Next up (06/12/21) was the second race in CAR series, this one had a name that tells it all – Over the River and through the Woods. This course started at Delta Dental in Concord, climbed up over route 93 then crossed over the Merrimack River on what has to be the narrowest bike path ever. After that there is a mile of cross-country trails along the banks of the River before returning back over the bridge. An hour before the race I met up with some of my “Duct tape and spit” teammates along with a few others for a very enjoyable warm-up course preview. What we didn’t know at the time was that the course had been altered due to “covid reasons”. I spread the word as best I could and they also announced the change before the race started. We’d be heading out a slightly shorter way and have to loop around Delta Dental 2 before heading into the finish. The changes would make the course a little longer than 5k and would somehow lessen congestion (?). The tricky part for congestion would be the bike path over the Merrimack as we’d be heading back to the finish as others would be just heading out. This was due to the 5 second interval between each starter. Over 200 lined up and at 9am we were off.
I knew that Tim Cox (5 seconds) and Joe Shairs (10 seconds) would be catching me in the early going. Tim caught me at ¼ mile and we stayed together as Joe stormed by at ½ mile. As we approached the mile (5:45) Tim fell off (and eventually dropped out with back issues). I had a good stretch of running during the XC mile and was happy to keep Joe in sight. I was a bit surprised as a couple of guys (who must have seeded themselves wrong) went flying by before the 2 mile mark (11:58). I was really feeling it as we climbed back up over the Merrimack. It was tricky running through the pack of people who were heading out. Many were not paying very good attention and even more were not sticking to the left side of the trail. I was happy to make it through without running into anyone. The last loop around the building seemed to take forever and I kicked as best I could. My goal was to run under 6:00 pace so I can’t complain with my 18:41 (5:59 pace for 3.13 miles). I was surprised to hear afterward that some people did not do the loop around the building and ended up cutting 45-60 seconds off of the course. Hopefully they’ll figure out some way to fix that as it could mean a change in places for teams and individuals in the overall series and that means CASH.
Place Time Pace Name Age Bib City, State Div pl Div
2 16:53 5:27 Matthew Adams 23 6 Concord, NH 02/14 M2029
3 16:56 5:27 Michael Mott 18 3 Alton, NH 01/10 M1519
10 18:08 5:51 Joe Shairs 53 11 Peabody, MA 01/26 M5059
11 18:41 6:01 Dave Dunham 57 8 Bradford, MA 02/26 M5059
15 19:25 6:15 Doug Deangelis 54 19 Newbury, MA 05/26 M5059
20 20:09 6:29 Darin Brown 54 23 Madison, NH 08/26 M5059
27 20:37 6:38 Scott Clark 55 14 Gilmanton, NH 09/26 M5059
36 21:23 6:53 James Pawlicki 46 38 Lynn, MA 01/16 M4049
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