Kingman farm race

Kingman farm trail race – I saw this race on the acidotic Racing website and know what a good job they do putting on races so I chose this to get me back on the horse after five weeks without a race.  I checked out the map online and saw that I knew some of the course from previous races.  Those were at night and on snowshoes so it was almost like I’d never seen the course.  I did a 2 mile warm-up out/back on the course and liked what I saw.  There was a little narrow single-track with roots (but not rocky) and a fair amount of wider path (almost a dirt road).  There would also be a tough hill in the last mile of the race.  I switched into trail racing shoes and headed back out for ½ mile to check out the finish.  I’d met up with Jim Boule (aR) who also hadn’t raced since Loon so there would be some competition.  I wanted to have a gauge of when I had ¼ mile to go (always a good idea especially when the course distance may be unknown).  Man, I was dripping from the nearly 100% humidity, but thankful that it was only in the 70’s at the 9am start.  Chris Dunn gave some instructions and we were off.

 

We had 100 meters in the parking lot then it closed down to the single-track path.  It went out faster than I could go and I found myself in 7^th place as we got onto the trail.  No panic as there was plenty of racing to go.  I passed a couple of guys as we climbed a little, and then got around a couple of quick ladies.  By the ½ mile I was in second place about five seconds behind the leader.  I hoped he was just a fast starter (he wasn’t) and that he’d fade (he didn’t).  I concentrated on keeping him in sight and listening for footsteps behind me.  I didn’t hear anyone closing.  It was fun sharing some of the trail on the way back as a few people shouted for me which was cool.  I could also hear them call for the next person, which gave me and idea of where the chasers were.  I felt pretty tired on the climb (120’ in .3) but liked the switchbacks.  I could now see that I had about 15-20 seconds on Kassandra Marin who was moving well and looking strong in third place.  I finally got to the top of the hill and tried to keep moving at a decent clip on the downhill to the finish.  I was relieved to see my ¼ mile to go just a bit after my watch beeped for 3 miles.  I held on to second place in 23:37 over the 3.3 miles.  I can’t complain, it was a decent start to what I hope will be a streak of racing pretty much every weekend until November.

 

 

1          Thomas Jarvela  22:51    M32      Stratham, NH     FindMyTrail.org

2          Dave Dunham    23:37    M53      Bradford, MA      CMS

3          Kassandra Marin 24:13    F27       Merrimack, NH    SISU Project

4          Jim Boule           24:38    M50      Campton, NH      acidotic RACING

5          Amani Harvey     24:53    M13      Durham, NH       Granite State Flash

6          Will Locandro     25:27    M45      Rye, NH             SIX03 ENDURANCE

7          Ed Harvey          25:34    M42      Durham, NH      

8          Michael Day       25:37    M37      Merrimack, NH   

9          Kyle Huston        25:54    M24      Portsmouth, NH 

10         Aaron Hubbell     25:58    M43      Durham, NH