I was having trouble finding any races that interested me and had a few open weekends between the XC race in Vermont and the New England championships (11/17). I stumbled onto the Hamster Wheel ultra race and was intrigued by the concept. There were races at 6, 12, 24, and 30 hours and relay options for each of those time limits. I thought a three man 6 hour relay would be fun and put the word out to my running friends to see if I could muster up some interest. David Harper was the only one who took me up on it, so we signed up for the 6 hour relay. The plan was to run it, not race it! I wanted to have a good mileage day and have some fun running with 300 odd (very odd) people. The course was mostly on the New Boston Rail Trail along the Piscataquod river. It was basically an out and back on this smooth dirt trail and a little loop around the 4-H fairgrounds that included a tough little 200 meter long hill at a 6% grade.
My hope was to run around 8 minute miles for an average pace with the first lap a little slower and each lap a bit faster. That would mean I’d be doing 16 or 20 miles and if we were a little faster maybe 24 miles. David had a similar plan but would also be doing one of the laps aiming for the Strava course record (26:55 – 6:43 pace). It was in the low 40s, cloudy, and surprisingly breezy when DH took off at 9:30 am. We would be seeing a lot of people out there as over 300 were entered either individually or on a relay of various times. There was a festive atmosphere in the “village” with tents everywhere and some very well stocked aid stations set up by various clubs. DH and I had found a nice grassy area with a clear view of the start/finish, and you could even see the top of the hill (so if you kept your attention up you could see your teammate with about 2 minutes to go). I set up a camp chair and a bag with 6 changes of clothes and 4 pair of shoes to choose from. If nothing else, I hoped to be comfortable.
David came rambling back after a 30-flat opening loop and off I went. It was interesting seeing all the people out there and how they would be dealing with a long (very long) day out on the trail. Mostly people were good about staying single-file or at least no more than 2 across as people were strung out al along the trail (races had started at 15 minute intervals to spread things out). About a mile in a 6 hour guy (Aaron Stevens) went rolling by me, he would be the only one to pass me during any of my relay legs. I got through my opening leg in 31:23 which was a bit faster than the 8’s (or even higher) that I’d planned, but it felt pretty easy, and I was just getting warmed up. David’s next two loops were faster and faster and mine were also a bit faster (739s and 721s). I was feeling good and starting to recognize various faces along the way. I realized by the second lap that Aaron was running the 6-hour solo and based on how far he was ahead of me he was running about 7:30 pace which is impressive. David warned me that his fourth lap would be fast, and he wasn’t kidding as he beat the course record by two seconds with an impressive 26:53. This would also be my fastest lap as I snuck under 29 minutes with a 28:57. Boy, that little bump of a hill really hurt on that lap! David did a recovery lap and I bounced back with surprisingly comfortable 29:40 (7:25 pace) lap. I wasn’t sure if David wanted to do a 6th lap, but he was there and ready when I finished and said something to the effect of “we have to get to 48 miles”. I was watching the clock and feeling a bit tired. It had been hard to really eat anything as less than 30 minutes break left little time for digestion. Basically, I would just change into a dry shirt and rotate to a different pair of shoes then bundle up to stay warm until it was time to get going again. I was a little worried that we would go over the 6 hour time limit by just a little depending on how slowly that sixth lap was. David came in at 31 minutes which left me a little under 35 minutes to complete a lap before time ran out. I kept a close eye on my watch as I was just under 8 minute pace on the way out (slightly downhill and a bit of a tailwind). I was feeling the impact of my longest mileage day in the last 5 years. I managed to keep it together and hit 8 minute pace on the nose to get us in with about 2.5 minutes to spare.
We ended up taking the win in the 6 hour relay with the next team 12 miles behind. Aaron Stevens ran an excellent solo victory in the 6 hour finishing 2.5 minutes ahead of us and 8 miles ahead of his nearest competitor. This was a fun way to get some miles in and the six hours went by amazingly fast. Maybe next year we’ll get a couple of more guys and try the 12 hour?
Total food and drink I had:
1 luna bar
4 snack sized Hershey’s
16 oz water
12 oz code red
David H DD
Loop Pace Loop Pace
30:01 7:30 31:23 7:51
28:12 7:03 30:34 7:39
27:27 6:52 29:23 7:21
26:53 6:43 28:57 7:14
31:51 7:58 29:40 7:25
31:06 7:46 31:59 8:00
2:55:30 Total 3:01:56 Total
7:19 Avg pace 7:35 Avg pace
Results:
6 Hour Relay
1. Dave Dunham 48.00 12 5:57:44.01
2. Erica Disclos 36.00 9 5:52:55.45
3. Bernie Mizula 32.00 8 5:37:38.33
Other relays:
12 hour – 72 miles, 24 hour – 92 miles (they stopped at 15 hours!), 30 hour – 116 miles
Individuals
6 Hours
1. Aaron Stevens 48.00 12 5:54:18.41
2. Thomas Oshea 40.00 10 5:55:01.31
3. Byron Lane 36.00 9 5:25:31.69
12 Hours
1. Erik Boyko 64.00 16 10:50:21.11
2. Bill Elliott 64.00 16 11:22:25.96
3. Carey Wertz 64.00 16 11:29:15.00
24 Hours
1. Alexander Burke 112.00 28 23:43:06.83
2. Keith Nadeau 108.00 27 22:52:04.70
3. Elsa Cipriani 100.00 25 22:08:18.94
30 Hours
1. Michael Presti 128.00 32 29:20:44.28
2. Andy Daggett 124.00 31 29:58:06.66
3. Timothy Scott 120.00 30 28:09:08.27
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