April 2017

 5 Years ago (April 2017) – I raced three times this month getting in a road race, a trail race, and a mountain race. My original plan for the first weekend in April was the Upton 15k, but it was canceled due to snow so I found the Winner’s Circle 4 mile as a replacement. It was 33 degrees snowing and windy (30 mph gusts) when I got to the Circle.  The roads were a messy mix of snow and slush.  I felt flat and sore, my ankles were creaky not liking the lack of traction. I found myself in 7th place right away with two guys already way-out front followed by two more together, then my group of three.  Right after the mile I moved into 5th.  We hit 2 miles in 12:00 and reached 3 miles in 18:03.  I wanted to break 24 and not lose the 5th place spot.  I gritted my teeth and held on to 5th sneaking under 24 (just barely).  
 
1          21:39.2 Adam Gilman     Manchester NH               26         M
2          21:43.3 Joe Molvar         Newburyport MA             18         M
3          22:30.5 Robert Hollinger Amesbury MA                 25         M
4          23:00.0 Steve Dowsett    Newburyport MA             29         M
5          23:58.2 Dave Dunham    Bradford MA                   53         M
6          24:02.7 Matthew Valli      Newburyport MA            29         M
7          24:03.5 Vincent Lyon      Dover NH                       28         M

Next up (04/08/17) was the Merrimack River Trail race it had been 9 years since I’d last raced the Rivah. Race morning was “breezy” with temperatures in the low 40’s.  I had a plan to take a shot at Matt Curran’s 50+ course record of 1:07:15. I got out well and was able to avoid the mud and water hitting the bridge in 5th place.  Teammate Tim Van Orden went by and wished me well as he headed after the leaders.  I reached the turn-around point in 33:10 which was 10 seconds slower than hoped but still within shouting distance of the record if I could hold it together on the way back.  I kept thinking Ed Sheldon would come by any time which kept me on my toes.  A 6:15 9th mile got me to 60:50 (the top runners were already done) and I knew that I had a good shot at the record and maybe going under 1:07.  I gave all I had and got home in 1:06:47, 28 seconds under the old record.  

Tivo would top me by over 6 minutes!

   Time     Name                      Age       City, St                        Team 
1 1:00:09 Brandon Newbould    35         Nottingham, NH           WRT
2 1:00:31 Colin Carroll             32         Andover, MA                CMS
3 1:00:44 Patrick Caron             19         Needham, MA              Altra 
4 1:01:19 Tim Van Orden         48         Bennington, VT            CMS
7 1:06:47 Dave Dunham          53         Bradford, MA               CMS
9 1:08:35 Ed Sheldon               52         Hoosksett, NH              CMS
11 1:09:36 Jenn Brooks           37         Gloucester, MA             CMS

Sleepy Hollow Mountain Race –I was a bit shocked at how DRY the course was, it looked to be great conditions for racing with the solid footing and temperatures in the upper 40’s. I’d been sick for the last three weeks and had a bad headache when I woke up on race morning. It always seems like people go out a bit too hard at Sleepy, I could see teammate Matt Veiga out in front right away, I thought he was taking a shot at the “King of the Hill” award for the first person to the top of the first climb.  I did a quick count and saw that I was in 25th.  The first climb is a bit of a shock to the system (400’ feet of climb over .7 miles).   The 500’ of drop over .9 miles definitely rattled my bones, by the bottom (1.6 miles) I was in the top 15.  As we started the biggest sustained climb of the day (1.6 miles with 500+ feet of climb).  I caught up with Isaac St. Martin and we worked together the rest of the race, slowly picking guys off.  By the top of the climb I had a few seconds on Jim Boule and a few more on Ed Sheldon.  I could see teammate Steve Brightman up ahead and focused on closing the gap.  The final climb (300 feet over ½ mile) is TOUGH.  I was surprised to see a 48 on the clock, last year I’d run just over 50 minutes, so a 2 minute improvement was a bit of a happy surprise.  Finishing in the top 10 was also a happy surprise.

1 41:39.5   Brandon Newbould     M35         Nottingham, NH      WRT
2 42:39.1   Chris Mateer              M26         Philadelphia, PA 
3 43:43.0   Matthew Veiga           M30         Lynn, MA               CMS
4 43:58.2   Tim Van Orden           M48         Bennington, VT      CMS
5 44:26.7   Kurt Hackler               M40         Alstead, NH       
8 47:28.7   Steve Brightman         M48         Providence, RI        CMS
10 48:11.0  Dave Dunham            M53         Bradford, MA         CMS
13 49:29.8  Ed Sheldon                M52         Hooksett, NH         CMS
33 52:40.5  Leslie O'Dell               F41         Albany, NH             CMS
42 54:05.1  Paul Bazanchuk          M62        Ctr Conway, NH      CMS
98 63:26.8  David Lapierre            M53        Chelmsford, MA      CMS