Thursday, May 31, 2007

Coyotes taking over the country!

Yes, you heard it here first. Coyotes are no longer a rural animal--they're showing up all over the country in suburban and even urban areas.

Courtesy of BananaMan#3

Coyotes thriving in big cities, suburbs

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Miller 2nd, Hardin 7th at Coast Guard Duathlon

Once again, NETT showed it has one of the strongest duathlon contingents in New England at the Coast Guard Duathlon on Cape Cod this weekend. Paul Miller continued his domination of the local du scene with a second place finish at the race.

And Toledo Joe continues to show we only get better with age, finishing 7th overall.

Congrats guys! Fantastic racing.

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

NETT on the Great Wall!
















Well, it's offical. New England Track & Trail has gone global!

Frank KJ is seen here on a recent recruiting trip to China getting in a few miles in his NETT shirt on the Great Wall. Nothing definite yet, but Frank says he's got some great leads on some new women for the club....just have to find them some of those wacky worms to keep them fast...

Monday, May 28, 2007

NETT's Bread Makes Me Poop cracks Top 10 at Burlington Marathon Relay

NETT's Five-Person Relay Team called Bread Makes Me Poop finished an incredible 10th overall out of more than 650 relay teams at the Vermont City Marathon on Sunday in Burlington, Vt. and in the Mixed Open category we were fourth place.

As usual, Crazy Dave was his usual calm, low-key coordinating self prior to the race, directing folks to their checkpoints in a very relaxed fashion in an effort to ensure the team was well rested and relaxed.

The Chelmsford-heavy team got out to a fast start courtesy of our "ringer" Ryan Hunt on loan from the BAA running the first 5K leg in under 19 minutes. "I've been tapering for this race for six months and it looks to have paid off," Ryan said.

Ryan handed the bracelet to the Greek Streak Anthony Chamberas who knocked out solid 7 minute miles for his 5.5 mile leg. "Man, without a baby jogger or a work backpack, running is a breeze!" Anthony said.

Next up was Crazy Dave, taking on the 6.5 mile leg, churning out 5:40 pace after a slightly overzeolous first mile. When you can hear yourself say "Oh crap" when you hit your first split, it is usually not an encouraging sound.

But Crazy Dave held his s--t together and passed off to the "mixed" part of the team, Cindy Winther, who gets the Best Leg award hands down for the team, by running VERY consistent 7 minute miles (I mean within 5 seconds of each other ) for her 5.5 mile leg. Although happy with her run, Cindy said afterward: "I'm pretty sure I could have run sub-7s if Crazy Dave hadn't stalked me the entire leg--including the walk back to the finish area-- blathering on about how much he likes the feel of silky running shorts and what makes an attractive hamstring on a man."

And Big Ben Winther took it home by hammering in the final 5.6 mile leg into the finish, passing at least two or three teams. "You know, bread really DOES make me poop," Ben commented.


Bread Makes Me Poop finished in 2:51 with an average of 6:30 per mile pace. When ALL relay teams are included (there was a 2-person as well as 5-person relay division) it goes up to 1,075 teams and our team was 17th overall.

Special thanks to Bridget, Thomas and Doris for "taking the bullet" when another relay team sabotaged what they THOUGHT was the team vehicle at the hotel, by putting a nail into the tire. "When I find out who did that, those fu--kers are gonna pay with their spleens," Bridget growled.

Also extra-special thanks to Lauren and Treasure Hunt for hoofing it all over the course and up the hills in the rain. Somehow it's hard to complain you're tired from running around WITHOUT another human being inside you when there's a seven-month pregnant woman outwalking you back to the hotel after the race.

Bread makes me what? POOP
Bread makes me what? POOP
Bread makes me what? POOP

Leo and Exta-Irish Dave Reel in the Run to Remember

Gamblin' Leo Fahey and his pal and new NETTer Extra-Irish Dave Burney hustled through the Boston Run to Remember Half Marathon. Some quick background before reading Leo's report-he had given Irish Dave some real smack talk after a previous race for not breaking 2 hours...what goes around...

From Leo:


"The running gods struck me for making fun of Irish Dave at New Bedford as I was 39 seconds shy of breaking two hours. Oh well, I definitely deserved it. My strategy was to bust the last three miles but with the heat all I could muster was the last ½ mile. Irish Dave was also struck by the heat and actually started walking for about 20 seconds when he was inspired by the Irish Famine Memorial along the course. Nothing like seeing a sculpture of your great great grandmother other eating grass to get your fat rich spoiled ass in gear!"

FULL RESULTS available here

1480 228/355 M4049 2:00:39 9:13 2:01:28 Leo Fahey 43 M 4061 Hudson MA

2015 283/355 M4049 2:08:05 9:47 2:08:54 David Burney 43 M 387 Bolton MA

Friday, May 25, 2007

Prospect Hill proposal dead in the water

Call it much ado about nothing. The previously posted proposal to make Prospect Hill a year-round ski area has been denied, according to this story in the Waltham Daily News Tribune. The story says "the city would have to declare the public land surplus to the community to lease it and that with efforts to preserve the area from conservation groups like the Waltham Land Trust and Prospect Hill Advocacy Group, the notion seemed "absurd."

According to an e-mail sent out by Bob Kelly, Executive Director of WCAC-TV in Waltham:

"What we have learned from this is that the skiing area has reverted to park land already. It is almost impossible for anyone, including the city, to ever change the use back to skiing or any other use. This according to documents authored by the city law dept. which were distributed last night to Councillors."

Bad news folks--MORE HILL WORKOUTS!!!

Dedication ceremony planned for local trail runner

There's a dedication ceremony next month to honor a local trail runner named Len Gibley, who passed away last year. While I didnt know Len (at least I don't think I did? Might have met him at a race), from the short bio here, he sounds like my kind of guy--trail runner who started his own running club? Hmm...I think we would have gotten along well.

Editors Note: I wrote the above lines shortly after receiving word of the dedication service. Then after thinking about it a bit, I decided to Google him and see which races Len had done in recent years on the off chance that I might have met him. Low and behold, I find this very strange result from the 2002 Merrimack River Trail race. Look who finished in places 191, 192 and 193! (I had run the race with Cindy but look who finished just between us).

Here's the info for the dedciation courtesy of Paul Young:



You are formally invited to attend the unveiling of the Len Gibley Memorial Trail Wall on June 20th, 2007. Len Gibley was a very well known and respected trail runner from the area who unfortunately passed away just over one year ago. He was an inspiration for many runners (and non-runners) and was a driving force behind the
formation of The No Name Athletic Club. In honor of his memory we
here at New England Running Company will be hosting a night focused around our new "Trail Wall" featuring the most extensive collection of trail running shoes in New England. This event will start with a "cocktail hour" from 7-7:30 PM with drinks and Hors d'oeuvres and will also
include a special presentation by Buzz Burrell who is the Team Manager
for La Sportiva's Mountain Running Team. It will be a memorable night for all who attend and all we ask is that you RSVP by Friday, June 15th via phone or email.

For more info contact:

Dave Menosky & Wes Lassen
New England Running Company
978-922-8870

Event Details:
Len Gibley Memorial Trail Wall Dedication Night
Wednesday, June 20th
7 PM - 9 PM
New England Running Company
43 Enon Street
Commodore Plaza
Beverly, MA 01915

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Proposal to develop Prospect Hill Ski Area

The hill workouts we know and love so well (groan..) may be in jeopardy if a proposed plan to develop Prospect Hill Ski Area are approved.

Read the full story here at Boston.com. And give us your thoughts on the comments tool.

To read a "brief history of Prospect Hill" click here.

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Coyotes attacking West Roxbury


Looks like there's more than one coyote heading to West Roxbury these days....


Coyotes and people collide in West Roxbury

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

NETT takes on the Mountainman

Looks like that bike racing is paying off! Jerry De Zutter and Toldeo Joe Hardin finsihed very well at the Mountainman Duathlon up in Windsor, Vt. over the weekend. Jerry finished third overall and first master in the race with I believe the fastest bike split, average 23.3 mph for while Toledo was 12th overall with a strong performance as well.

Meanwhile back home in Mass, Paul Young finished 16th overall, third Master at Trav’s Trail Run in Newburyport, finishing the 2.97 mile course in 17:32. Nice work Paul.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

NETTers represent well at Sterling Classic Cycling race


The NETT Cycling team of Paul Miller, Jerry De Zutter and Joe Hardin took to the roads once again this past weekend with fine results. All three finished in the top 10 of their class 4/5 for 35+, with Paul winning their race in a sprint finish with Joe and Jerry only seconds behind. I think. I don't know--it's cycling so I can't really interpret the results.

Here you look at the results for yourself.

Congrats guys! Love the fact that they all registered as NETT, too. I'm sure the spandex crowd is like "who the heck is that?"

Friday, May 11, 2007

Date set for Chamberas XC Race

The date and details have been set for the Thomas Chamberas 5K XC race this year. The race will be on Aug. 25 in Carlisle--an exciting addition this year is that the race will be part of a USATF-NE XC series, so the competition and participation should be an all-time high! And we've got some new sponsorship thanks to Shereen Fahey of Bank of America mortgage offering up CASH prizes to mens and womens winner!

All the info (and a great new photo that's worth the click in itself--ladies prepare to fall in LOVE!) are posted on the race site here. If you're unfamiliar with the race, take a few minutes to read about it on the site.

As usual, NETT members are encouraged to participate in the event in any way they can--volunteer, race it, make a prize donation, donate to the CF Fund, or bring some food over for the post-race party. We owe a big thanks to longtime volunteers like the Winthers, PMiller, Toledo Joe, Bartles, Mr. Young, the Faheys, Doris, and all the others that have come out to help this very worthy cause. Let's keep it up this year.


Anthony & Dave, Co-Race Directors

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

NETT members take two of the top three at Blue Hills bike race


A race report just in from Jerry De Zutter:

Paul Miller, Joe Hardin, Bob Looney and yours truly
raced the Blue Hills Classic bike race this past
Sunday. We did our best to employ team tactics
with drafting, surging etc. 6 X 3.2 mile loop with an
~1 mile rolling uphill on each lap. As we agreed upon
before the race, every other lap, on the uphill
section the four of us, led by Paul came to the front
of the pack and pushed the pace; damaging the field in
the process. Finally, with two laps to go, Paul
dropped the hammer and rocketed off the front, not to
be seen again. We tried to catch his wheel but could
not.

Paul took the win in a very convincing and
impressive fashion, easily the strongest rider in our
race. In fact one of the race personnel ran up to him
after he finished and wanted to know what he had
breakfast.

[Editor's Note: Our boys impressed the organizations SO much that they put their photo up on the web site for the race here.

As a result of our team's hard efforts up
front I ended up in no man's land ahead of the main
pack with 2 laps to go. Uh oh! I waffled back and
forth with conventional wisdom telling me to drop back
to the pack but ultimately I stayed out front of the
pack to finish second. Joe and Bob, mixed it up with
the rest of the pack to finish strong at 8th and 13th
place (I think?). It really was an advantage to have a
"team" there and the tactics we used, I think, helped
tremendously. Some of us are chomping at the bit to
try another bike race.



A few pictures attached, Toledo and Paul before the
aggressions began. In the action photo, I'm far left,
Joe is far right. Almost looks like we know what we
are doing (well, OK, Toledo does know what he's
doing). The podium picture is missing one thing; where
are the podium babes!!!!



Friday, May 04, 2007

Interesting story on Josh McDougal

Here's an interesting read, especially for those of us who have been beaten by these kids when they were like nine or 10 years old! Glad to know it wasn't us--they are just freakishly fast!

Josh McDougal is a Perfect Example of What is Wrong With High School Track