NY’s Stockade-athon 15K Turns 40!

The MVP Health Care Stockade-athon Road Race festivities begin tomorrow with the VIP 40th anniversary dinner featuring guest speaker Frank Shorter at Proctors Key Hall. 

This dinner is sold out.  

The
inaugural Stockade-athon road race was held in 1976, to celebrate the
bicentennial of the USA, as a modest field of 80 runners participated in
this municipal parks event. 

The
same year, Frank Shorter was competing at the pinnacle of our sport,
winning the silver medal in the Olympic Marathon, to add to his Gold
Medal in the same event 4 years prior in 1972. 

His remarkable athletic performances are credited with ushering in the first running boom in the late 1970’s. 

The
Stockade-athon road race , now organized by the Hudson Mohawk Road
Runners Club has had a remarkable 4 decade run, and is now considered
the Oldest Major 15K Road Race in the USA, while ranking in the Top 10
among all USA 15K road races with over 1600 finishers in each of the
past 4 years.

The
Stockade-athon consistently ranks in the top 5 Nationally in 15K
competitive strength, and last year’s men’s open field where 16 American
runners ran sub 50 minutes, ranked second in the nation to only the
Gate River Run, which hosts the USA 15K National Championships in
Jacksonville FL. 

Also
last year, a new women’s open record was set 51:09 on this challenging
loop course that highlights Schenectady’s historic neighborhoods and
parks. 

On Friday November 6th, the Stockade-athon will offer a last chance registration at the Schenectady YMCA from 4pm to 7pm. 

Children
14 and under can also register for the new 1 mile kids run that will
follow the 15K championship race starting at City Hall at 11AM, on
Sunday November 8th.

Runners
can pick up their packets early at Fleet Feet Sports Albany on Saturday
November 7th from 9:30am to 4pm, where runners can meet 2 time Olympian
Frank Shorter.

Race
Sunday is highlighted by another stellar competitive field of Elite
athletes, despite some attrition due to the Olympic Marathon qualifier
races held in Pennsylvania. 

Top ranked New York State distance runners vie for Stockade-athon Men’s and Women’s titles 

The
men’s field consists of USATF Niagara 10K Champion Tisia Kiplangat who
won the Rochester Lilac Festival race in 29:57.  He followed that
impressive effort by winning the Buffalo Marathon in 2:15:59. 

Former
NY Runner of the Year Sam Morse, who finished a close second at last
years Stockade-athon 46:42, and won the New Bedford Half Marathon this
spring by over a minute, appears to be Kiplangat’s main challenger.

The duo ran 1-2 at the Niagara 10K USATF Championship earlier this year in Rochester NY at the Lilac Festival. 

Matt
Brooker and Connor Cashin, two up and comers with impressive 5K
resume’s will make their Stockade-athon and 15K debuts, to add to what
is expected to be a fast paced race.

The
men’s elite field also includes Scott Mindel, the son of Mark Mindel
who won the inaugural Stockade-athon road race in 1976, while serving as
the first race director.  

Rounding out the expected top 10, are Eric MacNight, Jamie Julia, John Busque, Aaron Lozier and Chuck Terry. 

The women’s race features an expected elite duel between former champions Hannah Davidson and Jodi Robertson.  

Davidson
ran a personal best 33:06 at the Tufts 10K to place 7th in the USA
Women’s National Championship.  Robertson ran a 1:13:38 at the USA
National Half Marathon Championships earlier this year. 

Robertson won the Stockade-athon in 2011 while Davidson won her title in 2013. 

Top
5 returning athletes are Katie O’Regan (4th) and Sara Dunham (5th).
They will be joined by one of upstate New York’s top distance runner
Karen Bertasso who won the 18:12 Half Marathon in Watertown earlier this
summer in 77:45. 

Hannah Brooker (wife of Matt Brooker) will make her 15K debut in this impressive Elite women’s Open race.  

For
a complete list of Elite Open, Master and Age-graded National Class
competitors and their recent performances, see the Elite Field HERE.