Friday, September 8, 2023

Looking back - 25 years ago (Sept 1998)

 

25 Years ago: September 1998 - I was still recovering from SI issues (got a cortisone shot in Mid-August) but raced “okay” in the three races I did during this month.  I kicked off the month with a rarely run distance (25k) at the Gloucester Labor Day race.  The race was part of the USATF NE grand prix and Craig Fram and I were locked in a battle throughout the race.  We went back and forth the entire 25k with Craig taking a 1 second victory in the last 100m of the race.  I finished in 2nd in 1:24:33.

    1  M3039 Craig Fram            39 M PLAISTOW NH           1:24:32  5:27

    2  M3039 Dave Dunham       34 M BRADFORD MA          1:24:33   5:27

    3  M3039 Mike O’Brien         38 M DURHAM NH              1:25:44  5:32

    4  M4049 Jim Miller             40 M ESSEX JCT. VT           1:26:10  5:33

    5  M3039 Nivaldo Filho        38 M CAMBRIDGE MA        1:26:32  5:35

    6  M0129 Eric Beauchesne   28 M CHELMSFORD MA      1:26:35  5:35

    7  M0129 Jesse Darley        25 M WATERTOWN MA       1:26:38   5:35

    8  M4049 John Barbour        44 M ROCKPORT MA           1:26:44  5:35

    9  M3039 John Noland         35 M KINGSTON MA            1:27:27  5:38

   10 M3039 Dan Verrington     36 M BRADFORD MA           1:27:44  5:39

   

Other familiar names

16        M3039  Byrne Decker                31M      YARMOUTH ME 1:29:05 5:45

25        M0129  James Pawlicki              23M      BEVERLY MA     1:30:50 5:51

29        M5059  Laurence Olsen             51M      MILFORD MA    1:31:24 5:53

32        M0129  Richard Bolt                  28M      LUNENBURG MA 1:32:16 5:57

33        M0129  Kevin Beck                    28M      CONCORD NH   1:32:17 5:57

34        M3039  Joseph Shairs               30M      PEABODY MA    1:32:26 5:57

71        M4049  Bob Hodge                    43M      CLINTON MA     1:40:04 6:27

Two weeks later I was on the Island of Reunion, off the coast of Madagascar, for the World Mountain running championships.  The race was LONG (18km!), way longer than the advertised distance which made for an interesting final few miles.  There were also a couple of very narrow sections on the course, one of which was at 2k and caused a huge pileup of bodies!  I stayed out of trouble but had close to my worst Worlds ever.  I finished 34th (2nd US) in 1:34:04.  The only good I took out of it was that I beat multi-time world champion Marco DeGasperi by a second.

 


1 1:25:19 Jonathan Wyatt – NZL

2 1:26:47 Antonio Molinari – ITA

3 1:28:26 Guido Dold – GER

4 1:28:44 Robert Quinn - SCO

5 1:28:48 Stephane Maheo – FRA

 

30 1:33:40 Uil Steidl – GER

31 1:33:50 Richard Shelley – USA

34 1:34:05 Dave Dunham – USA

35 1:34:08 Marco DeGasperi – ITA

50 1:36:58 Dan Verrington – USA

63 1:40:12 Jeremy Wright – USA

77 1:43:10 Mike Casner – USA

106 1:51:27 Bart Yasso – USA

 

 

The final race of the month was the always fast (but certified) Eliot festival 5km.  I went out with the lead pack of 10 through the mile (4:41), down to 7 of us by 2 miles (9:28) and still a group of 5 with ½ mile to go.  I ended up having the least effective kick and took 5th in 14:46. Chris Teague won in 14:37 in a field of just over 800.

    1   Chris Teague                   29 M N CHELMSFORD MA          14:37 4:43

    2   Al Bernier                        24 M DURHAM NH                    14:40 4:44

    3   Guy Stearns                   39 M NEW CASTLE NH              14:43 4:45

    4   Mike O’Brien                   38 M DURHAM NH                    14:46 4:45

    5   Dave Dunham                 34 M BRADFORD MA                 14:46 4:46

    6   Nivaldo Filho                   38 M CAMBRIDGE MA                14:54 4:48

 

Other familiar names

    8   Dan Verrington                36 M BRADFORD MA     15:01 4:50

   10  Todd Coffin                    37 M FREEPORT ME     15:05 4:52

   11  Paul Hammond                38 M LEXINGTON MA   15:14 4:54

   12  Terry McNatt                   33 M NEEDHAM MA      15:17 4:55

   13  Eric Beauchesne              28 M N CHELMSFORD MA          15:19 4:56

   15  John Barbour                   44 M ROCKPORT MA     15:20 4:57

 

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