My final race for the month was the “Woodchuck Classic” in Canterbury NH. This was the 8th in the 9 race Capital Area Race Series (CARS). I had hopes of improving my score in the best 6 of 9 races but wasn’t confident that would be possible over this rolling course. Based on my other times this year and my past performances at the Woodchuck, I was looking at barely breaking 20 minutes which would be close to my worst time this year. At least the weather was cooperating as it was only about 70 degrees and not humid on race morning. I met up with Ernie Brake and he joined me for a course preview warm-up. Always important to check out the course if you can. I remembered the course but hadn’t run it in a couple of years, so it was good to see the hills and give myself some mental preparation. The course dropped 170’ in the first mile with most of that in the first ½ mile. That was not going to be good for my aching knee. After that there was a tough little hill at 1.25 and a few little rolls through 2.5 miles. Then a real kicker from 2.5 to 2.8 before a final little grind right at 3 miles. The course was also about ½ unpaved road that was a bit rough. Not a fast course at all.
Tom Raffio gave a nice speech before we started, sad hearing about Joe Kasper who announced at of the CARS died in a scooter accident. Off we went down the big hill. By ¼ mile I was in 11th place and falling back. I noticed the top 4 were sticking to the left which seemed weird with the right turn we’d be taking. Then I saw that sawhorses were blocking traffic from going down the road we would turn on. A bunch of us yelled out at the same time as we realized the top 4 were heading off course. They recovered and maybe lost 10+ seconds. I don’t think it changed the outcome as they still took the top 4 spots, and all went the same distance. After we turned there was another sawhorse and cones blocking the road. Ernie grabbed one of the cones and threw it off the road, giving everyone space to run through. The roadblocks were for the festival that started later that morning and it seems like the crew doing that didn’t take into account 200 people running down the road.
The four guys went back by soon after and I was a step or two behind Terrence Ferns and Allison Davis. I think Terrence tends to go out conservatively and Allison goes out aggressively. Ernie was my main competition and as I reached the mile, I was at least 10 seconds back. I’d never close on him. Terrence pulled away at the mile and I had some back and forth with Allison through 2 miles. I gapped her on the long hill but could hear Max Goupil not far back (and closing). I’d run close to him in most of the races so that wasn’t a surprise. He flew by with about ¼ mile to go as I just struggled into the finish. I wouldn’t call it a terrible day but not a particularly good race for me.
Place Time Name Sex Age City St Pace
1 17:31 Eli Lemire M 18 Weare NH 5:39
2 17:53 Nick Lacroix M 20 Bedford NH 5:46
3 18:12 Andrew Strauss M 20 Amherst NH 5:52
4 18:24 Steven Groulx M 23 Chester NH 5:56
5 18:42 Amber Ferreira F 42 Concord NH 6:02
6 18:47 Sam Wood M 38 Laconia NH 6:03
7 19:06 Terrence Ferns M 55 Sutton NH 6:09
8 19:30 Ernest Brake M 63 Sutton NH 6:17
9 19:37 Max Goupil M 14 Contoocook NH 6:19
10 19:46 Dave Dunham M 60 Bradford MA 6:22
11 19:55 Allison Davis F 37 Contoocook NH 6:25
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