A group of Juneau adult runners took their trail running passions south to compete at the 2024 USA Track & Field National Club Cross Country Championships on Saturday at University Place, Washington, near Tacoma.
“I have come down to cross-country national championships multiple times in the past, and it is just a blast,” Smokin’ Old Geezers captain John Bursell, 60, said. “It was a great race and I thought the guys would enjoy it, and I thought it would be fun to just pull a team together and come down and race together as a team.”
The event held at Chambers Creek Regional Park featured top running clubs from around the nation, including teams from NIKE, Brooks Beasts, Bowerman Track Club, Roots Running Project, Minnesota Distance Elite, Hansons-Brooks Distance Project and New York Track Club, to name a few. In the five main races, there were 205 teams and over 1,800 runners.
Smokin’ Old Geezers runner John Bursell races at the USATF National Club Cross Country Championships on Saturday at University Place, Washington. (Photo courtesy S.O.G.)
Bursell put the idea of the race to his Klondike Road Relay team, and they responded with a dedication of at least attending a weekly track workout in addition to what each runner does on his own.
The team of Bursell, Jesse Stringer, 41, Brandon Ivanowicz, 43, Juan Orozco Jr., 45, and Steve Ricci, 43, placed 22nd in their division, with a combined five-runner time of 3:40:37.
The exposure to the event is what Bursell hoped would be enticing for the Juneau runners.
“There was a total of about 1,700 competitors across all the races,” Bursell said. “And I think we had 300 and some in ours.”
Bursell was initially going to race in the Masters Men 8k (60+) division but decided to run with his younger teammates to give them a complete scoring team in the Masters Men 10k (40+) division.
“It was a pretty big race for cross country and a lot of really great runners,” he said. “And it was perfect cross-country weather…cool, windy, wet and muddy, so it was really perfect for cross-country.”
Smokin’ Old Geezers runner Jesse Stringer races at the USATF National Club Cross Country Championships on Saturday at University Place, Washington. (Photo courtesy S.O.G.)
Bursell, who ran for Lewiston High School in Idaho, North Idaho Junior College and the University of Portland and is an accomplished Ironman triathlete, ran a 6:25 pace for 40:46 and an overall finish of 171st.
Stringer who ran for Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé and coaches the Crimson Bears track team, ran a 6:39 pace for 41:15 and 188th.
“I just wanted to run for the Smokin’ Old Geezers,” he said. “I really admired the group since Guy (Thibodeau) and Glenn (Frick) and Bob (Marshall) were running with the crew, and literally blazing trails on tops of mountains and through the woods. So just getting to run with the Smokin’ Old Geezers was special. I had to say yes.”
Stringer noted the race could serve Juneau well.
“If you like to get muddy and dirty, and run in the cold and the rain and slush, yeah, they will get involved,” he said.
Ivanowicz, a former linebacker for Ohio’s Pique High School Indians, had been training through a calf injury, but had recovered in time for the event. He ran a pace of 7:02 for 43:41, placing 243rd.
“They are a little sore,” he said of his calves. “But not injured, so yeah, they held together.”
Smokin’ Old Geezers runner Brandon Ivanowicz races at the USATF National Club Cross Country Championships on Saturday at University Place, Washington. (Photo courtesy S.O.G.)
Another triathlete, Ivanowicz specializes on the bike and had along with Bursell, Ricci and a few others, cycled from Whitehorse to Skagway after the Klondike race.
“I had not done a cross-country race before,” he said. “And the team was traveling down so I thought it sounded interesting and just wanted to go along…This race was all on open fields so I think it was kind of a traditional cross-country, whereas in Juneau I guess it is just trails.”
Ivanowicz also was given the annual Smokin’ Old Geezers trophy after the race. The award is to honor a teammate running their first cross-country race. As the winner Ivanowicz will get to bestow it on a team member next year.
Orozco Jr. ran a 7:38 pace for 47:25, placing 298th. His running history first started in a Florida middle school, and he continued through high school.
“I ran cross-country in high school so I really enjoyed it,” he said. “But Florida didn’t really have much of a cross-country team per se other than a little bit of sands, some trails and stuff but not like the cross-country I like to see. And just hanging out with all these guys here was a cool opportunity to do it, just come and be in a race environment.”
Smokin’ Old Geezers runner Juan Orozco Jr. races at the USATF National Club Cross Country Championships on Saturday at University Place, Washington. (Photo courtesy S.O.G.)
Ricci is a triathlete and uses Juneau athletic events as training for national triathlons and, of course, Juneau’s Aukeman. He ran a 7:39 pace for 47:30 and 300th.
“So this is my first cross-country race,” Ricci said. “So I was just excited to expand the athletic portfolio and see what it was all about. It was a great race. Lots of fun. It good to be part of the team and get another use out of the uniform. Just trying something new.”
Another team of northerners, the Alaska Endurance Project LLC, placed seventh with a combined time of 3:08:31. They were Chadwick Trammell (age 40, 32nd, 36:09), Owen Marcotte (40, 62nd, 37:31), Nick Schollmeier (42, 67th, 37:43), Jake Moe (40, 68th, 37:43) and Mark Iverson (42, 127th, 39:25).
Juneau’s John Nagel, 63, ran for the Geezers in the 60-and-over 8-kilometer Masters race, placing 124th with a pace of 8:31 for a time of 42:18 among 172 racers.
“I haven’t run this fast in a long time,” Nagel said. “I even bought a pair of spikes the night before so it went alright. It was a sloppy, sloppy course…One real hill, hay bales to jump over and it has been raining a lot. A total slop fest in a lot of places.”
Smokin’ Old Geezers runner Steve Ricci races at the USATF National Club Cross Country Championships on Saturday at University Place, Washington. (Photo courtesy S.O.G.)
Nagel had a blast from the past as his race included Dave Frank, someone he had raced against in high school in Oregon.
“I just wanted to get a good hard run,” Nagel said. “And hang out with the guys and have some fun.”
Nagel also stayed — and the team did as well in support — to run the Deception Pass 25K on Sunday at Whidbey Island. He ran 3:05:08 for 85th overall out of 267, finishing third in his age group and 50th among men. The race winner was David Dixon, 32, in 2:01:11; the top female finisher and ninth overall was Caitlin Jacobsen, 39, in 2:21:55.
The top Open Men 10k runner at the USATF Club Cross Country Championships was Kenneth Rooks, 25, of team NIKE with a pace of 5:01 for 31:09.
Top Open Women 6k female was Allie Buchalski, 29, of Brooks Beasts TC with a pace of 5:30 for 20:28.
Top Masters Men 10k (40+) was Joseph Gray, 40, of Club Northwest with a pace of 5:22 for 33:20.
Top Masters Men 8k (60+) was Steve Schmidt, 64, of Ann Arbor Track Club with a 6:19 pace for 31:21.
Top Masters Women 6k time was Carrie Dimoff, 41, of Bowerman Track Club with a pace of 6:05 for 22:39.
There were also options for 3k and 6k races among all divisions. Rooks also won the 8k in 24:52, the 6k in 18:25 and the 3k in 8:53.
Smokin’ Old Geezers runner John Nagel races at the USATF National Club Cross Country Championships on Saturday at University Place, Washington. (Photo courtesy S.O.G.)
Bursell said he would like to encourage more Juneau athletes to consider joining USATF and forming teams for competition or to join the Smokin’ Old Geezers, albeit with a more youthful name.
“We’ve talked about that a little bit,” he said. “Folks have kind of thought about who else might want to come race on the Geezer team and so we plan on doing it again next year.”
Bursell said it would be fun to have younger teammates. “They could run in the Open race if they are under 40. It would be cool to have an Open team, too. They might want to use the Young Geezers or something, though, I don’t know…I think just getting people interested and seeing an opportunity to race and have fun.”
USATF holds Club Cross Country races throughout the year. There are over 3,000 clubs at the local level with over 130,000 members. Each year, the USATF inducts a new class into the National Track & Field Hall of Fame. For more info go to USATF.org.
• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@juneauempire.com.
