I came off of the Mt Washington road race with a slightly
strained calf muscle which had me seriously considering not going to the Loon
Mountain race over the July 4th weekend. Fortunately the calf seemed
pretty good in the week leading up to the race and I stayed on top of doing
stretches, heating, icing and rolling. On race morning I also taped it up and
wore compression socks. I really wanted to do Loon as it is one of my favorite
races. It is the closest to European-style Mountain racing that we have. I’m
not as good at this style of racing (I’m better at long steady grinds) but I’ve
had good luck at Loon and only missed it once in the 10 years it has been
held.
Last year Loon was not only the New England championships, it
was also the National championships. I had captured the 50+ title last year and
hoped to repeat (as NE champ) this year. The competition would be tougher this
year as teammate Erik Vandendries was now 50 and he was running very well this
year. The course was slightly modified from last year due to construction.
They cut out the first ½ mile of flat running on dirt and pavement and instead
we’d climb 50’ up a grass hill in the first 1/10th of a mile and
catch onto the course on the access road. They also added back the ½ mile drop
from the top of the Upper Walking Boss (UWB) back down to the Gondola. As such
I broke the course down into what I hoped would be manageable pieces. The first
mile to the XC loop, the two miles of XC loop, the 2 mile (mostly climb) to the
Gondola, half-mile down to UWB, half-mile up UWB, and finally the drop back to
the finish.
Dan Verrington and I met up with teammate (and top 60+
runner) Paul Baz and went out for a flat and easy 3 mile warm-up. I changed
into Inov-8 trail shoes and did another ½ mile to see how they felt. Then it
was off to the start with nearly 400 others. I had seen Kim Nedeau and Kasie
Enman warming up. They’d be the top two women and I figured they’d be tough
competition for me on this day. Kasie buried me at Sleepy Hollow last year and
Kim finished a scant couple of seconds behind me at Wachusett. Both are
excellent cross-country runners and have good speed so I thought keeping them in
sight would be a good early goal.
Off we went up the grass slope and onto the cat track. I
found myself in about 50th place in the first ½ mile. Either I
always go out too conservatively or others go out way too fast but this was no
time to panic. I could see Erik V a little ahead and felt I was putting in the
proper effort. Right before the XC loop both Kasie and Kim went by. I had
moved up to about 30th place by the mile and felt the 2 miles of XC
were just a place to maintain pace and hopefully not break an ankle in the mud
and rocks. I caught 1 or 2 people and also got passed by 1 or 2 so overall not
much of a change.
Checking Strava data after the race I found that I’d run that
2 mile loop 17 seconds faster than I did in 2014. I didn’t know that at the
time and didn’t really care about that or about time. The only thing that
mattered was place in the 50+ age group.
I came out of the loop 30+ seconds behind Erik V and 15
behind teammate Jim Pawlicki (who was running with Kasie). We climbed 200’ in ¼
mile which helped me close the gap a bit, then the traverse across the face of
the mountain strung everyone out again. At 3.7 miles we hit the first punishing
climb of the race. This is where things usually start to come together for me.
I could see 10 guys in a line in front of me and as is usually the case many
were walking (450’ of climb in .3 will do that to you!). I started reeling
people in which always feels good, even when you are hurting. From 4 miles to
4.2 we had a quick downhill on dirt then a mile with over 700’ of climb.
I didn’t know it at the time but I was actually in
3rd place at the time (in the 50+). Jeff Hunt form GCS was between
me and Erik at this point. I caught him along with Alex Hall (WRT) and closed
the gap on Erik. I was hoping to get him before the top as I didn’t want to be
in a battle with anyone on the UWB. It would be very easy to run too hard with
someone pushing you and once you get in trouble it is impossible to recover. A
better plan is to just listen to your body and use whatever it gives you. I
grabbed a water at the Gondola and on the first steep pitch heading down to UWB
I passed Erik. My hamstring was bothering me, probably from braking on the
downhill, but I tried to open up my stride. I could see teammate Matt Veiga up
ahead and set my sights on him.
Finally I hit the Upper Walking Boss, which is the defining
feature of the course. It is a 1km (.6 mile) stretch with 40% grades.
Typically I can make up a lot of time on this section. I caught Matt pretty
quickly and he said something like “they are all catchable”. I kept looking up
and seeing the guys walking above me. My goal has always been to run the entire
stretch but calling it “running” may not be correct. There was one dirt wall
that I power-walked on for four or five strides and then it was back to
running. As I neared the top I caught teammate Chris Mahoney and very nearly
caught Scott Leslie who was battling with Ethan Nedeau.
Then we hit the downhill, dropping 350’ in ½ mile, and those
guys in front were out of sight. About halfway down the slope Chris apologized
as he went by, I should have apologized for slowing him down! I hit the bottom
and pushed for the line hoping that no one was closing on me. The last little
pitch to the line really kicked the snot out of me and I had to stand at the
finish for a minute as my legs were shaking. I was happy to find out later that
I’d taken the win in the 50+ with Erik taking 2nd 52 seconds behind
me.
The CMS club had a great day winning the championship in the
Open, masters, and seniors, and also taking the women’s open title. Since my
ankle does not like downhill this will most likely be my last mountain race of
the year. I’m glad to end on a high note.
Mile splits: 8:22/8:21/7:17/9:52/11:27/12:38 (includes ½ mile
in 8:44)
Overall
 |
| Thanks for the photo - Scott Mason |
1 Josh Ferenc 33 Athens VT M
0:56:48 Wild Endurance
2 Ryan Kelly 33 Concord NH M
0:57:08 Acidotic Racing
3 Justin Freeman 38 New Hampton
NH M 0:58:10
4 Drew Best 33 Amherst MA M
0:58:27 Acidotic Racing
5 Kris Freeman 34 Thornton NH M
0:58:38
6 Alex McGrath 24 Marlborough NH M
0:59:51 Whirlaway Racing Team
7 Todd Callaghan 45 Beverly MA
M 1:00:06 Central Mass Striders
8 Matt Lipsey 25 Kersey PA
M 1:00:45 Salomon / Rosemont
9 Erik Hinrichsen 26 Cambridge MA M
1:01:40
10 Ethan Nedeau 42 Leverett MA
M 1:02:05 Acidotic Racing
11 Scott Leslie 34 Rutland MA
M 1:02:23 Central Mass Striders
12 Chris Mahoney 37 Westford MA
M 1:02:57 Central Mass Striders
13 Dave Dunham 51 Ward Hill MA
M 1:03:20 Central Mass Striders
14 Samuel Gray 19 N Hampton NH M
1:03:29
15 Kasie Enman 35 Huntington VT F
1:03:55 Green Mountain Athletic Association
16 Erik Vandendries 50 Chestnut Hill MA M
1:04:12 Central Mass Striders
17 Matthew Veiga 28 Lynn MA
M 1:04:19 Central Mass Striders
M50
13 Dave Dunham 51 Ward Hill MA
1:03:20 Central Mass Striders
16 Erik Vandendries 50 Chestnut Hill MA
1:04:12 Central Mass Striders
19 Jeff Hunt 51 Concord
MA 1:04:37 Gate City Striders
45 Dan Verrington 53 Bradford MA
1:11:52 Central Mass Striders
50 EJ Hrynowski 52 Arlington MA
1:14:03 Shamrock Running Club
CMS men swept the team titles. Put 5 in the top 16. Also
individual winners in the 40+ and 50+ age groups.
Teams
Men Open 26Teams 40+ 18Teams 50+
13Teams
CMS 454.02
CMS 272.71 CMS 257.24
aR 437.53 aR
229.22 GCS 228.95
GCS 383.53 GCS
228.95 WMM 208.05
Women took 4th, 5th, and
6th place overall and had top 40+ finisher along with taking the open
team title.
Women Open
CMS 401.03
aR 375.82
Shamrock 162.54
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