Jonas Cattell 2011

GEOFF SHUTE’S PERFORMANCE AT THE

JONAS CATTELL 10-MILE RUN, WHERE

HE RAN 10 MILES TO THE START LINE

BEFORE THE RACE EVEN BEGAN,

WOULD HAVE MADE THE LEGENDARY

CATTELL PROUD

While winning the 42nd annual Jonas Cattell 10 mile Run in 56:08, Geoff Shute may have run the most interesting ten miles from Haddonfield to National Park (NJ) of anyone since—well, since Jonas Cattell himself covered the distance in 1777.

Shute ( 36) is also the head old cross country and track coach at Pennsville (NJ) High School. Having previously won Jonas Cattell, he decided to run this year’s race as a training run for the Philadelphia Marathon.

While it is common for runners to mention that they were just using a race as a “training run” Shute actually did so, incorporating the ten mile Jonas Cattell race as the second half of a twenty mile training run at his projected marathon pace. Shute parked at the finish at Red Bank Battlefield in National Park NJ and ran ten miles to the races start timing his run to arrive just before the races start. As the gun went off, Shute reversed course and ran the ten miles back to the finish (and his waiting family) almost six minutes faster than second place finisher Jim Sery.

Believe it or not, Shute was not entirely happy with his remarkable performance.

“I wanted to run the race at marathon pace, around 5:28 -5:38 a mile but the adrenalin kicked in and I ran the first mile through Haddonfield a little too fast, around 5:12 pace. I felt good and kept that pace for a while, but started to tighten up and slowed down to around 5:48 pace later in the race. I didn’t use my head and went out a little too fast that first mile.” Shute, who was out of sight from the rest of the pack after the first mile, has won a number of South Jersey races this year including repeating as winner of the Benjamin Ross 5k in June in 16:25.

The first female, Julie Cattell proved that running is still in the Cattell blood by winning the race in a fine 1:07:50. Julie was the first of a number of Cattell relatives who annually keep up the family tradition of re-enacting the historic run of distant relative Jonas.

Other age group winners in the race include Gloucester Catholic Cross Country Sophomore Billy Simila, who was the first teen-age runner in 1:10.45. Jim Sery, 1st over 50 male in 1:02:06 and second overall.

Lisa Wixted 1st female 35 to 39 in 1:14:10, second overall. Britta Deklyver was the 1st female 40-44 finisher and third place overall in 1:16:51.

Sean Simila was the first 14 and under male, finishing in 1:20:45 and Ayaana Lyons was the first place 15 to 19 female in 1:20:58.

Boston Marathon age group winner Joy Hampton was the first place female over 60 finisher in 1:22:12 and Ken Underwood was the first male 60-64 winner in 1:22:42.

Danny Wheeler was the first wheel chair finisher, navigating the hilly run in 1:25:35.

Tom Osler, who has run most of the 42 Jonas Cattell runs was the first place male 70 and over in 1:34:59.

There were 122 finishers on a picture perfect October day ideal for running 10 miles (or ten miles twice).

Notes: Besides winning South Jersey road races, Geoff Shute has previously run the Boston Marathon in 2:39:27 and finished 21st in the Philadelphia marathon with a time of 2:34:37. Geoff has also won Gloucester County Cross Country Coach of the year award at Pennsville (NJ) High School.

Other Cattell descendants who ran the race include Robert Allen, Elizabeth Allen, Tehya Duckworth, David Jonas Weber and Dave Weber.


For more on the history of the Jonas Cattell run: http://www.runnersgazette.com/results/cattel09.htm
The book "Positive Splits:" https://www.amazon.com/Positive-Splits-Running-Stories/dp/1548655341/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=positive+splits&qid=1566215958&s=gateway&sr=8-3


For results of the 2011 Cattell Run:  http://home.comcast.net/~coachheath/Files/Cattell11.pdf

For 1970’s newspaper coverage of early Jonas Cattell races: http://ramscrosscountry.blogspot.com/2010/01/jonas-cattell-10-mile-race-coverage.html