North American Fell Running Championships – This was my
third time competing in the Bretton Woods Fell Running championships so I’ve
started to get a better mental picture of the mountain. Unlike “normal”
trail/mountain races a Fell Race has no set course that you must follow.
Instead you have to reach check-points in order but can pick and choose how you
get to each of the CP’s. I visited Bretton Woods a few weeks ago and scouted
some possible routes but was still a bit uncertain on one or two of the
CP’s.
I showed up early on race morning and headed out to run up
to CP-B and make sure I had a clear route to CP-C. I took it pretty easy
covering 2.1 miles with 1,200’ of climb, I didn’t want to work too hard as the
race was going to be a serious test. Too save my legs a bit, I jumped on the
lift and caught a ride back to the base. After a quick change into racing
Inov-8 shoes I went back out for another mile to see CP-F and how I’d head into
the finish. About 120 lined up for instructions, many were attempting to get
their “Goat Status” as this was the final race in the 2016 USATF NE mountain
running series. Some would do the shorter course (3 CP’s) which was marked and
wouldn’t involve any navigation.
There wasn’t much in the way of short-cuts to CP-A and the
entire field just headed as straight as possible up the lift line. CMS
teammates Matt Veiga, Todd Callaghan, and Ed Sheldon quickly pulled away. By ½
mile into the climb I’d moved into 4th place and was dropping behind
Matt & Todd. Ed slowly came back and I caught him just before passing the
Latitude 44 restaurant. I hit the first CP in just under 17 minutes with a
1,200’ climb over 1.1 miles (average grade = 21%). CP-B was a nice downhill run
to Stickney Cabin, it was a bit steep at the start but mostly very run-able. I
dropped the 200’ over 9/10th of a mile in a little over 5 minutes. I
was feeling pretty good but knew it was early on and there was going to be
another killer climb.
From Stickney I dropped down the “Easiest Way” trail
through some meadows, this was also very run-able and in 3/10th of a
mile I dropped 200’ before hitting Mountain road. This was where some would
continue down the mountain and then approach CP-C from below. I think a lot of
people did this one the same way I did which was to cut back across the mountain
(passing Latitude 44 again) and then dropping down Bigger Ben to Fabyan’s. The
climb on the road wasn’t too bad (150’ over 6/10th mile). I grabbed
a water as I passed Lat 44 then ran down to CP-C.
I hoped that during the climb up to West Mountain (CP-D)
I’d put some ground on Ed who was somewhere behind me. One of the aspects of an
“open course” is you never know where or when someone may pop out in front of
you by using a superior route choice. I started the long grind up to West
climbing Crawford’s Blaze. It was a brutal ½ mile with 500’ of climb that took
me 7 minutes. I got confused when I hit the dirt road (Archie’s Alley) as I
could see the lift-line. For some reason I thought I was ON West Mountain that
I’d somehow drifted too far west. As such I climbed to the top of the lift (an
extra 100’ of climb an extra 1/10th of a mile and an extra 1:30 of
running. D’oh! At that point I realized where I was and bombed down the road.
I took a quick left onto the West Summit hiking trail which smoothed out some of
the climb to West. I ran it pretty hard, hoping I hadn’t lost too much with my
earlier mistake. Someone called out “third place” as I passed between the
markers for CP-D, so I hadn’t lost a spot.
The run from CP-D to CP-E was enjoyable, after getting
down Joseph’s Run and getting back on the Mountain road (Triple Traverse). It
was a great mile of running with a few hundred feet of drop. It was also a good
chance to see where others were. I saw people coming up from CP-C and as passed
Lat 44 (yet again) I saw Todd Callaghan leading the race on his way to the final
CP. As I approached CP-E Matt Veiga sprinted out of the woods in front of me.
I was surprised, he must have made a fairly big mistake to have lost that much
ground. He was just a few seconds ahead of me at CP-E as we both reversed
direction to head back across the mountain.
The final CP was the only one I hadn’t visited but I had a
good plan. Approach it from high up via Coos Caper (it was located at the
Junction of Coos and the West Glades). Ed Sheldon passed me headed toward CP-E
at about the same spot Todd had passed me, so Todd was about 4-5 minutes up and
Ed was about the same behind. I relaxed a bit knowing that the race was almost
over and making sure I didn’t get hurt on the crazy descent down Coos. I was at
the top of Coos in 1:01:50, and Todd was just crossing the finish line (he had
an incredibly fast finish I wish I could see his route!). I still had Matt in
sight as he accelerated down the slope. Two minutes later I came to a complete
stop as Matt had turned around and was heading back up! I hollered “What’s up?”
and he told me we were on the wrong slope. I crossed over to the next slope and
continued to descend. Soon after Matt flew by and I asked him if he was sure we
were on the correct slope. He assured me we were. Actually we were now on
“West Glades” which would definitely bring us to the junction of Coos which WAS
the trail we had been on. Either one would have worked so I didn’t really lose
any time but Matt did by climbing back up to the turn. Anyway, he bombed out of
sight after passing through the CP-F signs.
I continued down Coos then crossed toward the finish at
the base lodge. I reached the line in 3rd place in 1:09:53. In all
it was 7.6 miles with 2,400’ of climb and descent. Ed came in less than 2
minutes later coming on strong at the end and giving CMS the top 4 spots. We
ended up taking the open, masters, and seniors team titles along with individual
titles in the overall, masters (Todd), seniors (me), and veterans (Paul
Bazanchuk). In all it was a great day for the CMS men.
More to follow on the USATF NE mountain series.
1 1:01:43 Todd
Callaghan M47 Beverly, MA CMS
2 1:08:37 Matthew
Veiga M29 Lynn, MA CMS
3 1:09:52 Dave
Dunham M52 Bradford, MA CMS
4 1:11:43 Ed
Sheldon M52 Hooksett , NH CMS
5 1:17:23 Logan Wilson M22
Boston, MA Northeastern University CR
6 1:17:55 Michael Narcisi M32
Acton, MA Sisu Project
7 1:18:37 Heath Brewer M32
Twin Mtn, NH
8 1:19:53 Jordan Reidelbach M22
Virginia Beach, VA
9 1:20:25 Matt Picard
M32 Jamaica Plain, MA
10 1:20:50 Leslie
O'Dell F40 Albany, NH CMS
21 1:27:04 Paul
Bazanchuk M61 Ctr Conway, NH CMS
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