2010 Empire State Games Western Region Qualifiers
Boston, New York - May 30th, 2010
I would like to thank all the volunteers that made the qualifiers possible. First, thanks to all the BBC members that came out to marshal. Thank you to Barb Reade and your assistant. Thank you, Adam Trost for bringing out all the equipment for the race. Thank you to the Town of Boston, the Boston Fire Police and Fire Chief, the New York State Troopers and the Erie County Sheriff. Thank you, Terry Wherry and Dave Chairmonte. I would also especially like to thank Larry Reade, for without Larry this event would not have gone off. Larry has been a strong supporter of the Games, and the BBC, for decades. He has also been a great help and supporter of me. Thank you, Larry.
To the athletes that came out to compete today, let me say you are a great group of people. You really gave it your all and I got to witness some great racing. I just couldn't believe how often I saw people contesting each and every spot. I was really happy to see the competition and sportsmanship.
31 Men and 2 Women came to compete for 10 men's and 3 Women's positions. We started with the 6.1 mile Time Trial down Boston State Road. Jay Joslyn showed his strength in this discipline, again. Jay laid down a time of 13:07 almost 40 seconds ahead of the second place Lance Johnson with a time of 13:41. Jose Alvergue, Brendan Housler and Dan Barney rounded off the top Five. In the Women's TT Traci Mariniello set the pace of 15:30 with Jenny Bushover following her. In the Road Race Jenny and Traci switched positions with Jenny setting a time of 1:12:54 for 2 full laps of the Boston Course.
The Men's Road Race was a slugfest from beginning to end. The men did 5 laps of the 9.6 mile course, 5 times up Brown Hill and 5 Times up Rice Hill AT RACE PACE. Some riders were over matched at the start but a large group of riders, almost 20 strong, stayed together on the first lap. Then things heated up with Dan Staffo getting off the front. He seemed to be "waiting" just off the front. He was. He was waiting for his team mate Lance Johnson. Lance broke hard and once he got to Dan the two time trialed away from the group. The group was trying to control the break but they were also feeling each other out. Attrition took care of the rest of the race as the hills wore on everyone. Dan Staffo, in true competitive spirit, attacked his team mate and took the win. Lance Johnson took second with Brendan Housler, Andrew Lytwynec and Todd Craig rounding out the top 5.
26 of the 31 men gutted it out to finish the road race. My hat is off to every one of them, great job gentlemen.
Buffalo is the host city of these Games and while we are going into them short one woman I am confident they will work well together. The men's team is well rounded with some veterans and some strong, new young riders. I am excited about the potential and look forward to working with all.
Peter Cummings - ESG Coach