43rd Annual Manhattan Invitational Girls Letter Race Preview
Much
of the day's action at Van Cortlandt Park will be devoted to the Letter
races, and there are great matches on hand for all. Time was a bit
limited for pulling in info from all of the different states. Also
apologies to non-NY teams if the rating scores don't quite capture your
full strength, as some of the estimations are really tough. The
following summaries should give at least some idea of what's in store
for the girls' 6 Letter duels.
Overview
Every
year in the Manhattan Letters there is the Race of Death where strong
teams struggle to finish in the top 10 behind a slew of dreadnoughts.
Often it is the A race, which this year is more of an even-balanced
affair. One obvious choice for the scary RoD is D in which the top end
would rival some of the athletes in the Easterns race. Two Clash of the
Titans struggles will see Warwick take on Guilderland, while a Section 1
battle between Suffern and John Jay-CR will conclude the day. Last
year's Letter winners A through F were Liverpool, Padua, Bronxville,
Monroe-Woodbury, Guilderland, and Cornwall.
All the races
appear to have chances for some great battles either for the title or a
top 5 finish. A special highlight for the Letter races is the presence
of two of the top runners in the nation competing to post the best time
of the day, as Mainland Regional's Alyssa Aldridge runs in Race C against Lydia Oliviere of Padua. Both will be looking to
get some great story lines from Manhattan
Cheers to all, and remember not to start sprinting all out when you come out of the woods. There's still 600 meters to go.