Aaron Munzer’s Ithaca Journal report on the Hartshorne masters miles is posted here. I was touched by this passage:  “(Nolan Shaheed) mentioned Diane Sherrer, a longtime advocate of masters running and
columnist for this newspaper, who died last year, as the inspiration
for his win.“Diane didn’t make it here physically, you know, and as I was running, I thought of Diane,” he said.”  

Here is Aaron’s story:

Berra leans into a Hartshorne victory


Pa. man wins 40s race



By Aaron Munzer
Correspondent

ITHACA — Sometimes it pays to puff your chest.

In
the end, it was that move helped Nicholas Berra’s win the elite masters
men’s 40s race by eight-hundredths of a second, beating out Tracy
Lokken in a kick by both men that left the crowd whooping at Saturday’s
43rd annual Hartshorne Memorial Masters Mile held in Cornell
University’s Barton Hall.

“Lokken’s
a marathoner and I’m more of a quarter-and-half-miler, so maybe I had
more practice leaning than him because you don’t get much practice
leaning on a 26-mile race,” said Berra, who is ranked in the 800 meters
but is a first-time miler.

The
win by Berra, of Enola, Pa., in 4 minutes, 24.74 seconds was an upset
over favored elite miler Tony Young of Redmond, Wash. Young led the
pack for most of the race on world-record pace, but dropped back near
the finish line.

Lokken,
of Marquette, Mich., a master cross-country champion, came in at
4:24.82, and was followed by Kent Lemme, another cross-country champ of
Williamstown, Mass., with a time of 4:30.72.

Saturday’s race was slightly slower than last year’s, but was much more exciting, race director Tom Hartshorne said.

“The change in position in the last laps is always really exciting, and we had that in three races,” he said.

The
one race with a strong, out-front leader was the women’s elite 40s —
even thought it had a field dense with world champions and record
holders. Aeron Arlin-Genet of San Luis Obispo, Calif., a 42-year-old
who is a newcomer to masters running, took a strong lead early and kept
it the whole time, clocking in at 5:03.62.

“This field is so elite, it’s not your typical masters race,” she said. “So I broke the field early, and I’m glad I did that.”

Katie
Aldridge, 36, of Ithaca, came in second at 5:06.89, followed by former
Hartshorne elite 40s champion Alisa Harvey, 44, of Manassas, Va. in
5:09.67.

The elite
men’s 50s was a race that many watching thought 50-year-old Anselm
LeBourne of Maplewood, N.J., had wrapped up until the masters 45-49
record holder in the 800 was passed by David Cannon, 53, of Seattle,
Wash., with two laps to go.

“I knew we had two laps to go,” LeBourne said. “I knew I could cover it.”

And
cover it he did, sweeping past Cannon before the finish line to clock
in at 4:35.27, followed by Cannon with 4:38.64, and Casey Carlstrom,
50, of Ithaca, in 4:49.08.

Also
running the elite men’s 50s race was the world-record holder in the
mile and 800 for 50-year-old men — Nolan Shaheed, of Pasadena, Calif.
Even at 60 years-old, Shaheed still proved he has what it takes,
setting the world record in the mile for 60-year-old men, even though
he was solidly in the middle of the pack for the entire race.
Afterwards, Shaheed said he chose to break the record in Ithaca because
the Hartshorne Masters Mile has such respect for masters runners.

He
mentioned Diane Sherrer, a longtime advocate of masters running and
columnist for this newspaper, who died last year, as the inspiration
for his win.

“Diane didn’t make it here physically, you know, and as I was running, I thought of Diane,” he said.

Cheryl
Bellaire, 51, of St. Davids, Pa., took first in the women’s elite 50s
race, which was also in memoriam of Sherrer, and included a prize in
her name. As she sat panting after the race, she was adamant that the
mile was not her race.

“I
hate the mile,” Bellaire said. She was followed by Julie Hayden, 50, of
Ashburn, Va., in 5:47.53, and in third was Maureen de St. Croix, 56, of
Vancouver, British Columbia, with 5:54.68.

Surrounded
by young Cornell track athletes after he ran in the masters men’s
regional race, longtime runner and Town of Ithaca supervisor Herb
Engman, dripping with sweat, said he hoped their prowess was
encouraging to the youngsters.

“The
young kids here realize they don’t have to stop running after college,”
Engman said. “When these guys get to see 50-year-olds running, they
realize they can still keep going with the sport their whole life.”

---