Silver Medalists!!

My apologies for not updating sooner... the now-famous ice storm that hit New England last week left us without power for four days. I've been trying to put the house back together and get Christmas lined up since then. Now that we're in our third day of snow (16+ inches), I am finally finding my way to the computer!

Rob and The Nitehawks from Massachusetts took the silver medal at the Junior Olympics Cross Country Championships with 117 points! They were only two points shy of taking the national championship title away from the Southern California Road Runners (115 points), and finished ahead of third place Ric Rojas Running Club of Boulder, CO (144 points).

Rob and his teammates placed as follows, against tough national competition in the 3K race: USATF All-American, Max LaChance of Lunenburg finished in 13th place in 10:35. He was followed by Robbo (41st/10:54), Matt Fischetti of Groton (48th/11:01), Willy Lyons of Southborough (53rd/11:03), Jeremy Alley-Tartar of Vineyard Haven (81st/11:17), Sean McLaughlin of Norton (83rd/11:18), and Sam Kupperstein of Lincoln (119th/12:35).

Here's a picture of the team just after receiving their medals:

Congrats, Robbo, friends, and coaches!!

Headed for Nationals!

Back in the last summer, Rob joined the Nitehawks, a year-round running club consisting of athletes from all around the metrowest Boston area. It has been a very positive experience and has added a team element to an otherwise very individualized sport.


The Midget (12-year-old) Boys team (pictured above) of Robbo, Jeremy Alley-Tarter, Max LaChance, Sean McLaughlin, Willy Lyons, Matt Fischetti, Eli Bucher, Sam Kupperstein and Anthony Aguirre recently took first place at the USATF-NE Junior Olympics Cross-Country Championships with a near-perfect score of 17 points.

Then last weekend, at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx the team took first place at the USATF Region 1 Junior Olympics Cross-Country Championships, advancing to Nationals. Rob placed 6th overall, out of 130 runners!
So now it's off to Nationals! That race will be in Mechanicsville, VA on December 13th. The Nitehawks are a strong team and have a great shot at a top finish. Robbo is excited and working hard to prepare for his biggest race yet.
We'll keep you posted...

Catching Up

So I've fallen way way behind in posting to Robbo's blog... since the last post, Rob has run in about seven or eight cross country meets for his middle school. He usually placed 2nd or 3rd. As a team, they one every meet except one - the Carlisle Invitational. At that huge gathering of middle school teams, Ben Katz (Rob's teammate and friend) won the race, and Robbo placed 6th. Both guys ran great races!

Here are a couple of pictures... one of the start of the varsity boys race; the other of Robbo and Dad after the race.

At the end of October, Rob ran in the Mayor's Cup, an annual cross-country race sponsored by the Boston Athletic Association - the same organization that conducts the Boston Marathon. He placed 2nd in his age group, and his team, The Nitehawks, swept the race to win the team competition.

Next up. The USATF associational, regional, and national championships in Rhode Island, New York, and Virginia, respectively.

Stony Brook won the cross country contest with Blanchard MS yesterday. It was an extra fun race, since most of the kids from both teams know one another.

Rob placed second overall. Here is a picture from the race taken by Ben's father, David Katz.

Left to right -- Stephen (blue shirt), Rob, Ben, and Rahul.

Rob ran third in the cross country contest at Concord last week. Then yesterday, he placed second as Stony Brook hosted Bedford. Here's a picture from the beginning of the race. Rob is on the far right... this was about 300 meters in.

Stony Brook hosts Blanchard (the other middle school here in Westford) on Thursday.

Cross Country begins

Robbo has his first cross country meet today with the Stony Brook middle school team. They are running in Concord. I'll post results later...

Boston Globe Article

Robbo made the Boston Globe today, in the Globe Northwest section. Here's the link:

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/08/03/young_runner_picks_up_speed/

So, he's been covered in all the local and regional papers now. Must be fun to be "famous!" ;-)

Congrats once again, Robbo!