Bretton Woods weekend – I was excited about this two-fer weekend which is definitely a rarity for me. Since the first race of the weekend was an uphill only and was a very short course I figured I could run it and do little damage leading into the second race. My arthritic ankle was really bothering me heading into the weekend but otherwise I was feeling pretty good. The weekend would decide the USATF NE mountain series.
First up was the Mt Rosebrook Ascent, a 1.7 miles “sprint” with 1,300’ of climb which meant an average grade of 14.5%. The entire race would be contested on the access road from the base lodge to the summit of Mt Rosebrook at Bretton Woods. The road wasn’t as rough as Loon (which was washed out by torrential rains) but the challenge would be to get good traction only the last .2 had nastier footing. A noon start is not my favorite so I went for an easy 3 mile run at Weir hill before heading north. It is always tough to properly fuel for this start time and I arrived at 11am feeling a bit hungry and even a little tired from 2 hours in the car. I went out for an easy 2 miles which included putting some flagging out to help me navigate my planned route at the start of the Sunday race. After that I switched into my Inov-8 race flats and did another mile of easy running. I did not feel ready to race but hoped once we started I’d get into a groove.
Fifty runners toed the line on a perfect 50 degree overcast day, some were here to collect a point in the USATF NE mountain series (and get “Goat” status). Turner Zamore (who won at Ascutney in 2016) took off at the start and was never challenged. Teammate Erik Vandendries went out strong and by 100 meters in I was off the back alone in third. Well, I wasn’t quite alone I could hear fellow Senior (50+) runner Jim Boule shadowing me. I got into something of a groove but watched the leaders pull away. By 11 minutes in I’d hit the mile (and climbed 850’) and I knew that tops in the 50+ was not in the cards. At 1.2 miles we took a sharp turn and I checked out where Jim was and he was between 20 and 30 seconds back. Yikes! The last .2 had a steady 20% grade and I managed to hold my place on that last slog.
After finishing I took pictures of most of the field before meeting up with Brian Ruhm (GCS), Christin Doneski (WRT), and a few others (including Vandenries and Boule who were not racing on Sunday) for a warm-down that included checking out nearly all of the control points for the Fell race (not in order so not much climb at all). The funniest line of the day came from race winner Turner Zamore. I was discussing Garmin watches with Erik Vandendries as he was looking for a new one. I showed Erik my 220 (Pink & White) and Turner noted “I have the men’s version” (Red & Black).
Mt Rosebrook Ascent - 50 finishers (12 M50-59)
Pl
|
Time
|
Name
|
Gend
|
Age
|
City
|
St
|
Team
| |
1
|
17:05
|
Turner
|
Zamore
|
M
|
33
|
South Hero
|
VT
| |
2
|
18:03
|
Erik
|
Vandendries
|
M
|
52
|
Chestnut Hill
|
MA
|
CMS
|
3
|
18:53
|
Dave
|
Dunham
|
M
|
53
|
Bradford
|
MA
|
CMS
|
4
|
19:26
|
Jim
|
Boule
|
M
|
50
|
Campton
|
NH
|
acidotic RACING
|
5
|
20:22
|
Heath
|
Brewer
|
M
|
33
|
Twin Mountain
|
NH
| |
6
|
21:09
|
Sula
|
Gay
|
F
|
38
|
New York
|
NY
|
Hunters Bog Trotters
|
7
|
21:45
|
Bruce
|
Christensen
|
M
|
49
|
Bolton
|
CT
|
Sound Runners
|
8
|
22:10
|
David
|
Forsee
|
M
|
31
|
Indianapolis
|
IN
| |
9
|
23:21
|
Leslie
|
O'Dell
|
F
|
41
|
Albany
|
NH
|
CMS
|
10
|
23:28
|
Paul
|
Kirsch
|
M
|
51
|
Madison
|
NH
|
acidotic RACING
|
After the warm-down I headed to Atitash and had a restless night that was both post-race and pre-race. I was back at Bretton Woods at 8:30am for the 10am start of the Fell Running championship. This is a bit different from the other mountain races as you can pick whatever route you want to the various check-points (although you must visit them in order). I’d done a lot of planning and scouting and was pretty sure of exactly where I wanted to go. Teammate Paul Bazanchuk joined me for a warm-up that included the first 8/10ths of a mile that we’d be racing. After that I switched into race flats and headed back out for another mile.
I felt pretty good although my ankle was killing me. I figured it wouldn’t be too bad once I got going. Again we had great weather, this day was crystal clear, dry, and around 50 degrees at the start. About 120 lined up for both the short and long course, both of which were flagged but did not require you to follow the flagging. Those worried about navigation could simply run the marked route which was longer (sometimes quite a bit longer) than the minimum distance you could cover.
I headed to the back of the start area with a few others who knew about my planned route to the first check-point. Off we went and I was alone in front right away, of course most of the field was headed out on the marked course so it’d be nearly a mile before I saw where I really was. I reached the base of the lift and saw teammate Todd Callaghan leading the charge with Scottish mountain runner Daniel Gay close behind and teammate (and fellow 50+ runner) Ed Sheldon in third. I slipped in about 20 seconds behind Ed as we all turned onto the steeper climb. Ed veered off onto a mountain bike trail as Todd and Daniel went straight up the lift (as did I). Ed popped back out about the same distance ahead but I slowly closed on him and Daniel as I hit the first checkpoint in 14:05. The 900’ in 1.2 miles was tough but I felt pretty good. I was 40 seconds behind Daniel and 15 behind Ed.
We climbed another 80’ in the next quarter-mile before dropping to 400’ to checkpoint “B” (2.1 miles = 20:08). I had passed Ed on the descent and didn’t see him as I turned and basically did a 180 for the climb to “C”. This was a brutal 6/10ths of a mile climb of 800’ (between 20%-30% grade the entire way). It took me nearly 10 minutes to climb but along the way I caught up to Daniel (who was 30+ seconds ahead of me at “B”). I was trying not to push it too hard as there would still be one more big climb after this, but that is always a fine line to walk. The upper part of this included some bushwacking using arms and legs to power forward. We were dead-even at C reaching 2.7 miles in 29:55.
Next up was a 7/10ths of a mile drop of 900’. The footing was surprisingly good and we reached part of the course I’d scouted the day before and I felt confident of what was ahead. I only lost a little ground on Daniel but never saw Todd on this part. I reached the bottom of Darby’s Drop (3.4 in 35:17) and my plan was to turn and go back up the way I’d come down. Daniel headed up Deception Bowl and I decided since it was pretty much the same distance it made more sense to run the same route as the guy I was racing. We got to the top of the Bowl and I was a bit surprised that we could see Todd up ahead cutting across the mountain. Probably no one has scouted the mountain as much as Todd. I had planned on just ascending to the restaurant then running the road but Todd’s angled route would be a bit shorter. Daniel was a few seconds ahead doing the same so it was “game on”.
Once we got to the road we lost sight of Todd and came to a sign that seemed to be pointing to check-point “E”. Daniel was a little ahead and I followed. We climbed a bit then crossed the 2nd mountain road. I started thinking that we weren’t going the right way. We climbed a bit more as I pulled out my map (for the first and only time during the race) and realized we were climbing back up to “C”. I yelled out and dropped back down to the road. Daniel followed and we hit “E” within a second of each other. In all it was only a 30 second or so mistake and only added a little bit of climb (40’).
We had about 1.5 miles to go and 1,100’ to drop. Daniel immediately pulled away and then peeled off down Agassiz. I decided at the last moment to try the glade route that Leslie O’Dell had scouted. The glades were very nice although a bit rougher footing than I like (Leslie ran 10 seconds faster than me on this descent). I came out at the bottom and was a solid 30+ seconds behind Daniel. I decided to stay on the marked course into the finish since he was doing the same and maybe he’d bonk or get lost or something and I’d sneak into 2nd place. He didn’t and I crossed the line 49 seconds back in third place. Todd was about 2.5 minutes ahead of me (not sure how hard he ran, he is preparing for a 100 mile race and did a 20 mile warm-down!). All in all it was a pretty good weekend, my ankles are very tender and my quads are sore but probably not as bad as after Cranmore.
Bretton Woods Fell running championships – 107 finishers (20 in the 50-59)
Pl
|
Time
|
Name
|
Gend
|
Age
|
City
|
St
|
Team
| |
1
|
0:56:36
|
Todd
|
Callaghan
|
M
|
48
|
Beverly
|
MA
|
CMS
|
2
|
0:58:09
|
Daniel
|
Gay
|
M
|
42
|
New York
|
NY
| |
3
|
0:58:58
|
Dave
|
Dunham
|
M
|
53
|
Bradford
|
MA
|
CMS
|
4
|
1:04:07
|
Chris
|
Burnham
|
M
|
24
|
Stowe
|
VT
| |
5
|
1:04:15
|
Kelsey
|
Allen
|
F
|
34
|
WENDELL
|
MA
|
WMDP
|
6
|
1:05:26
|
Ed
|
Sheldon
|
M
|
53
|
Hooksett
|
NH
|
CMS
|
7
|
1:06:09
|
Heath
|
Brewer
|
M
|
33
|
Twin Mountain
|
NH
| |
8
|
1:06:15
|
Steve
|
Reed
|
M
|
59
|
Penacook
|
NH
|
trihardracing
|
9
|
1:06:25
|
Leslie
|
O'Dell
|
F
|
41
|
Albany
|
NH
|
CMS
|
10
|
1:06:28
|
John
|
Kinnee
|
M
|
38
|
West Townsend
|
MA
|
50+
Pl
|
Time
|
Name
|
Gend
|
Age
|
City
|
St
|
Team
| |
1
|
0:58:58
|
Dave
|
Dunham
|
M
|
53
|
Bradford
|
MA
|
CMS
|
2
|
1:05:26
|
Ed
|
Sheldon
|
M
|
53
|
Hooksett
|
NH
|
CMS
|
3
|
1:06:15
|
Steve
|
Reed
|
M
|
59
|
Penacook
|
NH
|
trihardracing
|
4
|
1:12:33
|
Richard
|
Fargo
|
M
|
59
|
CHATHAM
|
NH
| |
5
|
1:14:26
|
Brian
|
Ruhm
|
M
|
52
|
NASHUA
|
NH
|
GCS
|
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