Sidehiller Ten

Sidehiller 4 mile snowshoe race

 

Sidehiller ( Sandwich NH) – This was my fourth snowshoe race of the year but the first “serious” snowshoe race.  After a couple of 100+ mile weeks I dropped down to the low 90’s this week hoping to feel a bit fresher for the race.  Dave Lapierre met me at the River for a carpool and we were surprised to see (among others) Bill Morse and Rich Busa dropping a car, I guess that is a popular carpool location.  110 miles and a lot of 1^st wave on the Sirius radio got us to Center Sandwich.  The wind was howling and the temperature was about 6 degrees, but as teammate Ken Tripp noted “at least its sunny”.

 

Ken, Kevin Tilton and I headed out for an easy 3 mile warm-up on the road.  After a quick change into racing gear and snowshoes I headed back out, this time onto the course with D-La and Ken.  We met up with Ben Nephew which was a pleasant surprise.  Ben doesn’t race much so it was great to see him turn up to qualify for nationals.  We did my normal routine of doing 1 mile in snowshoes out/back over the last part of the course.  It is always important to know as much of the course as possible and I always want to know when I’m getting close to the finish.

 

A record crowd of just under 120 lined up in the ball field for the 2 mile loop we’d do twice, basically just going around the fairground.  I was surprised at how relaxed the field went out; typically there is a crazy sprint at the start.  I found myself in 10^th place (give or take).  After about ¼ mile I saw Jim Johnson (CMS) and Brandon Newbould (WRT) break away from the field stringing everyone out behind.  About 1 mile in Todd Callaghan (GCS) stormed by, he looked strong running smart in his first snowshoe race.

 

We hit some very soft sugary snow soon after and Ben Nephew and Jim Pawlicki were coming back.  I like the slower more difficult snow but may have pressed a little too hard.  I passed Jim, Ben, and Todd bat at the 180 degree turn I could see the line of guy’s right on my tail.  I passed through the first loop in 14:48 in 6^th place.

 

I could hear the clomp of snowshoes right behind me and about ¼ mile into the 2^nd lap Ethan Nedeau (acidotic) went flying past.  Damn, I forgot that Ethan was racing!  Right after that Todd went by as well.  I tried to latch on but they pulled away.  I focused on closing the gap as they closed on Steve Dowsett (WRT).  We hit the single-track, and then got into the sugar snow which slowly brought them back to me.  I got around Steve and got to within a couple of strides of both Ethan and Todd.  We hit the 180 turn and again I saw that ½ dozen guys might get me if I faltered.

 

With ½ mile to go I pushed the pace as hard as I could and as I did I saw that Ethan was accelerating.  He smoked the last ½ mile putting 23 seconds on me.  I never really closed on Todd and in the last 100 meters I got passed by Dowsett who put in a great kick.  I couldn’t react and crossed the line pretty wiped out in 29:14, for 8^th place.  The second lap was 22 seconds faster than the first despite the snow being a bit slower.

 

It was great to see so many teammates show up!  The field was solid as many were attempting to qualify for Nationals.  From the results it looks like CMS will be able to field a competitive team.  We put 7 in the top 20, only acidotic had more (8 in the top 20).  The CMS ladies also took first and second place!

 

Place	Time	First	Last	City	ST	M/F	Age	Team
1	27:25	Brandon	Newbould	Nottingham	NH	M	31	WRT
2	27:37	Jim	Johnson	Madison	NH	M	36	CMS
3	28:11	Kevin	Tilton	Conway	NH	M	32	CMS
4	28:21	Robert	Jackman	Warwick	RI	M	31	TNT
5	28:51	Ethan	Nadeau	Amherst	MA	M	40	aR
6	29:03	Todd	Callaghan	Beverly	MA	M	44	GCS
7	29:12	Steve	Doucett	Newburyport	MA	M	25	WRT
8	29:14	Dave	Dunham	Bradford	MA	M	49	CMS
9	29:24	Nate	Bassett	Northwood	NH	M	26
10	29:27	James	Pawlicki	Lynn	MA	M	39	CMS
11	29:29	Ryan	Welts	Northwood	NH	M	34	aR
12	29:48	Ben	Nephew	Mansfield	MA	M	38	CMS
13	30:02	Phil	Erwin	Wading River	NY	M	46	aR
14	30:07	Ken	Tripp	Amesbury	MA	M	44	CMS
15	30:47	Tim	Cox	Northwood	NH	M	40	aR
16	30:49	Peter	Keeney	Bar Harbor	ME	M	47	aR
17	31:29	Kenneth	Willey	Claremont	NH	M	31	aR
18	31:48	Jeffrey	Litchfield	Hopkinton	NH	M	54	aR
19	31:49	Scott	Mitchell	Greenland	NH	M	44	aR
20	32:08	Sam	Wood	Laconia	NH	M	27	CMS
25	33:30	Paul	Bazanchuck	Ctr Conway	NH	M	59	CMS
27	33:53	Abbey	Wood	Laconia	NH	F	28	CMS
29	34:00	Melissa	Donais	North Andover	MA	F	30	CMS
34	34:20	Ernest	Brake	Sutton	NH	M	52	CMS
38	34:56	Dave	LaPierre	Chelmsford	MA	M	49	CMS
111	57:55	George	Boudreau	Dudley	MA	M	44	CMS