Horse Hill Snowshoe race

Thanks to the mid-week snowstorm the Horse Hill snowshoe race was on for this weekend.  I've done the HH race a few times and it always features an interesting course with tons of switchbacks, a fair amount of climbing and a mix of single-track and groomed.

Dave La and I met up and headed out onto the roads for a 3 mile warm-up.  Double-J, MT&Goat, and Scott McGrath also joined in the fun.  After the warm-up I changed into my racing gear and Dion Snowshoes and headed out onto the course for another mile.  The snow was very dry and light and although a single lane was packed out it looked like it was going to be fairly slow going.  Finally a snowshoe race that I would "enjoy".

  
 I lined up 3 rows back in a record field of 101.  The start was pretty narrow but everyone seemed to seed themselves correctly and I found myself in 9th place at 1/4 mile as we took the turn off the main path.  It looked like Nacho, Brandon, and JJ would be having a good fight up front.  I was right on Ryan Welts tail and he was right on Joseph Degutis (CRC).  Occasionally we could see Kevin Tilton and Ben Nephew on the many switchbacks.  The pace felt fast and I was doing all I could to hang on to Ryan, there seemed to be a gap behind us and I didn't want to fall off into that void.



Nephew & Tilton

We reached the bridge near the end of the out/back section and I hit my watch (9:35) this would be good to know when heading back in.  Not long after that I was shocked as someone (Chad Carr) came out of nowhere and ran up behind me.  After a couple of minutes I pulled to the side and waived him by and soon after Ryan did the same.  Then he was out of sight.


McGrath, Newbold, Johnson

I kept thinking of trying to pass Ryan but every time I thought "do it now" the pace just seemed to fast.  Finally with about 1.5 to go I called "on your left" and Ryan let me by.  He stayed right on me as we approached the return section.  At that point Degutis went left instead of right and as Ryan called him back I moved up into 8th place.  We hit the bridge and I knew I had less than 10 minutes to go and that the first 6 minutes would be climbing up Horse Hill.

I threw all I could into the climb but couldn't really gap them.  At the top of the hill I dug down and really worked the downhill.  I could hear them behind me but had opened a slight gap.  At the final turn I knew it was only a minute of running left so I "went to the arms".  That was the signal for Degutis to go into his kick and he went by me like I was standing still.  I finished four seconds back and completely beat.

The field was pretty deep, which is great to see.  I hope most of the guys are fired up about Nationals!

1	33:03:00	8:03	Nacho Hernando	SWEETIE PIES	20	M	Concord NH
2	33:15:00	8:06	Brandon Newbould	WHIRLAWAY	32	M	Nottingham NH
3	33:35:00	8:11	Jim Johnson	CENTRAL MASS STRIDERS	36	M	Madison NH
4	34:37:00	8:26	Scott McGrath	WHIRLAWAY	27	M	Andover MA
5	35:16:00	8:36	Kevin Tilton	CENTRAL MASS STRIDERS	32	M	North Conway NH
6	35:18:00	8:36	Ben Nephew	CENTRAL MASS STRIDERS	38	M	Mansfield MA
7	35:23:00	8:37	Chad Carr	CAMBRIDGE RUNNING CLUB	38	M	Cambridge MA
8	35:58:00	8:46	Joseph Degutis	CAMBRIDGE RUNNING CLUB	36	M	Brookline MA
9	36:04:00	8:47	Dave Dunham	CENTRAL MASS STRIDERS	49	M	Bradford MA
10	36:10:00	8:49	Ryan Welts	ACIDOTIC RACING	33	M	Northwood NH
25	46:11:00	11:15	Melissa Donais	CENTRAL MASS STRIDERS	30	F	North Andover MA
28	46:44:00	11:23	David Lapierre	CENTRAL MASS STRIDERS	49	M	Chelmsford MA

Beaver Brook Snowshoe race

It certainly was an interesting weekend.  I had to cancel the Northfield snowshoe race due to lack of snow.  So I headed out west (Western NH) and bagged 9 towns instead.  It was a bit surprising to hear that Beaver Brook had enough snow to put on a race, so off I went on Saturday morning.

 

I was one of the first people to arrive and it was looking bleak especially on the drive in when you could see there was very little snow in the woods.  The fields had held snow and Beaver Brook gets a lot of activity which packs down whatever snow they have.  Due to the lack of snow the course was going to be a very short (2.4 miles) out back on the main trail. 

 

 

Double-J joined me for a course preview, we ran it in Kahtoolas and traction was not an issue.  There was hardly any snow, mostly just ice covered with a film of snow.  This was going to be a sprint and I hate sprints.  I put in another mile in snowshoes and headed to the line feeling a bit dead on my feet.

 

 

Nacho Hernando was running his first snowshoe race, so it looked like JJ would have company.  I was hoping to not get trampled and keep Ryan Welts in sight.  Zoom, the field really did sprint out.  I started way over on the left (so far you can’t even see me in the start pictures) and fell into the pack in about 10^th place 100 meters into the race.  JJ was already way out in front with Nacho in hot pursuit.  I worked my way up through the pack and by the bottom of the hill (1/2 mile in) I was in 6^th place.  So after I moved up on Ryan’s heels and we passed one of the fast starters. 

 

I had some equipment trouble as my shoe came untied and I had to clench my toes to stay inside the shoe.

 

 I don’t think it really changed the result, I was running as fast as possible.  At the turn (1.2 miles) Jim was 10-15 seconds ahead of Nacho who was another 30 seconds ahead of me and Ryan.  Phil Erwin was half-way between us and Nacho and there didn’t seem to be anyone too close behind us.  That is one of the benefits of an out/back, you can check out where everyone is.  I was a bit surprised at how fast we were (7:35) at the turn, I guess that was why it hurt so much.

 

I kept thinking that if I kept close to Ryan I could make a move on the last ½ mile of climbing.  Ryan must have read my mind because he really took off on the climb.  With about 200m to go he caught Phil and with about 100 to go I caught him as well.  I could reel in Ryan and crossed the line wheezing.  It took me 8:21 to come back up for a total of 15:56 (6:38 pace).   JJ stayed out in front and took the win with Nacho running a very fast time especially for a first-timer. 

 

After the race I took off my shoes and found that I’d completely broken the Atlas Dual-tracs. 

 

 I guess if I was going to ruin a pair of shoes those would be the ones to destroy.  All in all this was probably my worst race so far this year, but my mileage was pretty high so I’m not too worried.  Four weeks until Nationals so still plenty of time to rest up.

 

1 Jim Johnson                 14:22    5:59      M36      Madison, NH       CMS

2 Nacho Hernando           14:45    6:08      M20      Concord, NH      

3 Ryan Welts                  15:53    6:37      M33      Nortboro, NH      aR

4 Dave Dunham              15:57    6:38      M49      Bradford, MA      CMS

5 Phil Erwin                    15:59    6:39      M46      Wading River, NY aR

6 Chris Dunn                   16:51    7:01      M45      Straffor, NH        aR

7 Marek Telus                 17:16    7:11      M38      Hopkinton, NH   

8 Tom Hooper                17:19    7:12      M35      Lee, NH SIX03

9 Scott Mitchell               17:19    7:12      M44      Greenland, NH    aR

10 Justin Beaudry            17:21    7:13      M32      New Boston, NH Lazy Lightning

 

 

Whitaker woods snowshoe race

I headed up to North Conway for another running of the Whitaker Woods snowshoe race.  I like this race despite the longish drive (2.5 hours).  Teammate Kevin Tilton puts on a nice event in some great trails and there are indoor facilities which are always a bonus for winter racing.

I got up pretty early and met up with Jim Johnson for a warm-up on the course.  We both used Kahtoolahs and had no trouble with footing during the 33 minutes it took to cover the 3.7 mile loop.  I changed into racing gear and snowshoes and headed out for another mile plus some strides.  A record field was lining up when I returned.

Kevin sent us off and Nick Wheeler and JJ sprinted out to the front.  I found myself in fourth place trailing fellow CMSer Sam Wood.  Wheeler pulled away from JJ on the first climb about 1 mile into the race.  I closed a bit on Sam during that climb but still felt that the pace was quite quick.  Right around 2 miles we got into the longest climb on the course and that is when I moved by Sam.

By that point the leaders were out of sight.  I concentrated on putting some distance on Sam.  The icy footing and rough single-track kept me from "airing it out" but I was moving as fast as I felt could safely run.  I ended up holding onto 3rd but lost a lot of ground to JJ and Sam in the last seven-tenths of a mile.

It was nice to get out there and race, I'm looking forward to some deep slow slogs in the snow...but I'm guessing that the conditions will be fast at Sidehiller next week.

 

1	32	Nick	Wheeler	Male 20-29	BAA		22:04.8	1
	2	50	Jim	Johnson	Male 30-39	CMS		23:16.6	1
	3	9	Dave	Dunham	Male 40-49	CMS		24:59.5	1
	4	53	Sam	Wood	Male 20-29	CMS		26:09.0	2
	5	65	Tony	Henderson	Male 30-39			26:19.9	2
	6	55	Phil	Erwin	Male 40-49	Acidotic		26:29.1	2
	7	47	Richard	Lavers	Male 30-39	Acidotic		27:09.4	3
	8	36	Scott	Mitchell	Male 40-49	Acidotic		27:24.4	3
	9	39	Christopher	Dunn	Male 40-49	Acidotic		27:26.6	4
	10	43	Damon	Gannon	Male 40-49			27:40.1	5
	11	42	Kristina	Folcik	Female 30-39	Acidotic		28:07.6	1
	12	66	Tom	Hooper	Male 30-39	Six03		28:48.3	4
	13	54	Ron	Ruhnke	Male 30-39	Acidotic		28:50.1	5
	14	44	Melissa	Donais	Female 20-29	CMS		28:53.8	1
	15	27	Jason	Saltmarsh	Male 40-49			29:06.9	6
	16	2	Leslie	Beckwith	Female 30-39	Acidotic		29:15.3	2
	17	70	Eric	Narcisi	Male 30-39	Whirlaway		29:24.9	6
	18	80	Joanie	Kaijala	Female 30-39	NBB Boston		30:13.9	3
	19	79	Tim	Kaijala	Male 20-29	NBB Boston		30:14.8	3
	20	7	Andrew	Corrow	Male 40-49	Acidotic		30:16.2	7

Granite State (NH) snowshoe championships

Granite State snowshoe championships

I headed up to Allenstown on Friday during the “minor snow event” that turned out to be pretty significant.  We got over a foot in Bradford, but there was only a few inches of additional snow up at Bear Brook.  I met up with race director Ryan Welts and we headed out to mark the course.  It was enjoyable running easily through the woods on some very cool single-track.  Ryan came up with an interesting course with plenty of twisting and turning and 75% of the 6+ mile course would be on single-track.  The only drawback (for me) was the footing was very good, firm and fast for racing.  It was good to get a preview of the course and have some idea of approximate distances along the way.

I got to the race a bit early on Saturday and did an easy 4 miles on the road to loosen up.  After that I quickly changed into race gear and hit the trail for another mile on snowshoes.  It was already warm (maybe 40 degrees) and the trail was solidly packed.  The fast guys were going to eat this up!

The start was a flurry of snow as a couple of Unicorn runners headed to the front, they were trailed by CMS Polar Bears (Greg Hammett, Kevin Tilton, a break then, me, and Jim Pawlicki).  Jim was right on me and Kevin wasn’t too far ahead for the first mile or so.  At about 2 miles we hit the big meadow and the first section of snowmobile trail.  Jim went by and asked “you okay?”, I thought that was funny because I was running all-out and we had a long way to go.  Jim immediately put 10 seconds on me and off in the distance we could see Greg and Mark Miller (Unicorn) running together with Kevin 100m behind.

I was a bit surprised to see Greg and Mark come back over the next two miles, they may have gone out too hard trying to stick with JJ (Unicorn).  I closed the gap on Jim and almost got him when we hit the long stretch of snowmobile trail at about 4 miles.  Soon after I passed Mark, but Greg and Jim were locked in a good battle and they seemed to just float away.   By the time we ended the snowmobile trail, at about a mile to go, Jim and Greg were 20 seconds ahead and I’d dropped Mark.

The last mile was a struggle, I was pretty much out of gas and although I could see Jim and Greg it was obvious they were hauling and I wasn’t going to close on them.  I stayed on my feet (barely) and rolled into the finish nearly a minute behind them.  Jim and Greg had a great fight right to the line (1 second between them) and they very nearly caught Kevin.  All in all it was a great day for the CMS crew, we took 2^nd through 5^th place and wrapped up the team title with Melissa Donais taking second in the women’s race and 23^rd overall.

1  43:22  Jim Johnson        35M            Madison, NH        BAA

2  46:24  Kevin Tilton         31M            N Conway, NH     Central Mass Striders

3  46:29  James Pawlicki    38M            Lynn, MA             Central Mass Striders

4  46:30  Greg Hammett    35M            Chesterfield, NH   Central Mass Striders

5  47:27  Dave Dunham     48M            Bradford, MA       Central Mass Striders

6  48:22  Mark Miller         32M            Parts Unk, NH      BAA

7  49:35  Danny Ferreira   30M            Concord, NH        acidotic RACING

8  51:11  Anthony Parillo   28M            Sherborn, MA   

9  51:17  Phil Erwin          45M            Ridge, NY            acidotic RACING

10 51:25 Chris Dunn         44M            Strafford, NH       acidotic RACING

                                                                                               

13 52:32 Kristina Folcik     35F            Northwood, NH    acidotic RACING

23 56:28 Melissa Donais   29F            N Andover, MA     Central Mass Striders

Granite State Snowshoe Series - Final results

It was a tough year for snowshoe racing, but a great winter for training on the roads and trails.  I competed in all three of the Granite State series races taking 3rd, 2nd, and 2nd.  In the "best 2 of 3" scoring I finished 2nd overall to teammate Jim Johnson and edged out Acidotic Racing team leader Chris Dunn in the masters competition.

 

				Best 2			1/21/2012	3/3/2012	3/11/2012
Rank	First Name	Last Name	Club	of 3	Total	# raced	Whittaker	Horse hill	NH champs
1	Jim	Johnson	CMS	200.00	200.00	2	100.00	0.00	100.00
2	Dave	Dunham	CMS	188.05	279.92	3	95.76	91.87	92.29
3	Chris	Dunn	Acidotic	175.60	262.39	3	88.26	86.79	87.34
4	Jason	Massa	Acidotic	162.14	162.14	2	79.87	0.00	82.27
5	Don	Fredrikson		155.58	155.58	2	76.60	0.00	78.98
6	Sal	Genovese	DRR	147.65	147.65	2	76.96	0.00	70.69
7	David	Hippert		146.53	146.53	2	72.94	73.59	0.00
8	Richie	Blake	Acidotic	146.23	218.58	3	73.53	72.35	72.70
9	Chris	Peter		141.76	141.76	2	0.00	72.19	69.57
10	Tim	Lindsey	Acidotic	139.90	209.33	3	70.09	69.43	69.81
11	Michael	Rivet	Acidotic	139.28	139.28	2	66.82	0.00	72.46
12	Brian	Gallagher	RR	129.89	129.89	2	65.57	0.00	64.32
13	Mariano	Santangelo	Acidotic	124.20	184.18	3	59.98	63.81	60.39
14	Gary	Reuter	Acidotic	123.40	123.40	2	63.01	0.00	60.39
15	Kevin	Tilton	CMS	100.00	100.00	1	0.00	100.00	0.00

 

Great picture by Scott Mason - JJ leading the chase group at the NH champs