Looking back - 20 years ago (June 2000)

20 Years ago (June 2000): This month kicked off a 7 week stretch where I put in 12 races. During June of 2000 I covered 412 miles and raced four times. I started the month off taking it out hard (4:39) at the Miltner’s shoe 5k in Rochester NH.  This did not discourage teammates Dan Verrington and Richard Bolt who hung close. Dan worked his way by and went on to top the field of 244.

1   15:11  4:54 Dan Verrington   37 M BRADFORD MA

2   15:17  4:56 Dave Dunham     36 M BRADFORD MA
3   15:22  4:57 Richard Bolt       29 M MANCHESTER NH
4   15:43  5:04 Scott Clark         34 M GILMANTON NH
5   15:46  5:05 Mike Brady         40 M NEWMARKET NH
6   16:21  5:16 Kevin Beck         30 M PENACOOK NH
7   16:44  5:23 Ernest Brake      39 M NORTH SUTTON NH

The following weekend I doubled up, kicking off the weekend at the USATF NE 10k championships in Portsmouth NH. It was very hot. I found myself in fifth place in the early going. After a fast 4:48 and 4:54 we settled into a more reasonable pace for the conditions (5:04, 5:06, 4:59) before the kicking commenced. Donahue took the victory and I came home with a 4:54 last mile to take third place.

I'm in back n 5th place (tucked behind Morse)

1 30:24 4:54 Mark Donahue       41 M NEWPORT RI        CMS
2 30:36 4:56 Pete Hammer        33 M NEWTON MA         BRC
3 30:57 4:59 Dave Dunham        36 M BRADFORD MA      CMS
4 31:04 5:00 Craig Fram            41 M PLAISTOW NH      WHIRL
5 31:15 5:02 Eric Morse             35 M BERLIN VT            CMS
6 31:30 5:05 Dan Verrington      37 M BRADFORD MA      CMS

16 32:25 5:13 Richard Bolt         29 M MANCHESTER NH  CMS
19 32:44 5:17 Scott Clark          34 M GILMANTON NE    CMS
20 32:54 5:18 Byrne Decker       33 M YARMOUTH ME     CMS
21 32:58 5:19 Rod Viens            32 M SUNAPEE NH        CMS
22 32:59 5:19 Joe Shairs            32 M PEABODY MA        NSS
30 33:18 5:22 James Pawlicki     25 M BEVERLY MA         GBTC
39 33:38 5:25 Ben Nephew        24 M MALDEN MA          GBTC
50 34:16 5:31 Mark Behan         37 M NEWTON NH         WHIRL

The next day I headed up to Wilton NH for the Pack Monadnock 10 mile. I thought I’d take it easy, but Eric Morse showed up and both of us were looking for the win. Eric took it easy for the first four and I just hung with him. Mike Casner ran with us through 7 miles. We could see Fergus Cullen a minute ahead and at 7 Eric took off in pursuit. I just couldn’t go that fast. Eric caught Fergus at 8.5 and went on to win in 1:01:25. I slipped by Fergus with about a tenth of a mile to go to take 2^nd place in 1:02:01 with Fergus third 12 seconds later. Eric and I still hold all of the top 6 times run at Pack.  I have the two fastest LOSING times (thanks to Morse).  Eric Blake is the only other person to crack 1 hour at Pack.

Rank     Time                 Pl          Year     Name                            Age       City, St              Club

1          58:35                1          1999     Eric Morse                     34         Berlin, VT          CMS
2          58:49                2          1999     Dave Dunham                35         Bradford, MA     CMS
3          59:07                1          2001     Eric Morse                     36         Berlin, VT          CMS
4          59:13                1          1996     Dave Dunham                32         Bradford, MA     CMS
5          59:30                1          1992     Dave Dunham                28         Lndnderry, NH   CMS
6          59:40                2          2001     Dave Dunham                37         Bradford, MA     CMS
7          59:55                1          2010     Eric Blake                      31         New Britain, CT
8          1:00:12             1          1997     Eric Morse                     32         Berlin, VT          CMS
9          1:00:53             3          2001     Craig Fram                    42         Plaistow, NH      WRT
10         1:00:58             1          2002     Craig Fram                    43         Plaistow, NH      WRT

The following weekend (06/17/00) nearly 900 finished the Mt Washington road race with 80 degrees and high humidity at the base and 50 degrees with 30-50 mph winds above treeline.  CMS dominated the team category placing 6 in the top 10.  I had an “okay” run considering the conditions.  The two Kenyan runners took off at the start while I ran in a small pack with teammates Eric Morse and Mark Donahue.  Donahue fell off at 1.5 (ran 1:15 for 3^rd in the 40+) and I shook Morse  between the 2 and 3 mile posts.  I ended up getting $300 for third place.  Then ran a VERY fast time down (58:33) with Morse, Donahue, Verrington, and Mark Behan.



1 59:24 Daniel Kihara          KEN

2 60:04 Joseph Kibor           KEN

3 62:48 Dave Dunham        CMS

4 64:54 Eric Morse              CMS

5 67:50 Dan Verrington      CMS

6 69:37 Mike Casner           CMS

7 69:58 Fergus Cullen

8 70:45 Richard Bolt            CMS

9 71:25 Simon Karori          KEN

10 73:35 Stephen Peterson               CMS



The final race of the month (06/25/00) was the USATF NE 20km championships in Bedford NH.  It was sunny humid and 88 degrees on the rolling point to point course.  Dave Hinga took it out hard and ended up dropping out at 6 miles.  I ran with Craig Fram most of the race, going back and forth throughout.  I couldn’t quite get him at the end (by one second). I got $50 for my third place finis. CMS put five in the top seven to dominate the scoring.



1 64:42 Peter Hammer       33M        BRC

2 65:41 Craig Fram              41M        WRT

3 65:42 Dave Dunham        36M        CMS

4 67:17 Todd Coffin             38M        CMS

5 67:46 Dan Verrington      37M        CMS

6 67:59 Larry Sayers            40M        CMS

7 68:13 Richard Bolt            29M        CMS

8 68:18 Paul Hammond      40M        WRT

9 68:52 Rod Hemingway 24M           GBTC

10 69:26 Eric Lavigne          24M        GLRR