Thursday, October 21, 2021

Looking back (way back) - 1981 & 1986

 40 years ago (October 1981) I raced four times in my final cross-country season at Billerica High (BMHS). I started the month a home victory running 14:52 as we beat Tewksbury 21-37. The following week I “took it easy” running 15:50 to win at Dracut where I missed the course record by 1 second so I was told after the race. I didn’t really care as we won 18-37 and I wanted to save something for the Catholic Memorial meet four days later. At the CM I had my worst finish of the season (including the state meet) finishing in fourth place in 14:22 over the 2.85 mile course. Steve Perkins (Danvers) led the way running 14:03, followed by Chris Gorman (S. Weymouth), and Dan Foley (St Johns), not a bad group to finish behind! The next weekend I took 2nd place 12 seconds behind Steve Perkins at the Northern Area Championships in Topsfield. I ran 15:22 over the 3 mile course and noted it was “rainy & muddy”, Cross-Country as it should be.

 


35 Years ago (October 1986) I only raced twice in my final season of cross-country at U-Lowell. I picked up my first win of the season at the URI invitational. Our squad was very strong, losing only to D1 powerhouse Providence College (23-37). I took the lead at 3.5 miles, crossing the line in 24:36 for the 8km course. Two weeks later I picked up another win in a tri-meet versus Northeastern and U-mass over 5.2 miles at Franklin Park (25:44).

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