Roxbury Race Series #40
& Final 2000 Standings
Roxbury, CT

Sandifer, Cole win Finale

    In a stunning thriller to end the season, Alyssa Cole came back for the final two races to grab the season championship from Nora Hulton by just two points.  In the last race, she edged the indomitable Peg Molina by just nine seconds, and tough Larry Jennings by 31.  She needed both of those points to win the season championship.  It was only the third time this season that Peg had been beaten, and Alyssa had never beaten her before.

    The surprise caused some confusion among the officials, who had been certain that Nora would win the season championship when she had better than a 60 point lead with only three races remaining.   She missed the last three races, though, and Alyssa, her fall high school season over, returned with a vengeance.  The officials had already put Nora's name on the Champion's Plaque, and the error was only noticed when Web Guy went home to do the official results.  Sometimes, there's something to be said for recounts in narrow races.

    The two point margin is the narrowest winning margin since Dave Harvey beat Ed Sandifer by the same margin in 1988.   That season went down to the last yards of the last race, Sandifer and Harvey going head to head, finishing first and second in the 1.85 mile race, Harvey winning with the three point bonus awarded at the time for setting a course record.

    The men's race was exciting, too, though pales in comparison to the drama of the women's race.  Ted Dietter led for the first half mile, until being joined by the Old Fossil, Ed Sandifer, as they turned onto South Street.  Sandifer hung like a leach, letting Dietter block the wind through the mile mark, before attempting a move just before the hill.  Dietter held tough most of the way up the hill, but Sandifer broke away at the crest of the hill, with just under a mile to go, and crawled away to a 21 second win, his 16th of the season.