Jackson biathlon 5km trail race

I saw the advertisement for the Jackson biathlon 5km trail race on Facebook.  Normally I wouldn't sign up for a first year race but knowing that Paul Kirsch was marking the course and timing the event meant it would be well managed.

I had some good tunes for the 150 mile drive to Jackson and was the first runner to arrive (1.5 hours before the start).  I was greeted by the local farm cat and some fine fall colors.

I got the inside scoop on the course from Paul and picked up my "race bib" before heading out to run the course as a warm-up.  It was 40 degrees and drizzling, so ideal for a trail race.  The course was well marked at turns and Paul warned me their wouldn't be any other flagging.  Since it was basically an out/back there weren't many opportunities to mess up.  The first 1/4 mile was a steep climb then there was a neat single-track section in very dense woods.  At about 1/2 mile I popped out onto the "Class IV" road and the climbing was a bit less steep.  There was a bit of key-hole loop at the end and then it was back down the 'road'.  The course stayed longer on the road by-passing the single-track on the way down and then crossing a few slick bridges before coming out in the field where the start/finish was.  I clocked it as 3.25 miles with 500' of climb and descent.  Definitely a course that suited me with the climb being slightly less than 1.5 miles and the descent of about 1.8 miles.  The footing was generally good although with the leaves down it was sometimes tricky figuring out where to step.

I switched into Inov-8 racing flats and went out for another half-mile.  My right knee was bothering me (the few months off/on) on the climbs but okay on the flat and down.  I only saw a couple of other guys warming up and there were only about 30 people around the start.  They had a unique start with Olympic Biathlete  Sean Doherty starting us by knocking down five targets.  It was definitely interesting.

A young local (Theo Castonguay) took off at the start.  Half-way up the field Josh Flanagan went by me.  We stayed in that order on the single-track although I closed the gap they'd built on me.  Once we got on the road Josh moved into the lead and by 3/4 of a mile I caught and passed him.  I was trying to work the climbs as hard as possible as I wasn't sure of how Josh would be on the downhills and I was worried about twisting an ankle or something (not recommended a week before the marathon).  I had 10 seconds at the turn and more than doubled that on the downhill road section.  I took a peek when I turned off the road with about 1/2 mile to go and didn't see Josh.  I passed some walkers soon after and was surprised at how soon after I went by they started cheering for 2nd place.  I pushed a bit harder in the final field and ended up crossing the line 18 seconds up.

I headed out for a 3m warm-down checking out the upper parts of East Pasture road.  After that it was back on the road.  The highlight of the day was a pleasant second run followed by a rainbow sighting.

Snow in Franconia notch

Sunshine + rain = :-)

Runners 5km Courtesy of Jackson Biathlon Place Name Age ST City Time 1 Dave Dunham 54 MA Bradford 22:50 2 Josh Flanagan 39 NH Alton 23:08 3 Brian Byrne 45 NH Jackson 24:04 4 Theo Castonguay 14 NH Jackson 24:06 5 Scott Betournay 40 NH Concord 27:40 6 Ben Wilcox 54 NH North Conway 27:52 7 Ron Robichaud 61 NH Glen 27:59 8 Kathy Bowie 48 NH Jackson 32:31 9 Frank Holmes 71 NH Eaton 32:45 10 Mike Bryan 52 NH Center Conway 35:26 11 Mary Doherty 54 NH Center Conway 36:18 12 Ellen Chandler 57 NH Jackson 39:09 13 Jane Chauvin 58 NH North Conway 40:19 14 Sara Holtby 39 NH Conway 40:32 15 Sue Davidson 60 ME Bridgton 40:51 16 Jennifer Betournay 39 NH Concord 43:51 17 Monica Andreani 24 NH Bartlett 44:31 18 Emily Benson 50 NH Jackson 51:44 19 Don Holshuh 69 PA Gettysburg 71:52