Monday, November 26, 2012

Chelmsford Alumni race (and more)

It had been a couple of years since I last headed over to Chelmsford for the annual alumni race (all are welcome).  I saw race director and arch rival Keith O’Brien at the USATF NE XC champs last weekend and he asked if I’d be attending.  I told him I’d do my best to show up, he has tried to shame me in other years by listing me as a DNF.  I didn’t race on Thanksgiving due to my lingering Plantar Fascia/ Posterior tibial Tendonitis issues but I felt I could go to Chelmsford and “run through” the event.
 
I showed up about 15 minutes before the start and did a few laps around the field to warm-up.  Fellow Billerican Don Fay joined me for a bit and GCS teammate (and coach) Richie Blake also put in some warm-up time with me.  We lined up for the group picture and off we went.  As is usual for this race, the pace was ‘mellow’ for the first lap of the field.  I settled in with Dave LaPierre and we slowly moved up behind Scott Graham.  My only goal in the race was to beat Scotty, so that he wouldn’t be able to give me grief for the next 10 years about beating me J.  Around the mile I moved past Scott and caught up with Don Fay as the tempo increased.  We moved together up into the top five.  Around two miles I noticed that Mike Cooney was accelerating and Sam McGrath and O’B had fallen back.  I checked and O’B was only 20 seconds ahead, so I decided to really push the last mile and see if I could track him down.  By 3 miles I’d caught up with him and McGrath but I settled behind them for the last .3 or so (long, very long 5k!).  I threw a couple of well placed elbows in O’Bs direction and he crumbled letting me cross in front of him by .4.
 
I did a lap around the field then met up with Dave La and we did a couple of more laps to get in a good 6 plus miles for the morning.  I collected my prize at the awards ceremony (a jar of pickles) and was off.
 
A big “Thank you” to Keith O’Brien for putting on this fun event!
 
 
16th Annual CHS Alumni 5K XC Race - Chelmsford, MA, November 23, 2012
Chelmsford, Billerica, Tyngsboro Alumni Cross Country Race
1. Mike Cooney               Chelmsford                   18:53
2. Sam McGrath              Tyngsboro                      19:27
3. Dave Dunham             Billerica                         19:36.2
4. Keith O'Brien               Chelmsford                   19:36.6
5. Eric Beauchesne          Chelmsford                   20:22
6. Don Fay                     Billerica                         20:37
7. Dave Lapierre              Chelmsford                   21:12
8. Scott Graham              Chelmsford                   21:40
9. Frank Georges             Lowell                          21:45
10. Mark Gallagher           Chelmsford                   21:49
11. Lee Panas                 Chelmsford                   21:58
12. Kyle O'Brien              Chelmsford                   22:13
13. Kyle Richardson          Tyngsboro                      22:25
14. Glen Turgiss               Chelmsford                  22:45
15. Mark Blaisdell             Wilmington                   23:12
16. Scott Bot                 Chelmsford                   23:25
17. Rich Blake                 Tyngsboro                      23:43
18. Jimmy Stronach         Tewksbury                     23:52
19. Gary Turgiss              Chelmsford                   25:41
20. Phil Sartori                Chelmsford                   27:13
21. Ali Sartori                  Chelmsford                   27:14
22. Steve Sartori             Chelmsford                   27:20
23. Matt Shapiro             Chelmsford                   28:18
24. Jess Costa                 Chelmsford                   33:30
 

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