Adventures in Ithaca

Seven of NETT's more...seasoned runners headed out to Ithaca NY for the infamous Triennial Trail Relay on the Finger Lakes Trail. And it was certainly an eventful weekend.

The crew of JD, Matt, Rick, Crazy Dave, Paddler (Tarzan) Steve, JoeC, and Fluffy Chris drove out on Friday and broke into their two teams, East and West, to do some recon on the trail junctions and then...a slight mishap. and suddenly the West crew was down to two runners. Not to worry. Steve found out that his leg actually requires the use of a rope to scale up a steep climb. Sounds fun. Not to worry.

Friday night the team had a great I-talian dinner in Cortland NY and retired to the quaint Ramada Cortland for a good night's sleep.

Saturday morning came early and at 7:25 the two NETT teams headed out on their sets of legs. The course is extremely challenging and has climbs that we just don't see here in Eastern Mass. And the guys rose to the occasion. On the east team, Tarzan Steve ran strong before handing off to Rick, the East team captain and only member of the team who knew the terrain. Rick used his hometown hero status to pull himself up and over the brutal hills of Greek Peak before Matt took over and found himself waist deep in a stream crossing. And last for the east team, JD just crushed his leg flying down the hills at breakneck pace to bring it home very strong.

On the West side, things got adventurous. Down to only two runners after Friday's mishap, Chris decided our best chance was to race for the coveted Christopher Columbus award. It's not easy to do, either. Chris had to spend several hours in the woods on and off trail. His efforts WERE in fact, rewarded by the race organizers who decided to include NETT in the results, even though Crazy Dave was so intimidated by Chris' performance he took his shoes off and got in the car.

Here's how the results sheet looked for the Mini Ponies.

   NETT

Run time:            14:22:00

Handicap:            00:35:00

TOTAL:                  13:47:00

                Steve Yankum (64)                          East 1    9.4 Miles              1:50:00

                Matt Moore (32)                              East 2    6.8 Miles              1:14:00

                Rick Cleary (61)                                 East 3    6.8 Miles              1:41:00

                Jean Dany Joachim (54) East 4    9.4 Miles              1:37:00

                Chris Smith (51)                                West 1  10.6 Miles            3:00:00                  AWARD:                Christopher Columbus (the rest of the crew abandoned ship trying to locate him)

                Dave Hannon (46)                            West 2-3 11.2 Miles         2:00:00

                Joe Canistraro (49)                          West 4 10.6 Miles             2:00:00

Overall this was a VERY fun event and a great trip for the NETT men's team.