July 2016

 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 11^th 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 6^th 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