Tuesday, March 4, 2014

US snowshoe championships


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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