shamrock shuffle 8k - results? race recaps?

Brian Olinger won very easily over Luke Watson. Ran just under 23 minutes.

no prize money so why do people show up?

brokeas wrote:

no prize money so why do people show up?

Some people just like to run, especially this race and how well the treat runners.

You'll have to forgive us commoners, some of us just like the competition and the purses don't mean the same this to us, unlike elite, world class Olympians like you.

Do you have any world records?

ok well can you name some other races in which the likes of Watson, Olinger or athletes of that caliber decide to shown up to a race with no prize money? Its just unusual for elites to race hard for free.

You do get this: ( according to the website )

Each registered Shamrock Shuffle participant will receive one (1) ticket for a free Michelob Ultra beer* attached to their bib number. Additional food and beverages will be available on-site for purchase.

And finishing near the top in this year's race will get you a good place in next year's starting corral.

Olinger has the Olympic "A" standard in the steeplechase. A huge advantage to not have to chase before the Trials.

Brian Olinger 0:23:09

Luke Watson 0:23:34

Jeff Eggleston 0:23:54

Greg Costello 0:24:33

Jacek Kafel 0:24:45

Annie Gasway 0:29:03

Claudia Becque 0:29:05

Karen Prisby 0:29:16

Jokotade Agunloye 0:29:25

Bridget Montgomery 0:29:29

Holy shit, who is Lukas Verzbicas? 25:31 as a 15 year old!

It was a nice day to run. Cloudy and low 40's. It was a little windy off the lake but nothing obnoxious.

It was pretty funny to see some of the adjustments after the marathon. The first water stop was huge! Gatorade and water, each for a full city block.

The also had a green sign saying conditions were good, for those too stupid to figure that out themselves.

haha, YO wrote:

Holy shit, who is Lukas Verzbicas? 25:31 as a 15 year old!

State champ runner looking ahead

March 5, 2008

By Patrick Ferrell Staff Writer

Fourteen seconds: It might not seem long until you take a minute to count it out.

Go ahead. Do it in your head. A bit longer than you thought, huh?

Liberty Junior High student Lukas Verzbicas sits at his desk at home. Lukas has won many awards, including the State Junior High Cross Country Championship.

That's how far ahead Lukas Verzbicas was from the second place finisher when 15-year-old Lukas won the U.S.A. Track and Field Junior Olympic National Cross Country Championship for his age group on Dec. 8.

If you count the seconds aloud, it's easy to see this wasn't a close race.

Lukas, who is set to graduate at the end of this school year from Liberty Junior High, completed the nearly 2½ mile course in 13 minutes, 16 seconds.

"I knew I had it, so it wasn't surprising," Lukas said. "The way I was feeling that day, I knew I just couldn't lose." Even so, winning the national championship was "amazing, great," he said.

The win at nationals by the 5-foot-11-inch, skinny-as-a-rail eighth-grader came just weeks after he won the state championship in cross country sponsored by the Illinois Elementary School Association.

His time of 10 minutes, 10 seconds in that event, is the fastest of the last decade and second quickest since 1979, when the group first sanctioned cross country as an event, according to the group's Web site.

"It's absolutely amazing to watch him run," Liberty Junior High School Principal Joel Benton said. "He is so graceful."

Family legacy

Lukas, an immigrant from Lithuania, can trace his running skills back to Eastern Europe.

"It comes from nature," said Rasa Verzbickiene, Lukas' mother, who was a professional track coach and won the Lithuanian National Champion numerous times in her native country.

In 1984, Verzbickiene was the Soviet Union college champion. In Lithuania, she broke the national record for the 3,000 meters (1.8 miles) twice.

When Lukas was a child, he would accompany his mother to work.

"He grew up on the track," Verzbickiene said. "He grew up in the sport, so he knows what it takes."

Lukas' family immigrated to the United States "to change our life" and seek "many, many different opportunities" in 2002, Verzbickiene said.

His mother now works as an accountant, his step-father, Romas Bertulis, as a construction contractor.

A few years ago, Lukas began running at the insistence of Bertulis, who is also a former track coach in his native country.

"My dad was really into sports and thought about me doing basketball. So, I did basketball for a couple of months," Lukas said. "We always used to do long runs -- it's a very competitive club -- and I would always win. But, I couldn't get through in basketball.

"So my dad put me in a street race. It (was) a five kilometer local race, and I did really good in that. It just started from there."

Three-sport training

The blond-haired 15-year-old now trains several hours each day in running, swimming and biking, a calculated move that both he and his mother believe could one day produce a shiny Olympic medal around Lukas' neck in 2016.

"It might sound weird, but I'm trying to win the Olympic games some day," he said. "Two years ago, during the summer, I started competing really competitively and doing really good. I became really fast, and I was getting really good at triathlon. My parents thought that if I do everything well, when I am 20, 22 years old, I can win the Olympic games."

While Lukas admits that running is his best event, the triathlon, rather than pure long distance running, gives him a better shot at fame.

"In long-distance running, it is completely dominated by African runners," Lukas explains. "Running is their life. The run to school; they run home from school. In triathlon, there's no certain region that dominates everything. Everybody can win, and everybody can have a chance."

Lukas swims for the Lincoln-Way Swim Association and also competes with the Multisport Madness Kids Triathlon Team, where his mother is a coach.

"My parents are very supportive," Lukas said. "They are very committed. They help me with running, but they also help me with other training."

When Lukas enters high school next year, he plans to run in both cross country and track. He also plans to compete for the swim team.

He doesn't plan to rest on his past accomplishments, with his eyes already focused toward besting his high school peers.

"I hope to win the state championship" in cross country, Lukas said. "Maybe I won't do that in my freshman year, but if I could win it as a sophomore, that would be great."

Listen to Reporter Patrick Ferrell discuss issues concerning the Lincoln-Way area at 4:20 p.m. Tuesdays on WJOL-AM (1340). Patrick can be reached at (815) 729-6037 or

Hats off to my training partner Annie Gasway for pulling out a well deserved come from behind win. Nice work.

was there wrote:

It was a nice day to run. Cloudy and low 40's. It was a little windy off the lake but nothing obnoxious.

It was pretty funny to see some of the adjustments after the marathon. The first water stop was huge! Gatorade and water, each for a full city block.

The also had a green sign saying conditions were good, for those too stupid to figure that out themselves.

I worked that water stop. It was at the 2 mile mark. Some people were consuming gels.

The wind was tough for the guys up front. The winner had the best form I have ever seen. Race was over by th mile mark and he was never challenged.

Fleet Footed Falcon wrote:

[quote]was there wrote:

I worked that water stop. It was at the 2 mile mark. Some people were consuming gels.

I had several laughs like that. Before the race I was walking to the A corral and saw the second wave runners dressed like Eskimos with the artillery belt hydration thingys. It's to be expected in a race like that though with so many first timers.

Once I got in the corral I had no problems, so everyone behind me could carry a cooler for all I care......and they might have.

Obviously they were using yesterday's race as a dry run for the fall, but man, those water and Gatorade stops were huge!! The whole block from Randolph to Washington was Gatorade, then Washington to Madison was water. 2 full city blocks of liquid!

I've never seen anything like that. Can you imagine how many gallons they went through setting that up?

Was anyone else's "Nike Technical shirt" about 2 sizes larger than the tag shows? I'm 5'10" and the Medium I got goes down to about my mid-thigh!

Yeah, same problem here..

Built like most runners wrote:

Was anyone else's "Nike Technical shirt" about 2 sizes larger than the tag shows? I'm 5'10" and the Medium I got goes down to about my mid-thigh!

SCRunner wrote:

Yeah, same problem here..

Built like most runners wrote:

Was anyone else's "Nike Technical shirt" about 2 sizes larger than the tag shows? I'm 5'10" and the Medium I got goes down to about my mid-thigh!

Winds up everybody I talked to tonight had the same problem--you would think they'd want to give out shirts that fit so people would wear them and do some advertising...

no prize money so why do people show up?[/quote]

brokeas have you noticed that many of the nations "biggest" (non marathon) races have stopped offering money, either altoghether or limiting it to local runners only. So if elite runners want to run in a race with "good" competition there is a decent chance they will be doing it for free. If you think that's a problem talk to race directors. It's their decision, they really just want to make money off of these races. The buzz is that in the future elite runners will be running all road races for free. The sport is now a participant based sport, not a specator based sport. I think it's a tragedy and a disgrace but hey that's the way the cookie crumbles. I've won "prestigious" races this year and haven't earned a penny. I do it for love of the sport. I'll do it no matter what so these race directors are right about one thing. It doesn't matter if they offer money or not. At least not for now.[quote]brokeas wrote: