Monday, June 15, 2020

Mt Washington 40 years ago today

20th Mt Washington Road Race
Sunday (noon) June 15, 1980 - 471 Finishers

Bob Hodge continued his streak with a record fifth consecutive victory.  Durham’s Gary Crossan pressed him in the early going.  The field was again the largest to date with over 500 starters and 471 finishers were recorded.  It was 78 degrees at the base and 35 degrees with wind and drizzle at the finish.  Hodge was just over 28 minutes at the halfway house but was unable to improve on his 1:02:08 course record of the previous year.  At the time he held the four fastest times ever as he led a record 12 runners under 1:10. Hodge was in excellent form as displayed earlier in the year when he set an American Record for 15 Kilometers in Stanford CA.  He ran 44:00.2 to beat Gary Tuttle’s record by 53 seconds. 

Cathy Hodgdon of Franklin NH and a member of the UNH track team took the women’s race in 1:26:50. Liz Cunningham and Leslie Thompson followed close behind as the top three broke 1:30.  Thompson’s time remains (as of 2005) the third fastest for a junior runner (under the age of 20).  Her time would hold up as the record for another 19 years.

Team scoring was not listed however, if the combined times of the top five runners was used, BAA would have edged GBTC 5:50:41 to 5:51:52.  This remains one of the closest team finishes ever, and as one of only four times when two teams broke six hours (1979, 1999, 2005).

Jock Semple directed the race and complete results were printed in New England Running courtesy of Fred Brown Sr., the NEAC Long Distance running chairman.  Fred Ross made a deal with a sports printer to produce numbers for the race.  He borrowed a bumper sticker from Doug Philbrick (the Auto road manager) to get “Mt Washington” logo on the numbers.

Top 25 Finishers

Place     Name                            Team    Time
1          Robert Hodge                GBTC    1:04:29
2          Gary Crossan                 CTAC    1:05:27 FW
3          Brian Reinhold                           1:06:02
4          David Ezersky                GBTC    1:06:08
5          Mark Berman                 BAA      1:06:29
6          Hank Pfeifle                   TTAC    1:07:11
7          Keith Woodward            GMAC   1:07:52 FW
8          Tom Dowling                 BAA      1:08:17
9          Duncan McLena                         1:08:36
10         Gary Johnson                             1:08:40 FW
11        Steve Lavorgna             BAA      1:09:26
12        John Cederholm             BAA      1:09:50 FW
13        J Smith                                      1:10:19
14        Steven Bratt                  CSU      1:11:10
15        Martin Kittell                  ORC      1:11:16
16        Jim Fredericks               CRC      1:11:19
17        Kirk Siegel                     DOC      1:12:56
18        Chuck Riley                   GBTC    1:13:04
19        Andy Halpin                   UH        1:13:33
20         John Darsinos                GBTC    1:13:41
21        Ray Nelson                    JWAC    1:14:11
22         Donald Powers              GCS      1:14:18
23        Dana Poole                                1:14:23
24        Brad Hurst                     GBTC    1:14:30
25        Charles Moeser              GRC      1:14:33
198       Angus Wooten                           1:35:41 FW                  

Top Women
Place     Name                            Team    Time                 Age
1 Catherine Hodgdon                 TTAC    1:26:44 21        
2 Liz Cunningham                       BAA      1:29:41            
3 Leslie Thompson                     CRC      1:29:57 16        

No comments: