How did she do it? Another 3:39 for Monique

It was as if Rank Stranger Monique Faber (2005, 2012) ran the same race, a year later.   Her time in the Madison Marathon on Nov. 9 was 15 seconds faster than the 2013 race.

15 seconds!!

In 2013, Monique was 38th in the race in 3:39:24.

On Nov. 9, 2014, she was 38th in 3:39:03.

Monique's race in 2013 was her first Boston qualifier and she will join Rank Strangers Randy and Denise Meacham and David Maze in the 2015 Boston Marathon on Monday, April 20.

Another year, another Hood To Coast attempt

Twice denied, perhaps Aug. 2015 will be our time.

11/9/2014 email to Rank Stranger veterans 

Subject: We made it! (Hood To Coast)

After years of scheming and dreaming, Rank Strangers have been accepted to the historic Hood To Coast Relay (HTC) in Oregon, August 28, 2015 (the weekend before Labor Day weekend).

Our 10 years of Madison-Chicago has taught us the run relay routine but being part of the 34th Hood To Coast is a real milestone.

There will be 1,050 teams; the race has filled its race cap on the opening day of registration for the last 17 years.

The race starts at Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood (approx. 90 miles SE of Portland, Oregon) and finishes on the coast in Seaside.

Seniority (number of Madison-Chicago races with Rank Strangers) will count, with folks with the most races getting priority.  We expect to be able to fill our team entirely from the ranks of our 49 veterans.  Here's the top of the draft list:

- Jeff Shampo and Eric Engdahl (10 years)

- Art Saffran (9)

- Renee Roux and Mark Clear (7)

- Steve Hill (5)

- Pete Boll (5)  declined

- Marc Golab (4)  declined

- Ed Stojakovic (3)

- Holly Dowling (3)  declined

- Jennifer Sell (3)

- Randy Meacham (3)

Madison-Chicago?  That's still happening, on June 12-13, 2015.  I'll send out the normal call to veterans in January.

See the HTC status box on the right for the latest.

10th time another charm for Rank Strangers

Rank Strangers reached the decade mark at Madison-Chicago relays on June 6-7, the only team to participate every year of the event.  

Rank Stranger ranks grew to 49 this year with Suzanne Holmes and Greg Masenthin joining the family. 

Once again, Rank Strangers finished in the middle of the pack, finishing in 31 hours and 10 minutes for an average pace of 9:29 per mile for the 197 miles, 287th out of 502 teams.

10 digits for 10 relays - Eric (left) and 
Jeff have run every race sinceit began
 in 2005.

The 2014 team had a combined 45 years of Madison-Chicago experience:

Van 1 included Cathy Jooste who returned after a 7 year absence: Jeff Shampo (9 years), Art Saffran (8), Renee Roux (6), Pete Boll (4), Bo Lackey (1) , Cathy Jooste (1)

Van 2: Eric Engdahl (9), Paul Miller (1), Ed Stojakovic (2), Steve Hill (4), Suzanne Holmes, Greg Masenthin

Co-captain Mark Clear joined breakfast on Friday but wasn't able to take the course because he was busy making Wisconsin a better place -- running for state Assembly (see www.markclear.com).

There was drama before the starting gun, with last minute doubt about the availability of a Madison Van.  Art Saffran stepped in and coolly negotiated a successful resolution.

Rookies Greg Mastenthin and Suzanne Holmes 

ran out of Van #2.

Another wonder of this year's event was the stable roster - all 12 who signed up stayed with us.  Every other year we've had last minute substitutions or an empty seat on race day.

The team made these marks on the record book:

1. Jeff Shampo added to his total as all time mileage leader with 187.7 miles in 10 relays.  Martin (21.3) and Monique (20.4) are our leaders for average per relay mile (multiple relays). 
2. Ed (20.5) and Art (20.1) added to the list of 20 mile relays.
3. Jeff and Paul brought the number of Rank Strangers with runs of more than 8 miles to fifteen (15): Keith (2), Kim (2), Randy (2), Marc G. (2), Martin (2), Holly, Steve H., Ed S., Jeff (2), Art, Monique, Jennifer, Beth, Therese, Paul.  The 8+ milers: Monique 11.8, Keith 11.7, Jennifer 10.9, Keith 10.7, Kim 9.9, Art 9.9, Jeff 9.6, Beth 9.3, Art 9.1, Randy 9, Martin 8.8, Holly 8.6, Steve H. 8.6, Randy 8.6, Marc G. 8.4, Kim 8.4, Marc G. 8.2, Martin 8.2, Ed S. 8.2, Therese 8.2, Jeff 8, Paul 8. (Keith’s runs, Monique’s 11.8 and Art’s 9.1 mile runs spanned multiple legs; the others were single legs).

Rank Strangers gather after pre-race breakfast (L to R) - (Pete Boll's boys are in front); Paul Miller, Ed Stojakovic, Pete Boll, Bo Lackey, Art Saffran, Eric Engdahl,, Mark Clear, Steve Hill, Jeff Shampo, Cathy Jooste, Greg Masenthin, Suzanne Holmes, Renee Roux.
















The following chart shows the 49 Rank Strangers in order of total race mileage.

Rank Stranger	Relays	Miles per relay	Total Miles
Jeff Shampo	10	18.8	187.8
Eric Engdahl	10	17.6	175.7
Art Saffran	9	17.3	156.1
Renee Roux	7	15.4	107.6
Mark Clear	7	14.4	100.9
Steve Hill	5	18.2	91.2
Pete Boll	5	16.6	83
Marc Golab	4	17.5	69.8
Holly Dowling	3	19.8	59.3
Ed Stojakovic	3	19.4	58.2
Jennifer Sell	3	16.9	50.6
Randy Meacham	3	15.2	45.6
Martin Tagge	2	21.3	42.5
Monique Faber	2	20.4	40.8
Chris Montgomery	2	18.4	36.7
Paul Miller	2	18.1	36.2
Kim Hill	2	17.9	35.8
Anne Martino	2	16.9	33.9
Debra Addison	2	15.3	30.5
Brad Clark	2	14.9	29.8
Bo Lackey	2	14.6	29.1
Keith Dudding	1	28.4	28.4
Cathy Jooste	2	13	26
David Maze	1	24.7	24.7
Jamie Quanbeck	2	12.1	24.2
Denise Meacham	2	11.8	23.5
Therese Nolan	1	21.8	21.8
Beth Fegan	1	20.7	20.7
Fred Bounds	1	18.6	18.6
Marc Damerjian	1	18.4	18.4
Ed Heberlein	1	18.1	18.1
Suzanne Holmes	1	16.4	16.4
Maddy Melin	1	17.8	17.8
Pati Flannery	1	17.8	17.8
Steve Smith	1	17.3	17.3
Ryan Lipscomb	1	16.7	16.7
Suzanne Shoff	1	16.6	16.6
Sergey Petrov	1	16.6	16.6
Rachael Weiker	1	16.6	16.6
Rachel Rivard	1	15.9	15.9
Bill Shepard	1	15.7	15.7
Ann Wilson	1	14.5	14.5
Steve Schmidt	1	14.1	14.1
Greg Masenthin	1	13.3	13.3
Tim Scott	1	13.2	13.2
Beverly Schuller	1	10.0	10.0
Kelly Bard	1	9.3	9.3
Cathy Van Leuven	1	8.6	8.6
Reggie Hill	1	2.5	2.5

Following is another view of the Rank Stranger family, showing runners by year.  25 of the 49 Rank Strangers have run two or more races. 

	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14
Debra Addison						l	l
Kelly Bard								l
Pete Boll		l	l			l			l	l
Fred Bounds					l
Brad Clark					l		l
Mark Clear	l	l	l	l	l	l		l
Marc Damerjian					l
Holly Dowling	l	l		l
Keith Dudding	l
Eric Engdahl	l	l	l	l	l	l	l	l	l	l
Monique Faber	l							l
Beth Fegan									l
Pati Flannery									l
Marc Golab			l	l		l	l
Ed Heberlein		l
Kim Hill	l						l
Reggie Hill							l
Steve Hill					l	l	l	l		l
Suzanne Holmes										l
Cathy Jooste		l								l
Bo Lackey									l	l
Ryan Lipscomb		l
Anne Martino			l		l
Greg Masenthin										l
David Maze			l
Randy Meacham		l	l		l
Denise Meacham			l		l
Maddy Melin								l
Paul Miller									l	l
Chris Montgomery				l		l
Therese Nolan									l
Sergey Petrov				l
Jamie Quanbeck				l			l
Rachel Rivard	l
Renee Roux			l	l		l	l	l	l	l
Art Saffran	l	l	l	l	l		l	l	l	l
Beverly Schuller						l
Steve Schmidt						l
Tim Scott									l
Jennifer Sell					l		l	l
Suzanne Shoff		l
Jeff Shampo	l	l	l	l	l	l	l	l	l	l
Bill Shepard									l
Steve Smith								l
Ann Wilson								l
Ed Stojakovic							l	l		l
Martin Tagge				l		l
Cathy Van Leuven	l

The following graph shows the growth of the race from the early days when a runner could be alone the course to the current Ragnar era.



Click on the image below to expand the Rank Stranger relationship map.  Lines indicate who brought whom into the team.  Runner names are circled.