South Philly Striders had a fantastic showing at the inaugural Philly Mayor’s Cup.  Out of 33 Philadelphia running clubs, SPS placed 3rd overall, beaten only by the powerhouse Breakaway Racing Team and Philadelphia Runner Track Club.  Highlights included Sarah Morrison finishing first overall in the women’s cross country 5K, Heather Hoechst finishing 2nd overall in women’s road 10 mile, Karen Lancaster finishing 3rd overall in women’s trail half, and Chris Pilla, Tim Hein, Luis Gaitan and Jack Marmorstein all putting up top 10 overall performances.  Trish gets the 3rd place plant to place in her backyard.  Most importantly, we raised $2,385 and won the charity fundraising, and we made an additional $2,000 for Women Against Abuse.  Congratulations to all participants for an incredibly successful event.

This Saturday, August 8, is the inaugural Mayor’s Cup, which is the competition among the city’s running clubs, at Belmont Plateau.  There are five events: 5K cross country race, 5 mile road race, 10K trail race, 10 mile road race and half marathon trail race.  Mayor’s Cup is a team event; the top finisher for each gender from each team “scores” for each squad in a reverse cross country meet-type scoring system.

SPS has 26 entrants among the five events to take on the 30+ clubs entered.  The events start at 7:30 a.m., with the start of the trail half.

There will be no regularly-scheduled 8 a.m. Saturday run.