Saturday, July 8, 2017

Mountain Series - 2 races to go

The USATF NE Mountain series takes a break for a couple of months giving us all a chance to heal and think about the final two races.  Mt Greylock (09/03) and Bretton Woods (10/01) loom in the not too distant future.
Of course I’m mostly interested in the 50-59 age group since that is my age group.  Last year I was the series champion finishing 12 points up on teammate Ed Sheldon.  Erik Vandendries (also CMS) only did 5 races last year in the “best 6 of 8”.  Had he run a 6th he would have been in the top three.  Jim Boule (aR) was in the masters category (age 49) for last year’s series and he only did four races.
This year has featured a lot of great competition.  Ed Sheldon has taken two firsts, a third, and a fourth.  Erik Vandendries has two thirds and a fourth.  Jim Boule has two seconds and a fifth.  I’ve got two firsts and two seconds.  Ed’s strength is his speed and strength.  He has been tearing up the roads in the USATF NE grand prix.  Last year he took 2nd at both Greylock and Bretton Woods.  Erik is a very good climber, although a knee injury has left him less than 100%.  He won at Greylock last year.  Jim is a very good climber AND descender.  He stuck to me like glue at Cranmore and Sleepy Hollow.  He did not run Greylock or Bretton Woods last year.  I got buried at Greylock last year, Ed’s speed and Erik’s climbing ability left me in the dust.  I did pick up the win at Bretton Woods but was so far behind Todd Callaghan that my score didn’t really help.  I’ll definitely need to plan out the route ahead of time.  My guess is that it will come down to just a couple of points and whoever comes out on top at Bretton Woods will take the 50+.  Great fun!
M50+
First
Last
Age
City
St
Team
Raced
Best 3
Total Pts
Average (from best 3)
Dave
Dunham
53
Bradford
MA
CMS
5
275.26
446.72
91.75
Jim
Boule
50
Campton
NH
aR
4
271.43
357.32
90.48
Ed
Sheldon
52
Hooksett
NH
CMS
5
271.42
433.63
90.47
Erik
Vandendries
52
Chestnut Hill
MA
CMS
4
266.78
349.54
88.93
Brian
Ruhm
52
Nashua
NH
GCS
3
250.35
250.35
83.45
Stephen
Reed
58
concord
NH
4
237.82
314.65
79.27
Jeff
Gould
52
Gardner
MA
NMC
4
228.54
297.94
76.18
Rick
Chalmers
55
South Portland
ME
Dirigo
4
219.63
287.59
73.21
Todd
Brown
53
Rocky Hill
CT
NMC
5
214.18
348.57
71.39
Mike
Caron
50
Pocasset
MA
4
209.84
275.04
69.95
 
 
I’ve listed the top 15 men sorted on “Best 3” below.  Best 3 gives a good indicator of who may be in the hunt at the end since the series is a “Best 5 of 7”.  Brandon Newbould (WRT) should have no problem winning the series; he could have a pretty bad day and still be unbeatable.  He only has 4 finishes (all wins!) so he does need to run at least one of the remaining two races.   Newbould did not run Greylock or Bretton Woods in 2016.  If he doesn’t show up for both it is a toss-up between the 2016 series champion Tim Van Orden and CMS teammates Matt Veiga and Todd Callaghan.  Veiga won at Greylock with Van Orden finishing second.  Callaghan (3rd in the 2016 series) won at Bretton woods with Veiga (2nd in the 2016 series less than 5 points behind TiVO) taking second.  Dan Princic could also jump into the mix if he does both races (he didn’t do either of them last year).
First
Last
Age
City
St
Team
Raced
Best 3
Total Pts
Average (from best 3)
Brandon
Newbould
35
Nottingham
NH
WRT
4
300.00
400.00
100.00
Tim
Van Orden
48
Bennington
VT
CMS
5
288.48
475.99
96.16
Matthew
Veiga
30
Lynn
MA
CMS
5
285.43
466.53
95.14
Todd
Callaghan
47
Beverly
MA
CMS
3
283.69
283.69
94.56
Dave
Dunham
53
Bradford
MA
CMS
5
275.26
446.72
91.75
Daniel
Princic
37
Reading
MA
WRT
3
274.41
274.41
91.47
Steve
Brightman
48
Providence
RI
CMS
5
271.52
443.22
90.51
Jim
Boule
50
Campton
NH
aR
4
271.43
357.32
90.48
Ed
Sheldon
52
Hooksett
NH
CMS
5
271.42
433.63
90.47
Isaiah
Westphalen
20
Roslindale
MA
4
266.94
355.06
88.98
Erik
Vandendries
52
Chestnut Hill
MA
CMS
4
266.78
349.54
88.93
Humza
Jafferji
28
Pelham
NH
GCS
3
261.22
261.22
87.07
Luke
Nugent
29
Greenfield
MA
3
258.35
258.35
86.12
Michael
Narcisi
33
Acton
MA
Sisu
4
254.87
334.72
84.96
 
I’ve listed the top 10 women below, sorted on best 3 of 5.  Only one woman in the top 10 currently has 5 finishes so a lot could happen in the final two races!  Christin Doneski (WRT) is currently leading but would need to do both of the races in order to get five.  She did NOT run Greylock or Bretton Woods last year. 
Women
No
Best
Total
First
Last
Age
City
St
Team
Raced
3 of 5
Points
Average (from best 3)
Christin
Doneski
46
Contoocook
NH
WRT
3
284.48
284.48
94.83
Leslie
O'Dell
41
Albany
NH
CMS
4
279.00
365.30
93.00
Jamie
Woolsey
33
Oneida
NY
aR
4
266.28
296.80
88.76
Jennifer
Downing
27
Boston
MA
3
265.49
265.49
88.50
Liz
Lierman
38
Florence
MA
WMDP
4
261.27
337.49
87.09
Sarah
Canney
34
Farminton
NH
Six03
4
254.94
332.62
84.98
Bethany
Mayo
32
Exeter
NH
Mystic
5
250.44
398.42
83.48
Alexandra
Brinkert
30
Medford
MA
4
246.58
321.96
82.19
Erica
Khan
51
Gloucester
MA
TG
4
243.96
321.48
81.32
Freddi
Triback
45
Gloucester
MA
TG
4
240.97
314.30
80.32
 
 

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