Lone Gull 10K USATF New England Grand Prix 10k Championship

September 25, 2022 – It was a perfect weather day for this coastal 10K road race in Gloucester with sun and low 60’s. This race has hosted the New England 10K Championship for at least the last decade. I have not raced it since 2018. The start and finish are at Good Harbor Beach, separated by a quarter of a mile. I started next to Thom McMahon and Mark Reeder. It took us 12 seconds to get over the start line as we about a dozen rows deep. 

Around 4.5 miles

I got in behind John Barbour up and over the first hill. The crowd was thick as we stayed on the far right allowing oncoming car traffic going South. John led Gary Daniels (CMS’r in the past) and I through a mile in 6:44. 2^nd mile was covered in 6:47 and had a CMS teammate a few seconds away in Gwen Ridgway. She would be a beacon for the rest of the course that I could not catch. 

Next to Mark Reeder beyond 4 miles
Photo by Rodney Hemmingway

The next mile had a climb to the high point of 59ft above sea level, offering my slowest mile in 7:02. Mark Redder rolled up on me before 4 miles which passed in 6:51. My legs were wired but managed to keep the pace with Mark. A 6:57 mile at 5 miles had Deb Downs from SRR pushing any comfort away. I was ready for one last push once I reached the beach parking lot and managed to pass Mark but not Deb. The last mile split was 6:51. I finished with a chip time of 42:52 (6:54/mi), gun time 43:04.

With Deb Downs and Mark Reeder

Into the finish line

Photo credits to Shannon Cram, Rodney Hemingway and Granite State Race Services.

Lone Gull 10K USATF New England Grand Prix 10k Championship Race Results 2022

A look back at the recent past, Lone Gull 10K times since 2015 (hand time).

2018       37:44

2016       36:06

2015       35:49

18th Annual Run for the Trails 5 mile

Results 

Sept 17, 2022 - This was a fun trail race where one loop was good for 5 miles and others opted for two loops for 10 miles. Right away, a field of over 140 set afoot with a heart rate rising hill a minute into the loop. This thinned out the crowd right away where I seemed to be in the top 15 on the edge of the Harvard Forest and Patton Park. 

Shortly after the start before the hill

I crossed over the Cutler Rd and into Appleton Farms where I kept company with eventual 2^nd place female 10 mile finisher, Samantha Aprea. I pulled ahead on the return back to Patton Park. However, before crossing over the train tracks in the Pingree area, the fellow in front of me turned right. He had about 15 seconds on me and I followed but it did not seem right as I did not see a course marker for the turn so I yelled ahead and said we were off course. 

I turned back and there was Samantha and Kevin Littman who were trailing me looking confused. We bunched up and got back onto course where I scooted ahead to finish up the last .6 miles of the course. I finished 5^th overall in the 5 mile with a time of 37:43, nearly 3 minutes behind 4^th place. I am not sure where the runner who went off course wound up finishing. 

I spoke to a few race organizing folks right away about the lack of markers and offered to run back out on the course to mark and stand by there for a bit which I did. It looks to me that a neighbor pulled some course flagging down before the race. Shame on the South Hamilton resident.

Mile Splits

1                     7:58

2                     7:12

3                     7:26

4                     7:45

5                     7:15

Place First Last Division Gender Time  

1 David Long                      40‐49 M  00:32:26.55  

2 Salvatore Frontierro    40‐49 M  00:33:35.82

3 Dan West                         30‐39 M  00:33:54.03

4 Jacob Roy                         <29   M  00:34:30.75

5 James Pawlicki               40‐49 M  00:37:43.68

6 Patrick McCafferty       30‐39 M  00:39:58.90

7 Freddi Tribeck                50‐59 F  00:40:11.36

8 Robert Gilfillan              40‐49 M  00:40:36.85

9 John Mulroy                   60‐69 M  00:41:06.47

10 Samantha Goedeke 30‐39 F  00:42:07.36

Greater Boston Track Club XC Invitational 5K

Cross Country race season kicked off with the Greater Boston Track Club XC Invitational 5K at the Great Brook Ski Touring Center in Carlisle, MA this past Sunday. CMS had just enough runners, five, at the start line in the masters 5k that started at 9:30AM. A field of 52 runners set off on the three loop course. The first loop was around the corn field as runners get into position and visibility of who is within 30 seconds ahead. There were plenty of spectators around yelling for the old guys!

Loop two was a mix of the woods and back around the corn field and the spectators. The runners in front of me were thinning out and opportunity to move past someone was getting harder as we all locked into our paces among peers. We headed back into the woods after 11 minutes into the race for the longest and toughest loop with some hills. I had some back and forth with GLRR, Peter LaGoy. He passed me with 400m to go and I could not close the 2 second gap at the end.

I finished 32^nd with a time of 21:37.9 and was the 5^th man for the Central Mass Striders masters team. We placed 3^rd out of four scoring teams (each team needs five to finish). CMS was only 1 point behind 2^nd place Tracksmith Boston Hares and 2 points ahead of Greater Lowell (GLRR) who had the top runner in the field. I ran a cool down with the team for another 5K unrelated to the course so I got a daily total of over 9 miles for the day. 

I hope to attend three out of the next four USATF New England Cross Country Grand Prix races which will conclude in November. Aside from that I am lined up for the 18^th Annual Run for the Trails in Hamilton this weekend and thinking about the Ravenswood Trail Race in the middle of October.

CMS finishers 

4 Arthur Besse 17:32

5 Ian Ridgway 17:37

18 Dan Verrington 19:41

20 Dave Dunham 19:58

32 James Pawlicki 21:37

Individual Results 

Team Results 

2022 USATF NE XC GP Schedule 

Sun Sep 11 - GBTC XC Invitational,Carlisle MA
Sat Oct 1 - Brown Bear Invitational, Attleboro MA
Sun Oct 9 - Wayland XC Festival, Wayland MA
Sun Nov 6 - USATF-NE XC Championships, Boston MA
Sat Nov 19 - Rachel's Run, Tyngsboro MA

 

Lynn Woods Relay

Late August brings us the Lynn Woods Relay race which is a fun 4 X 2.5 mile event. The event is part of the weekly Lynn Woods fun runs that occur every Wednesday in the summer. I reached out to the CMS team, seeking to recruit four teams: open (under age 39), masters (age 40-49), senior (age 50-59) and veterans (age 60+) team. 

I was able to fill all but a veterans team for the August 24^th race. The recent wild fires within Lynn Woods Reservation forced a shutdown and no access to the woods. As a result, the event was postponed until August 31, pending the reopening of the woods. The date change also caused a conflict with three runners but we were thankful for some last minute replacements so that the open and masters teams would be filled out.

Dave Dunham would be chosen as the honorary Lynn Woods “CowBell” starter to get the 61 teams off at 5:40PM. I was running the 4th leg on the CMS masters team so I got a chance to warm up and watch the first three legs of the race.

It was awesome to see the opening leg for the three CMS teams come down into the exchange in order (Grandfield 15:12, Veiga 15:31 and Dao 15:47) to set the table to a great start. The Seniors would hold their divisional spot through each leg for the win. The masters team would lose the 2^nd place hold in the 40+ division on the last leg where I got blown out by Mike Paulin by over 2.5 minutes. But it was the open team who quietly moved up a place each leg. Dan Vassallo would take a 28 second deficit heading into the last leg, smoke the fastest run of the day (13:09) and take over the lead onto an open team win by almost a minute.

2022 LYNN WOODS 10 MILE RELAY

AUGUST 31, 2022

1 . CENTRAL MASS STR OPEN (95)             57:35

  MATT VEIGA                 15:31     15:31

  CALEB EVANTER              30:19     14:48

  TIMOTHY SHEA               44:26     14:07

  DAN VASSALLO               57:35     13:09

2 . WICKED AFTERBURN (241)                 58:29

  DREW FOSSA                 14:57     14:57

  CHRISTOPHER CHAPRUET       29:44     14:47

  JUNYONG PAK                44:38     14:54

  STEVE DOWSETT              58:29     13:51

3 . NOTCH BREWING PALE LAGER (1)           58:35

  KYLE TAYLOR                14:15     14:15

  GREG KARAS                 28:58     14:43

  CALEB HARRIS               43:58     15:00

  ALEX TROTSKY               58:35     14:37

4 . NOTCH BREWIN LAGERED FOREVER (15)    1:01:42

  SHAWN CONWAY               14:41     14:41

  RICK BRANDT                29:49     15:08

  BRIAN CULLINAN             46:23     16:34

  DAN DONATO               1:01:42     15:19

5 . SHAKE WEIGHTERS (295)                1:05:02

  TOM WALKER                 15:49     15:49

  PETER GUZA                 32:52     17:03

  JAKE AQUINO                49:06     16:14

  CHAS HODGDON             1:05:02     15:56

6 . CENTRAL MASS STR 50+ (91)            1:06:40

  SCOTT GRANDFIELD           15:12     15:12

  DAVE DUNHAM                32:20     17:08

  DAN VERRINGTON             49:20     17:00

  MIKE MCKIE               1:06:40     17:20

7 . WICKED WE DIDN'T START THE FIRE (231) 1:07:04

  JONAH HULBERT              16:44     16:44

  MATT ADAMS                 34:41     17:57

  MICHAEL O'CONNOR           51:44     17:03

  MICHAEL PAULIN           1:07:04     15:20

8 . NOTCH BREWING KOLSCH BOIS (5)        1:07:25

  WILL KEEFE                 15:09     15:09

  CHRIS BIROTTE              31:54     16:45

  DAVID RICHARDSON           50:50     18:56

  MATT ROWAN               1:07:25     16:35

9 . CENTRAL MASS STR 40+ (85)            1:09:34

  NAKRI DAO                  15:47     15:47

  BRIAN HUTTER               33:31     17:44

  WILLIAM JACKSON            51:42     18:11

  JIM PAWLICKI             1:09:34     17:52

10. WICKED TOUCH OF GRAY (251)           1:10:38

  IAN EDWARDS                18:19     18:19

  DONALD WITHEE              35:25     17:06

  BOB CALLAHAN               52:32     17:07

  ALEN YEN                 1:10:38     18:06

 

Vineyard Hill Trail Run - Hamilton, MA

ECTA, Essex County Trail Association, hosted this 5K/10K combination trail race in Hamilton. I have never been within the Vineyard Hill area despite being next to Bradley Palmer State Park. I miss running over there and since a paid parking requirement in the parking lots, my presence has been missing. 

I met Dan Verrington for a course preview and warmup over the 5K course. We joined up with Paul Stacey on the course. The 10K runners would do the course twice. I was glad that I was just doing the 5K and seemed just right for my fitness. 

After a good clean start from the parking lot, I settled into 10th place before hitting single track a few minutes into the course. I managed to move up a few places after a mile while being careful on every down hill. 

I got away from the nearest runner behind me and I lost track of the sight of Dave Hannon ahead. The ensuing hills proved to test the heart rate and provide periods of recovery while being isolated of competitors to the end aside from seeing the 10K runners heading back out as I neared the finish. 

I crossed the finish line in 5th place, 2 minutes and 10 seconds behind Dan, with a time of 24:08 (7:46 pace). Old friend, Dave Hannon, would embark another tour of the 5K course to win the 10K edition twenty minutes later. After a few cups of water and a banana, I did a short cool down with Paul Stacey, Dave Long and Dan Verrington. I got a gift certificate to New England Runner for taking the age group, excluding the top 3 overall runners. 

Vineyard Hill Trail Run 5K results 2022

John Carson July 4th 2 mile

One of my favorite road races here which is a 2 mile point to point course with 3/4 of it along a parade route full of spectators in Chelmsford. CMS is usually well represented here with an open runner in the top five and masters or seniors ranking up there as well. Good to see Dave Lapierre, Joe Shairs and Dave Dunham here. Also saw CMS folks like Andy Sieracki and Lisa Sternstrom who grew up in Chelmsford, going to school with John Carson before his tragic accident.

I got into the start about 15 rows deep, unable to avoid the surround of anxious teenagers who bolt out way too fast or clog the way to the finish. I spent the opening half mile like an NFL running back juking, swerving - trying to find space. Finally, once on the parade route, space granted and the pass frequency per meter slowed to 1.2 runners. Mile 1 approached sooner than expected, hearing a split of 6:47, about my goal. A generous downhill stretch followed and could see Eric Beachesne ahead so I tried to close in but ran out of space. 

I reached the line in 13:17, 66th place. 6:38 pace. Dunham and Shairs placed 1 and 2 within their age group. They waited for me long enough to grab Watermelon and water before a 3 mile cooldown with a few minutes on the Bruce Freeman trail before getting out to 1.5 miles on the course and running through the parade! Results

Trav’s Trail 3 mile Cross Country Newburyport, MA Maudslay State Park

It was nice to get back to this fun 3 mile cross country race at Maudslay State Park. This was the 20^th Anniversary of Travis Landreth’s unfortunate passing. My last decade or so blog archives shows that I have done the race in 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018. I have at least 3 coffee mugs from the event, coveted age group prizes.

That last effort in 2018 was an 18:18 time worth 12^th place. I ran a one mile warm up with Rich Tabbut going down to the bridge and back about 20 minutes before the start time. It was sunny and humid. Fortunately 90% of the course is in the shade. I kept the trainers on and got out to the wide start line. 

With my right achilles a bit tender, I eased out with a 7:16 mile, positioned a few slots behind Mimi Fallon and Edmund Connor. Mile two was a bit quicker, 7:06, as Ed and I would go back and forth hitting the bridge with less than a half mile to go. I got past him on the way up the hill and crossed the finish line with a time of 20:49, 6:57 pace, 17^th place, 7^th in the 40-49 age group. GPS measured out to be 2.92 miles. CMS's Greg Putnam would place 3rd overall and top senior, just getting under 17 minutes. 

After a few bottles of water and a banana, I headed out for a cool down with Tim Morin as we caught up on his running and upcoming plans for the summer.

Trav's Trail 3 mile May, 22, 2022 race results

Top 20 below

20TH ANNUAL TRAV'S TRAIL 3 MILE XC RACE ....NEWBURYPORT MA MAY 22, 2022 Place Name Age S City Time1 Pace ===== =================== === = =============== ======= ===== 1 RUBEN SANCA 35 M 15:52 5:18 2 JUSTIN MALONEY 43 M 16:40 5:34 3 Gregory Putnam 52 M Stoneham 16:53 5:38 4 NICK ROOSA 36 M 17:08 5:43 5 PAUL LAROSA 45 M 17:35 5:52 6 MARK LAROSA 43 M 17:51 5:57 7 KEVIN ALLIETTE 40 M Methuen 18:12 6:04 8 CHRIS KEALEY 54 M 18:29 6:10 9 Brett Ely 42 F Eugene 18:59 6:20 10 TIM MORIN 39 M 19:05 6:22 11 Beardo McBeardface 46 M 19:22 6:28 12 Joe Gross 47 M Newburyport 19:45 6:35 13 Paul Wertz 18 M 20:02 6:41 14 Kara Haas 51 F CHELMSFORD 20:04 6:42 15 Charlotte Furman 22 F Newburyport 20:09 6:43 16 Mike Haas 49 M Chelmsford 20:33 6:51 17 James Pawlicki 47 M Lynn 20:49 6:57 18 EDMUD CONNOR 61 M 20:53 6:58 19 Matt Contorchick 44 M 21:13 7:05 20 MIMI FALLON 57 F 21:21 7:07