back at the table where all the
runners had congregated to yell at Scott to stop yakking and get back
to the finish line.
At the beginning of the series, I was having a little difficulty
reading the names written down on the finish sheets. In fact,
there were a few weeks that I was seeing names on the finish results
that I had never heard of ... like Kevin Govednik ... but you can
all take comfort in knowing that Steve did not discriminate. He even
misspelled his wife’s own name…and I am not talking about
her FIRST NAME either. But all joking aside, it was a great year and I
thank you all again.
I want to make mention of a few other events that deserve recognition
... John Santillo, for his work at the Common Fence Point 5 miler
… another class act this year … and to Lynne Dolan, for
the Trot off your Turkey 5K to be held the Saturday after Thanksgiving,
Nov. 29th, which is second to none.
T-shirts—You have to run at least 8 weeks to qualify for a shirt.
2005 -- 25 runners qualified
2006 -- 40 runners qualified
2007 -- 45 runners qualified
2008 -- 50 runners qualified
We had one person who had perfect attendance, Dan Azevedo.
Actually, Dan was the first runner to ever run a 25-week series in 24
weeks. In Week #1, he ran the course early with Harry Carter,
finished his run, and then ran down the street to the start line in
time to run the race with everyone else. So Dan’s shirt
reads -- “Perfect Season 2008”
Now this year, we had someone do something that has never been done
before. Matt Polak has perfect attendance for two consecutive years,
that's 48 consecutive Rambles. So last week at the season
finale, I gave him a signature stamp that is good for 50,000
impressions so he does not have to sign my registration forms anymore
and that will last him until the year 4018. Last year, he
received a t-shirt that read Perfect Season 2007 and I am sure he has
enough t-shirts, so I had to do something else. So with cooler
weather approaching, Matt was presented a heavy-duty hooded
sweatshirt.
Best Water Stop -- Bill Caine
Award for Perseverance -- Christy Brennan
Weekly Registration -- Steven Donato
Comeback of the Year -- Pat Kurzynski
Most Improved Male Runner of the Year – Ken Luke 2:55
Most Improved Female Runner of the Year – Shelly McGaw/Lynne
Zebzda
Most Improved Runner from 2007-2008 – Dan Azevedo (PR for 07 --
39:02, PR for 08 – 32:17) that is an improvement of 6:45.
Now before we get to the Rooster ... we have something new this year
… I have been planning this for over a year … it is ...
The 100th Red Rooster Ramble Hall of Fame
The following members are to be inducted this evening.
Stan Kurzynski – July 12, 2007
John Santillo – April 24, 2008
Matt Polak – June 5, 2008
Bob Rutkiewicz – July 3, 2008
Red Rooster Ramble Award for 2008 -- Matt Polak
I actually had time to inspect this award this year and reflect on the
past 10 years ...
The tradition began when the first recipient, Bill Crohan, returned the
Rooster with a runners watch around it’s ankle. Ever since then,
the rooster has come back with “something attached” and in
addition to the watch, we have:
A Red, White and Blue Ribbon
A Pink Head Band
A sign and a compass
A water cup with an ice cube
A t-shirt
A Race #
And a pair of running shoes
Last year's recipient, Joe Pascale, was NOT to be outdone and has
exceeded alllllllllllll expectations … The Rooster finally has a
Jock Strap.
Cash Raffle
Total of $775.00
1st place -- $380.00 -- Linda Karppinen
2nd place -- $250.00 -- John Clements
3rd place -- $145.00 -- Todd Benevides
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