Old Course records - Stu's 30k

 With no official Stu’s 30km race this year, my course record from 1997 is guaranteed to last another year. I set the record 24 years ago but the course changed in 1996 (the start was moved from Tahanto HS to Clinton HS).  The course remained the same with many challenging hills, just the point at which the start and finish were placed changed.  1997 was also note worthy as it was the biggest field in the races (now) 42 year history with 993 covering the 18.6 miles.  Personally I think the new course might be a bit easier with some of the tougher hills earlier in the race than the old course, however the last hill out of Clinton in the final mile might make me rethink that!  Of the top 15 times since the new version of the course all were set in 1996 & 1997 with the exception of Patrick Moulton (2007) and Ruben Sanca (2017 & 2018).  That makes sense as 1997 was the last year that Stu’s hosted the USATF NE championships which definitely impacts the quality of the field.   I had good luck at this race over the years picking up 5 wins.  This one in 1997 was by a scant 3 seconds but was not my closest finish, I’d also won in 3/10 of a second in 1992.  From my training log on that day:  03-09-97 - 1.4 warm-up with Byrne (Decker), Craig (Fram) etc...felt ok but foot sore (I’d later find out that I was running on a stress fracture that would completely break requiring surgery and a screw to hold it together) and it was freezing out there.  Some wind on the course and splits were totally inaccurate (there was a running joke back in the day that CMS had a code to figure out your “real” splits…the course was certified but the mile marks were nowhere near where they belonged).  Pack of about 20 through 10k.  Rich Marion out front throwing all kinds of random sprints at the pack.  Jose Moreira (BAA) bolted at 7m.  We went after him and caught him at 15k with Byrne pushing.  Down to 8 in the lead group by 10 miles.  (Andy) Spaulding made a big move at 13 and pulled away.  Craig, Byrne, Eric (Morse), and I pushed hard to close.  Dropped Morse and Byrne after 16, around 17 Craig and Spaulding pulled away (I fell back and was pretty sure I was running for third place at this point).  I pushed hard on the climb out of Clinton (1.5 miles to go) and took the lead with 1/2 mile to go.  Spaulding went back by me and I tucked behind him until I saw the line.  Kicked with all I had and took the win in the last 200 meters.