Yessirree Bob…March 4th Our Womens Team placed 4th in the world, one minute off of 3rd!!! http://www.jpmorganchasecc.com/results.php?city_id=18&type=women&year=2009
Go to http://jpmorganchasecc.com/events.php?city_id=18&page=events031010 for a video of the race, including a few spots of our own Casey Depasquale.
Casey Depasquale, Amy West, Helen Dole, and Maureen Duffy are running the Chase Corporate Challenge Finals in Johannesburg, South Africa!!! After 25 years of having the Championships right here in NYC in October, they scaled down the event, shipped it off to another country, and made it a spring event. They will be running on March 4th against only 1st place teams from the other 12 cities, worldwide. Congratulations and have a great time!!!!
Despite expectations of torrential showers and chilly breezes, 41 UFT Runners showed up and had a fun June evening.
Our womens team built on its amazing success of a year ago by finishing 1st out of nearly 1000 companies and organizations. Zaia Wharton led the way with a 21:50 (6:14 pace), followed by Casey Depasquale improving on her best Corporate Challenge time by over a minute, finishing in 22:13. Next was Amy West at 22:45 and Helen Dole at 22:59.
As for men, we placed 3rd, a new participant, Chris Delaubenfels led us at 17:56 (5:07 pace), followed by Jesse Horst with his best Central Park time of 18:32. Next came solid dependable vets Joe Tumbarello at 19:25 and Nich Galasso at 19:31.
Our coed team placed 4th, led by old-timers Brian Cloherty at 19:56 and Richie Orazem at 21:13. Newcomer Mo Duffy finished at 23:07 and Felicia Wagner in 23:23.
All of these team members will receive Tiffany plates and qualify for the October International Finals.
Co-chairs Kevin Miller (22:17) and Josie Piccinic (25:29) happened to be the next fastest male and female UFT Runners and thus alternates should anybody not be able to race in the Finals.
The Chase Corporate Challenge organizers have put out a notice that they will not hold the Finals this year, the first time in 33 years…
http://jpmorganchasecc.com/events.php?city_id=18&page=events061809
After the World Trade Center attacks in 2001 they conducted the Finals, though a month delayed. It was very inspiring. Time will tell….this seems a little surprising that they will not find a way to complete this year’s racing series season.
For all of our team members results, go to https://register.jpmorganchasecc.com/teampub/page.tcl?id=41438&team=336676
For detailed results showing our elite team’s results compared to other companies elite team’s results go to
http://www.jpmorganchasecc.com/results.php?city_id=6&type=women&year=2009
http://www.jpmorganchasecc.com/results.php?city_id=6&type=men&year=2009
http://www.jpmorganchasecc.com/results.php?city_id=6&type=mixed&year=2009
Marcum & Kliegman Workplace Challenge Fact Sheet When: Tuesday, July 28, 2009 Where: Jones Beach State Park, Zach’s Bay What: A 3.5 mile run/ walk. Also known as: Long Island’s largest participatory event and greatest “Office Picnic” Who: 7500 participants from over 200 companies including over 50 CEO’s/ most senior staff members. Participating organizations include: businesses, non-profits and governmental agencies, representing almost every industry in Nassau & Suffolk Counties. Why: To build camaraderie among employees while networking, having fun and staying healthy! Friends and family are encouraged to participate as well!Visit the website at: http://www.mkworkplacechallenge.com to register. Any questions, email Josie Piccinic at jojjie@aol.com.
I have gotten through the shenanigans to get us registered for this year’s Corporate Challenge. Each team is only eligible to register for one of the two qualifying races and the Wednesday race, June 10th is the one we are participating in. It is always a great end of the year celebration. The UFT will do their best to come through with funding for a post-race party as they have for many, many years. By the time of the race our name may be officially listed as United Federation of Teachers/Board of Education whereas “Board” pays homage to our name over the over 20 plus years participating in the Corporate Challenge. This year we hope to again compete in terms of being the most social team and the most competitive team. Last year we were the last team to leave the park and we had four, 4 person teams qualify for the finals. Returning from those 16 are Zaia Wharton, Helen Dole, Casey Depasquale, Amy West, Josie Piccinic, Felicia Wagner, Taylor Delhagen, Jesse Horst, Joe Tumbarello, Brian Cloherty, Nicholas Galasso, and Richie Orazem. Some top quality runners joining us this year who we have great hopes for are Maureen Duffy and Chris DeLaubenfels. If you were not able to sign up in time, come out and cheer us on at 7:00 PM June 10.
Trodding through the snow and cold….but we’re looking forward to the start of our season on Sunday March 1st, Coogan’s Salsa, Blues, and Shamrocks 5K in Upper Manhattan. http://coogans.com/sections/5K.htm. To sign up go to http://nyrr.org/races/2009/r0301×00.asp
Last year we officially ran it for the first time and had great fun. Between the Klezmer and the Blues bands dotting the course to the wacky Marching Bands scooting in on the festivities, the race itself was, let’s just say, unique. Then the post race unlimited supplies of free Guiness and Corned Beef to racers and anybody else who wanted to stop in made it quite the festive event for UFT Runners, Walkers, and friends and family.
If you are interested, email Kevin Miller at Kevinsmiller2002@yahoo.com
We patted eachother on the back, we complained, we celebrated, we bemoaned, we reminisced. Dom Morea, a member since before time, retired for 17 years but still substituting, regaled us with tales of being a teacher “back in the day” when “back in the day” was truly “back in the day.” At the October 24 meeting we reviewed our 2008 year, our first year running after 2 years being out of commission. Richie Orazem went from Chair of the team to Past Chair of the team which means he is now 51% responsible. This year over 50 new teachers ran races with us, including 5 new men who run a 5:25 pace or less for 3.5 miles and 5 women who run a 7:00 pace or less for the 3.5 mile distance. We did lose two of these elite men by September. We have confidence, however, that our website and fliers publicity will bring in more by next March’s sign up time for the Corporate Challenge series. We found that more teachers were dying to run the June Corporate Challenge race than we had slots for (they only gave us 70 slots) and teachers were luke warm for other races. Few people due to family, afterschool, and/or training responbilities have been able to pitch in to keep the team rolling.
This year we ran and ate many portions of complimentary corned beef and Guinness at Coogans in March, blew away the field and celebrated well into the night at both the Central Park Chase Corporate Challenge Qualifying race in June and the Jones Beach Workplace Challenge race in July. And we surprised ourselves and others by placing 3rd for the Women and 6th for the Men in the Chase Corporate Challenge International Finals in October. Matt Panetta has taken on responsibility for fliers and contacts for other New York Road Runners Club races. Kevin Miller has been managing the website with great help from Joyce Holohan. He plans to also coordinate the Chase Corporate Challenge racing series this year, along with possibly the Coogans race. Josie Piccinic, along with her longtime buddy Ellen Brach took on the Jones Beach Workplace Challenge Friends and Family race in July and plans to do so again next summer.
Our showings at the May Bronx Community College and June Prospect Park Kenny Dolan race was a bit of a bomber, but we did represent as best we could. There has been interest in running the Milrose Games (which we have done in the past) and possibly the Penn Relays. Should people be interested, though, we would need others to take on responsibility. All in all it was a fabulous year, as evidenced by the article front and center on the Chase Corporate Challenge website. And/but it will basically be a team focused on the Corporate Challenge racing series should others not be able to pitch in.
First, at 4:00 PM, is a meeting at UFT Headquarters, 50 Broadway. 2nd Floor. Ask for UFT Runners. If you can’t attend the meeting meet us afterwards for a celebration of participants in the Chase Corporate Challenge International Finals. We will be at Ulysses, 58 Stone Street/95 Pearl Street. http://www.ulyssesbarnyc.com/ from 5:30 onwards. Sport your UFT Runners tie dye.
go to http://jpmorganchasecc.com/events.php?city_id=18&page=events093008 for an excellent article about our history–detailing our success in the nearly 30 year old JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge racing series. Why are we called “Board of Education” for this racing series??? Long, boring story.
Running against teams from 6 different countries. Womens Team: Followed up a 3rd place finish in the NYC qualifying race by coming less than 30 seconds out of 2nd place in the world!!! Substituting for Josie and Felicia, Helen and Amy had fantastic races. Zaia Wharton (21:27), Helen Dole (22:06), Casey Depasquale (23:23), and Amy West (23:43) had the best Womens Team time since the advent of the 4 person team. Mens Team: With three of our four guys nursing injuries, and having lost Matt Uzenski’s sub 18:30 speed, we still finished in 6th place overall. Taylor Delhagen (18:10), Jesse Horst (18:39), Ricardo Bailey (18:51), and Brian Horneck (19:04). Jesse substituted for Matt and improved his time dramatically. 2nd Mens Team: Nicholas Galasso (19:49), Brian Cloherty (20:01), Richie Orazem (20:14), Joe Tumbarello (20:19). Coed Team: Sue Schoen (30:25), Michelle Nero (32:08), Matt Panetta (22:24), and Bob Unger (28:28). http://jpmorganchasecc.com/events.php?city_id=18. Afterwards we had a fun celebratory dinner at One Chase Manhattan Plaza, 60th floor, as the sun set over the Hudson River.
