BEST WISHES FOR A SAFE AND SUCCESSFUL EVENT... ... to all Gators who will be rocking, boogie-ing, tea timing, passing the baton or otherwise competing this weekend! This weekly post is mostly about sending off our athletes who will be competing over the next few days, but to successfully compete, as we all know, takes a lot of training. We recently completed our "Gators Club Philly" (February-March), which rewarded athletes for participation in club activities with a heavy focus on training, and we'd like to recognize 5 athletes that earned at least 5 of the available 10 badges... Congrats to Lindsay Inger, Chris Townsley, Logan Washburn, and Don Mack (apologies for congratulating myself 🙂)! And at the tip top and only athlete to earn the top honors of the "Rocky Victory Chomp" by earning all 10 badges is Sarah Barkley who ran with the RUNegades and the Keystone Running Store running groups, swam in the evening, morning, and on Sunday, cycled in our spin workout and in a Gators Zwift meetup, participated in a Gators run workout, posted on our Facebook group, and participated in an event... Way to go Sarah!! Earlier this week we announced our next club, inspired by Keith Ho. It will be called the "Gators Surf & Turf Club" and it will run from May 1 to June 30. You can earn entry to the club and an invite to the July "Prime Rib Party" by achieving at least one of the 10 badges. See the post for more details... https://www.facebook.com/groups/msgators/posts/2229876983863728/ An now on to this weekend, a weekend that features events from four of our club sponsors, DelMo Elite Sports, Steelman Racing, Kinetic Multisport, and Scoogie Events plus a popular club event, the Schuylkill River Relay... Weekend Workouts: We have five workout options over the weekend... • Saturday 4/22, 8:30am, Keystone Running Store, 200 E. High St, Pottstown: Group run... https://www.facebook.com/groups/479291044416772 • Saturday 4/22, 10am-Noon, 1400 S. Trooper Rd, Norristown: French Creek Racing OWS swim training. Club discount available. For more details... https://runsignup.com/Race/PA/Norristown/OpenWaterTrainingSwims • Sunday 4/23, 7:30am-9:30am, Reynolds Dog Park: Gators SRT and Valley Forge "out and back, up and down, and around in circles" group ride. We'll start on the SRT and then head over to Valley Forge Park to do one or more 5 mile loops; note that the VF Park portion does include some riding on open roads. We'll likely end up riding around 25-35 miles. If you participate, make it a "brick" workout by bringing your running shoes and getting in a short 10-15 minute run after the ride... This type of workout is invaluable for triathletes! • Sunday 4/23, 8:00am, Steel City Coffeehouse, Phoenixville: RUNegades Sunday bRUNch group run... https://www.facebook.com/.../1249068715.../1249068749027154/ • Sunday 4/23, 11:15am-12:15pm, Spring Valley YMCA indoor pool: Uncoached group swim Weekend Events: Following is a list of the 19 Gators that are racing this weekend including one that is doubling up with events on Saturday and Sunday. As always, if your name is missing from our best wishes list, PLEEEASE post a comment so that we can send Good Gator Vibes your way! Friday, April 21: • SPONSOR EVENT (club discount available): DelMo Elite Sports' "MudHen Brewing Co 5K and Beer Mile" (Wildwood, NJ) Saturday, April 22: • SPONSOR EVENT (club discount available): Steelman Racing's "Rock the Nock" (Lake Nockamixon, PA). This event features a 5K, 10K, and half marathon. Kristie Bruno will be volunteering (Thank you!) and our competitors will include Ginny Angus in the 10K and Jill Basile and Lylly Darling in the 5K. Go Ginny, Jill, and Lylly! • SPONSOR EVENT (club discount available): Kinetic Multisport's "Rumpus in Bumpus" (Lake Anna, VA). This event features sprint and Olympic distance triathlons and aquabikes as well as a relay option. • CLUB EVENT: Schuylkill River Relay (Phoenixville, PA): This 50K event features options for 6 person teams, 3 person teams, and solo. It takes place entirely on the SRT starting in Phoenixville and turning around at the train station in downtown Conshohocken. We have athletes participating in 5 teams including 4 six-person teams and 1 three-person team with a total of 14 Gators. Our participants include: "AcceleGators" with Mike Jurski, Don Mack, Deb Rocco, David Stone, Jens Sydor, and Chris Townsley; "Mother Runners" with Dre Barber, Angela Epelbaum, Sara Dansbury, Cindy Kelecic, and Logan Washburn (and past Gator Amelia Blythe); "Gazelligators" with Holly Beauchamp (and Kim Thompson and past Gator Patty Trainer), "SRT 50K Squad" with Chris Acosta (and Carl, Ernie, Gabbie, and Jen), and "Dirty Old Bastards" with Joe DeNicola (and Rick McIntyre, Dave Dauphinais, Joe Mazzoni, Alan Kramer, and Terry Kelly). Go Gators! Sunday, April 23: • SPONSOR EVENT (club discount available): Scoogie Events' "Boogie Down the Bypass" (North Wales, PA): This event features 4 options including an 8K, a 5K, a 2 mile fun run/walk, and a kids' run. Representing the Gators will be Lindsay Inger in the 5K. Go Lindsay! • London Marathon (London, England): Our first ever Gator participant in this World Major Marathon, Susan Flavin had enough of New York, for now, and headed east! If you'd like to track her progress, here's the link to the app, but you'll have to get an early start as the race kicks off at 4:30amEDT, which I believe is Susan's typical lunch hour. Go Susan! • Jersey City Marathon (Jersey City, NJ): Keeping pace with his running partner and doing triple duty this weekend is Joe DeNicola, who comes off of Saturday's SRR 50K Relay to take on this 26.2 mile challenge, which will also be his virtual London Marathon! Go Joe! Have fun, Gator Done, then drink a beer! 💚BK🍺