Hawks XC – Elm Brook Park, Hopkinton NH 09-16-23
I had planned on doing the Essex County Greenbelt 50 mile ride this
weekend but with hurricane Lee brushing the coast the ride was canceled.
I saw that the first race in the Delta Dental XC series was a new event in
Hopkinton NH. The 8am start time made it even more appealing!
I arrived with plenty of time to sign up and get in a course
preview. I’m glad I gave myself extra time as the start was ¾ mile from
the finish, that made for a 3.8 mile warm-up. The Hopkinton XC team did a
fantastic job marking the course with plenty of flags and arrows. The
course was a great mix of dirt road, some grass trail, ¾ mile of single-track,
and a mile on top of the dam on a nice dirt surface.
81 including a good number of high school runners lined up along the
airfield and sprinted off at the start. The little 30’ climb in the first
¼ mile slowed a few of the quick starters and I counted 15 in front of me as we
topped out on the west end of the dam and dropped down to the grass trail on
the other side. I slowly moved up and got myself into the top 10 before
we hit the singletrack. I was a step or two behind the father daughter
team of Matt and Madeleine Lane. He was a sub 4 miler and sub-2:20
marathon among his many accomplishments and she is a freshman sensation at
Hopkinton. I stuck with them on the twisting and turning but reasonable
footing of the singletrack. We popped out at the eastern end of the dam
at 1.5 miles into the race. At that point four guys blew by, I felt a
little bad that maybe I’d held them back on the singletrack but no one had
called out or moved up on me. Two of the guys turned out to be in my age
group (Rob Rothe is the Hopkinton coach), but no way I could go with the upped
tempo. I was struggling to keep the Lanes in sight. One more guy
(Rob Dapice) went by and I focused on not letting him go.
I took a quick peek back at the end of the dam, knowing I had about ¾
of a mile to go. Erin Lane (two time Footlocker XC champion among many
accomplishments) was about 10 seconds back and I could see Kara Haas not to far
back. The other Lanes slowly gapped me in the last ½ mile and although I
felt like I was working hard I could not go with them or with Dapice. I
only just managed to hold of Erin Lane to take 13th overall and 3rd
in the 50+. It was another race where I felt like I pushed from start to
finish but just didn’t have it. I’m hoping a few more weeks with some
decent mileage will get me over this hump. Onward!
Place
Time
Name
Age Group Club
Pace
1
17:42 Russell Leino Male
40-49
SRR
5:41
2
17:55 Matt Clarner
Male 16-19
HMHSxC
5:45
3
18:14 Tim
Perry
Male 40-49
5:52
4
18:43 Ben
Daniels Male
16-19
HMHSxC
6:01
5
19:28 Liam Orourke Male
16-19
HMHSxC
6:15
6
20:13 Rob
Rothe Male
50-59 Hopkinton, NH
6:30
7
20:22 Brian Lavoie
Male 50-59 Hopkinton,
NH 6:33
8
20:42 Max
Goupil Male
<15
HMHSxC
6:39
9
20:47 Jorge Guerra
Male 16-19
HMHSxC
6:41
10
21:01 Madeleine Lane Female
<15
HMHSxC
6:45
11
21:02 Matt
Lane Male
40-49 Contoocook, NH 6:46
12
21:10 Rob
Dapice Male
40-49 Contoocook, NH 6:48
13
21:14 Dave Dunham Male
50-59
CMS
6:50
14
21:16 Erin
Lane
Female 40-49 Contoocook, NH 6:50
15
21:46 A. Whiteknact Male <15
Contoocook,
NH 7:00
16
22:16 Kara
Haas Female
50-59 GLRR
7:09
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