The Manchester Invitational Open Cross Country race at Derryfield Park in Manchester, NH was not on my schedule. Once I heard that Dave Dunham was going, I found the perfect scenario for kicking off my weekend: an early Saturday morning race that does not impede with the weekend responsibilities. I put the word out to Shawn Conway and Brett Rickenbach who both like xc races and they confirmed they would go too. Shawn, Dave, and I arrived at the nearly empty parking lot at 7:00. We grabbed our bib numbers and previewed the hilly but popular central New Hampshire High School cross country high course. The constant up and down on the course makes it interesting. I recall Ben True has a course record in the low fifteens for the 3 mile course.
My black and white Invo8 flats, modern day CMS singlet lined up in a starting line box with Brett, Dave, and Shawn. We had a wide field and things do not settle into single file for at least beyond the mile. I was in the top 15 or so in the opening half mile. I moved up a few places heading into the mile marker where splits were being taken electronically (never made it into the results). I think I was around 6 minutes with Mark Laprade two places up from there. He ran the Berlin Marathon the Sunday before in 3 hours. I caught up to his heels in the next 300M and then climbed up the biggest hill on the course – Weston Observatory. I mentioned that he looked pretty good for the marathon legs. He laughed. We ran down and out of the woods to the pavement (beyond mile 2). I got ahead of him there and wheeled down to the field setting me up to get within 8 seconds of the top master, Michael Holmes, a recent 2:57 Boston Marathon finisher.
I would get no closer to him on the way to the finish which the last 2 minutes of the race seem to take forever. I would finish in 5th place, in 18:31 (I ran 17:48 three years ago). The winner, Everett Hackett, smoked the course in 15:20. I met him at the end of my warmup. He coaches a high school xc team from Hartford, CT that was running later in the morning. Dave, Brett, and Shawn were right behind me finishing 9, 10, and 11th. Shawn, Dave, and I went on cool down making our way down to the McIntyre Ski Area which is adjacent to Derryfield Park.
5 James Pawlicki 2ND M40-49 43 LYNN MA Central Mass Striders 18:31.3
9 Dave Dunham 1st M50-59 54 BRADFORD, MA Central Mass Striders 18:49.2
10 Brett Rickenbach 4th M40-49 43 AUBURN, NH 18:59.4
11 Shawn Conway 5th M40-49 47 WAKEFIELD, MA Greater Lowell Road Runners 19:06.6
Results: http://www.millenniumrunning.com/results-manchester-invitational-open-race-2018/28367#/race/fohgqM//
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