Despite the Heat, NETT takes wins on the roads, trails and...WHEELS!

Despite record-high temperatures this weekend, there were some extremely impressive results from NETT, with members taking part (and winning) trail races, road races and cycling races.

First, the roads. On Saturday a couple NETTers were out at the LiveRight 5K for Hepatitis Research in Brighton. Eri Verter was helping a friend promote the race and, always the good samaratin, Mary Smith came out to support the cause. Well, apparently, Mary did more than just support the cause--she dusted the women's field with a 19:45 to take her first win since...the high school 2-mile. And Eri also ran very strong, matching Mary's pace in the scorching heat. Here's Mary's report:

"I think we both had strong performances (especially given it started at noon on Saturday when the temperature was over 80 degrees). There were somewhere between 150 - 180 runners & walkers and the course was a big Figure 8 loop along the Charles and you could say it was a "no-frills race"--no mile markers or split, no time clock, no chip timing, etc. (but I'm not complaining - it's nice to run small races).
I think it's the 1st race I've won since the 2 mile in High School Track, when there were only 3 or 4 girls that got suckered into running the longest event at the end of the track meet. Even though it was only a 5K and it wasn't a HUGE race, it was still exciting to actually win. Plus, when Dustin dropped me off he reminded me that he was making me a Peruvian dinner...and he told me that if I didn't place in the Top 5 - No Dinner!! (Obviously I knew he was kidding, but nonetheless I was in the Top 5 & earned my dinner, no questions asked!)"

Congrats to both Mary and Eri for not only running well, but supporting a worthy cause. We old farts can learn a lot from our youngest NETT members.

Now to the news from the trails. NETT had a fantastic showing at the Blue Hills Trail Races in Milton on Sunday in the scorching heat. Teammates Pat Dwyer and Crazy Dave ran together and tied for the win in the 10-miler Fox Trot (the officials had to declare one the winner, so Pat got the nod in the results and prizes, but he and Dave split up the booty between them). Also in the 10-miler, Karen Ringheiser won the women's masters and second woman overall (six days post-Boston)and Marshall Randolph won the 60-69 category (another in a long string of age-group wins for this stallion!) and Dima Feinhaus (also six days post-Boston) cracked the top 10 as well. Jack Burke finished 27th overall in the scorching heat.

In the 3-mile Bunny Hop, Dima's son Isaac won the 19&Under category (get that kid a singlet!) and Dave and Jack's better halves Doris and Jenn both get huge props for finishing their first trail race of the year in sweltering conditions!

UPDATE: Also hitting the trails this weekend was the father-daughter tandem of Jim and Katherine De Zutter, who crashed the party and took SECOND overall in the relay at the Rockbuster Off-Road Duathlon this weekend in 55:45.

And lastly, news from the world of cycling. Three NETTers headed out to the Quabbin Reservoir Road Race, a 63-mile haul in Western Mass. on Sunday with very strong results. Paul Miller took the win in the Category 4 race, finishing in 2:42. And less than a minute back was Jerry De Zutter and only a place behind Jerry was Joe Hardin, finishing 7th and 8th.

I defy anyone to find not such diverse success from a single club on any given weekend! Congrats to all.