North American Fell Running championships
For the first time in the 19 year history of the USATF NE
mountain series the number of races increased to seven and a race was held in
the fall. The series became a best 6 of 7 races. I had only hiked at the
Cranmore race due to injury so I needed to run the final race to move up in the
overall standings. My main goal for the race was to survive; I did not want a
repeat of Lone Gull when my calf went into spasms. Being a Fell race the course
was “open”, so I spent a fair amount of time looking over various maps and
devising the best route.
On race morning I headed up the Bretton Woods slopes to check
out the final two check-points to make sure I had an idea of where I wanted to
go. Keeping track of trails crossed was going to be tough especially when
tired. After an hour of hiking I got my number, changed into racing gear and
headed out for a warm-up. Teammate Jim Johnson joined me as we scouted the
lower part of the mountain which we might traverse from the third to fourth
check-point.
About 120 people nervously lined up, many were worried about
the navigation aspect of the race. Only the first 3 check-points would have
course markings, after that you were on your own. Forty chose to do the shorter
course (the three check-point version) on a day with great conditions for
racing. There was some fog and drizzle and temperatures were around 50 degrees
as we took off up the hill.
In the very early going I found myself around 10th
place as a lot of guys shot out fast. With 1,400’ of climb to get from the base
lodge to the summit of Mt Rosebrook there was plenty of time to sort things
out. Jim and fellow teammates Todd Callaghan and Matt Viega were the lead pack
closely followed by Erik Vandendries (NETT). I found myself in fifth place as I
hit the mile in 14:11 and the summit in 18:01.
From Rosebrook we had a traverse and some downhill to the
high country loop on the slopes of Mt Stickney. The most obvious course was the
“two miles home” trail which was the marked course as well. I locked on to Erik
and we reached the Mt Stickney cabin and then turned up in the glades. I kept
waiting to see the leaders coming down the hill and eventually we saw Matt
leading with Jim and Todd not far behind. It took us 9:52 to get from A to B
and as we bombed down the trails I slowly pulled away from Erik.
About halfway down the Telegraph T Bar trail I heard
footsteps and a guy went flying by. I ran a sub-7 minute mile but felt like I
was holding back trying to not overtax my legs as there was a long way to go. I
stopped for a drink and another guy went by me and I was now in 6th
place. The climb to West Mountain was another nut busting 1,100’ climb.
I decided to do the traverse part at the top of the mountain
rather than the lower part, that way I’d get to check out the entrance to
“Archies Alley” which I’d be looking for AFTER visiting West. I moved into
5th place and then turned up the Zephyr High Speed Quad trail (Range
View) and settled into a good rhythm. Another benefit of traversing on top
would be a chance to see how the leaders were doing. I topped out near Chutters
and headed over toward West on the Stillwater run. About ½-way over I saw Jim
and Todd leaving West, I was a bit surprised that I’d missed Matt. Soon after I
saw Matt pop out from a side trail, he’d made a navigation error and lost the
lead! I had now moved up to third place. We ran together to West (which in all
was another 14+ minute climb for me). My time from CP-C to CP-D was 19:12.
Now I was on the part of the course I’d seen so I felt a lot
more confident of where I was going and how much running I had left. At
Chutters I turned down Archie’s Alley and I think Matt bombed down Range View.
I took a moment to have a gel and read the map and BOOM I completely wiped out.
My hand got a big cut and I was dripping blood on my map (and got blood all over
my face from wiping off sweat). I hit the Bethlehem Express Quad lift line and
looked down to the bottom and saw Matt running through CP-E. It took me 8:33 to
go from D to E and I lost a solid minute on Matt.
The final climb from CP-E to CP-F (the Enchanted Bear glad
trail) was tough! I angled across the mountain using trails I’d checked out
that morning. I could see Matt climbing straight up to Latitude 44, which was a
very safe route choice but also added on climb and distance. By cutting across
the mountain I was able to reach the final check-point a little ahead of Matt.
It took me 11:46 to cover the traverse from E to F.
The last segment (from F to the finish) was the nicest part
of the course. I ran straight down the glade which had some excellent grassy
footing and a grade that was mostly run-able. It was kind of wild seeing people
50’ up in the air on the zip-lines flying by. Matt Viega also flew by as he
caught me about ½ way down and hammered on down to the finish. I kept him in
sight over the last 7:43 it took me to get down the mountain.
In all it took me 1:25:29 to cover the 8.6 miles that my
route covered with over 3,500’ of climb/descent. The shortest distance I heard
was 8.1 and the longest was over 10 miles. Jim Johnson sat on Todd Callaghan
and outkicked him for the win (they covered 8.6 miles as well but ran a slightly
different course than I did). Matt covered 9.4 miles, so he probably would have
been right in it with the top two had he navigated a little better, but he
seemed to have fun. CMS took the team title in the overall, 40+ , and 50+.
My calf didn’t give me any issues and I took home a bag of
apples for winning the 50+ age group, so life is good!
1 Jim Johnson 37
Madison, NH CMS 1:19:26
2 Todd Callaghan
45 Beverly, MA CMS 1:19:36
3 Matt Veiga 27
Lynn, MA CMS 1:24:54
4 Dave Dunham 50
Bradford, MA CMS 1:25:29
5 Brian Cuimo 22 Burlington, VT
1:27:30
6 Vincent Lyon 25 Durham, NH
1:28:41
7 Trevor Burbank 31 Scarborough,
ME 1:29:00
8 Peter Keeney 48 Bar Harbor, ME acidotic
1:29:11
9 Erik Vandendries 49 Chestnut Hill, MA
1:31:21
25 Paul Bazanchuk 59 Ctr
Conway, NH CMS 1:43:50
62 Robert Thomas 54
Charlton, MA CMS 2:14:44
1 comment:
Sounds like a good time. Something different for the normal trail and mountain races.
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