The Alan Jones Vestal XX (named after Alan Jones the founder of the race, former Triple Cities Running Club President and the namesake of the Alan Jones Timer of the Year Award) recently posted over 40 years of results for their 20KM race. They had the original data and were able to upload all of it to RunSignup Results for free. The result is great looking results, simple searching, Age Ranking, etc.
The 1978 results hold special meaning to me – I was in them!
It was a memorable race. I was a 9:40 2 miler in high school, and Chip Boehm was a year ahead of me and was New York State Champ in XC and the 2 Mile – he was VERY good and I was kind of average in high school. So he was my hero from afar. This race was in the summer after my junior year and his senior year in college (he ran for Tennessee, I ran at Bucknell). We both just kind of hopped in the race.
It was almost like an out and back except on two different roads. On the way out we ran about 33:30 and it was pretty flat and we were with 2 other guys. At the 10K point Chip and I had the same idea on a steep hill to just break away. We get to the top of the hill and kind of look at each other and the race was on. VERY hilly second half of the race and we ran about 31:30. I remember trying to break him on corners (I always liked to accelerate on corners and try to break away) and he just could not be shaken. We came onto the track for the finish and with the final 50 meters I still remember my legs just gave away and turned to rubber. He separated by a couple of feet. I lost but somehow it was OK since it was to my former hero.
I finished 4t a couple of years earlier…
