Another look at Baystate

Wow, conditions were great at the New England marathon championships last weekend. This really showed in the number of Boston Qualifiers and especially in the team times which were much faster than last year. I though the CMS teams (Open & 40+) both had a shot at winning. The Open squad looked to be the deepest we’d fielded in many years and the 40+ team also had not only depth, but (relative) speed at the front.

I felt that at least three open guys would break 2:30 and that the masters would average 2:40 for the top three guys. Both of these team times would on average be fast enough to win.

The masters were topped by an (always) strong Whirlaway team and only slightly ahead of a very strong Gate City team. This was a bit of a shock considering the fast time (8:00) by the CMS team. I hear rumor that Joe Donnelly, who has had a fantastic year, is jumping ship and may be wearing the red and black of Whirlaway come this spring…the rich get richer. J

Our open team took home top honors with an impressive 6, 7, 9 finish by the three scoring team members. The time (7:23:18) ranks second all-time at a NE championship. It is topped only by the 1996 CMS record of 7:21:49. The master’s time was the 9th best ever run by a 40+ team and 3rd fastest by a CMS 40+ squad. It was also the fastest since the extraordinary 7:42:10 run by CMS 40+ in 2001.