USATF New England Masters Cross Country Championships - Franklin Park

October 5th - Joe Shairs, Todd Callaghan, Dennis Floyd, and I arrived at Franklin Park for the USATF New England Open and Masters Cross Country Championships. They set up the CMS tent while I went to pick up the team bib numbers. It was cool and sunny. The Friday and Saturday rains soaked the course to the point where the race had a detour for the start of the Wilderness loop. I never saw the standing water but it was best to avoid it from what I heard. The start of the Wilderness loop was basically the exit. I measured the course as 5.0 miles after my race was done.

With Brian heading around the backstop
Photo by Kim Gordon

I warmed up 30 minutes before the 10AM start time (mastersr ace was the first of the day) with some of the CMS guys to see how the course looked. We ran the Wilderness loop, the back side of White Stadium, and Bear Cage Hill. The upper half of the Wilderness loop was soggy and the area behind White Stadium was a little muddy but one could dance past most of it. The messy part of the course would be in front of White Stadium on the field. This I did not see before the race so it was a surprise. Good old cross country mud! I picked the New Balance Trail shoes over the Inov8 flats.  We had 12 CMS masters and seniors at the starting line.

The opening mile of the race was the usual crazy chaos of 120 men sprinting out across the field which I found a few slippery spots. I got behind Chris Smith and Mark Reeder early and through mile 1 which looked like 5:35 per Garmin after the race. Teamate, Nick Taormina was just in front of us. He has been racing so well this fall. Brian Rhum from Gate City Striders and I kept company back and forth. 

He pushed us through Wilderness, loop one. I pushed us through Wilnderness the second time, passing Nick and Michael McGrane (BAA) in the process. I was trying to get close to two guys ahead at mile 4, one turned out to be John Sullivan from HFC. Brian went by me before the entry to Bear Cage Hill. We clawed to the top. Once I got myself together, I pushed down the backside of the hill. This is how it would set me up to the final straight away. I held my place, 39^th overall with a finish time of 29:37. Nick was right behind me. The masters team would finish 3^rdoverall and the Senior team would do the same.

Trailing Brian again at Franklin Park
Photo by Kim Gordon

I ran another 1.5 miles with the team and camped out atthe CMS tent to watch the women’s race and then the men’s open race. The CMS open team would finish 10^th in a competitive race. The guys picked the tent up and met me at the finish line where I was fixing some errors in theteam results. We went to Backlash Beer Company for some Pizza.

The 8K turned into a 5 mile. Blue spot is where the water flooded the start of the wilderness loop.

2018 USATF New England Masters Cross Country Championship race results
Pictures from Kim Gordon

USATF New England Cross Country Championships

I got a chance to lace up for the USATF New England Cross Country Championships. The weather was about perfect for a cross country race – a cloudy mid 50’s, dry, and no wind to whine about. I got there early with Joe Shairs. Dave Dunham and Dan Verrington pulled up as I backed into the parking spot. We set up the CMS tent behind the starting. One by one, CMS runners arrived and huddled at the tent. It is nice to have a new club tent to promote the club and allow a centralized area for the team. Thanks to Kim Gordon and the board to make that happen.

I warmed up and got back to the tent about 20 minutes before the 10am start to prepare into my Adidas road flats (no waffle racers or spikes needed) and singlet. I got on the line with six other masters (age 40-49), seven seniors (50-59), and one 60+ runner.  There was no pressure but was a bit concerned how the legs would feel after some time off in September and no races since August.

A few minutes in, I got the taste of racing right back. 

Mile 1 went by in 5:51. I did not want to go out too fast and that was just about right. I slowed down but was passing a few people during mile two (6:13) which includes the up and over Bear Cage hill. Mile 3 was a trip through the Wilderness loop bringing me out to the 5K. Mile 3 was passed in 6:09 (5K around 19:19). I could make out two CMS singlets ahead:  Tim Van Orden and Martin Tighe. The chase was on. 

I gave Tivo some encouragement as I went by. He too was toughing out his first race in a while. Martin was hanging tough too when I snuck by just before 4 miles. In the last mile, I recognized Shawn Conway from GLRR. Good guy who puts the kudos out to the CMS dudes on Strava. I caught up while cresting Bear Cage Hill. We flew down the backside. He put a little gap on me in the roots in front of the team tents holding that second lead on me all the way to the finish line. I finished in 52^nd place, right about in the middle of the race with 106 finishers. My time was 30:27 on the day. 2017Results.  I ran 29:07 last year.

Not only was it good to be racing, I had fun and walked away feeling that competitive juice. I ran a smart race and slowly passed some runners in the field throughout. No one passed me and beat me to the finish after 800m into the race. The masters and senior teams finished in 2^nd place having a pretty good day among the teams. The open team was short for a scoring team. 

Martin and I at mile 4
Photo by Rodney Hemingway

USATF New England Cross Country Championships

I was looking forward to the USATF New England XC Championships for the master’s race which is a 8K distance. As Joe Shairs and I drove to Franklin Park, we chatted about the CMS men lining up for more team competition up north in Manchester, NH via Manchester City Marathon. I was anxious and excited for them - wishing to a degree that I was up there being a part of that. While waiting for our race, we were getting updates from Sasha Mindel who was getting a play by play about her husband, Scott Mindel, racing for CMS, leading the marathon in the early miles with Dan Vassallo just a few strides back. Just pure awesome. It pumped me up for my race.

Yes, back to cross country. I was thrilled to have a few extra CMS master runners (Alan Bernier, Steve Brightman, and Martin Tighe) in our race beyond what we had at the Franklin Park 5K two weeks ago.  I jumped out at the start and followed Steve for a short while before having to settle in. I had good position within the race among folks that I usually finish near. Mile 1 went by in 5:28 (per GPS). Up and over Bear Cage Hill and a Wilderness Loop brought me through the 5K right at what I ran two weeks ago in 18:13. 

The wheels came off in the 2^nd Wilderness Loop and I felt my cadence back down from Ron Lombardi (GSH) who motored on pretty good. Steve Brightman got into the mix while I was being hunted by Senior’s John Sullivan and Wayne Levy in the last mile. Their presence kept me racing scared to the finish two seconds behind Steve. My time was 29:07, 8^th runner for CMS, placing 36 overall out of 107 runners in the race. My goal was 28:45. The team finished 2^nd to a strong BAA squad. Results and awesome photos by Scott Mason of all three races (men's open, women's open/masters, and men's masters).

Splits

5:28

5:43

5:59

6:00

5:52

Within an hour after our race we would get random updates for the marathon. Dan would go on to win the race with Scott finishing 2^nd. Eric Narcisi rounded out the scoring helping the CMS open team to a first place finish. Our masters team, 2/3 of them Seniors (Ed Sheldon & Dave Dunham), would finish 2^nd and also go on to win the Senior team division. 

Striding out with Ron Lombardi and Steve Brighman before 3 miles
Photo by Scott Mason

I arrived at Franklin Park with Todd Callaghan and met up with Tim Van Orden and Dave Dunham who helped set up the canopy tent for the team. I ran a warm up and got on the line behind my CMS team and to the right of BAA for the 8K masters race at the USATF New England Championships. The weather was great and the course was dry. I got into good position behind (maybe 10th) the lead pack of BAA and CMS runners who seemed to be setting a rather comfortable pace but it picked up after the mile. I did not hear a split but the GPS tagged a 5:12. My second mile slowed to a 5:33 with an up and over Bear Cage hill. 

At the top of Bear Cage Hill in front of Christopher Lawrence
Photo by Michael Quintal

I lost a few positions but continued a good battle with Robert Bottomley and Francis Burdett whom I noticed had a racing flat come untied. He would eventually lose it and finish the race without it. I went through the 5K just a few ticks slower than my 5K at Mayor’s Cup two weeks ago. I was pretty happy with that. Wayne Levy and Kevin O’Neal from BAA passed by with about a mile to go. I kept them close climbing Bear Cage Hill but they took off with good momentum on the backside. I would not catch either from there to the finish line. I wound up with an 18th place finish in the masters race. I was the 6th CMS runner on the day and felt I had a pretty good race, similar time to my 8K at Mayors Cup in 2014. I had three teammates with Alan Bernier, Joshua Perks, and Todd Callaghan in view the whole race and all within 24 seconds of my finish.

Francis and Christopher Lawrence chasing
Photo by Urvi Mujumdar

I was aiming for a top 15 finish but that was optimistic with the talented runners and Seniors (50+) around me. The team ran very well for a 2nd place finish to the BAA. I finished the Cross Country Grand Prix Series (5 races since August) and would appeared to have won the masters division. Justin Renz, last year's GP Series Master Champ, was just a few points behind me going into the race today. After the race, he admitted that he just ran the New York City Marathon last Sunday and was tired. I know how he felt as I did this race last November, one week after the Manchester City Marathon.

Running away from White Stadium and to Bear Cage Hill
Peter Bottomley and Francis Burdett in pursuit
Photo by Dave Dunham

GPS splits below

5:12

5:33

5:38

5:43

5:44

2015 USATF New England Masters Cross Country Championships

Coming out of the Bear Cage Hill with Michael Quintal in the background
Photo by Dave Dunham