2004 Brentwood 5K

Report by: Eric Barron

Nothing like a local road race on a long, sunny, holiday weekend to get one out of the house. It was no surprise, then, that TCLA'ers aplenty showed up at the 2004 Brentwood 5K/10K Sunday. The course along San Vicente is not ideal because the grade changes more than it seems, but the lack of turns and ample width make up somewhat for the rises in the road.

The 5K goes off first, and the first TCLA member to finish was Tom Gatyas. Once he takes care of his sore hip, Tom should slip back under seventeen minutes, but he still managed third in his division. Tyrone Black, just back from an Achilles injury, ran a respectable time and followed up, as he did last year, with the 10K as a cool-down. Coming off a pasta load in Italy, no less, David Kent broke eighteen minutes. Todd Patterson continues to improve now that he has time to train again, whereas Jose Castillo will get faster when he gets back to the track. Peter Glassman and Dean Goodman both placed high in their age groups (with Dean running a few seconds faster than last year's time), and Sam Spencer rounded out the sub-20 efforts.

Like Tyrone, Brian Panosian ran a strong, tempo-paced 5K with a 10K cool-down. Damien Smith, Peter Keramidas, Reuben Villanueva, Ogie Espinosa, John Loveless, and Mark Harris (assuming he started a bit behind the line) joined Brian at the sub-7:00 pace level. Some, like John, will surely bring their times down if they do not go out too fast.

TCLA's women then made their presence known with Jenny Takakura leading the way (and proving that her Beginner of the Year award was well-deserved). Trailing Jenny were Lydia Salinas (again on the comeback trail) and Ciska Kemper (who has had knee problems of late). Finally, just off a tough 10K the day before, Jeff Brettler paced daughter Lauren through her first 5K.

TCLA put on a strong show in the 10K with its first three finishers, Adam Reid, Noel Velasco, and Suzanne McNeil all taking first in their respective divisions. At least as impressive, Adam was the fourth runner overall, and Suzanne was the fifth woman overall.

Also in the 10K, Philip Steinman ran well, with Bruce Reisenfeld thirty seconds behind, and Darren Eng just a place behind Bruce. It was good to see Saturday run organizer Tim Petersen out racing after a long bout with plantar fasciitis (what a wonder good orthotics are). Rikako Takei finished a minute back of Tim, and Jeff Bernstein ended up a minute behind Rikako.

Michael Berger slowly is building his mileage, and in the meantime ran a decent race. Alison Lee also ran well. TCLA newcomer Jennifer Liu finished one of her first 10K's. Back to the hardware, Sharon Yamato medalled for the second straight year, taking second in her division. Cindy Bernstein took over last year's stroller duties from husband Jeff and was pleased with her run. Finally, Harold Stolovitch looked like he would have preferred cooler weather, but made it around the two-lap course anyway.

Also out for the fun, either cheering, pacing, or cowbell ringing, were Amy Aukstikalnis, Kim Brettler, Peggy Enriquez, Jim Spear, and Wenise Wong.