Ero Doce ran 3:41, 13:59 (roads), 63:59, and won the PAUSATF XC Grand Prix.
In our 17th year, PDC enjoyed another 300+ competitive individual race outings over the course of 2024. Our footprint was broad and impactful, including competitors at both the US Olympic Marathon and Track & Field Team Trials, and winning team performances on the road and cross country course.
Continued Strength over 26.2 and 13.1
Led by a lifetime best 2:32 20th place for Maya Weigel on a hot day at Orlando’s marathon trials, PDC again had six female athletes under 2:40, including Holly Clarke (twice), Carolyn Buchanan, Jenny Grimshaw, Erin McDonald, and Izzi Gengaro. Clarke’s 62nd place at the Olympic Trials represented a finish over 20 spots ahead of her seed, while Buchanan’s time secured her a top 15 Canadian ranking over 2024 and Grimshaw earned a top 20 US placing in Chicago. Gengaro’s 2:39 was achieved in a sparkling debut, while McDonald won the PAUSATF individual title while running 2:36 at CIM. Combined with the additions of 2023 sub 2:40 performances by Jeannette Mathieu, Jen Odenheimer, Mara Olson, and Amy Schanz, PDC has had 10 separate women run sub 2:40 in less than two years, with Yuzki Oey’s 11 minute lifetime best at 2:47 making further inroads.
McDonald broke through with a 2:36 at CIM
Lenehan bookended the year with marathons at Trials and Valencia.
Men’s marathoning efforts were led by gritty finishes from Matt Lenehan and Zach Hine at Trials, while Lenehan ran 2:18 at Valencia in December for his fifth marathon mark quicker than 2:19. Tom Tayeri entered his new age group with a flourish this fall, winning the 60+ division crown at the Bank of America Chicago Marathon.
Over the half marathon distance, Ero Doce earned a decisive victory in a personal best 63:59 at the Monterey Bay Half Marathon, while Odenheimer won both the Napa Valley Marathon Half and the San Diego Holiday Half to finish 2024 with a personal best 1:15:37. McDonald gave early notice of her fall marathon fitness with her own 1:15 victory at the Portland Marathon Half.
Cross Country Consistency
Ero Doce’s fall fitness also showed on the cross country course, where he won the PAUSATF Grand Prix individual title, with three individual wins and a strong top five finish at the PAUSATF Championships. Doce is the first PDC athlete ever to emerge victorious over the entire series. Joining him in the PAUSATF honors is Trevor Halsted, who was a picture of steady effort throughout the season to finish in the top 10 overall as well as in the top 100 at USATF Club Cross Country Nationals. Tom Tayeri sampled the waters at Club Cross, earning 8th place among 60+ masters athletes. Chris Olley was again a standout contributor with top six individual runs at the Golden Gate Open and PAUSATF Championships to go along with a second Bronco Invitational Open Race crown, and Nolan Dozier debuted at Club Nationals with a strong top 50 individual effort as the team earned 13th place.
On the women’s side, our team won the PAUSATF crown for an amazing 12th time in 13 years, featuring a 29 second spread between our five scorers, and finished fourth at Club Nationals for our sixth top-six finish in the past seven editions of the race. In January, Claire Green competed in her first USATF Open Cross Country Championships and finished a strong 10th in her longest competitive race to date. Christine Hoffmann was our top PAUSATF Grand Prix Finisher in 12th place, just 34 points away from the top 10.
While representing Uganda, Aneno competed in the 800m finals at the All African Games and African Athletics Championships .
Breakthroughs for Green, International Duty for Aneno Highlight Track Campaign
After a promising start to the year on the cross country course, Claire Green proceeded to set nothing but lifetime bests every time she stepped on the track from February to June, dropping chunks of time in the 3000m indoors, 1500m outdoors and crucially, her 5000m outdoors, where a heat winning effort of 15:30.46 at the Portland Track Festival qualified her for her first US Olympic Team Trials the following week.
Green competed nationally on the track, roads, and cross country.
Susan Aneno was able to capitalize on her strong 2023 mark of 1:59 in the 800m with selection to Uganda’s 2024 team for both the All Africa Games in Accra, Ghana, where she finished 6th, as well as the African Athletics Championships in Douala, Cameroon, where she finished 7th. Aneno and Ashley Lewis led middle distance efforts on the women’s side, where Lewis set a club best in the indoor 400m, and both provided several competitive efforts in top quality competition throughout the year, along with JJ Escalera, Faith Reynolds, Carmen Mejia, and Sarah Gayer, before her springtime deployment to the Peace Corps in Guatemala.
Ero Doce’s 3:41 at the Portland Track Festival provided our top men’s 1500m time of the season, while Chris Olley and Miles Smith both posted multiple competitive efforts including 4:01 miles at the BU Valentine Invitational. Athletes enjoying personal bests over 5000m or 10,000m included Sierra Brill, Carolyn Buchanan, Jen Odenheimer, Izzi Gengaro, Jason Intravaia, and Donald Taggart. Brill debuted in the steeplechase at the USATF Master’s Outdoor Championships, where she took the overall win, along with Reynolds in the 25-34 age group heat of the 800m.
Pushing for Progress on the Roads
Green again headlined our national efforts on the shorter roads, with competitive efforts to build on in the USATF 6K Championships (13th) and the USATF 5K Championships (19th). She also took 13th in the Medtronic Twin Cities 10 Mile as she sought to expand her range this fall, and set a new 8K club best of 26:37 at the Milwaukee Turkey Trot.
Dozier was second in the PAUSATF Short Course Grand Prix and top 50 at Club XC Nationals.
Ero Doce won the Alameda 10 Miler in August before setting a new club best of 13:59 at the Silicon Valley Turkey Trot’s newly reinstated Elite 5K. Nolan Dozier led our PAUSATF Short Course Road Grand Prix efforts this spring as he tied for second overall, helping the men’s team to wins at the Patagonia 5K and Devil Mountain Mile of Truth, before earning a 5K personal best at the SVTT, along with newcomer Tom Brookes. Joshua Sealand, also top 10 in San Jose, added a 12th place Grand Prix finish to his top 20 in cross country, with a podium finish at the Mile of Truth. Chris Olley (4th at the SVTT) ascended the podium himself at the Impala Stampede 5K, and Alex Dickinson, Jason Intravaia, and Trevor Halsted placed in the top 20 of the GP standings.
Our Bay to Breakers centipede win was just one display of women’s team depth this year.
For the women, Jen Odenheimer, who took second in the Marin Mile, matched Dozier’s second place overall GP finish as well with a 29 second win at the Los Gatos Rotary Great Race 4 Mile. JJ Escalera earned 2nd place individually at the Mile of Truth (with Carmen Mejia in 4th), as well as 9th place overall in the Grand Prix. Maya Weigel won the Impala Stampede, and Carolyn Buchanan and Izzi Gengaro went 1-2 at the Patagonia 5K, with Weigel and Buchanan placing among the top 20 GP racers overall. Faith Reynolds also hit 4:40 and 4:41 over the summer for lifetime bests in the road mile event. Steven Grolle won the Old Mill 10K with a course record, and Melinda DiNapoli won the 408K in addition to age group wins at the RunSheisBeautiful 10K, Silicon Valley Turkey Trot, and Los Gatos Great Race 4 Mile. Holly Clarke and Buchanan were 10th and 13th at the Vancouver Sun Run 10K this spring, and along with a PR’ing Brill and Odenheimer, all top 10 at the SVTT.
Off Road Adventures Continue
This year, we expanded our footprint in the multi-sport area, as Andrea Cloarec, Kevin Bishop, Yu Hsiao all competed on the Ironman 70.3 pro circuit, with Cloarec finishing the year on a running high with a half marathon triathlon best, and Hsiao crossing the line as the second quickest Taiwanese competitor at the Taipei marathon. While not on the triathlon circuit this year, Andrew Roos (and Trevor Halsted) competed in the Lake Berryessa Open Water Swims, while Halsted and Sealand ventured to Tahoe for the Broken Arrow Sky Races and Sealand took third at the ElliptiGo World Championships. Sarah Johnson completed her first full Ironman in Sacramento this fall, earning 6th in her age group.
Dena Evans continues an off-road adventure of her own as she was re-elected to a new four year term as a member of the USATF Board, serving as Long Distance Running constituent rep.
Thank you for your continued support!
In May, our third annual Backyard Benefit, presented by Sylebra Capital (featuring Lauren Fleshman) raised crucial funds to allow for entries and travel support to national level competitions. We are incredibly grateful to our presenting sponsor, Sylebra, as well as marathon level sponsor DevCon Construction and our other partners for the evening. We look forward to another great event this spring (details coming soon)! Thank you to all those individuals who supported the BYB, donated throughout the year, helped supply or support our team with crucial services or supplies, or who backed our fifth annual Miles for Meals campaign where we ran nearly 2500 miles and raised over $6000 for Second Harvest Food Bank. We look forward to connecting with you in 2025 as we look to compete near and far! If you’d like to support our efforts, please contact us or take a moment to make a donation here.
Pics (except for Weigel, Lewis, Halsted, and Aneno): Steven Anderson
