20 years ago – March 2000: I finished my first full season of snowshoe racing with a
win at the Moody Springs 8.5 mile race. It seems like over the years as the
races have gotten a little more popular the distances have shrunk. Now it is
unusual to see a 10k, back then you could race 15k, 10miles, even a half-marathon.
A week later I did the USATF NE ½ marathon in Melrose MA as a workout. Mark Behan and I ran with Petey, finishing together in just under 1:21.
Two weeks later I gave my best at the Merrimack River trail race but couldn’t
beat Ben Nephew. On a perfect 50 degree morning a field of just under 300
runners took off along the banks of the scenic River. Nephew pulled away in the
early miles and curiously I caught him around 6 miles. The surprise was that
I’d made up ground on the “rougher” and hillier section of the course. I
thought I’d use my leg-speed to motor on by, but Ben thought otherwise. I hung
with him but just couldn’t quite get ahead. He ended up winning in 58:31 with
me 3 seconds back. This gave me the dubious distinction of having been on the
losing end of the two closest finishes in the history of the event (I also lost
by 1 second to Craig Fram in 1995). Pelham High School runner Patrick
Moulton finished in 4th place overall breaking his Junior (age
19 and under) by 4 minutes.
1
Ben
Nephew
M2039 1
MALDEN
MA
58:31
5:51
2
Dave
Dunham
M2039 2
BRADFORD
MA
58:34
5:51
3
Robert
Hoppler
M2039 3
PLAISTOW
NH
1:00:55
6:06
4
Patrick
Moulton
M0219 1
PELHAM
NH
1:01:41
6:10
5
Greg
Loomis
M2039 4
FRAMINGHAM MA 1:03:14
6:19
6
Richie
Peres
M2039 5
PLYMOUTH
MA
1:03:50
6:23
7
Matt
Pimentel
M0219 2
ANDOVER
MA
1:04:02
6:24
8
Mark Behan
M2039 6
NEWTON
NH
1:04:07
6:25
9
BJ
Bottomley
M2039 7
NASHUA
NH
1:04:40
6:28
10 Ken
Clark
M2039 8 SOMERS
CT
1:04:57
6:30
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