Meet Masters

Palisadians Lead Janes Elite Racing at XC Nationals; Peter Gilmore Second in Men’s Race

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

Months of training and early morning runs were all worth it for Gwendolen Twist last Saturday in the USATF National Club Cross Country Championships at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

A member of The Janes Elite Racing in Santa Monica, she had one simple goal: help her 40-and-over team repeat as champion. The 44-year-old from the Alphabet Streets did just that, weathering the cold and rain to complete the 6K course in 23:56—good for 10th place in her age group, 16th overall and third on The Janes behind Nancy James-Klinger (22:45) and Grace Padilla (23:50). The Janes won with 21 points, eight fewer than second-place Red Lizard of Portland, Oregon.

“I didn’t expect a time, it’s a muddy tough course and I was more worried about place,” said Twist,  who was 18th in her age group and 21st overall in 24:09 last year on the 6K course at Plantes Ferry Sports Complex in Spokane, Washington. “I was hoping to be the second Jane and try to finish in the top 10 but this was the biggest year of competitors to show up and my teammate Grace is tough as nails and went out hard at the start. I stayed close but she has a strong kick and I couldn’t catch her in the final stretch. I’m so happy the Janes were able to pull off a second championship when everyone was gunning for us. I kept hearing on the course ‘Gotta go after that girl in pink’ and it motivated me to run hard.”

Twist, co-coach of Palisades High’s cross country and track teams, won the Palisades Funding Turkey Trot for the first time on Thanksgiving. She joined The Janes in May 2017 and hired Run with the Lab founder Blue Benadum as her private coach. Her twin boys go to Palisades Elementary.

One week before Nationals Twist ran a marathon but dropped out at Mile 18. All that did was make her even more determined.

“It’s my first time not finishing… I just didn’t have it that day,” she said. “Yes, I had a little score to settle… this was redemption.”

One and a half hours after helping the Janes defend their 40s title, Twist was back on the course for the Open Division race.

“The Open team needed a fifth runner so after giving my all I turned around and ran in the Open race and by that time it was raining and very intense,” Twist said.   “I ran my heart out, gave it my all  and was only 30 seconds slower the second time around.”

Palisadian Victoria Chapus helped The Janes take seventh in the 50-and-over division with 62 points. The 55-year-old from the Riviera clocked 28:19 and was recruited to participate by longtime friend and five-time Palisades Turkey Trot 5K winner Tania Fischer, the cross country/track coach at Santa Monica High, who was The Janes’ first 50s finisher (37th overall in 24:52). Kathleen Cushing-Murray (26:09) was 78th and Chapus, who ran the Turkey Trot this year as part of her training for Nationals, came in 141st in a strong field of 288 runners.

In the Masters Men 10K race,  former Pali High cross country and track star Peter Gilmore took second place in 33 minutes flat and led his Bay Area-based West Valley Track Club to first place in the 40-and-over division with 31 points—66 points better than the runner-up team, Cal Coast Track Club from Newport Beach.   

The 42-year-old Gilmore was exactly five seconds behind Cal Coast’s 45-year-old Jacques Sallberg (32:55), his longtime rival. Gilmore arrived at Nationals with momentum, having won the Men’s Masters Race at the 34th annual Pacific Association Cross Country Championships in Golden Gate Park on November 17.

Gilmore is no stranger around the Palisades, having grown up on Via de la Paz and having won the Palisades Will Rogers 5K a record  eight times from 1995 to 2006. He set the race record of 14:10 in 2003 and still owns eight of the 10 fastest times on his hometown course through the Huntington.

After winning the Post Cup Award as the outstanding senior athlete at Pali High, Gilmore ran for UC Berkeley and turned to professional distance running after college. In 2006 he was the top American finisher at the New York Marathon (clocking 2:13:13) and finished seventh at the Boston Marathon (2:12:45). The following year he was the top U.S. male in Boston (2:16:41). He narrowly missed qualifying for the U.S. Olympic marathon team in 2008, the same year he broke the course record while winning the Surf City USA Half Marathon in 1:03:53.

Gilmore is now a husband and father and works in finance in San Francisco. He received a master’s degree in finance from Golden Gate University in 2008.