The list of traditional events that COVID-19 has washed out seems considerably longer than the list of those events that have continued. Nevertheless, neither rain, nor hail, nor lightening, nor track closures have prevented Track Club Los Angeles from meeting every Tuesday for the past 20+ years. Okay, a few of the meetings may have been unofficial, but if you wanted to run a workout on a Tuesday in the last two decades, you had company.
It should be no surprise, then, that the 18th Annual Cahn Mile went off without a hitch in the Huntington Palisades. Runners lined up at one end of flat, fast Pampas Ricas Boulevard and completed their mile time trial almost two loops later. Reclaiming his Mile King crown, Matt Crowe went through the half mile in 2:10 and did a fine job keeping pace through the end. Past Mile King Brian Huff had not had the best training leading to the race, but he still managed a second-place finish. Jose Sanchez ran his fastest mile since high school (and I am guessing that has been a while) for third. Brian Daneshgar rounded out the sub-five club.
Recently picking up his training, Philip Brock came oh-so-close to breaking five. Darius Fong improved on a strong time from last year, and he was followed by Rasmus Tamstorf, who ran his last Cahn Mile eight years ago. Rae Santora’s training paid off as she set a new club women’s record. Right on her heels was her friend, Jordan Chancellor, who, believe it or not, is new to running. Kevin Steinman took almost 20 seconds off his 2019 result, and if he keeps it up, he is going to win this race sometime in the next ten years. Hampered by a groin injury for a good part of the season, Christian Bordal did well to come close to repeating his time from a year ago. Gwen Twist predicted a finish time and seemed completely unsurprised when she ran exactly that. That may be easily done at a jog, but not so easily done at her sub-six pace.
Nadia Tyson and John Landry put in solid efforts. Nadia has been quite consistent in her recent finishes, whereas John last finished this race ten years ago. Running her first Cahn Mile, Wendy Yip posted a strong time. Emily Steinman was only a few seconds, though more than a few years, behind Wendy. Injury-plagued, but game for competition, Tom Case crossed the line of his sixth Cahn Mile. Valentin Steinman knocked off a whopping 40 seconds from her time last year. Meanwhile, Clarence Smith and Vincent Steinman rounded out the sub-seven crowd. Note that were we talking age, Vincent belongs in the sub-nine crowd.
Scott Allen and David Pullman, both of whom ran their first Cahn Miles well before Vincent was born, came close to breaking seven minutes again. Scott may have been a bit closer, but he does have more running experience. Dean Goodman, who along with Rasmus were the only two participants in both this year’s race and the inaugural version, looked good as always. And with the largest year-over-year improvement, Michael Berger dropped nearly a minute in his ever-lasting quest for speed.
Putting together a road race is difficult even without a virus floating around, so special thanks to Jim Gidlow (timing), Jim Spear (timing), Marie Steinman (traffic control), Philip Steinman (traffic control), Scott Allen (hazard marking), and Rikako Takei (videography). Further supporting the runners were clubmates Mike Mahurin, Wyatt Million, Robert Newmark, Tory Newmark, Brian Panosian, Zory Shaposhnik, and Wenise Wong.
