NETT dominates Andover XC Race again

It was a tour de force for the NETT teams at the Andover Country Club XC Race today in Andover, Mass. with the men's team easily taking their fifth team title and the women battling it out for a four-point win to defend their own title.

The men's team was just an army of MiniPonies galloping around the golf course, winning with a score of 25 points. The massive squad included: Paul Miller-Medzon (the M-M family liked Paul and Alex so much they decided to adopt Paul, apparently), Crazy Dave, Dave Mingori (who ran out of his mind in a PR time), NETT rising stars Pat Dwyer and Martin Bures (see how tightly bunched the four NETTers are here), stalwarts Jerry De Zutter, Paul Young and Frank KJ, Janos Mako, XC star in training Brian Scanlon, Noah "Little Skittles" Miller-Medzon, trail expert Jack Burke and the always enthusiastic Jim De Zutter, who threw down the hardest kick of the day flying to the finish line. That's a baker's dozen of coyotes out there ripping up the course for our fifth straight men's team win at Andover, dating all the way back to 2004.

The Ponyettes had a much tougher job, in an extremely competitive women's field, but definitely rose to the occassion, successfully defending their title with a tiny score of 14 points, only four points in front of AHS (?) in second and five points in front of MRC in third. Led by Adrienne Cyrulik, who's wrapping up a very strong fall, the women's team also included Tina "I hate trails" Wang, rapidly rising star Katherine De Zutter, NETT newcomer Peggy Davis and a slightly disabled Karyn "Eminem" Miller-Medzon and trail expert Chrissy Durden. Jack's better half Jenn was also ripping it up out on the course (just in case she thought her great run went under the radar).

All in all, it was a banner day for our growing team. Special thanks go out to Dr. Ron's Daycare as well as Alex Miller and Jimmy De Zutter for their steadfast support of NETT.

One thing you notice in reviewing the photos is the groupings of NETT runners working together. Dave H, Dave M, Pat D and Martn all ran close. Jerry and Paul ran their umpeenth race in close proximity. Chrissy and Eminem were neck and neck. Photos even show Jack and Katherine pacing together mid-race. Great stuff.

NETT fun fact: Andover was the first race we did as "NETT" back in 2002 (see results here), when the men (we didn't even dream of a women's team back then-we didn't even have uniforms yet) finished second with 69 points.

NETT Thanksgiving Racing Roundup

There were Mini Ponies out at all turns on Turkey Day. Here's a quick rundown of some of the highlights:

First off, here's a report from Frank KJ out at the Stow Gobbler, in Stow, Mass.:

"It was a fast and flat 5K course that is actually closer to 5.1km than 5km. 500+ runners/walkers in its second year. I came in at 17:49, 7th overall, 2nd master. Jerry 18:02. 8th overall, 3rd master. Jerry claims I am now a professional runner since I am out of work. Personally, I believe the 3 years age difference is starting to show ;-)Tina 21:08. 8th overall, 1st in her age-group. Continues her natural talent for picking races at which to shine. Katherine De Zutter zipped along in 22:31, 15th overall, 4th in her age-group. She's definitely learning and improving each race with some guidance from here dad, Jim Jr. who finished in 26:37.,193rd overall; Jim Jr. keeps shaving off the pounds and the seconds.

After the race we headed over to Jim Sr's place for the traditional De Zutter Thanksgiving 5K run aka the Tri Town Turkey Trot."

Over at the Feaster Five in Andover it was Frank White in 28:33, Karyn M-M in 38:30 in the 8K and Karyn's sons Daniel in the 5K (21:33) and Noah (23:22), who took second in his age group of 283 kids!

Over in Somerville at the Gobble Gobble Gobble 4 miler, it was Crazy Dave in 22:23, Pat Dwyer a few ticks back in 23 flat and Chris Smith in 23:25.

And a late-breaking note from John Kinnee who ran the Ayer Firefighters 5K (which starts basically 100 yards from his door!): "The Ayer race went great yesterday. I finished 5th overall in 16:54. [John's friend] Halaina was the first woman in 18:30 and won by 1.5 minutes. I'm psyched to break 17 and I want to continue running hard for a while. When is the first BU inddor meet?" Talking BU meets already! Good sign for Young John.

Our pal Vlad Luppov popped up at the Thanks4giving 5 miler in Lowell, running 30:29 for 5 miles!

I'm sure there's more out there, so will post as I get time. Congrats to all. On to Andover!

Brunch Run Fattens NETT Ranks

We all had a great run and brunch at Frank and Tina's place today. The five-mile group sped around the Battle Road Trail while the longer group followed Frank over the river through the woods, quite literally.(Adrienne teaches the boys a lesson in common sense)

We had the usual stalwarts (I always hated that term--stalwarts--sounds like something you catch in a public restroom) along with some new faces coming out. While we don't keep very accurate records, it's likely the largest group run in NETT history. Everybody chipped in with the massive food spread, but special thanks have to go out to Jim D and his fam for the extra efforts on the food prep--what a great spread. This guy keeps showing up with piles of turkey, he's going to be in great shape because he's going to get invited to a LOT of runs.

DimaD resurfaces—on Dorney Lake

Bad news for the runners in the U.K. Dmitry Drozdov aka the Russian Rocket has begun running again across the pond. He recently crushed the competition in a 10K around Dorney Lake near his home. Here’s his report:

“The Coyote shirt is running again. Too bad New England is abbreviated. I managed to run 10k under 33 minutes with almost no training. The second guy was around 35 minutes. This was a cancer research charity race around Dorney Lake which is the rowing venue for London Olympics. The place is 3 miles from our house.”

Where's Dima? Look for the biggest grin. WE know why he's smiling, don't we?

Congrats Dima. Great to hear. Dima makes friends so easily, doesn't he?

Mini-Ponies swarm the Busa Bushwhack Trail Race

Holy Coyotes Bat Man!

It was an all-out trail running assault at the Busa Bushwhack in Framingham on Sunday, as the NETT runners were out in force, showing up in various age groups, genders and distances in the results.

In the 9.3 mile race, on the men's side NETT had three in the top eight finishers (John Kinnee--no longer fighting for the dark side--as well as Dave Mingori and Chris Smith), and four in the top 13 with Dima Feinhaus thrown in there. We had the top two masters, (Dave Mingori and Chris Smith) and Bogie D proudly flying the NETT flag out there.

Chris gets the "how to make a hard race harder" award as he struggled with a deviant contact lens most of the race and wound up losing a good chunk of time and about 50% of his vision by the time he hit the tape.

On the women's side, defending champ Adrienne Cyrulik shaved more than a minute from her time last year, but the women's field was just outstanding this year. Adrienne finished a very strong 6th woman overall, 5th in her division. And Karen Ringheiser, with only a week's rest after the Baystate Marathon, churned out a very good run to finish second master.

BUT THAT'S NOT ALL!! In the 5.3 mile race NETT's Paul Young took the win in a very speedy 31:36. (Editor's Note: Mr. Young's been on a victory march of late, also winning the Diamond Hill trail run and the Stone Tower 15K). Dima's 14-year-old son Issac finished 18th overall in 40:29 and got an autograph from Richie B himself.13-year-old NETT newcomer Katherine De Zutter finished in 45:15, outclassing her dad, Big Jim De Zutter, who ran his second race of the weekend in 51:43. This guy has caught the racing bug!

Where was big Jim the day before, you may ask? Why he was ripping it up out on the trails Saturday with little bro Jerry out at the Wachusett Reservoir Deer Run, another NETT favorite. Jerry skidded around to a third-place finish in the 10K while big Jim took 14th in the 5K.


All in all, it was a great weekend for the NETT teams out there. And what better race to support than the one to honor the one and only Rich Busa, a living legend if ever there was one!

All photos courtesy of the Michael Laing & Glenn Meister and the Greater Framingham Running Club. For more photos, go here.

Mary runs phenmoenal debut marathon in Manchester

Not only was it a fast debut marathon for Mary Smith at the Manchester City Marathon, but it was a smart one too.

Mary started off running relaxed and comfortable and by the halfway point in the race, when the crowd thinned dramatically with the drop of the half-marathoners, she got down to business, cranking the pace down to 7:45s and passing people left and right. By the last mile of the race, at a steep hill, she was one of the few runners striding up past walkers and shufflers. "You must be running a great race, as you're only the second person to pass me today," one runner told her as she flew past.

The end result was a 3:28:56, good for 77th place overall and 6th in her age group. (Note, Frank points out that the "net time listed on the results are not accurate. Mary did not cross the start line until 1:20-1:25 after the gun went off.
I would say her halfway time is closer to 1:43:50 and net time 3:27:30 - so even splits and a very well-paced run.")


Mary's fans were all over the course, cheering her on.

Note the strong form she maintained all the way through the race.


Congrats Mary!Photos courtesy Big Ben Winther and Frank KJ.