USATF
NE XC championship (11-05) – 106 finishers (45 in the 50-59)
The
cross-country championships at Franklin Park was the final race in both the
USATF NE XC grand prix and the All-Terrain Runner series. I was involved
in both series and was looking forward to a slightly longer (8km rather than
5km) race. I picked up Dan Verrington and we were among the first to
arrive for the race. The CMS tent was a flurry of activity, we had a
great turnout in the 50+, a few less in the 40+, and couldn’t quite field a
full team in the open race.
A big
group of us headed out 50 minutes before the race to run the first three
miles. We were joined by Titus Mutinda (GBTC) and it was a nice relaxed
warm-up with plenty of time to catch up with everyone. The team aspect of
cross-country makes is so much more enjoyable, sometimes all the training alone
gets a bit much and it is great to spend some time with teammates.
After
the warm-up I changed out of my 1991 Asics track suit (which got a lot of heads
turning and many comments) and into my race gear. I probably shouldn’t
have used the light-weight Inov-8’s but have used them all season and wasn’t
really willing to change (my ankles would not be happy with me after the race).
My hope for this race was to finish in the top ½ of the field and break 30
minutes. It seemed like I knew everyone out there and EVERYONE looked
fast.
I went
out conservatively hoping that I’d be able to pick off people who inevitably
are aggressive at the start (which seems the norm in cross-country). I
settled in with teammate Martin Tighe with Dan a few seconds in front of
us. I passed Dan and Titus on the downhill after our first trip up Bear
Cage hill. It was kind of funny as Titus had mentioned during the warm-up
how much he disliked the downhill. That was pretty much the end of
passing people. Teammate Erik Vandendries was 10-15 seconds ahead as we
hit 2 miles and I worked on closing on him (I never did). At 2.5 miles
Brian Ruhm (GCS) passed me, I tried to latch on to him with no luck. He
was the only person to pass me during the race. Nothing much of note
happened over the second half of the race. I could see a line of guys in
front of me and I knew pretty much all of them. I just couldn’t make up
any ground. I can’t say I’m displeased with the result (29:47 for 45th
place) but as always would have liked to be a little faster.
Our
team had a decent day taking second place in the 40+ and 50+. In the 50+
we put 5 guys in the top 16 but couldn’t overcome the BAA which put three in
the top 4. It was a close race with BAA taking the win with 49 points,
CMS 2nd with 54 points and GSH third with 61 points.
I hope
to get two more XC races before team nationals (Dec. 3 – Lexington KY).
Next up will be the Lynn golf course “Par 70 5k” then the Chelmsford Alumni XC
race.
Pl
Time
Name
Age Team
1
26:46 Peter Hammer
51 BAA
2
26:48 Andy Gardiner
52 BAA
3
28:05 Michael Nahom
50 GSH
4
28:45 Wayne Levy
52 BAA
5
28:46 David Principe
50 CMS
6
28:49 Pete Bottomley
56 Dirigo
7
28:52 Mark Reeder
58 GLRR
8
28:55 Jason Cakouros
52 HFC
9
29:03 John Sullivan
57 HFC
10
29:07 Alejandro Heuck
52 GSH
11
29:12 Edward Sheldon
53 CMS
12
29:21 Francis Burdett
52 GSH
13
29:30 Brian Ruhm
52 GCS
14
29:33 Erik Vandendries
52 CMS
15
29:47 Dave Dunham
53 CMS
16
29:59 Daniel
Verrington
55 CMS
17
30:11 Tony Bates
58 GMAA
18
30:19 Titus Mutinda
52 GBTC
19
30:24 Paul Davies
50 BAA
20
30:37 Peter Fratini
52 GSH
21
30:47 Martin Tighe
59 CMS
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