Mini Ponies Take to the Streets of Quebec City

While most of the herd of Mini Ponies was volunteering and ensuring a successful Chamberas Race, a vanful headed to Quebec City to take on the "Circuit Courir a Quebec". CP Pizarro represented NETT in the full marathon, Eminem & Amanda muscled through the 1/2, & Little Skittles (not so little anymore) took on the Canadians in the 10k. As usual NETT
also traveled with its chief photographer, doctor, and electronics wiz...aka Dustin, Dr. Ron, & Daniel.

The runners headed out at 6am to catch the ferry & respective buses. Amanda, Eminem, and Noah were able to walk together to their buses, while CP had to split from the group and hop on the ferry to Levis and then a bus to the starting line. Little Skittles was up 1st for his first EVER 10K! He ran like a seasoned veteran, running conservatively for the first 5K and then speeding through the second 5K. He ran an impressive race, finishing in 44 minutes!! The kid pulled out a 20 minute 5K for the 2nd half of the race when he realized tht 10k isn't that long afterall! Hope the Belmont XC team & their competitors are ready to be smoked!

Next up were Karyn & Amanda in the 1/2 marathon. Both went into the race with a strategy and stuck to it. Amanda made the 13.1 miles (21.1K) look easy. She covered the course in 1:33, which earned her the honors of being 9th out of 656 in her age group -- and 14th woman! Karyn, sped over the course in just under 1:50, one of her best races of the year, giving her a 15th place out of the 211 old ladies in her age group! They worked the crowd as they flew over the Quebec streets (drinking beer and eating poutine on the way) and made NETT a household name. (Okay...the beer and poutine are a bit of an exaggeration)

Finally, it was time for CP to tackle the marathon (and the men).  She ran the first 1/2 in just under 8's - using the bulkier men as wind blocks to alleviate the headwind off the St. Lawrence River. She barreled up the hills, running steady, but passing people all the way. After the 1/2, as the race headed toward the Quebec Bridge, she started to quicken her pace and really got cranking...clicking off some sub 7:30 miles. During the last 10K the weather started to heat up, and there was no shade to be found. Rather than be bothered by the heat, CP decided to start noticing her surroundings - which was beautiful scenery and gaining ground on many other marathoners. At 7K to go, she started counting the number runners she flew by...at the end the number ended up being around 93 people (99% men...sorry guys). She flew to the finish, watching every kilometer pass by (Canadians love their metric system). There was a cohort of NETT supporters awaiting her finish. She finished in a time of 3:24:06, good enough for 3rd in her age group & 11th woman overall!

Thanks to the help of Dustin, Ron, & Daniel, the race was well documented and all of the logistics were perfectly planned out. It was a successful trip for all, so successful that Dr. Ron found the need to breakout into the 'Gangnam Style' dance...believe it - it all happened!

GMP

Chamberas Race A Record Success

New England Track and Trail hosted another successful Thomas Chamberas XC Race this weekend, providing a fun and challenging event for more than 200 runners.

We had runners from a number of clubs near and far. As always, Greater Boston Track Club and Greater Framingham Running Club brought a swarm of runners. US Navy Prep made the long haul up from Newport again this year and the Western Mass Distance Project came out in force as well. HFC Striders, Greater Lowell Road Runners, Central Mass Striders and Cambridge Running Club were also out there.

But the race isn't just a club race. We strive to create an event that welcomes runners of all abilities and we did that again this year. I talked with people who had never done a trail race and one girl who had never done a race of any kind! This was her first race and she completed it!

The runners all loved the water bottles they got and as always, Michael P. Mahon provided a moving tribute and rousing rendition of the national anthem to get things moving.

Full results are posted here. 

After the race we were all treated to a free pizza party at the British Beer Co. in Westford! Free pizza for dozens of sweaty runners--that was really really nice of those folks. In fact we had a LOT of very very generous sponsors. I am always amazed by the generosity of these companies--not every company will support a small event like ours no matter the cause, so please pay it forward by supporting all the companies that donated to our race.

A huge thank you to everyone who came out. A special thanks to our huge crew of volunteers. It takes a lot of bodies to pull this kind of race off and I am continually amazed by these people willing to give up their Saturday (and a good chunk of Friday for some) for this event.

But the biggest highlight of the day came when Thomas came across the finish line. He ran the entire race on his own! He's a fit and healthy kid, thanks to the knowledge and therapy available for CF patients today and your running this race helps move that forward.

On behalf of myself and the Chamberas family (and really all CF patients that will benefit from your donation) thank you thank you thank you!

See you next year.

-Dave Hannon

Taking NETT to the top of the world!

Marshall took his NETT shirt all the way up near the angels on top of Mt Whitney in California this week! 14,505 feet! 

This was the second high-altitude NETT shirt ascent of the summer. Earlier in the summer, Little Skittles (allegedly) took an NETT shirt to the top of Peru at more than 15,000 feet!

Great stuff guys!

NETT preparing for XC season, Chamberas XC race

The NETT gang is lining up the supplies, the time, and the promotion for the 11th Annual Thomas Chamberas XC Race.

We've had a great response already. The race will again be the kick off for the USATF-NE XC series. USATF-NE and GBTC coach Tom Dederian has committed men's and women's teams to the race (thanks as always) and our sponsors are coming through again.

The always supportive Michael Mahon has been counting down the days to the race on his Twitter feed--literally: https://twitter.com/michaelpmahon

One quick note about the race--the start/finish is in a different parking lot. See the web site for more details:
www.thomasxc.org