Penn Relays qualifying 10k

Penn is a great meet, but if you are looking for a 10k with good competition that you can get into pretty easily, try the Hillsdale Gina Relays. There is always a good crew in the 10k with a ton of guys between 29:30 and 30:30, plus generally a couple out front running around 29:00 or a bit faster.

The only problem with Hillsdale, is that it is late in the season. Well late in the season for me. I have been looking around for a 10K in late March in the North Carolina area (It is warmer than Michigan and not a horrible drive). My PR is about the same as yours and I will be looking to do the same come outdoor. Maybe we can try to coordinate a 10K? Including me there are 5 guys from the Michigan area looking for this opportunity.

nickboy098 wrote:

The only problem with Hillsdale, is that it is late in the season. Well late in the season for me. I have been looking around for a 10K in late March in the North Carolina area (It is warmer than Michigan and not a horrible drive). My PR is about the same as yours and I will be looking to do the same come outdoor. Maybe we can try to coordinate a 10K? Including me there are 5 guys from the Michigan area looking for this opportunity.

not sure if this fits the bill, but wake forest puts on a meet march 20-22 (wake forest relays) that had a decent 10k last year. it was better than the year before, and it might be even better this year due to growing rep (I think it improved because Raleigh Relays disappeared last year--they aren't coming back this year, either). I assume it's at night, and I don't know what the conditions were like last year.

granted the winning time was 30:23 last year, but this shows at least that people will show up looking for a decent 10k and ready to maybe drop some faster times...you and the michigan guys could jump into this one to ensure that. I'm probably going to be running it--I've run 31:00, but I'm hoping to be able to knock a good chunk off that.

last year's results, sub-31 guys only:

Men 10000 Meter Run

================================================================

Kentner: * 29:35.0h 1993 Steve Taylor, Asics

Name Year School Finals

================================================================

1 Brian Goldberg Penn 30:23.91

2 Craig Leon Ohio 30:27.92

3 Tamas Kovacs High Point 30:29.26

4 Taylor Smith Virginia 30:35.05

5 James Sjostrom Unattached 30:36.49

6 Matt Kerr Unattached 30:40.80

7 Doug Currie Coastal Caro 30:42.77

8 Stuart Moran Unattached 30:44.71

9 Ian Foley Penn 30:46.75

10 Larry Contrella Penn 30:50.10

11 Dawit Legesse Radford 30:53.35

NC state will have the Raleigh Relays back on in 08 now they have re-surfaced their track. Wake Forest had a replacement meet last year that had a solid 10k, with about 12 under 31:00- it would have been considerably faster had it not been unseaonably warm that weekend (80 degrees at 9pm). Duke has a good 10k (around 30:00), but the 5k is the better race at that meet.

gtenn wrote:

NC state will have the Raleigh Relays back on in 08 now they have re-surfaced their track.

whoops, someone lied to me.

They're pretty good about letting people that deserve to be in the race....into it. If you can show some other fast times that you've run recently and that you are going in the right direction, they'll let you in.

Hoovis

Same weekend as Penn Relays, which is what the OP was talking about running, which is why I mentioned it.

The Bucknell Distance Classic has been growing larger every year for the past 4 or 5. It's the same weekend as Penn, and this past spring the 10k was won in just under 30:00 with a fairly close race. Same for the Sam Howell Invite at Princeton in early April. If you're looking to break 30, you should be able to race for the win at these races, unlike at Penn.

The Bucknell Distance Carnival is on friday april 11. You can register at Directathletics. 10k leaders will probably be just under 30 min. Field usually has 40 or so runners and it takes apx 32 minutes to get in the fast heat on friday night. It is always 2 weekends before the Penn Relays.

Whoops, my mistake.

I have looked at Wake Forest as an option, but now I am also looking at the Raleigh Relays now too. I guess it all kinda of depends on entry standards and the sort. If anyone has any more info please let it rip. Those two meets are definately an option for us Michigan guys.

Wake Forest looks interesting, and it's early enough that I could try to get closer to the Penn standard there and then get in. There's jut not enough quality 10ks around, or so it seems.

The Penn Relay's standards are ridiculous, The 10k especially. If you look at results, very few athletes run (or come w/in 30 sec) of the Collegiate or Oly Development standard. Enter yourself at a time you think you can run (if you're expecting sub 30) and you should get in.

Hillsdale is another good option, depending on where you live. Bucknell is probably not a great place to go if you are looking to run with a bunch of guys shooting for sub 30. Princeton race is much like Bucknell. Good if you're looking to run 30:00-30:30.