UPDATE: NETT runs strong at Pineland Farms Trail Challenge

With the official results in, NETT officially recorded a kickass performance at the Pineland Farms Trail Challenge.
Crazy Dave managed to pull a race out of some orifice and win the 50K in 3:42, less than two minutes in front of David Herr in second. "Even a blind squirrel finds a nut sometimes" was the phrase of the day on that one!

In the women's 25K, Mary Smith (4th woman in 2:06 winning the Lawn Girl award?) and Adrienne Cyrulik (13th in 2:12) represented NETT very well in the women's field. Adrienne says "I thought it was a great race. I was too focused on the incessant rolling hills and leg cramping during the last 4 miles to appreciate the scenery, but I know it was gorgeous. I also realized towards the end that I did my math wrong and it actually was 15.5 not 15- that extra half is critical! :) I would definitely do it again."

In the men's 25K, it was NETT pal Pat Dwyer taking the win in 1:42, with NETT newcomerss Brodie Miles 10th overall in 1:51 with a very solid run and Jack Burke cruising along to a 2:19 making it look easy.

Overall the team of Brodie, Mary, Adrienne and Jack finished 4th in the 25K team results!!!

Here's Brodie's take on the race:

"A)I'd call the course "relentless" - Pre-race I thought to myself, "it'd be cool to be in shape for the 50 miler next year," but three loops of those rollers? It'd be like dying of paper cuts.
B) And while the course was scenic and beautiful - those fields were not my favorite. Cambered! (is that a real word?) Sunny! Hot!
C) For all my complaining - the 25k was fun and do-able. A challenge for sure - but who wants an easy course? And of course, what idiot would do that race just for the shirt. Me - that's who. A tech-t with a tractor on it? - Icing on the cake!
D) And congrats to the NETT women - I think the woman who won set a new course record (judging by the old one that was posted - 2 flat I think it was). So the Coyotee.ettes were all over that time."

Mary Smith on her longest trail race to date:

"I think it was a great day for all of us sporting NETT gear. Personally I had to keep reminding myself that the race WAS 25K & to not start too fast...but it was hard since the trails were so much "smoother"/less technical than what we'd trained on. I definitely liked the sections through the woods better than running along the edge of the fields. Maybe I'm crazy but I'd rather run those hills twice and skip out on the slanted field edge.

About 80 min into the race I realized that I was feeling great and somehow found myself passing people like crazy...and I have no idea where that feeling came from!! I also experienced 1st hand how much time carrying my own water/gatorade saves.

I can only think of 2 things that could've made the day a little better: 1-Having the "Distance Covered" / "Distance to-go" marked more clearly on the course. The only time I knew how much farther I had to run was when I had less than a mile to go.

2-Being a little cooler. It was a little warm, especially running through the open fields. But on a positive note, it allowed for a nice start to my annual 'watch tan line' Great job everyone...and especially Congrats to Dave, who ran twice as far as the rest of us!"

And here's Pat Dwyer's report on his win in the 25K:
"I went up to this race on the suggestion of one of my Boston Tri teammates, Juli Davenport, who was first overall woman in the 50K. I went up to run the 25K as a prep for Ironman Lake Placid. I was definitely running on some "heavy" legs from the training volume I was doing. Just like at the Merrimack River Trail race, I got some funny looks as I stood at the starting line in my road racing flats (although they were fine on this course). I ran with a pack for the first couple of miles. Everytime I would get a little lead, it would evaporate on the downhills (I'm a slow descender). About 17 minutes in I started to think that it was stupid for me to be leading. I was just about to drift back and let someone else do the work when I realized the "voices" behind me were no longer there. I turned back to see no one. That's when I pushed the pace for a couple of miles. The nice thing about the course is that if you get a lead, you can virtually dissappear with all the turns. As we hit the first field clearing (where you can see everyone), I realized I had a pretty significant lead of at least 2-3 minutes. I continued to run fairly hard from fear of getting caught. However, around an hour into the race, the constant hills started to wear on me (it could have also been that 140 mile bike ride I did the week before:)). At that point, with an even larger lead, I went into cruise control. I figured that as long as I didn't completely blow up, I was going to win. I would up being the second person to cross the finish line...Crazy Dave being the first (although he won the 50K). In fact, my wife thought Dave was in the 25K...and she told me at I was only 2 minutes behind the leader...to which I said she was crazy unless someone cut the course! Anyway, I wound up winning 5 minutes over second place. My impressions from the race are that it's fantastic. Great course (think Cape Ann 25K w/more rollers and on soft surface) and great after party. Great awards. Just a great race atmosphere. It didn't hurt that it was the best weather day of the long weekend. And the best part about it was that my legs actually felt great afterwards (unlike a road race)."

I see a trail runner being born here!!

And lastly, the nearly unbeatable Leigh Schmitt ran away with the 50-mile race in 6:35, telling Dave he was pretty lonely for much of the race. In additon to his trail running prowess, Leigh is also a master sculptor--You've never seen a guy who can pile pasta salad on a paper plate like Leigh!!

All in all, the race got very high marks from everyone that ran or watched it. Great food after--music, gelato, free beer, and burgers. Special thanks to all the NETT friends that came out to watch! Definitely helps to see a friendly face out there when you're grinding away the long miles.

All photos courtesy of JentheArtTeacher Productions.

Young extends lead in Eastern New England Trail Racing Series

Paul Young extended his lead in the Eastern New England Trail Race Series this weekend, with a solid performance at Trav's Trail Run in Newburyport. Paul clocked 17:14 on the 3 mile course, good for 17th overall and 3rd master.

Also out on the trails at Trav's was the Janos "The Hungarian Land Shark" Mako, who clocked an 18:22 as the sixth master to cross the line (yet another stacked master's field)

While the series standings have not yet been updated, few runners of Paul's stature have completed all three of the races so far.

Wang Dynasty Minus Two takes to the streets of Marlboro

Tina was missing her two teammates this past weekend but toughed it out and did the Lions Spring Sprint Triathlon solo. Her hard efforts got her a 1:02, good for fourth in her division and 75th overall. NOTE: She did have the fastest run split for her divison.

The secret to her success? It was clearly her "unintentional taper" at the Bentley workout on Wednesday.

"You guys did a second set? I thought the workout was over and went home!"

Nice work.

Big Ben, Crazy Dave and Eminem play the MODEL role

Last week, Big Ben, Crazy Dave and Karyn "Eminem" Miller-Medzon got the call from CitySports to be included as models in their exclusive photo shoot along the Chaaahles Rivah. After many long hours of negotiating with agents and several calls to Miley Cyrus, the NETT trio donned the CS branded running gear.

While there were many many of the city's most gorgeous runners scampering around in front of the lens at the shoot, CitySports clearly has taste and chose to feature a shot of Big Ben Crazy Dave and a slightly (okay more than slightly) obscured Eminem striding along the river.

Here's the result. Let us know what YOU THINK.

De Zutter WINS HOPKINTON DUATHLON

This just into the NETT newsroom: Jerry De Zutter won the Hopkinton Duathlon this weekend in convincing fashion in 1:01. He laid down the fastest splits for run1 and the bike leg and cruised in more than a minute in front. Here's Jerry's report:

A beautiful morning at Hopkinton State Park. Ran into
Dave Guertin before the race who was to get in the
chilly water in the concurrently running triathlon.
Dave did well in his season opening tri despite having
to take a breather on the swim and some technical
difficulties on the bike. A unique twist, we
started the duathlon at the same time the gun went off
for the triathlon and we began by running on a sandy
path across the back of the beach from which the
triathletes were launching. I don't think the
spectators knew which way to look. I
semi-reluctantly took the lead on the first 2mile run
after an energetic young lady had it for ~30sec. Had a
small advantage when we got to T1 but then got caught
by a couple guys coming out of transition/very early
on the bike. I think they blew themselves up trying to
catch up and I passed them back fairly quickly and
rode pretty solid to the transition with ~1:30 lead.
2nd run, 5K, was a little more interesting as early
on, I was debating with myself how hard/easy I could
run and still win. Not a good way to be thinking. A
short out-back stretch during that run revealed that
some of the other athletes had obviously made up some
ground on me which gave me incentive to stop debating
and run harder to the finish. I was happy to win but
didn't feel like I had any more gears if I had been
more seriously challenged.

Dave Guertin ran tough for an early season opener for 9th in his age group and 54th
overall

Mini-massage, decent food and beverages and
complimentary red bull(s) made for a pretty good
post-race too.


-Jerry

Wang Dynasty Takes Second at the Sudbury Triathlon

Frank KJ, Tina and Tina's son Nicholas as a family took second place relay team at the Subury Sprint Triathlon this weekend and judging by the results, it might be something we see more of! Here's Frank's report:

"The Wang dynasty ruled Sudbury today. We came in second and had a blast doing this as a family relay. Nicholas was seeded to swim 5:40 and finished on the dot. He passed the chip on to yours truly who posted a respectable split and finally Tina, as always, surpassed herself running 6:40 min/mile pace. To put things a bit in perspective, Nicholas had the 56th best swim time out of 400+ (this race appeals to swimmers); Frank had the 6th best bike time; and Tina had the 22nd best run time (including the men) and 2nd fastest of all the women."

(Nicholas gets the chip to Frank on their way to a seond place finish).

Talk about a fit household! Congrats!

NETT trail runners attack the Wapack MorFun run

Well our crew of trail runners certainly put the last "T" in Track & Trail this weekend, with some top finishes at a couple of the longest, toughest trail runs around.

First off, the trio of Dima Feinhaus, Jennifer Shultis and Karen Ringheiser took on the MorFUn Wapack Trail Run of 21 or 50 very rugged miles on the Wapack Trail.

Dima reports that: "Weather was great, trails were dry, and all I ended up being second in a very competitive race with 4:09 (official time are a few minutes off). 6th at 1st aid station -- it's a longer story -- but guy # 3 and I left 3rd (last) aid station virtually at the same time and were killing each other up to the finish line.

"Jennifer was 2nd female if I'm not mistaken, it's hard to read the results. I was too out of it at the finish line to remember who came when.
Karen was 4th female (out of 7), which is really good for her, as she did Boston just a few weeks ago and definitely does not like the long rocky sections that were prevalent out there."

Young cracks top 10 at 7 Sisters, Eminem and Little Skittles take on the Great Bear

As the rain poured down on Sunday morning, Paul Young was bravely toeing the line for what's unanimously considered the most difficult trail race in New England, the 7 Sisters Trail Race in Amherst, Mass. Paul's a veteran of the course and a very strong runner on technical and downhill trails, so it's no surprise that he managed yet another top-10 finish this year by hurtling himself down the sharp jagged rocks that line the last quarter mile of the course.

"It wasn't a PR year, but I ran with Keith Schmitt again this year and we did some real damage on the field on the way back, picking off a lot of runners and managing to finsih in the top 10 in 2:02," Paul said.

Results are not yet available online, but a look at some past years' results shows a LOT of NETT names near the top of the list of the years (namely De Zutter, Young, Hannon, Mingori and at least one Drozdov and a Shirokov).

And in the "Son Spanks Mom" department, Karyn M-M(aka Eminem) reports that her 10-year old son Noah (aka Little Skittles) not only won his age division at the Great Bear 5K in a stunning PR of 21:40 but dusted his mom by a soild minute. Let me repeat that in case you missed it: He's 10 and he ran 21:40 for 5K. Whew!

Karyn says "His slow-moving Canadiens-loving mother had a less impressive finish of 22:40 (4th in age group), resulting in no bling whatsoever."

Note: Little Skittles is a Bruins fan, while Eminem, a native of Quebec, is a Montreal Candiens fan. So we know the good guys won out in this race!