Six Bay Area Track Club athletes took to the roads this past weekend at the Gate River Run in Jacksonville, FL. The race is the annual USATF 15k Road Championship and always features top notch competition given its timing in the lead-up to the outdoor track season. The BATC women's team finished first in the team competition while the men finished third.

 

The women's team was led by Madga Lewy Boulet's third place finish overall, in a time of 50:39. Blake Russell also cracked the top 10 with a stong 7th place finish, in 51:46. In her BATC debut, Clara Horowitz-Peterson finished 18th overall in a time of 53:41. The team narrowly beat out a very strong challenge from Team USA Minnesota, which featured the overall winner, Katie McGregor (49:51).

Tom Kloos of the Bay Area Track Club finished 10th at the 2009 USATF National Club Cross Country Championships on December 12. Competing in the Adidas Transports uniform, Kloos covered the 10,000m distance in a time of 30:10.

After getting out relatively conservatively, Kloos gradually worked his way through the field of runners, passing men by the dozens. Through the second half of the race, Kloos hung tough with a pack of about six others for the majority of the race and finished strongly to secure the 10th position. 

The race was held in Lexington, Kentucky, where conditions on the day were cold and windy. Combine the elements with the hilly course and rough terrain and Kloos' time becomes that much more impressive.

He was a very consistent performer during the 2009 fall cross country season and his finish at the national championship is an excellent finale to his 2009 season. 

Read more about the race here. For results, you can click here. 

On a wet and rainy Sunday morning in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, Tom Kloos of the Bay Area Track Club placed 2nd overall in the Pacific Association Cross Country Championships, covering the hilly 6.09 mile race in 30:31.

Kloos, competing for Adidas Transports, placed 2nd in last year's PA Championship and aimed to better that at this year's event. However, after getting out to a big, early lead, Kloos was eventually caught and overtaken by Phil Reid of the ASICS Aggies.

Alysia Johnson and Shannon Rowbury were spotted on the course cheering on the runners, as were David Torrence and Bolota Asmerom.

Additional coverage of the race can be found here.