Photo below: Erin Swain, 8th woman, who finished in 29:44. Photo courtesy of New York Road Runners.

This past Saturday, August 21, 2006 the New York Road Runners Club sponsored the New York City Club Championships in Central Park. The 5-mile race is an opportunity for running clubs throughout the New York City area to compete for bragging rights as the fastest club around. There is no prize money so folks come out to support their team and run for pride.

The Georgetown Running Company, located on M Street in Washington, DC, and managed by Ben Cooke, a former All-Virginia high school star runner and college All-American at nearby George Mason University, is able to take part in the Challenge due to its link with the other Running Company stores in and around New York City. The DC store is the only Running Company store competing that is not located in New York or New Jersey. Gene Mitchell, the owner of all of the stores, includes the DC store as part of the clan, however, and is very strong supporter of running and sponsors a Running Company Club for talented runners.

For this Saturday's race, Georgetown Running Company sent Max Lockwood, Ben Cooke, Chris Raabe, Ryan Mammen, Eric Post, and George Buckheit from the men's side and Erin Swain, Sarah Spalding, Kelly Behan, Linda Foley, and Cheryl Carr for the women.

The vision behind putting the Running Company Club into the race comes from store owner Gene Mitchell. Gene, an outstanding runner himself and an avid road racer, was the second finisher this past Saturday, in 24:59. At 38, Gene shows no signs of curtailing his running and plans on running the Chicago Marathon in 2:22 or so. On supporting the Club Challenge, Gene had this to say,"What a great accomplishment for all of our teams. To assemble the entire team and have everyone run to their potential on that given day is the reward, win or lose. Men and women's open, men and women's masters all did the job. It shows that, at any age, running is fun and competitive. The team camaraderie and enthusiasm was awesome. I was proud to be part of our group."

Along with Gene, a key ingredient to getting the group of runners together derives from the enthusiasm of DC's Ben Cooke. Cooke, who has been racing in the area for years, is a great supporter of running and especially likes the idea of sponsoring such events as the club championships. Still a "pup" at 28, Cooke is not only a passionate runner but is very much committed to helping other runners improve and maximize their potential. Says Cooke of the event, "The New York Club Championships is an opportunity to run a very competitive team race in the biggest city. With 10 men, scoring depth is important as every runner counts. You are only as good as your 9th and 10th man. Our women's team is awesome, too. George Buckheit does a great job preparing them for serious racing. Our goal next year is to beat a very international team from West Chester. We are hoping to use this as a springboard and field competitive teams at other championship events."

Next year, Cooke, Gene and the Running Company plan on competing again. With hard training and a little good luck, the Running Company might just be able to take home bragging rights as the best club in town.

Full Race Results