USATF ½ marathon championships - Dan V and I met up and carpooled the 100 miles to New Bedford, we left extra-early as the weather had looked dicey as close as 2 days before the race (calling for 2-6” of snow). The Alberta Clipper stayed a little south and that meant no snow but it also meant some of the toughest wind ever for the race (which is known for being windy). Dan and I did a 2 mile warm-up and got a good feel for what to wear and how bad it was going to be. We hit the start about 10 minutes early and worked our way through the masses towards the front. I got about 6 rows back based on my 120th place last year and looked around to see where others were. The start was a bit crowded and it was a 6 second walk to cross the line, then the racing began.
I almost immediately set my sights on Charlie Bemis and Michael Cooney both Whirlaway and both 50+, I also saw Chris Lawrence (BAA 50+) who I’d keyed off of last year. The opening mile of 6:06 was about the same as my split last year despite the wind that seemed to gust from weird directions. My original goal was to break 6’s but with the winds I was just hoping to be competitive in the 50+. Not much changed over the rollers that brought us to 4 miles. Cooney and Lawrence pulled away as we headed down the fastest part of the course (which this year had a lot of cross wind). I found myself pretty much on my own as Scott Anderson (WRT 50+) and Brian Ruhm (GCS 50+) both zipped by and got into the big pack about 15 seconds ahead of me.
Teammate Nick Taormina went by and I attempted to latch onto him. He kept a couple of seconds ahead of me as we turned into some nasty headwind at 7 miles. I really wanted to get into the pack in anticipation of the brutal headwinds that we’d see in the 9th mile. I kept close to Nick as we hit 8 miles in 48:02. We’d got the average pace down to 6:00s but were soon to hit the nasty stuff. A 6:01 9th mile got us no closer to the pack but we picked off a couple who fell off including Chris Lawrence. I knew AT BEST I was 6th in the 50+ and might not even be in the top 10 and that kept me motivated. We hit a steady 20-40 mph wind from 9.3 to 10.8 where you are most exposed right along the ocean (whitecaps!). Nick and I kept each other motivated as we picked off a couple of guys and each made moves depending on who was feeling better at any given moment. The pack had broken up but we had lost ground on them. A 6:50 10th mile was pretty demoralizing. It got slightly better as we got back into the city and some protection from the wind by the buildings. I never closed on the guys in front of me but worked as hard as I could taking 9th in the 50+ in 1:20:48. I was 1:07 slower than my time last year with an effort that I think was better. There was a very strong Senior field and CMS topped the team scoring! Ed Sheldon and David Principe are really tearing it up to start the year (3rd and 4th place respectively). It should be a good battle with WRT at the next grand prix race in two weeks.
50+ Pl
1 1:14:29 PETER HAMMER 50 1:14:34 5:41 34:4 BAA
2 1:15:29 GREG PICKLESIMER 50 1:15:33 5:46 34:30 SRR
3 1:17:10 ED SHELDON 52 1:17:17 5:54 35:04 CMS
4 1:17:35 DAVID PRINCIPE Sr 50 1:17:41 5:56 35:19 CMS
5 1:17:45 ROBERT CIPRIANO 57 1:17:48 5:56 35:20 SRR
6 1:20:05 SCOTT ANDERSON 52 1:20:11 6:07 36:50 WRT
7 1:20:13 BRIAN RUHM 51 1:20:22 6:08 36:47 GCS
8 1:20:26 MICHAEL COONEY 55 1:20:31 6:09 36:38 WRT
9 1:20:48 DAVE DUNHAM 53 1:20:54 6:10 37:04 CMS
10 1:22:04 CHARLIE BEMIS 54 1:22:10 6:16 37:16 WRT
11 1:22:14 TONY BATES 57 1:22:24 6:17 37:48 GMAA
12 1:22:22 DOUGLAS MARTYN 57 1:22:30 6:18 37:34 WRT
13 1:22:55 WAYNE LEVY 51 1:22:58 6:20 37:13 BAA
14 1:23:42 TERRY MCNATT 52 1:23:51 6:24 38:34 CSU
15 1:24:11 DAN VERRINGTON 54 1:24:21 6:26 38:03 CMS
36 1:31:38 JOHN PAJER 54 1:31:53 7:00 41:24 CMS
44 1:34:07 GARY CATTARIN 54 1:34:24 7:11 41:48 CMS
73 1:42:19 WILLIAM GONSORCIK 50 1:42:51 7:49 45:48 CMS
106 1:50:27 FRANK RUGGIERO 58 1:51:25 8:26 50:14 CMS
114 1:52:33 STEPHEN LASKA M 55 1:53:10 8:36 50:35 CMS
127 1:53:16 ANDREW GRIGOROV 52 1:55:47 8:39 49:47 CMS
MALE SENIORS TEAM RESULTS (17 teams)
1. CENTRAL MASS STRIDERS 1:17:10 1:17:35 1:20:48 1:24:11 1:31:38 (1:34:07) (1:42:19) = 6:51:22
ED SHELDON 52 M, DAVID PRINCIPE SR 50 M, DAVE DUNHAM 53 M, DAN VERRINGTON 54 M, JOHN PAJER 54 M, GARY CATTARIN 54 M, WILLIAM GONSORCIK 50 M
2. WHIRLAWAY RACING TEAM 1:20:05 1:20:26 1:22:04 1:22:22 1:27:33 (1:30:01) (1:44:10) = 6:52:30
3. BOSTON ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION 1:14:29 1:22:55 1:24:32 1:26:27 1:27:32 (1:27:59) (1:28:32) = 6:55:55
My splits:
6:06
6:11 12:17
6:03 18:20
6:12 24:32
5:47 30:19
5:52 36:11
5:52 42:03
5:59 48:02
6:01 54:03
6:50 1:00:53
6:29 1:07:22
6:17 1:13:39
6:28 1:20:07
:41 1:20:48
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