Eight is not enough: After completing Cape Town Marathon major, Pereira eyes Shanghai

For most exceptional runners, eight Abbott World Marathon Majors would be enough.
Not Tony Pereira.
After completing the Cape Town, South Africa 26.2-miler a couple weeks ago, the Newtown strider would have been excused for not thinking about scaling new heights.
But he’s already planning ahead to Shanghai, China as soon as it gains AWMM status sometime in 2027.
Only about 3,000 runners in the entire world have completed eight majors, so Pereira finds himself in rare company.
He’s always looking for new challenges, so jetting off to faraway places such as Sydney, Australia or Cape Town can be written off as just part of a plan to keep his long-distance running interesting and informative.
Previously he checked New York, Chicago, Boston, London, Berlin, Tokyo and the aforementioned Sydney off the AWMM list, all of them impressively well under four hours at age 57.
“Cape Town exceeded all my expectations,” he said in a recent telephone interview. “First, it’s a very thriving country. The people are really nice. I thought I was heading into a war zone with everything going on in Africa.
“But everything was the opposite of what I thought it would be. Everybody gets along. Nelson Mandela helped get rid of apartheid. It was abolished in the late ‘90s. It’s just a beautiful society.”
His time of 3:51 was about 10 to 15 minutes behind schedule but that’s because the heat factor affected all the runners. The last six miles were run on, of all places, the beach.
“It was just scorching,” Pereira said. “High humidity. Just too hot.”
Not to mention the less than ideal footing.
“This was the first time they had the marathon at this time of the year,” he explained. “They usually have it in October. For some reason, they didn’t want it to coincide with other majors, so they made it at the end of May.”
By race’s end, the thermometer was touching 80. That’s tough for just running a 5K.
“It was pretty bad,” Pereira said.
Although it might sound odd to have a world major in a distant corner of the world, Pereira said South Africa has a thriving community of runners.
“They’re very passionate about their sport,” he said. “Cape Town will become the first African major, so the city was going all the way out for this.”
The official ceremony to make Cape Town an Abbott major will take place in about a week.
“I had a great time,” Pereira said. “Cape Town is a place I would highly recommend. It’s a very secure area.”
What does completing eight Abbott Majors mean to Pereira’s overall running plan?
“To complete the majors is my goal,” he said. “I don’t know what the next one will be after China. Maybe Rio de Janeiro. There are rumors (that it will become number 10). South America is the only continent that doesn’t have a major.”

>Winter results in June

Results from the Bucks County Roadrunners Club’s Winter Series recently were posted and there were some familiar names as well as some new ones on the list of age-group medalists.
In the male competition, the overall winner was Aaron Skolnik.
Age group medalists:
>13 and under: 1. David Bulat, 2. Damian Manavi, 3. Nicholas Manavi.
>14-19: 1. Braylen Clayton, 2. Graham Wagner, 3. Mason Pantalone.
>25-29: 1. Nick Accardo, 2. Joshuah Carlani, 3. Jackson Mikalic.
>30-34: 1. Alexander Izewski, 2. Luke Schlegel, 3. Paul Hasyn.
>35-39: 1. Samuel Cler, 2. Michael Hood, 3. Sean Linville.
>40-44: 1. Robert Stianchi, 2. Brian McGinley, 3. Edward Smith.
>45-49: 1. Giuseppe Cavallo, 2. Ryan Goldblum, 3. Daniel Kiley.
>50-54: 1. Vitaly Belotserkovsky, 2. Kevin McKale, 3. Timothy Hooper.
>55-59: 1. Christian Carabello, 2. Patrick Donadio, 3. Eric Folkins.
>60-64: 1. Joe Boyce, 2. Bob Boland, 3. Ray Willhoft.
>70-74: 1. Phil Davies, 2. Steve Cickay, 3. Gary Corbi.
>75-79: 1. Robert Esterly, 2. Henry Schanbacker.
>80+: 1. Tom Jennings, 2. Edward Haines.
In the female competition, the overall winner was Elizabeth Bryan.
Age group medalists:
>13 and under: 1. Anneliese Manavi, 2. Josette Manavi, 3. Nora Coulson.
>14-19: 1. Lielle Nahum, 2. Jules Cosenza, 3. Ishwa Awasthi.
>20-24: 1. Holly Pantalone.
>25-29: 1. Kara Vandooijeweert, 2. Brittany Chamberlin, 3. (tie) Rachel Ayzenberg, Josephine Bursk.
>30-34: 1. Morgan Leh, 2. Chrislee Butcher, 3. Maria Oei.
>35-39: 1. Christina Burner, 2. Mel Ely, 3. Christin Mustillo.
>40-44: 1. Kristi Wiley, 2. Karen Fey, 3. Aleta Budd.
>45-49: 1. Gwen Kranzle Stia, 2. Cheryl Clayton, 3. Kara Seymour.
>50-54: 1. Justyna Wilson, 2. Siobhan McHugh, 3. Lisa Kall.
>55-59: 1. Lisa Borine, 2. Karen Wheeler, 3. Maureen Harnishfeger.
>60-64: 1. Hillary Goodman, 2. Charlotte Buglio, 3. Sharon Michaelson.
>65-69: 1. Gert Freas, 2. Julianne Domm, 3. Kathy Hahn.
>70-74: 1. Emily Grace, 2. Aly Appel.
>75-79: 1. Sharon Schanbacker.
Congratulations to all.

>Impressive age-graded times

Freas and Boland posted some impressive age-graded times in the recent Yardley 5K, part of the Bucks 5K Series.
Taking home the 65-69 title, Freas posted a score of 89.43 percent.
Boland won the 70-74 competition with a course-record time of 20:48, good for an age-graded 83.81 percent.

>Race calendar

Friday

BCRR Twilight 5K, 6:30 p.m., Peace Valley Nature Center, Doylestown. Contact www.bucks5kseries.com