25 & 20 years ago today

10/27/91 I headed down to Canton MA on a warm (70 degree) day for the Gravy Race which was part of the Hockomock Swamp Rat Series.  Steve Warren took it out hard (4:39 at the mile) and continued to lead through 2 (9:30).  I took the lead soon after and pulled away for a 1:12 victory in a course record of 30:12.  That record still stands.

1 Dave Dunham 30:12

2 Steve Warren 31:24
3 Washburn 31:47
4 Mike Woodman 32:04
5 Steinbrecher 33:25
7 Brad Hurst 33:56

10/27/96 - The final weekend of the month found me racing at the Cape Cod marathon. Craig Fram and I were locked in a battle for top spot in the USATF New England Grand Prix. We'd each beaten the other a couple of times over the year in GP competition and had some close finishes. Craig had a one point lead on me going into the marathon so I'd need to beat him to at least tie with him in the series. We went out in a pack of five through the first half of the race, and then it was just me and Craig from 20 miles on. He put in a surge at 24 and I just couldn't cover as he pulled away to win the race about 14 seconds up on me. I ran 2:24:05 running a negative split (1:12:25 to 1:11:40) which wasn't quite fast enough. It was a lot of fun battling back and forth.

     1 2:23:52       Craig Fram         Plaistow NH        CMS

    2 2:24:06       Dave Dunham    Bradford MA       CMS
    3 2:30:24       Gary Dennis       Montague NJ 
    4 2:32:12       Peter Pazik         Wallingford CT 
    5 2:33:51       Kevin McGovern  W Boylston MA    CMS

Here is a breakdown of the Grand Prix Series. Craig beat me in four races and I beat him in two. Over the 79.1 miles we raced the total difference between our times (59 seconds) worked out to less than a second per mile.

Stu's 30km                     Craig 3rd in 1:40:02        me 5th in 1:41:04           difference= +62 seconds

Riverside 5m                  Craig 3rd in 24:23           me 4^th in 24:31               difference= +8 seconds
Bridge of Flowers 10k      Craig 4th in 32:18           me 2nd in 31:42          difference= -36 seconds
Homecoming 10m          Craig 4th in 49:59           me 5th in 50:23              difference = +24 seconds
RI ½ marathon               Craig 2nd in 1:07:01        me 1st in 1:06:48           difference= -13 seconds
Cape Cod marathon        Craig 1^st in 2:23:52         me 2^nd in 2:24:06            difference= +14 seconds

USA TRACK & FIELD - NEW ENGLAND 1996 GRAND PRIX       Final Series Standings after 7 Events

                                    30K   5K   8K  10M  10K  13.1 26.2 PTS
Craig Fram        CMS       8              8    9       8      9   10   52
Dave Dunham   CMS       6              7    8      10     10   9   50
Mike Nahon        CMS       7         9                  9                 25
David Marcus      BRC      10        3                           8         21
Eric Morse          CMS                 5          7       7                 19
George Luke       GLRR      9        2    1    3       2                 17
Dan Verrington   CMS       5              3    2       6                 16