NETT Around the World: France

A couple Mini Ponies recently made their way to the sunny shores of the French Riviera and true to form, there was more running than beach lounging.

We planned our runs bright and early as a chance to site see around Nice.

On one of our runs, we came across a triathlon being set up.

It was apparently a pretty big deal!

Not to outdone, Dave planned his own one-man triathlon. (You have to actually get in the water, knucklehead!)

Dave got to know the Parc du Chateau quite well during the trip. It had everything a Mini Pony wants in a travel run: hills, trails, fabulous views and just in case he overdid things, a cemetery.

We were sad to say goodbye, but we'll definitely come back to Nice. 

NETT Takes to the Trails

Autumn is a great time for trail racing and several NETT runners took full advantage of fine fall weather to race some trails. 

Several Mini Ponies raced at the Groton Trail Race. Adrienne took 1st in her age group for the second week in a row, in 1:15:50 -- which earned her a bottle of Merlot. Also over in Groton Youngstah cranked out a 1:07 while Marshall continues his comeback finishing second in his age group (second to the race's founder, I might note).

At the Ravenswood Trail Race in Gloucester, Kristin, Alison and Bob won their age groups while Fluffy Chris was sixth overall on the technical course.

Meanwhile over in Lincoln, Katy and Paddler Steve raced the Scarecrow Classic 5k. Steve, who memorized every inch of those Lincoln trails this summer, took first in his age group in 20:45; with Katy taking 2nd in hers, in a speedy 23:02.


Congrats to all!

NETT Runners Charging Through North Shore Trail Series

Just a quick update from the NETT news room on the North Shore Trail Series scoring, as we head into the end of the fall.

NETT's Bob Segal has a firm grasp on the 60+ age category, while Chris is in second in the 40-49 category and his better half Alison is in third in her category.

In September, these three ran the the ECTA 10 miler Run for the Hills (Hamilton, MA), and Bob won his age group, saying "I ran a PR on the course this time."

Chris was 4th in masters and 6th overall while his better half Allison was 5th open female and 33rd overall, just a few seconds behind Bob, as you will see in the photo.

Earlier in the summer, things didn't go quite as smoothly at the Watuppa 5 Miler. Here's Bob's report: "I, along with about a dozen others, was one of the ones who made the wrong turn at the 4-mile mark and ran an extra 2.75 miles.I never used to be superstitious, but on the way to the race, a black cat crossed the road in front of me. I remember chuckling to myself wondering if anything bad would happen ... "

To track their progress, check out the series scoring here.

NETT Goes 1,3 at Wayland XC

Big congrats to the NETT men's and women's teams who grabbed first place (women) and third place (men) at this weekend's Wayland XC Festival.

NETT also crushed the age groups with the following people grabbing top three honors in theirs: Adrienne Cyrulik, Mary Pizarro (both first in their age group), Steve Yankum, Kristin Hall, Katy Appleby (second in theirs), Bob Segal, Patrick McVeigh, and Julie McVeigh (third in theirs). In fact, NETT women swept the 40-49 age group!

Top finisher for the NETT men was Simon -- while his dad Ilya ran strong for the men's team as well. so great to see a father and son running races together, especially at this event.

NETT has been a longtime supporter of this event from its earliest days. HFC Striders have done a great job in keeping the event alive and vibrant, with good prizes and organization. Grassroots XC is a dying breed in today's era of mega road races, so kudos to founder Eric Bucher and current RD TJ Unger for putting on a fun event that is open to all runners and breeds the next generation of XC runners.

Walden Pond Swim/Run Season Recap

As most NETT members know, Frank KJ has done a great job of hosting early (and we mean early) swim/runs at Walden Pond all year. Here's his recap of the early morning activities this year.

"While some of you were sleeping (slackers), getting to work (we pity you), riding or running elseswhere (we stand with you) or getting kids ready for school (we thank you), some of us got up early through the summer and fall to swim Walden Pond and run the trails. We would get in the water around 5:45am and finish our run around 7:15am for a perfect start to the day.

Everyone is now fully familiar with NETT favorites like Fairhaven Hill, Pine Hill, Mount Misery and be(a)st of all Emerson Cliff. And Stephen now outruns the deer. I have created a mashup of the water and trails we covered. I hope more of you will join us next year."

Great work Frank! We're lucky to have a guy like you in our ranks!