I decided to sign up for
the Canterbury XC race after doing the Carlisle (GBTC) race and having no
issues with my calf. I was a bit nervous as the Canterbury course is a
bit more “technical” and has a lot more up and downs. I tried to take it
pretty easy during the week as it was a short turnaround to the Friday night
race. I checked out the website on Friday morning and noted that only 8
people had signed up. The series had a decent turnout last year but quite
a few of the entrants were Perry’s kids from the NHTI XC team. I wasn’t
sure if the team would show up. If not, it looked like Kara Haas would be
the main competition.
I headed up right after
work and drank a coke on the ride to help ward off any of my normal afternoon
sleepiness. I got to the Shaker Village and was surprised to find the
parking lot was packed. I found out that about 150 kids were taking part
in a middle school cross-country meet. We’d be using the same 1.8 mile
course that the kids were running on. I checked out the course as a
warm-up and found that it was the same 1.5 mile loop we did last year in the
series (running it twice) with a 500-600 meter loop tacked on at the
start. Shorter doesn’t necessarily mean easier! Next was an
internal debate over what shoes to wear. I’d brought road flats and
Inov-8s. I finally decided it was a bit too rough for road flats and
slipped on the Inov-8s for another mile of running. The race was held up
a bit as they were still doing awards for the kids so I got in yet another mile
jogging around.
Only 17 showed up for the
race, which is a bummer. They do a nice job with plenty of prizes.
I headed to the front at the start with Kara right with me. We hung
together for the first loop plus a bit more, then I pushed it a bit on the
first downhill and pulled clear. I felt I ran very cautiously on the
rough trail part (.7 – 1.2) it is rocky and has a lot of twists and at this
time of day the sun in your eyes did not help. I managed it safely and
tried to push on the dirt road and the long climb. I did not look
back! I could feel the effort on the final grass hill climb and struggled
into the finish in a little over 12 minutes. Kara kept it close coming in
27 seconds later followed by two strong women finishers 30 seconds later and 36
more.
I finished off my 19 mile
day with another loop of the course with Kara catching up on injuries and plans
for the fall. I did not realize until later that my only other win this
year was against Kara as well!
Pl
Time
Name
Team
City,
St
Cat Age Grade
1
12:08 Dave Dunham
M58 Delta
Dental Bradford,
MA M50-59 10:02
2
12:35 Kara
Haas
F51 Delta
Dental Chelmsford, MA
F50-59 11:08
3
13:05 Kim Emerson
F39
Hopkinton, NH F30-39 12:48
4
13:41 Abby
Wood
F36
Laconia NH F30-39
13:33
5
13:49 Michael Popham
M41
Canterbury, NH M40-49 12:59
6
14:05 David
Audet
M57
NMC
Concord, NH M50-59 11:44
7
14:52 Steven Mckinney
M40 Rundlett
School
M40-49 14:05
8
14:56 Ellen
Raffio
F54 Delta Dental
Hopkinton, NH F50-59 12:46
9
15:05 Brendan Curran
M32
Manchester, NH M30-39 14:58
10
15:11 Billy
Mccrillis
M57 Hopkinton
School
M50-59
12:39
11
15:42 Jay
Kelly
M61
Methuen, MA M60-69 12:40
12
19:05 Amy O'shaughnessy
F44
Canterbury, NH F40-49 18:05
13
20:18 Bryan Anderson
M46
Canterbury, NH M40-49 18:24
14
24:25 Colleen Connolly
F61
NMC
F60-69 19:13
15
26:25 Bill
Springer
M83
Waterville, NH M70+ 15:18
16
26:35 Thomas Raffio
M65 Delta
Dental Hopkinton, NH
M60-69 20:42
17
32:18 Rebecca Acorn
F40
Canterbury, NH F40-49 31:26
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