Wachusett Mountain race

My 22nd time getting to the start (and finish) of the Wachusett Mountain race.  I've run many versions of this race and enjoy this one.  It is a mostly uphill 2.9 mile race with a mile up "Mile Hill Road" before a short downhill into the park then the final tough 1.5 of steady climb to the summit.

A near record number showed up for the race despite temps in the 80s and high humidity.  The cloud cover and breeze may have mitigated some of the difficulty of the warm day.  I got in an easy 3 mile warm-up on Balance rock road with D-la and Ed Sheldon.  I quickly changed into racing flats and did another mile getting to the line just before the start.  It was great to see so many of my teammates and a very deep 50+ field.

I found myself in 15th place 1/2 mile into the race as things started to settle down and reality hit.  The second 1/2 mile is one of the toughest and I caught a few (including early women's leader Corey Dowe).  I was keeping my eyes on the guys up ahead trying to reel in anyone who faltered.  Dan Princic flew by on the downhill into the park and we had a laugh at my terrible 3-point attempt with my empty cup (I was nowhere near the trash barrel).  I could see Tim Van Orden up ahead, and knew he had the 50+ title in hand.  Erik Vandendries was about 20 seconds ahead as my watch beeped for 1.5 miles.  In the next half I was able to get by Princic and started to close the gap on Erik.  That kept me charged up as Erik and I have been pretty evenly matched.  I ended up catching him as we made the final turn for the summit and put a scant 4 seconds on him by the finish.

As I was hoping to run 20 on Monday and did not want to get beaten up by the downhill (last year I raced the downhill as well and was sore for a week), I joined up with TiVO and Todd Callaghan for an easy run back down the course.  No complaints with the effort and I'm looking forward to racing up/down Cranmore next weekend!

Pl	Time	First	Last	Gen	Ag	Cityr	State
1	19:44.9	SCOTT	MINDEL	M	31	BURLINGTON	MA
2	20:16.5	JACOB	WORMALD	M	22	PELHAM	NH
3	20:32.1	RYAN	CARRARA	M	41	HUDSON	MA
4	20:40.5	SCOTT	LESLIE	M	36
5	20:51.3	BRANDYN	NARO	M	31	MANCHESTER	NH
6	20:55.2	CAMERON	COGBURN	M	32	ARLINGTON	MA
7	21:06.5	TODD	CALLAGHAN	M	48	BEVERLY	MA
8	21:10.6	TIM	VAN ORDEN	M	50	BENNINGTON	VT
9	21:18.4	LIAM	GARVEY	M	22	WEST SPRINGFIELD	MA
10	21:22.6	ANDREW	GREENE	M	33	WORCESTER	MA
11	21:41.1	DAVE	DUNHAM	M	54	BRADFORD	MA
12	21:45.6	ERIK	VANDENDRIES	M	53	CHESTNUT HILL	MA
13	22:00.2	DAN	PRINCIC	M	38	READING	MA
14	22:17.6	STEVE	BRIGHTMAN	M	49	PROVIDENCE	RI
15	22:21.8	JIM	BOULE	M	51	CAMPTON	NH
16	22:38.5	JAMES	PAWLICKI	M	43	LYNN	MA
17	22:42.9	KIM	NEDEAV	F	38
18	22:45.8	JOHN	HERRON	M	5	SHELBURNE	MA
19	22:48.4	WILLIAM	JACKSON	M	36	DANVERS	MA
20	22:49.6	ED	SHELDON	M	53	HOOKSETT	NH