July 2016 (10 years ago): I started the month with the USA Mountain running championships at Loon. I got out well and
Erik Vandendries and I would yo-yo much of the race. I’d close on him on the downhill and he’d pull away on the up. We reached the gondola with 10 seconds between us. I put 30+ seconds on Erik (although I didn’t know it at the time) and hit the final 1 kilometer of tough climb in the lead of the 50+ age group. I ran as hard as I could crossing the line in 1:00:13 and collapsing to the ground after. Erik came in a few seconds later and Jeff Hunt rounded out the top three in the 50+. CMS swept the medals!!!
Teams
Open (6 teams, 5 score)
1 CMS 4:51:03
2 Acidotic 5:10:50
40+ (8 teams, 3 score)
1 CMS 2:56:10
2 Acidotic 3:14:12
50+ (7 teams, 3 score)
1 CMS 3:01:55
2 Acidotic 3:41:01
Top 15 50-54
1 1:00:13 Dave Dunham MA CMS
2 1:00:37 Erik Vandendries MA CMS
3 1:01:03 Jeff Hunt MA CMS
6 1:04:48 Dan Verrington MA CMS
8 1:05:32 Ed Sheldon NH CMS
15 1:14:09 David Lapierre MA CMS
Overall
1 0:49:11 Joseph Gray CO Club NW
2 0:50:17 Brett Hales UT
3 0:50:36 Matt Daniels CO Hudson
Next up was the Cranmore Hill Climb –This was the 11th time racing at Cranmore and every year has featured a different course. It was foggy and only about 60 degrees when I arrived in North Conway.
Nearly 200 of us took off in the drizzle and fog of a not typical July morning. I had teammates Erik Vandenries and Ed Sheldon in my sight a few steps ahead. The second time up the killer quarter mile (I did it in 5-flat) I was working it a LOT harder than the first lap. Nothing much changed on the second descent. I managed to stay on my feet and hold position to take 6th place in 57:37 (5.85 miles with 2,400’ of climb/descent). This was probably the best Cranmore course I’ve ever run. By best I mean it had just about everything you could want in an up/down Mountain race. Also, as I crossed the line they were playing Social Distortion (99 to life) and the next song was the Cure (Fascination street), no race is going to top that!
Top 5 50+
50+ Pl Time Name Age City State Team
1 6 57:37 Dave Dunham 52 Bradford, MA CMS
2 12 1:00:37 Brian Ruhm 51 Nashua, NH GCS
3 14 1:00:52 Ed Sheldon 51 Hooksett, NH CMS
4 18 1:01:48 Erik Vandendries 51 Chestnut Hill,CMS
5 20 1:04:01 Rick Chalmers 54 S Portland, ME Dirigo
Overall
Place Time Name Age City, State Team
1 53:06 Matthew Veiga 29 Lynn, MA CMS
2 53:55 Tim Van Orden 48 Bennington, VT CMS
3 54:20 Andy MacGibbon 20 Goffstown, NH
4 56:02 Christopher Chromczak 31 Delmar, NY
5 57:10 Patrick Caron 19 MA
6 57:37 Dave Dunham 52 Bradford, MA CMS
7 58:39 Craig Nale 32 S Portland, ME
8 58:51 Steve Brightman 47 Providence, RI
9 59:23 Patrick Conway 39 Anchorage, AK
10 59:43 Jim Boule 49 Campton, NH aR
My final race of the month was the Lynn Woods Cross-Country Series. It had been four years since I last raced at Lynn Woods. I really needed to get some leg turnover as most of my racing over the last 2 months had been Mountain running. I did my warm-up checking out the 2.3 course and was surprised at how tough it was. I took the lead right away and could hear footsteps right behind me. The guys behind me stayed right on me during the single-track. We hit Dungeion road and two kids from Marblehead blew by, along with fellow “senior” runner Jason Barnes. After passing the Stone Tower and hitting the 130’ drop I pulled ahead of Barnes but didn’t close on the leader. I was happy with the effort although the pace was “slow”, it was a shock to my system for sure!
Lynn Woods Summer Cross Country Lynn, MA July 27,2016 6:40 PM 2.3 Cornell to Stone Tower Trail 138 Finishers
Pl Name S Ag City, St Time Pace
1 Oliver Jacob M 17 Marblehead, MA 15:12 6:37
2 Dave Dunham M 52 Bradford, MA 15:21 6:41
3 Jason Barnes M 53 Salem, MA 15:27 6:43
4 Ian Strothers M 16 Marblehead, MA 15:32 6:45
5 Tony Mwangi M 17 Lynn, MA 17:20 7:32

