Ascutney Mountain Race
I
headed out to Windsor VT for my 11th attempt at the Mount Ascutney
race. Of the series races this is
probably my favorite since it is all up on paved road. This is the one that gives you some sort of
idea whether you are ready for Mt Washington or just blowing smoke out of your
ass. I hoped for the former but feared
the latter.
Robert the Hungarian joined me (he is in town for a month getting
EMT certification) for the 2.5 hour drive.
We were met by sunny skies and quickly climbing temperatures as we headed
out for a 20 minute flat warm-up. I felt
indifferent. I’d dropped my mileage down
this week and done a track workout but wasn’t sure what to expect. My goal was to run about what I did last
year. I worked out the splits for 32
flat (based on my previous splits) and it was easy to remember – 8, 9, 9, and
6.
I
found a spot on the right side of the line which seemed the safest as there is a
90 degree turn about 100’ into the race.
Lining up behind Course Record holder Eric Blake seemed like the perfect
spot. A record field of 200 sprinted out
to that turn. I stayed out of trouble
and settled in as the climb started. The
first 200 meters is a gentle climb then we turn right and the serious climbing
starts. I wasn’t in the top 25 for the
first 200 meters but could see Todd Callaghan and Tim Mahoney a few steps
ahead. They were the two I was hoping to
key off of. I steadily moved up and hit
the mile in 8:04, pretty much where I wanted to be and now in 15th
place.
Eric Blake was out of sight by the mile as he just crushed the field
setting a new course record of 27:57.
That is unbelievably fast on this course. Although the AVERAGE grade is the same as
running up Mt Washington there are a fair number of almost flat to flat areas
that require a lot of “gear shifting”. I
was right behind Tim and Todd was a few seconds ahead, Erik Vandendries was also
with us. He is one tough nut to crack
and at age 49 I’ll have to worry about him a lot more next year when we are both
in the Seniors age group.
During the next mile we caught a few more guys and surprisingly
closed the gap on both Kevin Tilton and Jim Johnson. I had myself in about 10th place
at that point with a 9:02 second mile (pretty much right what I wanted). Soon after 2 miles we caught Kevin and Erik
fell off our little group. I stayed
tucked in and rarely moved to the front.
This was probably a mistake as I knew the flatter stuff coming up would
benefit Tim and Todd. I kept thinking
“stay tucked, don’t blow up”. I really
wanted to break Keith Woodward’s 50+ course record (33:34) and everything else
would be a bonus.
We hit three miles in 26:07, so 9:01 for the third mile. I was thinking “a good kick and I’ll break
32”. Todd hammered on the long straight
flatter section and gapped me and Tim.
Tim rolled by me as the climb got steeper and I just couldn’t go. I ended up covering the final .7 in 6:02 for
a 32:09 8th place finish.
After a moment on the ground collecting myself I switched shoes and
prepared to run up to the summit. Robert
(jogged a 39:09) joined me along with Paul Bazanchuk for the .7 trail run to the
viewing platform at the top. There was a
train of people headed up when we were heading down. Robert and I finished the day with a run down
the road.
Our CMS team had a great day with six in the top
11. We finished first in all three team
categories (open, masters, seniors).
Along with Blake’s CR and my Age Group records there were four other
records set. Christin Doneski (WRT) ran 35:10 to take
the women’s title running the third fastest time ever. Her time also smashed Suzy West’s previous
course record for masters by 1:42. West
ran 36:52 in 2003. Cathy Pearce (WRT)
finished in fifth place overall as she topped the 50+ age group. Her 39:32 broke Suzy West’s age group CR of
40:52 from 2013. Len Hall was top
veteran running a 40:10 which knocked one second off of John Pelton’s age group
CR from 2001. The final record of the
day was the field of 201 finishers which topped the biggest field of 192 from
2011.
Time Name Age Team
1 27:57 Eric Blake 35
2 30:59 Drew Best 32 aR
3 31:05 Brndn Newbould
32 WRT
4 31:17 Peter Gurney
25 GMAA
5 31:26 Jim Johnson 37
CMS
6 31:59 Todd Callaghan
44 CMS
7 32:00 Tim Mahoney
34 CMS
8 32:09 Dave Dunham
50 CMS
9 32:19 Erik Vandendries
49 NETT
10 32:49 Ross Krause 34
CMS
11 32:51 Kevin Tilton 32
CMS
15 34:24 Matthew Veiga 27
CMS
36 39:11 Paul Bazanchuk
59 CMS
38 39:17 Melissa Donais
30 CMS
41 39:33 John Pajer 51 CMS
57 42:11 Barb McManus
46 CMS
99 47:25 Alicia Eno 35 CMS
103 47:47 Robert Thomas54
CMS
110 49:41 David Lapierre
50 CMS
159 56:39 Walter Kuklinski 65
CMS
196 1:09:59 Geor Boudreau 45
CMS
My history at Ascutney:
Date Time Place
Finishers
Notes
06/23/01 29:39
2 104 Eric Morse won in
28:47
06/28/03 30:23
2 80 Eric Morse won in
29:49
06/11/05 33:38
6 81 Paul Low won in
29:27, Eric Morse top 40+ in 29:50
07/15/06 33:42
2 55 Paul Low won in
29:39. I ran at 7AM then did
timing/scoring
07/14/07 31:32
1 100 Perfect conditions
70's and relatively dry. Took lead from
Tim Mahoney at 1m.
07/12/08 31:08
3 131 Eric Morse won in
29:47
07/12/09 38:44
3 176 Ugly new course with a
lot of trail
07/11/10 32:05
6 191 Eric Blake won in a CR
28:16
07/22/12 31:04
2 174 Jim Johnson won in
30:04
06/09/13 31:52
6 179 Josh Ferenc won in
29:54
06/08/14 32:09
8 201 Eric Blake won in a
new CR of 27:57. I was 1st in
the 50+, 2nd over 40
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