Wayland XC festival – I’m planning on doing most of the races in the USATF NE cross-country grand prix since there is little conflict with other races I want to do. This weekend I headed to Wayland for their big XC festival. They get over 300 kids running in the youth races and another 200-plus in the open race. I’ve been to Wayland a few times as a spectator and competed back in 2007.
I got there with plenty of time to spare as I wanted to get in a good warm-up. I don’t like the later starts (11am for this) it makes it trickier to fuel and I’m just not used to racing at that time of day. I did get to chat with some people which is always nice and got some kind words from Matt Germain who is working through a hip injury (he said my overcoming injuries inspired him which was very nice to hear). It was windy, very humid (100%?), and over 70 degrees when I headed out for a course preview. The course was sneaky tough with no big hills but a few that would add up to 200’ of climb and drop. The footing was mostly very good and featured a lot of grass and maybe ¾ mile of dirt trail. There was even cool short section on top of the Weston aqueduct. I felt kind of lousy warming up which is typical. As I changed into race gear it started to rain which was great. Since it was so humid the rain made it feel a bit more comfortable. I ran another mile and threw in four strides arriving at the line just as the “unique” rendition of the Star Spangled Banner took place (lyrics be damned!).
It was good to see Nate Jenkins, new CMS teammate Dan Raboin, Arthur Besse, and Martin Tighe. For the first time in the 2017 series we’d have a scoring team. We lined up on the far left on the start line which meant we’d be on the inside as we climbed the hill and turned to the left. I hoped to just stay on my feet and stay out of trouble in the first half-mile. As is usually the case the pace was fast early on (something about cross-country racing) but I ran comfortably hard up the hill and watched as Terry McNatt (CSU) nearly ran into the big metal pipes on the top of the hill. It was tightly packed and a bit hard to see what was ahead. I focused on Arthur and followed him as we started going around some of the fast starters. Arthur was easing into the race and right after Wayne Levy (BAA) went by he upped the tempo and I watched both of them slowly move through the field.
I was steadily passing people as well and had a good stretch from 1.5 to 2 miles where I passed about a dozen people, most of those on the downhill trail section where it seemed people were being very cautious. At 2 miles I could see Jason Cakouros (HFC) not that far ahead. He had gone out very hard and was feeling the impact of that. I kept thinking “hang on” and was still passing people as my watch beeped at 2.5 miles. About 100 meters later Brian Ruhm (GCS) went by. He beat me on the roads at the Grand Prix races at New Bedford and Merrimack but I’d recently beat him at a couple of Mountain races. I tried to latch onto him but he had a gear left. Unfortunately for me so did Mark Reeder (GLRR) who I knew was close behind me throughout the race as people had been yelling “Go Mark!”. As we headed down the final hill and onto the track he flew by like I was standing still. I had nothing left.
I crossed the line in 51st and 6th in the 50+. Nate had a good run taking 4th just six seconds behind the winner. Our team took 6th place. If nothing else this was a good tune-up leading into the USA masters XC champs which will be held in Franklin Park (W Roxbury, MA) next weekend.
212 finishers – 26 50-59 finishers
1 17:04 ANDREW GARDINER 52 Dover MA BAA
2 18:29 WAYNE LEVY 52 Waban MA BAA
3 18:35 JASON CAKOUROS 52 Milton MA HFC Striders
4 18:44 BRIAN RUHM 52 Nashua NH GCS
5 18:46 MARK REEDER 58 Brighton MA GLRR
6 18:51 DAVE DUNHAM 53 Bradford MA CMS
7 19:44 TERRY MCNATT 52 Needham MA CSU
8 19:56 MARTIN TIGHE 59 Providence RI CMS
9 19:56 BOB COLLINS 57 Wellesley MA BAA
10 20:03 CHRIS KELLY 55 Westwood MA
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