Links

Pioneer Running Club - Google group of running club information

www.coolrunning.com    - Race schedules, training info, race results

www.runwmac.com   - Local trail running club, local event schedule

www.arcadian.com - Link to the Arcadian Shop.  Local calendar.

www.berkshiresports.org - Local sports and photos

www.kidsrunning.com - Runners World site for kids running information

www.runnergirl.com - Information for girls about running

www.berkshirebikepath.com - Berkshire bike trail information

www.berkshirerowing.com - Berkshire Rowing and Sculling Society on Onota Lake

PHS XC website - Link to their site

Live at the Lake Race Series - 5:30pm at Lake Onota.  Before each summer concert.  Points will be accumulated each week.  $5 per race.  $30 for entire series.  Race is 3.7 miles.  Run the race, cool off in the lake, and relax to live music.

News

2008 Season

I didn't get to post the news throughout this season, but we had a great year.  We were out in full force for the Independence Run, Matty's Run, and the Sheriff's race.  We accomplished the usual relays and trail runs as well as the discus, high jump, triple jump, hurdles, long jump, and new this year the javalin.  We kept it fun with capture the flag and ultimate frisbee.   Many of our girls will be running this fall on various XC teams as well as playing other sports.  The high school program came into it's own this year with a lot of interest throughout the summer.  Looking forward already to next year.  See you then.

2007 Season

Aug 25th - Sheriff's race.  Hot hot day but girls in purple were out in force.  A couple of girls ran the 10k, but most did the shorter race and ran well.

Aug 23rd - Track meet.  White beat Blue in 2 out of 3 4x100 races to take the meet.  Girls competed in the 100, 200, 100 hurdles, long jump, 400, and 800.

July 24th - Sprinter day.  Coach Bell came to practice and we covered using the starting blocks.  Tough workout, we weren't used to sprinting. 

July 20th - Matty's Run, huge turnout as the Lightning girls took 8 of the top 10 runners.

July 11th - Harmony, Becca, and Anna had nice races in the first Live at the Lake Race Series.  Good job girls!

July 10th - Great day!  Coach Bell from Mt Greylock HS XC and Track came and showed us all how to improve our relay handoffs.  Much time spent figuring out the "word" for each team to use.  We also started on long jumps with some excellent jumps.  Picked up 3 new girls today.

July 5th - Relay Day - Our own version of the Penn Relays.  Starting with an easy run of about a mile and half.  We divided the teams by shirt color, it was amazing how well it worked out.  We then did the 4x800 with 8 teams.  A long race that requires some pacing.  Followed it up with a 4x400 with 10 teams, and then finished with the old favorite the 4x100.  Ended up with a pretty tough practice.  We will definitely have another one of these.

July 4th Race - 22 girls gave the July fourth road race a try this year.  A great showing for the club.  Team picture.     Results

Jun 21 2007 - First practice, 42 girls, we had to run two separate 4x100s at the end.  Girls were able to reestablish old friendships. Coach Greb showed us how to do some dynamic stretching.  We had a nice easy run on the Taconic course.  Looks like we are set for a great year.

Jun 17 2007 - Becca and Mackenzie ran the Mt Greylock 5k trail race.  Really tough course.  Mackenzie wins the woman's division with Becca 2nd. 

2006 Season

Nov 2006, Congratulations to Lightning girls who competed on their school cross country teams.  Mackenzie, Becca, Jackie, Skye, Chelsea, Anna, Kortney, and Corinne all ran a strong first season for their teams.  Great job!

Oct 29, 2006 Rachel and Andrea can't get enough appearing at the BrockTrot and finishing the 1 mile run in excellent time.

Oct 8, 2006 Becca scores high with a second place age group prize on a rugged 2 mile course.  Nice job.

Oct 7, 2006  Three Lightning girls represented the club on a challenging 5k course. Megen, Rachel, and Leslie had fine runs.

Aug 24, 2006 Joint practice with PHS XC.  Our girls were pleased that their hard work this summer allowed them to keep up with the older girls. We saw 3 of our number graduate to the PHS team, Rebecca, Skye, and Jackie, very exciting.  They will do great.

Aug 19, 2006 Team track meet.  Green against Blue.  Every girl did at least two running events and the long jump.  After all individual events Blue was just ahead of the Green.  Green needed to win the 4x100 in order to tie and they put the hammer down and out ran Blue for the tie.  Every girl scored at least a point for her team.

Aug 6, 2006 Legendary Lake Race.  25 girls from the club ran at the Lake Race.  20 in the 1 miler, 4 girls in the 6.7 mile relay, and one even ran the 6.7 mile race.  See photos and results.

Aug 5, 2006 Club favorite, the High Jump.  Josh Weeks taught everyone how to flop over the bar.  Anna even qualified at the high school level. 

July 21, 2006 Matty's Race.  16 girls challenged the 1 mile course and 5 girls survived the 5k+ course.  The girls smoked the boys in the 1 mile race, taking 7 out of the top 10 spots.  All girls posted some great times.  Great picture in the Eagle the next day featuring several of our girls at the start.  The 5k course was a lot tougher than I remembered, but all 5 girls did great.

July 18, 2006  Intra squad XC race.  Green Frogs win with a time differential between first and last of only 50 seconds.  Blue Storm and Team Orange were both close behind.

July 15, 2006 Great run to the lake and back.  The girls really put the pedal down on the trail on the way home.

July 11, 2006 Did the long jump today.  Always are popular event.  Here I am!

July 4, 2006 Eleven girls attacked the Fourth of July Parade 5k in a hot race.  Everyone finished and had a great time and a great sense of accomplishment.  Skye, Kaylene, Bethany, Becca, Hannah, Lindsey and Andrea were back for at least the second time, with Safari, Samantha, Katie, and Rachael running for the very first time.

June 18, 2006 Andrea, Rebecca, and Anna run the Mt Greylock 5k Trail Run.  Tough course!  Andrea wins her division.

June 13, 2006  First two practices and we have 32 girls so far.  This week we were treated with a special visit from Monument Mountain's Track and Cross Country star, Elyse Yarmosky.  Elyse answered questions and shared a few secrets for the  team.  We are building our endurance base with easy long runs.  Of course we can't resist a few 4x100s at the end.  Trail run coming up on Saturday morning.

2005 Season

Oct 8, 2005

All Megan, all the time, Megan takes 1st in age group at the BCC Harvest Run.  Keep on going Megan!

Sep 18, 2005

Megan lights up the Josh with a 2nd place age group finish, great job Megan!

Aug 28, 2005

Added links for local fall races.

Aug 27, 2005

Bec, Skye, Kortney, Lauryn, Nicole, and Andrea left the St Joes Football team in their dust as they raced the 2 mile run at the Sheriff's Race.  Skye wins the girls race with the others close behind.

Aug 25, 2005

Final Taconic practice happened to be on the same night as the first PHS Girls XC Team practice.  Our girls got to run with their future teammates and left the PHS coach wishing we had a JR-SR High School so our girls could compete this year.  Big turnout for PHS with 25 girls on their team.  XC is a sport that is definitely catching girl's interest.

Aug 7, 2005

Five girls in the individual race and 3 teams in the 6.7 mile relay.  The girls showed their stuff as Bec and Anna, Madeline and Carinna, and Skye and Kortney battled it out in the relay. 

July 15, 2005

Big Turnout at Matty's Run as the girls enjoyed a great trail race.  The girls all got a big cheer from the audience when they were introduced as a team at the end.

July 10, 2005

Bec goes to Portland, Oregon and brings home 1st place hardware for her age group Under 19.  She finished 17th overall out of 239 finishers.  Photo below and results at http://www.runwithpaula.com/yougogirl.htm

July 2005

Added links to Matty's Run and Legendary Lake Run Forms and Independence Day Race results.

July 4, 2005

Great showing at the Independence Day Race in Pittsfield.  Pacing is the key to this race, and all the girls stayed within themselves in the first mile.  12 Club girls competed and all set PBs for the race.  7 first timers automatically get a PB.  5 repeat runners, Becca knocking 2:12 off last years time, Ally 37 seconds faster, Skye 2:53 faster, and Lindsay and Maddy 9 seconds faster.  Outstanding showing for the club.

June 28, 2005

First track meet of the season.  25 Berkshire Lightning girls showed their stuff at the meet in the 100m, 400m, 800m, discus, and shotput.  It was our first time putting the shot and everyone had fun with it.

June 21, 2005

Season starts Tuesday June 21st at 6:00pm at the Taconic Track.  See schedule.  Email me photos from last season if you want me to post on the website.

2004 Season

August 18, 2004

Just thought the running world would appreciate a description of a great practice and race from the Berkshire Lightning Girls Track Club.

First of all, Kate Greb showed up to teach us all how to throw the discus.  She is the current record holder at Wahconah HS and she wowed everyone with her rendition of the South African style of throw.  It landed only 3 feet shy of her record.  Due to Kate's expert teaching, each of the girls was able to toss their second throw further than the first.  We begged her to come back on Tuesday and she said yes.

Then we ran one of the most even and exciting 4x400 races that I've ever witnessed.  Here is a detailed account of this exciting race:   We were one short of two full teams, but fortunately a friend happened to be at the track with her mother.  Kristen was asked to help fill out the teams and being a great sport she quickly accepted the challenge.  The girls divided the teams themselves and after much discussion sorted out the leg assignments.

Nicole and Amanda were the starters.  Essentially a matched set themselves, they were in perfect synchronization throughout their lap which they completed in a scorching 1:31.  They handed off to Andrea and Maddy for the second leg.

Andrea took an early lead but Maddy's powerful legs kicked into gear and she closed the gap on the backstretch.  Maddy took the lead on the third corner and it looked as though she would steadily increase her lead.  However, Andrea was not to be easily outrun and turned on the speed in the final 100m to close the gap with neither girl yielding an advantage.

They made a quick handoff to Ally and the new girl, Kristen.  Kristen showed surprising speed as she quickly took a 10 yard advantage over the fleet-footed Ally.  But experience in pacing that Ally has learned throughout the season paid off as she never wavered from her stride, gradually whittling away the gap and passing Kristen in the final 50 meters. However, this race was not over.  Kristen, calling on reserves that she didn't know she had, hung in with Ally and left the anchor legs with essentially a tie for the final lap.

Skye and Hannah were the anchors and they were more than ready.  Skye took an early lead with her long legs flying the corners. Hannah hung in Skye's shadow keeping the race close.  Rounding the final turn Skye had a lead of a step and Hannah pulled up next to her, shoulder to shoulder, both running at top speed.  All other activity stopped on the track as the crowd watched the final showdown.  Teammates were cheering at the top of their lungs driving home the anchors.  Neither girl was willing to lose this race as they passed by the finish line in an absolute tie.  I would have needed world class timing equipment to determine the winner of this race.  They clocked the metric mile at 5:50, a little practice with the hand-offs and they could easily slice off another 10 seconds.  Minutes after the race they were all throwing the discus again to new records.

July 22, 2004

July 3, 2004

Eleven PBs at the Fourth of July Race.  Eleven girls from Berkshire Lightning ran and finished the 5k 4th of July race in Pittsfield.

Three girls were veterans from last year and made substantial improvements to their times.  Rebecca improved her time by 1:05 seconds, Lyndsey improved her time by 1:56, and Ally improved her's by 6:25!  Since this was the first Fourth Race for the other eight, all 11 girls had a Personal Bests (PB).  Courtney and Maddy took home hardware in the 10 and under division.  Anna, Skye, Hannah, Lauren, Alex, and Deleah all ran great races.

June 28, 2004

History was made at the Taconic Track as 24 members of the Track Club, filled all six lanes in a 4x100 race.