Canterbury XC race

I'd only run the Canterbury Shaker Village XC 5k once before.  I did the CARS series back in 2008 and did this race despite it being the day before the USATF NE 6km championships.  On that day my goal was to run as easy as possible to finish in the top 10 (and keep alive in the series overall standings = $$$).  I ran 19:44 on that day, 9th place and just 2 ticks ahead of Christin Doneski.  I had a decent run the next day taking 13th in the 40+ at the New England champs (Dan Verrington had a solid weekend taking 3rd at the 6k after a 4th place at Canterbury).

My goal this year was to run faster than my time in 2008.  I showed up over an hour before the start and walked around a bit checking out the scene. This is a great location for a Cross-Country race.  Great views from the top of the hill.  I remembered quite a bit of the course as I ran it for a warm-up.  This is a tough race with nearly 300' of climb and drop over 3 climbs.  There was also a lot of long grass out there, I guess the Shaker's don't believe in lawn mowers!

After checking out the course I did another mile in flats but felt sluggish so I didn't do any strides.  Just jogging around to stay loose.  I didn't see many of the guys from the other CARS races which was a bit surprising.  You can miss 2 of the 8 races, so maybe this was a big "miss" weekend.  I got a chuckle when the announcer mentioned the "mudhole on the backside".  About 200 lined up and off we went.   

I was in 5th place after the first couple of turns on the dirt road, then we hit the field and the deep grass.  By 1/2 mile I'd moved up to 2nd place a couple of steps behind Sean McCauley.  That was pretty much the action for the race.  Sean pulled away a bit in the first mile but I was about 5 seconds behind as we hit the biggest climb.  We stayed even on the "up" but on the "down" I closed the gap and at 2 miles was only a couple of seconds back.  I kept it close through the final couple of climbs but with a half-mile to go he accelerated and I couldn't match him.  I ended up in 2nd place 12 seconds back in 18:42.  I can't complain, it was a solid time considering the course and I was reasonable close at the finish.

Canterbury Shaker Village XC 5k

May 12, 2018             5 Kilometers                           Canterbury, NH
===================================================================================
Place Div/Tot  Div   Guntime Nettime Pace  Name                   Ag S Race# Hometown                Age %       
===== ======== ===== ======= ======= ===== ====================== == = ===== ======================= =======  
    1   1/3    MOPEN   18:32   18:30  5:58 Sean McCauley          26 M    58 Canterbury NH             70.18% 
    2   2/3    MOPEN   18:43   18:42  6:02 Dave Dunham            54 M    17 Bradford MA               81.37% 
    3   3/3    MOPEN   19:46   19:45  6:22 Mike Roy               21 M   215 Northfield NH             65.74% 
    4   1/16   M3039   19:56   19:54  6:25 Sam Wood               31 M   261 Laconia NH                65.59% 
    5   1/9    M2029   20:05   20:04  6:28 Timothy Lindberg       24 M   192 Ashland NH                64.70% 
    6   1/13   M4049   20:14   20:13  6:31 Mark Laprade           45 M    67 Bedford NH                70.29% 
    7   2/9    M2029   20:17   20:15  6:31 Tim Gurshin            26 M   237 Lafayette IN              64.11% 
    8   1/21   M5059   20:17   20:15  6:31 Glenn Miller           56 M   176 Campton NH                76.34% 
    9   1/5    M1519   20:34   20:27  6:35 Silas Fraly            18 M   268 Concord NH                63.51% 
   10   2/16   M3039   20:45   20:38  6:39 Gary Lemay             32 M    87 Concord NH                63.44% 

185 finishers

10 Years ago:

 Canterbury Cross Country Challenge
May 10, 2008   5 Kilometers                                     Canterbury, NH
===================================================================================
Place Div/Tot  Div   Time     Pace  Name                   Ag S Race# City/state              
===== ======== ===== =======  ===== ====================== == = ===== ======================= 
    1   1/36   M4049   17:22   5:36 Scott Clark            42 M    56 Gilmanton NH            
    2   2/36   M4049   17:27   5:37 Rod Viens              40 M    82 Grantham NH             
    3   1/19   M2029   17:37   5:40 Ryan Kelly             26 M   187 Concord NH              
    4   3/36   M4049   17:43   5:43 Dan Verrington         45 M    42 Bradford MA             
    5   2/19   M2029   18:03   5:49 Alex Brown             20 M   181 Hudson NH               
    6   1/22   M5059   19:19   6:14 Charlie Gunn           53 M   198 Henniker NH             
    7   3/19   M2029   19:22   6:14 Ben Lange              27 M   280 Concord NH              
    8   1/15   M0119   19:40   6:20 Joseph St Pierre       15 M   185 Manchester NH           
    9   4/36   M4049   19:44   6:21 Dave Dunham            44 M    35 Bradford MA             
   10   1/13   F3039   19:46   6:22 Christin Doneski       37 F    83 Hopkinton NH