United States Snowshoe Association National Championships
– This race has been on my radar since last year when teammate Tim Van Orden
won the bid to host the championships.
I ran a couple of versions of the course last year and was impressed
with the great mix of terrain that Tim came up with. After I returned from injury last October my training has been
focused towards this one race. I
sacrificed some of the road racing I enjoy and kept my mileage high which may
have impacted my results at other snowshoe races leading up to Nationals. My hope was that the training would pay off
on the big day and I’d come home with a medal.
On Thursday I headed out to Woodford and met up with
teammate Ken Tripp. We found Tim
working at the finish line and picked up the Kilometer markers for the
course. It was -1 degree and sunny when
we headed out just after noon. The
course was in great shape with the snow packed out and event the single-track
sections were in great shape. We ran
the course easily in just under 1:20, by comparison I’d raced it all-out two
weeks before in 1:06. It was going to
be fast, which isn’t ideal for me but you have to race in all kinds of
conditions if you snowshoe race.
Long-time CMS teammate Richard Bolt flew in from California and met up
with us later in the day.
On Friday morning we got up at 6:00 am and did a sunrise run
up to the Bennington War Monument. It
was well below zero, but I wanted to simulate race morning with an early run
prior to the race. We headed up to the
course and headed out for a preview at 11:00 am. If anything the course had firmed up even more. It was sunny and a lot less windy and the
course was quite enjoyable. We covered
the 10k in 1:10:38 running easily.
Wow! The race was going to be
unbelievably fast.
On race morning I got up at 6 again and did the 3 mile run
up and down the road to the Bennington monument. I felt pretty good, although I was very nervous about the
race. My hope was to finish somewhere
between 25th and 50th place (based on previous results in
New England), but more important was my aim to do well in the 50+ age
group. For USSSA your age on race day
is whatever you will be at the END of the year, so in my case I’d “aged up” to
the Senior age category. My strategy
for the race was to get out relaxed and not get knocked down in the early
going. The course has most of the 900’
of climbing from 1.5 miles to the summit at 3.2 miles. I really wanted to run that part as hard as
possible and put some distance on the “fast guys” who would bomb down the last
2 miles of groomed wide trail.
We got to the race well in advance of the start and headed
out for 2 miles of easy running on the course. Pretty much the entire CMS team
joined in. It was a lot of fun having
such a big group tromping around the first 2km of the course. It would be very interesting to see how
things played out in the race. Jim
Johnson and Kevin Tilton were far and away the top two guys on the team but
after that it really was anyone’s race and would depend on who had a good
day. I switched into racing shoes and
gear and headed back out for another mile and a couple of strides. Then it was finally time to go!
Start to 1 km -
The course headed out straight for about 100 meters before taking a sharp right
turn, so I lined up on the left-most side of the line. No one over there seemed too interested in
getting on the line so I did thus giving me a great position in a big field
(213 finishers). I got out fine and
went wide on the turn to stay out of trouble.
The “little” bumps in the first kilometer were tough and I tried to
maintain EFFORT not pace, so a handful of guys went by me on the first couple
of climbs. We circled back to the start
and on the zigzag I counted about 35 guys in front of me. That was just about right; I could see Nick
Wheeler and Nacho Hernando out with the leaders. I could also see a lot of my teammates; Jim and Kevin were up
near the top ten and Ross Krause, Ben Nephew, Tim Mahoney, Todd Callaghan, Jim
Pawlicki, and Richard Bolt were all close by.
I reached the 1km mark in 4:25.
1 km to 2 km – We
looped down a short fast descent and then headed back toward the start
line. This was another opportunity to
see where everyone was. I was
maintaining my place as a few guys went by and I passed a few guys. We started the longest extended climb just
after the mile (6:50 – which was 1:26 faster than two weeks ago). I hit the 2 km mark in 8:42, 4:17 for that
Kilometer.
2 km to 3 km –
This was where I hoped to really start working. By now I could no longer see Ross and Jim Pawlicki was pulling
away. I moved around Ben and started
zoning in on the next guy ahead of me.
I saw a “Medved-Dion” singlet up ahead and was pretty sure it was Alan
Evans who I figured was the top rival in the 50-54. I caught up to him on the single-track and as soon as we hit the
wide trail I tried to go by with authority.
Just before the 3 km mark I caught Bob Jackman which was a
surprise. I hit 3km in 14:27, 5:45 for
that tougher climbing Kilometer.
3 km to 4 km – This
was a really tough kilometer. I locked
on to Tim Mahoney and we worked together.
Pawlicki, Ethan Nedau, and Todd Callaghan were not that far ahead. I really wanted to get up with them figuring
they were among the top masters (40+).
Every time the pace slackened Tim would pounce and up the tempo. No relief for me, no hiding out there. We had moved into the top 25 but it was
getting tough to catch anyone now, all of the fast starters had slowed on the
hill…now we were all moving at about the same pace. I reached 4km in 20:30, 6:03 for that kilometer (that would be my
slowest of the day).
4 km to 5 km – I
kept trying to convince myself that I had to be way ahead of Todd, Ethan, and
Jim at the top if I wanted any chance of beating them. Easy to think but not so easy to do, I spent
the entire kilometer locked in step with Tim and we very slowly reeled those
guys in. We were right behind Todd and
Ethan at the 5km marker and 10 seconds behind Jim. 5km was reached in 25:57, 5:27 for that kilometer.
5 km to 6 km –
Right after the 5km mark we top out at the 2,800’ summit of Prospect
Mountain. I threw in a big surge on the
downhill and plummeted past Ethan, Todd, and Tim. After about 200 meters of wide trail we hit the signature section
of the course, some great twisting single-track. I’d moved up to 22nd place and closed the gap on
Jim. I caught him before the 6 km mark
which we reached in 30:52, a 4:55 k split.
6 km to 7 km – I
encouraged Jim to pick up the pace, as I was worried about the guys behind us
closing the gap. Soon after that we
started the 500m climb that would gain almost 300’. Jim asked me if I wanted to go by and I grunted an emphatic
“no”. I was struggling to go with him
as he was climbing very well. We topped
out before the 7km mark and Jim passed a tall guy from NY. I asked to pass at the next “passing zone”
and moved into 21st. Jim was
closing on a couple of other NY guys who were only a few seconds ahead. I hit 7km in 36:43, a 5:51 split.
7 km to the finish
– The first 500m was on single-track then we hit the wide groomed trail which
would be a downhill bomb to the finish line.
We dropped 400’ in the last 2 km.
I tried to keep Jim in sight and listened for the approaching clomp of
footfalls behind me. This was the part
of the course I dreaded the most, it was also where Todd had caught me two
weeks ago. I missed taking splits at 8
and 9 km, maybe because my arms were pin wheeling to keep me from falling
over. With 800 meters to go we reached
the top of the final switchback area (a bunch of single-track turns on the side
of the hill). I timed Jim as he turned
then looked at my watch, he was 15 seconds ahead. I turned and saw that Chad Carr was about the same distance
behind. I stayed on my feet through the
turns then gave all I had left over the final 400 meters. I almost fell in the last couple of meters
of the race as I rigged up. I crossed
the line in 48:19 and collapsed in a heap.
It was over! Nearly
6 months of focusing on this race and it was finally done. It was a major relief. I was surprised to have finished so high up
(21st) and surprised and happy to have taken first in the 50-54 age
group. CMS had a great day with Kevin,
Jim and Ross finishing 12, 14, 16 to score second place team (behind a pick-up
team). Our CMS masters team took home
gold and we also picked up a bunch of individual medals. All in all a it was a good day for CMS and
for New England entrants, and especially for Tim Van Orden who put on a great
event.
1k 4:25
2k 4:17 8:42
3k 5:45 14:27
4k 6:03 20:30
5k 5:27 25:57
6k 4:55 30:52
7k 5:51 36:43
8k
9k
10k 11:36 48:19
1
|
41:51
|
6:44
|
David Le Porho
|
37
|
Canada
|
Team Snowshoe
|
100.00
|
||
2
|
42:06
|
6:47
|
Joel Bourgeois
|
43
|
Canada
|
le coureur
nordique
|
99.41
|
||
3
|
42:20
|
6:49
|
Eric Hartmark
|
36
|
M3539
|
Duluth
|
MN
|
Team Snowshoe
|
98.86
|
4
|
42:37
|
6:52
|
Scott Gall
|
39
|
M3539
|
Cedar Falls
|
IA
|
Runablaze
|
98.20
|
5
|
44:10
|
7:07
|
Nicholas Wheeler
|
28
|
M2529
|
Portland
|
ME
|
Boston Athletic
Assoc
|
94.75
|
6
|
44:30
|
7:10
|
Mike Galoob
|
40
|
M4044
|
Peace Dale
|
RI
|
Dion Men
|
94.04
|
7
|
44:31
|
7:10
|
Jeffrey Quednow
|
23
|
M2024
|
Westboro
|
WI
|
Midwest Vortex
Victors
|
94.01
|
8
|
44:40
|
7:12
|
Nacho Hernandez
|
20
|
Spain
|
93.69
|
|||
9
|
45:29
|
7:20
|
Daniel Craighead
|
24
|
M2024
|
State College
|
PA
|
Dion/South Hill
Distance Pro
|
92.01
|
10
|
45:41
|
7:22
|
Kelly Mortenson
|
43
|
M4044
|
St Paul
|
MN
|
Team Snowshoe
|
91.61
|
12
|
46:24
|
7:29
|
Kevin Tilton
|
32
|
M3034
|
North Conway
|
NH
|
Central
Mass Striders-Dion
|
90.19
|
14
|
46:47
|
7:32
|
Jim Johnson
|
37
|
M3539
|
Madison
|
NH
|
Central
Mass Striders-Dion
|
89.45
|
16
|
47:13
|
7:36
|
Ross Krause
|
35
|
M3539
|
Easthampton
|
MA
|
Central
Mass Striders-Dion
|
88.63
|
20
|
47:57
|
7:43
|
James Pawlicki
|
40
|
M4044
|
Lynn
|
MA
|
Central
Mass Striders-Dion
|
87.28
|
21
|
48:19
|
7:47
|
Dave Dunham
|
50
|
M5054
|
Bradford
|
MA
|
Central
Mass Striders-Dion
|
86.62
|
24
|
48:32
|
7:49
|
Tim Mahoney
|
35
|
M3539
|
Holyoke
|
MA
|
Central
Mass Striders-Dion
|
86.23
|
28
|
49:06
|
7:54
|
Ben Nephew
|
39
|
M3539
|
Mansfield
|
MA
|
Central
Mass Striders-Dion
|
85.23
|
30
|
49:09
|
7:55
|
Todd Callaghan
|
45
|
M4549
|
Beverly
|
MA
|
Central
Mass Striders-Dion
|
85.15
|
31
|
49:11
|
7:55
|
Richard Bolt
|
44
|
M4044
|
Mountain View
|
CA
|
Central
Mass Striders-Dion
|
85.09
|
35
|
50:52
|
8:12
|
Kenneth Tripp
|
44
|
M4044
|
Amesbury
|
MA
|
Central
Mass Striders-Dion
|
82.27
|
54
|
54:20
|
8:45
|
Paul Bazanchuk
|
60
|
M6064
|
Center Conway
|
NH
|
Central
Mass Striders-Dion
|
77.02
|
63
|
55:16
|
8:54
|
Sam Wood
|
28
|
M2529
|
Laconia
|
NH
|
Central
Mass Striders-Dion
|
75.72
|
126
|
1:03:40
|
10:15
|
David Lapierre
|
50
|
M5054
|
Chelmsford
|
MA
|
Central
Mass Striders-Dion
|
65.73
|
213
|
Finishers
|
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