VOLCANIC SPRINT

BCRR and Harra are co- sponsoring the screening of a new documentary, Volcanic Sprint, on Saturday July 12. The film is about an annual marathon distance race up and down a volcano in Camaroon. You can view a trailer for Volcanic Sprint here.

The screening will be held at the Aurora Theater, 800 Aurora, Houston. Tickets are $10 online or $10 by cash or check at the door. There is a reception from 7-8 and the screening starts at 8PM. See website for additional information.

Check out ATHLINKS.COM

Athlinks.com is a very cool and useful website for runners who like to race. It is a comprehensive online race results database for running, triathalon, cycling, mountain biking, swimming and adventure racing. You don't have to join to search for results, but joining allows you to access some of the other features. The most important features are below:

• Find and consolidate all your race results. You can do this quickly and with one search as opposed to slogging through the results of individual races on different websites. It's a great way to see and maintain all of your results in one place. You can even add races that are not online and consolidate results run under different aliases. This feature will be especially useful for BCRR members "Morry Copulare", "Homer Plate", "Inda Ozone", and "Chip Tyme".


• Check out the results of friends and competitors. You can then plot the trajectory of their age-related decline against your own, etc... Or let's say a runner with a gender-neutral name like "Chris", "Pat", or "Tracy" beats you in a race and you suspect they are a man instead of a woman. You can check this out in seconds on Athlinks.com.


• Network with other runners and groups.

We have a BCRR group already up and running. Check it out and join in at http://www.athlinks.com/affiliate/664/Bayou-City-Roadrunners.aspx

K. Mahon

BCRR Vet Women on Top

Got Hardware?

For the first time BCRR Veteran Women won BOTH Team and Club Competition Awards for the HARRA Fall Series! Awards were presented by HARRA at the Bayou Bash Relay in which BCRR Vet women teams also took 1st, 2nd and 4th place in their division - Sweet!

For those unfamiliar with the HARRA Interclub Competition , the "Team" competition is based on the top age-graded performance for the top scoring team (3 people/team) for each category for each race. The "Club" award is based on performance and participation as it scores for each team. (See Harra Rules - Bob Brown wrote a detailed explanation in the October 07 newsletter). Thus even if a Vet woman ran only one HARRA race in the fall series, she contributed to the Club award. Every person counts!!

Well Done!!

BCRR Among Top Ten Houstonians at Boston

Two Bayou City Road Runners were among the top ten Houstonian finishers at the 2008 Boston Marathon, as reported by Jon Walk in the RunHouston Blog (Houston Chronicle 4/21/08):

- Robert Walters, 3:07:31 - 7th male

- Anne Esler, 3:20:16 - 4th female

Congratulations!!

LP Run- 2008

Fred, Mike and Gary strategize (and check their pulses) before the race

We had respectable club turnout for the annual LP Run held at St Thomas track April 9, 2008. This race is part of the HARRA Spring Series and is sponsored by the Terlinguins. For those unfamiliar, the object is to run around and around the track as fast as you can for 33 1/3 minutes- the goal being to cover the most distance in this time.

BCRR Hardware: Chris Harris was 2nd Clydesdale, Anna Helm was 2nd master’s woman, and MJ Savino and Hope Sellers got 2nd and 3rd respectively in the 60+ women's division. Gary Wood, Don Brenner and Fred Steves swept the 65-69 division, completely shutting out Mike Mangan. However, Mike literally enjoyed the “last laugh” when he won 3rd place in the Limerick contest. Here is his winning contribution:

I have run many different style races.
And did them at various paces,
But the LP Run,
Has been the most fun,
For a change I am seeing folks' faces!

Great Limerick Mike!! This is not the first time you have rhymed- remember the “Ode to John’s Long Run” a couple of newsletters ago? You are arguably becoming the Poet Laureate of BCRR!!

K. Mahon

BCRR International Marathon Trip China and Olympic Games

China Marathon and Olympics Trip 2008. BCRR is happy to announce that an international marathon trip has been selected for this summer. We have chosen China not only because of its’ exotic location plus it coincides with the Olympics. Our group will be lead again by Bob. His experience in organizing past events and his knowledge of China should help make this BCRR marathon the best ever. The dates are set for August. The weather should be ideal. The summer temps and humidity match those of Houston so it’ll be an especially easy transition. The so called problem with smog that has forced some Olympic participants to drop out should not be a concern. We Houstonians will have a huge advantage in that regard. Due to the varying interests of our group we plan to be more laissez-faire in our itinerary to allow everyone to uniquely sample this mysterious country. BCRR will not be able to guarantee to tickets to specific Olympic events and transportation and meals will be on your own. The highlight of the course is running on or near the Great Wall. BCRR plans to start a marathon warm-up program geared toward the race. The Run-By-You-and-You Training Program will have weekly runs in Deer Park to help get us accustomed to the conditions. These runs starting before lunch on Sundays will be wonderful opportunity to bond with your fellow runners under the blazing hot, hot Houston summer sun. Deposits need to be collected as soon possible. Do not contact Bob personally

BCRR Recovering Runners Group

BCRR Run-Al-Anon Fridays ongoing. Do you feel you have a running problem? Drinking problem? Addictions have taken over your life? Well, BCRR has a new group that can help. Do you have a strange need to arise early on Sunday mornings and go out and run before the sun comes up? Do you run loops around a track or up hills or parking garages or stadium steps for the fun of it? Can you go a day or a few days without running before you start feeling guilty for being a slacker? Do you have to run the Houston Marathon every year? Can you stop at a couple beers or glasses of wine at Valhalla? Do you have a tendency to run, drink, eat, binge or engage in these unhealthy lifestyles? Our newly formed group with the help of dedicated mental professionals and runners themselves are here to help you out. You are not alone. Our group will help you through these addictions and steer you on a path towards self discovery and enlightenment. Our professionals use a modified behavioral approach that has been profoundly helpful. Meetings take place after BCRR Happy Hours. Check the website for updates.