USATF New England XC

I’ve always enjoyed cross country races, there is nothing quite like them.  Usually the course is a gut buster and if you run it right you end up on the ground at the finish gasping for breath.  CMS had a full squad in both the open and the masters for the USATF New England championships which were held at Stanley Park in Westfield.  I’d never raced in Westfield and was looking forward to a new destination.  Dan and I met up at 7:30 am for the 2 hour ride and we randomly were caught (and subsequently followed) Jim P who was manning a carpool with three of the masters (Greg P, Greg W, and Joe S).  We followed them to the park.

Forty-five minutes before the race we headed out to check out the course.  It was pretty easy to see most of the course despite only running three miles, due to the multiple loop nature of the course.  It seemed pretty fast to me (the warm-up and the course)!  I switched into my XC racing flats and did another mile with some strides.  We had a wide open start that could easily handle the 84 runners in the 40+ men’s race.  The CMS team took a decent spot somewhat to the left of the center.  We’d be heading straight for a few hundred meters then taking a sharp right.  We’d do a mile in the fields then sneak into the “wilderness” for a short loop passing back by the start/finish at 2 miles then disappearing into the “wilderness” again for a bigger loop.  The fields were grass and one short section of dirt road and the woods were wide dirt trails with very little roots or rocks.  Again, it looked like it’d be a fast run.

The start wasn’t as crazy as some XC races can be, but I took the turn wide to stay out of trouble.  That’d be the last turn I’d go wide on, the rest of the way I cut any tangent I could find.  I found myself around 15^th place as we hit the mile (5:20).  The first mile was fast, but it was also the fastest part of the course.  I was running right behind teammate Joe Shairs in a group as we hit the woods for the first time.  I made a little move on the downhill and pulled ahead of Joe.  We hit two miles together in a step under 11:00.  I felt pretty good, although I also felt that I was going as fast as I could.  Just before we headed into the woods Pete Bottomley went by. Pete is one of the best 50+ runners in the country and he is a good foot taller than me.  He looked really smooth as he just kind of floated away.

The woods section was not easy, at least mentally.  I tried to maintain a steady pace but with the turns you couldn’t see anyone in front and for most of the 2.5 to 4.5 miles I ran on my own.  Joe caught me at about 20 minutes into the race and we caught one of the Dirigo guys (Gorneau) right at 4 miles.  The last part of the woods features the only climb in the race and I pushed that section as hard as I could, knowing that the other guys would most likely have a better kick than me.  I don’t think I’ve ever been able to match Joe over the last 400m of any race.

We hit the field with a half mile to go and Joe went by, Gorneau went as well and I struggled to keep contact.  I lost a little ground but dug down in the final 100m to get around Joe and take 13^th place.  I was spent, dizzy and beat (not to mention sore from the pounding my feet took).  I hadn’t made it out of the chute before Greg Ward and Dan both came flying in.  We put five in the top 14 and all 7 guys in the top 42.  When all was said and done we had a good day, taking third place only 9 points (and 14 seconds) behind Dirigo.  Not bad for a bunch of road runners!

We headed out for another loop and got to watch the women’s race and then the open race.  It turned out to be a great day to be out racing AND watching.

USATF New England Cross Country Champs - 11/18/2012  Stanley Park, Westfield MA                           

Men 40-99 8k Run CC masters men

  1  Michael Nahom          45 Greater Spri               3:18      26:19    1  

  2  Kent Lemme             46 Greater Spri               3:19      26:32    2  

  3  Francis Burdett          47 Greater Spri               3:20      26:38    3  

  4  Greg Putnam            43 Central Mass               3:21      26:43    4  

  5  Binney Mitchell          44 Green Mounta            3:22      26:50    5  

  6  Sandu Rebenciuc      43 Greater Spri               3:24      27:09    6  

  7  Andrew Spaulding     41 Dirigo R.C.                 3:25      27:13    7  

  8  Joseph Navas            42 Whirlaway Ra            3:26      27:21       

  9  Joshua Brown           44 Green Mounta            3:27      27:31    8  

 10 Pete Bottomley         51 Dirigo R.C.                3:27      27:35    9  

 11 Barry Phelps              46 Greater Bost            3:28      27:43   10  

 12 Walter Gorneau         40 Dirigo R.C.              3:30      27:53   11  

 13 Dave Dunham            48 Central Mass          3:30      27:54   12  

 14 Joe Shairs                 44 Central Mass           3:30      27:55   13  

 15 Joe Noonan              44 Green Mounta          3:31      28:02   14  

 16 Mark Reeder              53 Greater Lowe         3:31      28:04   15  

CMS and guys I know…

 20 Greg Ward                40 Central Mass   3:32      28:15   19  

 22 Daniel Verrington       50 Central Mass  3:33      28:22   21  

 23 Matthew Curran         55 Greater Lowe  3:34      28:29   22  

 24 Terry McNatt             47 Cambridge Sp 3:34      28:30       

 27 Joseph O'Leary          45 Somerville R  3:36      28:46       

 31 Arthur Besse             40 Central Mass   3:39      29:08   28  

 35 John Barbour             58 Greater Lowe 3:43      29:40   32  

 41 Keith O'Brien             48 Greater Lowe  3:46      30:01   35  

 42 David Mingori             45 Central Mass   3:46      30:04   36  

 43 James Garcia             54 Greater Lowe 3:48      30:17   37  

 48 Jimmy Fallon              52 Hfc Striders    3:55      31:21   42  

 66 Tom Derderian          63 Greater Bost 4:19      34:29       

                                                                                 

                                   Team Scores                                   

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Rank Team                     Total   

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   1 Greater Springfield     35    1   2  3    6   23   39  46      Total Time:  2:15:11        Average:    27:02.20                                                    

   2 Dirigo R.C.                 60    7   9  11   16   17   26 41    Total Time:  2:18:55        Average:    27:47.00                                                     

   3 Central Mass Striders  69    4  12   13   19   21   28 36 Total Time:  2:19:09        Average:    27:49.80                                                    

   4 Greater Boston TC     102  10 18   20   25   29 30 31   Total Time:  2:22:12        Average:    28:26.40                                                    

   5 Green Mountain AA   113   5  8   14   38   48 49  53    Total Time:  2:26:05        Average:    29:13.00                                                     

   6 Greater Lowell RR      141  15 22   32   35   37 44 47   Total Time:  2:26:31         Average:    29:18.20                                                    

   7 HFC Striders              186  24 27   42   43   50   51      Total Time:  2:34:45        Average:    30:57.00                                                    

   8 Boston Athletic Assoc 204  33 34   40   45   52            Total Time:  2:39:04        Average:    31:48.80