It was a beautirful crisp day to run, and a total of 72 runners and walkers (59 men and 13 women) showed up to participate in the 40th Annual Arroyo Seco Freako Microthon (Charles Voge Memorial Run) on April 1, 2014. Weather for this year's race was mostly sunny, with racetime temperature about 62 degrees.
For this year's race, the course was modified as it was last year to avoid the trail alongside JPL's east fence, which has been closed temporarily during construction of JPL's new parking garage. The length of the modified course was a shade under 3.3 miles. Hopefully next year we can return to the previous course that uses the east lot bridge to cross the Arroyo on the return.
Jeroen Geeraert led all runners in 19:40, more than a minute faster than last year's winning time. He was followed very closely by second place finisher Matthew Thill. Jeroen and Matthew ran a slightly longer course than any of the other runners due their unfamiliarity with the course (they are both first time participants in this event). Third place finisher Eric Rignot was about 30seconds behind them. Susan Owen was the fastest women racer in a time of 23:56 for an overall finish of 19th. Nimisha Mittal was the second women finisher in a time of 27:48.
Special congratulations go to the top finishers, but the real story for this year's race was the sheer number of participants. We don't have records for every year, but it's likely that this year's race had the second highest participation numbers ever, and the most since 1985 when 84 runners participated. That's 29 years ago! And the Lab had more employees then, and the running boom was in full swing. So congratulations to the whole field of runners this year for setting a recent record for participation!
Also, we had a huge turn out of race old timers including the 4 origial runners from 1975! More details (and pictures) coming soon.
With so many runners and many close finishes, it was important to have a good crew of volunteers at the finish line. The finish crew accurately recorded finish times for all 72 participants who crossed the finish line. A huge thanks to Sam Dolinar for marking the course (and un-marking the course) as well as for parsing the final race results from all the finish line data. Photos were taken at the bridge by Tushar Thrivikraman. Melora Larson took pictures at the start and finish. The finish line helpers included John May, Booth Hartley, Bob Thurstans, Melora Larson, and Sam Dolinar. All in all, it was a top-notch performance by a top-notch start/finish crew, in a race where the huge turnout could have easily overwhelmed a lesser crew. Thanks, and bravo!
Pictures from the start and finish will be posted.
| Overall Place | Gender/Place | Finish Time | Name of Runner |
| 1* | M/1 | 19:40 | Jeroen Geeraert |
| 2* | M/2 | 19:47 | Matthew Thill |
| 3 | M/3 | 20:19 | Eric Rignot |
| 4 | M/4 | 20:24 | Phil Willems |
| 5 | M/5 | 20:39 | Nick Parazoo |
| 6 | M/6 | 21:06 | Ernie Chuang |
| 7 | M/7 | 21:33 | Miles Smith |
| 8 | M/8 | 21:45 | Duane Howard |
| 9 | M/9 | 21:50 | Leon Maldonado |
| 10 | M/10 | 21:54 | Matt Abrahamson |
| 11 | M/11 | 22:13 | Jakob Van Zyl |
| 12 | M/12 | 22:17 | Bill Read |
| 13 | M/13 | 22:18 | James Coles |
| 14 | M/14 | 22:47 | Kirk McKenzie |
| 15 | M/15 | 22:49 | Fernando Aguirre |
| 16 | M/16 | 23:22 | Reg Willson |
| 17 | M/17 | 23:27 | Mark Schwochert |
| 18 | M/18 | 23:37 | Ari Mahpour |
| 19 | F/1 | 23:56 | Susan Owen |
| 20 | M/19 | 24:40 | Caz Scislowicz |
| 21 | M/20 | 24:44 | Mike Cruz-Herrera |
| 22 | M/21 | 24:50 | Mauricio Sanchez-Barbetty |
| 23 | M/22 | 24:54 | Doug Clark |
| 24 | M/23 | 25:15 | Brian Custodero |
| 25 | M/24 | 25:19 | John Beatty |
| 26 | M/25 | 25:22 | Michael Mischna |
| 27 | M/26 | 25:41 | David Larriva |
| 28 | M/27 | 25:55 | Sivan Kenig |
| 29 | M/28 | 26:02 | Malcolm Wright |
| 30 | M/29 | 26:09 | James Skinner |
| 31 | M/30 | 26:41 | John Merhaut |
| 32 | M/31 | 26:43 | Ian Tan |
| 33 | M/32 | 26:47 | Mike DiNicola |
| 34 | M/33 | 26:55 | Jav Parker |
| 35 | M/34 | 27:06 | Oleg Sindiy |
| 36 | M/35 | 27:07 | Steve Vass |
| 37 | F/2 | 27:48 | Nimisha Mittal |
| 38 | M/36 | 27:49 | Larry Young |
| 39 | M/37 | 28:21 | Kai Chang |
| 40 | M/38 | 28:28 | Brian Hawkins |
| 41 | M/39 | 28:36 | Robert Haw |
| 42 | F/3 | 28:52 | Jennifer Whitehead |
| 43 | M/40 | 29:01 | Adam Coleman |
| 44 | M/41 | 29:36 | Mike Kleine |
| 45 | M/42 | 29:44 | Daniel Belter |
| 46 | M/43 | 29:46 | Chris Assad |
| 47 | M/44 | 31:11 | Vachik Garkanian |
| 48 | M/45 | 31:37 | David Hansen |
| 49 | M/46 | 31:38 | Bill Epping |
| 50 | F/4 | 31:46 | Christine Chiang |
| 51 | M/47 | 32:01 | Steve Unwin |
| 52 | M/48 | 32:07 | David Tseng |
| 53 | M/49 | 33:07 | Yang Zheng |
| 54 | M/50 | 33:54 | Geoff Bryden |
| 55 | F/5 | 34:00 | Linda Hodges |
| 56 | F/6 | 34:05 | Naiara Pinto |
| 57 | M/51 | 34:22 | Richard Brace |
| 58 | F/7 | 35:05 | Christine Farguson |
| 59 | F/8 | 35:09 | Sarah Flores |
| 60 | M/52 | 36:39 | David Bates |
| 61 | M/53 | 37:10 | Michael Cheng |
| 62 | F/9 | 37:34 | Charlene Paloma |
| 63 | M/54 | 38:12 | Ray Billig |
| 64(tie) | F/10 | 38:56 | Megan Fazio |
| 64(tie) | M/55 | 38:56 | Rodrigo Morales |
| 66 | M/56 | 40:00 | Abi Biswas |
| 67 | F/11 | 50:16 | Carol Oken |
| 68 | M/57 | 50:30 | Mark Ryne |
| 69 | M/58 | 51:32 | Paul Stella |
| 70(tie) | F/12 | 54:18 | Jean Rinderle |
| 70(tie) | F/13 | 54:18 | Barbara Hartley |
| 72 | M/59 | 54:18 | Ed Rinderle |
| *The top two finishers, Jeroen Geeraert and Matthew Thill, missed the left turn into the parking lot near the finish, instead continuing on the lower park road before cutting across the baseball field to the finish line. Since they ran slightly longer than the official race course, their official finish places are still #1 and #2 despite the minor route irregularity at the end. | |||
NOTE: The we had one follower who unofficially joined us