This was my 20th time
running the Wachusett Mountain race, and I was pretty fired up driving to the
race. Maybe I had too much coffee on race morning? After signing up and
bumping into SO MANY familiar faces it was time to head out for a 3 mile “flat”
warm-up with a big group of CMS runners. The group included new member Ed
Sheldon who was back on the scene after taking nearly a decade off. He would be
among the top 50+ runners in the race. The field looked quite strong as I saw
teammates Erik Vandendries and Jeff Hunt along with Gate City Strider Brian
Ruhm, Dirgio’s Jeff Walker, and Whirlaway’s Craig Fram. Dang! That is a solid
group of runners!
I quickly changed into racing
flats and did another mile over to the start line at the bottom of “Mile Hill
road”. Temps were already in the mid-80s and of course the sun broke through
the clouds right before the 344 of us assembled headed off. Things settled out
pretty quickly as we got into the 5% grade. At ½ mile I was in about
25th place and moving up. Erik V went out pretty hard (he is a very
strong climber) and was a good 10 seconds up already. I hit the mile in 7:20
after 400’ of climbing. Soon after I caught Ed Sheldon but was falling further
behind Erik. We turned into the park at 1.2 miles and dropped 30’ over the next
¼ mile. Jeff Hunt went by me as we both grabbed a cup of water. It was hot!
Erik was now 15 seconds up in a good back-and-forth race with CMS teammate Tim
Mahoney.
I tucked in behind Jeff as the
climb got tough again (260’ of climb in ½ mile from 1.5 to 2). We passed a
couple of guys and started making some progress on closing the gap with Erik. I
could hear Jeff Walker behind me (he has a Paul Hammond level of grunting when
he runs which is a dead give-away that he is close) as we hit the 2 mile mark in
14:50. With less than a mile to go we were still looking at another 500’ of
climb. I was getting into a good groove now as the grade steepened (stretches
of 15-20% grades). At 2.5 I pulled away from Jeff and continued to close on
Eric and Tim. On the final turn Erik peeked back and I was only a few seconds
behind. He found another gear and powered in for a senior age-group win 4
seconds ahead of me. The top 7 50+ all finished within 33 seconds. Great
competition! Next up: Pack Monadnock 10 mile mountain race (June 5).
Top 10
seniors
1 ERIK VANDENDRIES 51 21:53
CMS2 DAVE DUNHAM 52 21:57 CMS
3 JEFF HUNT 51 22:08 CMS
4 CHRISTOPHER SMITH 50 22:15 SRR
5 BRIAN RUHM 51 22:19 GCS
6 JEFF WALKER 50 22:24 Dirigo
7 ED SHELDON 51 22:26 CMS
8 CRAIG FRAM 57 22:56 WRT
9 DOUG JANSEN 53 23:41
10 DAVID LAPIERRE 52 24:21 CMS
Overall
1 BRANDON NEWBOLD M 34 19:34 WRT
2 ERIC MACKNIGHT M 27 20:18
3 TIM Van Orden M 48 20:48 CMS
4 TODD CALLAGHAN M 46 20:52 CMS
5 CHRISTOPHER CHROMCZAK M 31 20:55
6 NICHOLAS RINDENELLO M 28 20:59
7 JON KORHONEN M 33 21:06
8 ANDY MCCARRON M 33 21:09 CMS
9 KIM NEDEAU F 36 21:11 aR
10 MATT VEIGA M 29 21:29 CMS
11 TIM MAHONEY M 36 21:53 CMS
11 ERIK VANDENDRIES M 51 21:53 CMS
13 DAVE DUNHAM M 52 21:57 CMS
14 JEFF HUNT M 51 22:08 CMS
15 JOSH MERLIS M 34 22:14 ARE
16 CHRISTOPHER SMITH M 50 22:15 SRR
17 BRIAN RUHM M 51 22:19 GCS
18 STEVE BRIGHTMAN M 47 22:21
19 JIM BOULE M 49 22:22
20 JEFF WALKER M 50 22:24 Dirigo
21 ED SHELDON M 51 22:26 CMS
22 JAMES PAWLICKI M 41 22:38 CMS
23 TIM HOPPE M 35 22:44
24 CRAIG FRAM M 57 22:56 WRT
25 TODD BENNETT M 45 23:01
26 CRAIG NALE M 32 23:17
27 SCOTT MCCUE M 41 23:19
28 VINCENT LYON M 27 23:28
29 DOUG JANSEN M 53 23:41
30 MICHAEL NARCISI M 32 24:05 Sisu
31 UNKNOWN M 24:18
32 DAVID LAPIERRE M 52 24:21 CMS
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