Flrunners.com Invitational 10 2009

When did it suddenly become an X?  I finally got used to its being called a (lower case, no space) flrunners.com Invitational. Although, I will be the first to admit that adding the X holds great promise. Look what it did for the NFL.

Ten years of hosting this meet now completed!  It is amazing looking back and thinking how far the site and the meet have come.  The first year I started the meet, I was a sophomore in college with precisely zero meet management experience and my fraternitiy brothers and I calculated the team scores with a small solar caculator leaning against the back of a car and writing them on a posterboard with sharpie.  It was small and amateur, but it had a spirit and great competition even then, but wow how truly far we have come!   I would say that cliched line of how I never imagined it would get to where it is today, but that wouldn't be true.  This is exactly what I hoped and believed the meet would one day become.

North Penn SO Meghan McGovern led her team to a 35-39 win over West Springfield, VA - Photo by Dave Watt

Rick Andrews was our "official" photographer out there at the flrunners.com Invitational 10 and he now has several thousand photos from both days of races uploaded.... including one of the mini-man that we all cheered for as he finished the middle school race (pictured left)!  Click here to view that photo album.  Remember to tag yourself and friends in the photos so they show up in your athlete profile!  These photos are available for also sale at Rick's web site. Subalbums: Awards 10-2-09 College Women Friday Invitational Boys Invitational Girls Large School Boys Friday Large School Girls Friday Middle School ROC Boys ROC Girls Small School Boys Friday Small School Girls Friday Varsity Open Boys Varsity Open Girls

You all do some great coverage yourself of this meet.  So here are some videos and photos you took at the meet!

Here are links to various newspaper articles around the state and country.

It was an amazing two days of races that concluded today in stellar fashion.   Read article for a quick summary.

Great American: A significant day for Virginia girls teams in putting the state on the national map for the 2009 cross country season as three of the top five teams in the Race of Champions were from the state in runner-up Blacksburg (116 pts), third place Midlothian (130 pts), and fifth place Hidden Valley (137 pts).   Octoberfest: The top ranked boys individual and team in Group AAA went down at Great Meadow with Centreville's Yazid Zouaimia and the Mountain View boys (pictured left by Nicoll Knudsen) defeating #1 ranked Kevin Dowd of Fairfax and the Grassfield boys. Kaitlyn Davis and Katherine Walker had a great Northwest Region duel with Davis picking up the win. West Potomac girls won by a wide margin.   Results from elsewhere: Andrew McCullen and the Oakton boys had very impressive 2nd place finishes at Wendy's with McCullen (pictured by Ken Charnock, LandsharkPhotos.com) losing the individual title at the line with VA's fastest 5K time of 15:18. At the flrunners.com Invitational, the Lake Braddock girls take second place honors in the Race of Champions behind Winter Park of Florida with 114 points. In Greensboro, the Lee-Davis girls repeated as team champions at the Hagan Stone Park Classic with 3 runners among the top 5.    

October 3rd is apparently the weekend to travel for many Virginia schools as you will see teams in action this weekend in several meets spread throughout the East Coast  in North Carolina, Delaware, and Florida. The Octoberfest Invitational appears to be virtually the only game in town on this weekend in Virginia with well over 3,000 runners expected to converge at Great Meadow on Saturday. The revival of Great American and return to North Carolina is seen with several of the state's NXN hopefuls previewing the regional course in the Race of Champions. Other teams have skipped out on Great American and are seeking competition in other out-of-state meets including Northern Region schools Lake Braddock at flrunners.com Invite (FL), Oakton at Wendy's Invite (NC), and West Springfield at Salesianum Invite (DE).

The flrunners.com Invitational 10 Presented by Nike has 17 races starting Friday afternoon and concluding Saturday at about 11:15.  The most well-known and anticipated races through are our two top-tier elite races on Saturday morning:  THE RACE OF CHAMPIONS!  This year's version is going to be absolutely phenomonal... here is what to look for...

Joe Rosa ran a new CR time of 15:04, 12 seconds over Forys.  Jim Rosa's 15:16 is 3rd AT @ Holmdel.

I am only including one meet program per team packet, so it is a good idea to go ahead and print yours now.  I may add some more pages before this weekend, but I wanted to go ahead and get this out now since a lot of people are asking for information.  This contains the schedule of events; course map; information on travel, parking, awards, t-shirts, sponsors; Race of Champions preview; meet history, records, and tidbits; profile on Lauren Fleshman; sponsors; and more.  Download and print yours

We have some changes, new additions, and some very notable individual entries.  You can see how incredible the races are going to be!  Saturday is still booked solid (except the Girls ROC if we had a team worthy enter... or individuals we can squeeze in).  Our Friday Girls Small School is also now full.  We have two slots in the Boys Small School and plenty of room yet in the Large School divisions.  The deadline is Sunday at 11:59PM!  Get your entry and full rosters in!

My personal mantra for the flrunners.com Invitational since day one, ten years ago, has been "more than just another race".   I have always sought to make the meet an engaging and fun experience that celebrates competitiveness but at the same time just the love of the sport and having fun.  Every year I believe we are getting closer and closer to that goal. Nike has been a huge help in trying to make that a reality.  We want you to circle the weekend on your calendar, look forward to it all year, and then years later after you graduate still be able to look back and say man that was a great experience! Reviewing what we've done in the past with Nike over the summer, we talked about what worked and what didn't.  This year we are doing something different and I think knocking it out the park.  There is nothing in the gym this year, it's all out on the "midway".  And there is no long hard sell before Lauren Fleshman takes the stage.  She's going to be there hanging out.  All of the stuff that Nike has going on under their HUGE tent they're bringing out is just going to be a blast.  More to come but you'll love it.  Read more preview inside...

The deadline is fast approaching for flrunners.com Invitational 10 Presented by Nike.  The last day to enter is Sunday at 11:59PM Eastern (link to enter).  You must have your complete rosters in by that time.  Our Saturday high school races are now closed to new teams.  We still have room for high school teams on Friday, teams in any other race, or any individuals.  Inside this article are further announcements and seed sheets for all races.

Every year the flrunners.com Invitational hosts the largest cross country meet in the Southeast.   Besides the huge numbers and fun atmosphere the meet is known for the showdown of the state's finest teams and some out of state guests:  THE RACE OF CHAMPIONS.  This is our first round of teams seeded into the ROC.

We have worked out a partnership with IPICO Sports, the makers of a new advanced-technology  RFID timing system.  The tags (chips) you will wear are yours to keep--souvenirs.  They will be a small square that will go on your shoes custom-made to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the flrunners.com Invitational with the meet logo on them.   In other races with tags/chips you have been in, after the race you are exhausted but you had to be wrangled up and forced to sit and untie your shoes and turn in your chips when all you really want to do is collapse, get water, or find your team.  Not so this year!