USATF NE XC relay

It has been very difficult to find racing opportunities under current conditions so when events become available, I’ve jumped in.  Such was the case when USATF NE (Steve Vaitones) sent out word about a cross-country relay.  I was excited to get back to Franklin Park but the distance (1.3+ miles) was going to be a challenge.  That is super-short, and I find it takes me a couple of miles just to get up to speed.  The team aspect with 8 teams per start window (to stay under the 25 person capacity limit) meant we’d get to warm-up with our teammates and cheer on our rivals.  Dan Verrington and I teamed up with new CMS member (I’d recruited him) Scott Grandfield.  We got together and headed out for a couple of laps around the course to ensure we all knew where we were going.  It was a pretty simple loop that included the “Wilderness” section of the Park.  Dan and I have raced here many times over the last 30 years (and my first ever race against Dan was across the street in the golf course where cross-country races were held in the 1980’s).

Time was tight and I switched in Inov-8 trail shoes as Dan headed out for a few strides before the start.  I got in another mile before the relay started then did another half-mile with some strides.  I was pretty nervous about trying to run fast.  Five minutes after the start we could see the leader coming back onto the field for the final 1/3^rd of a mile around the border of the field.  The teams were pretty evenly spaced with each one about 10-15 seconds ahead of the next.  There were only four runners over 50 in the race and college teammate Jason Cakorous ran an excellent 7:34 and Dan was close behind in 7:58. I took off about 15 seconds down on the BAA women’s team and had her in my sights.  I reached the mile in 5:47 and caught her just before that split.  I couldn’t see the next guy but gave it my best right to the line with a 7:55 split.  Scott took off and he closed on the guy in front of him but didn’t quite get him despite running an impressive 7:09 (9^th fastest time of the day and fastest 50+).  Our team took 7^th out of 15 teams.  Team manager Scott Mindel ran all three legs and finished in fifth place!

I'm heading into the finish (left) as Scott heads out

Teams

Team time	Race #	Team name	Leg #	Name		Split time
21:12	2	GBTC	1	Andrew	Chalmers	6:54
		GBTC	2	Erik	Hinrichsen	6:55
		GBTC	3	David	Moyer	7:23
21:40	1	HFC	1	Jason	Cakouros	7:34
		HFC	2	TJ	Unger	6:56
		HFC	3	Mark	McDermott	7:10
21:48	1	Old Goat	1	Daniel	Mortimer	7:07
		Old Goat	2	David	Goodrich	7:41
		Old Goat	3	Ryan	Moran	7:00
21:56	2	Emerging Elites	1	Ethan	Jina	6:56
		Emerging Elites	2	Sean	Whalen	7:45
		Emerging Elites	3	Aalam	Sulski	7:15
22:12	1	Team Mindel	1	Scott	Mindel	7:09
		Team Mindel	2	Scott	Mindel	7:31
		Team Mindel	3	Scott	Mindel	7:32
22:54	1	Tracksmith	1	Cole	Townsend	6:52
		Tracksmith	2	Blake	Landry	8:12
		Tracksmith	3	Shamus	Brady	7:50
23:02	1	CMS-50+	1	Dan	Verrington	7:58
		CMS-50+	2	Dave	Dunham	7:55
		CMS-50+	3	Scott	Grandfield	7:09
24:16	2	Emerging Elite women	1	Victoria	Fawcett	7:48
		Emerging Elite women	2	Abby	Artabane	7:54
		Emerging Elite women	3	Casey	Wig	8:34
24:27	1	BAA women	1	Monica	Adler	7:43
		BAA women	2	Lindsay	Willard	8:23
		BAA women	3	Kristin	Shaw	8:21
24:41	2	NE elite women	1	Ali	Gillooly	7:46
		NE elite women	2	Angie	Martinez	8:36
		NE elite women	3	Caroline	Collins	8:19
25:19	2	GBTC women	1	Jenna	Castro	8:27
		GBTC women	2	Alicia	Cutter	8:25
		GBTC women	3	Kiah	Hardcastle	8:27
25:51	2	GBTC 40+	1	Rubesh	Jacobs	9:03
		GBTC 40+	2	Matthew	Lyons	8:03
		GBTC 40+	3	Jason	Pollutro	8:45
26:34	2	Emerging Elite women2	1	Ellie	Mraz	8:19
		Emerging Elite women3	2	Francesca	Keeley	9:53
		Emerging Elite women4	3	Victoria	Fawcett	8:22
30:12	2	LAC 40+ women	1	Victoria	Bok	9:47
		LAC 40+ women	2	Melanie	MacFarlane	10:43
		LAC 40+ women	3	Jennifer	Stewart	9:42
30:58	2	Brookline TC women	1	Alessia	Uyenoyama	9:43
		Brookline TC women	2	Carlyn	Uyenoyama	11:21
		Brookline TC women	3	Siena	Uyenoyama	9:54

 

 

Top 25 individual

Rank	Name		Split time	Leg #	Race #	Team name	Team time
1	Cole	Townsend	6:52	1	1	Tracksmith	22:54
2	Andrew	Chalmers	6:54	1	2	GBTC	21:12
3	Erik	Hinrichsen	6:55	2	2	GBTC	21:12
4	TJ	Unger	6:56	2	1	HFC	21:40
5	Ethan	Jina	6:56	1	2	Emerging Elites	21:56
6	Ryan	Moran	7:00	3	1	Old Goat	21:48
7	Daniel	Mortimer	7:07	1	1	Old Goat	21:48
8	Scott	Mindel	7:09	1	1	Team Mindel	22:12
9	Scott	Grandfield	7:09	3	1	CMS-50+	23:02
10	Mark	McDermott	7:10	3	1	HFC	21:40
11	Aalam	Sulski	7:15	3	2	Emerging Elites	21:56
12	David	Moyer	7:23	3	2	GBTC	21:12
13	Scott	Mindel	7:31	2	1	Team Mindel	22:12
14	Scott	Mindel	7:32	3	1	Team Mindel	22:12
15	Jason	Cakouros	7:34	1	1	HFC	21:40
16	David	Goodrich	7:41	2	1	Old Goat	21:48
17	Monica	Adler	7:43	1	1	BAA women	24:27
18	Sean	Whalen	7:45	2	2	Emerging Elites	21:56
19	Ali	Gillooly	7:46	1	2	NE elite women	24:41
20	Victoria	Fawcett	7:48	1	2	Emerging Elite women	24:16
21	Shamus	Brady	7:50	3	1	Tracksmith	22:54
22	Abby	Artabane	7:54	2	2	Emerging Elite women	24:16
23	Dave	Dunham	7:55	2	1	CMS-50+	23:02
24	Dan	Verrington	7:58	1	1	CMS-50+	23:02
25	Matthew	Lyons	8:03	2	2	GBTC 40+	25:51