UPDATED: Wings takes flight at Reach the Beach Relay

Holy crap. That’s about all one can say after participating in their first Reach the Beach Relay. What a bizarre, fun, strange, roller coaster of an event this 200-mile relay from Cannon Mountain to Hampton Beach is. But let’s back up a bit first.

HOW DID I GET HERE?
It all started when NETT’s Karyn Miller-Medzon recruited a few of us NETTers to fill out her usual WINGS team for RTB. After a couple unplanned injuries and absences, WINGS basically became a team very heavy on NETT’s extended family (and we mean family). Here’s the roster we wound up with:
Van 1: Crazy Dave, Karen R, Dima F, Karyn MM, and the two WINGS veterans Peter Evers and Jeannette Voas.
Van 2: Claire Scanlon (courtesy of Tina Wang), Mary Smith, Clare Smith (courtesy of Mary), Tom Dmukauskas (courtesy of Dima), Chrissy Durden and Martin Bures (courtesy of Chrissy).

Getting the picture yet? Lots of courtesy here. A diverse group of loosely connected folks who came together as a team and by the end of it…well we’ll get to that.

MY GOD, WHAT HAVE I DONE?
For the unitiated, it’s a 200-plus mile relay where teams can have up to 12 people running legs of various distances continuously across the state of New Hampshire. It takes hundreds of volunteers to pull this thing off…350 teams most with 12 people on them…running non-stop. It just seems like such a bad idea on so many levels, but I guess most of the funnest things usually do.

LETTING THE DAYS GO BY
Crazy Dave started off at 2:40 p.m. Friday on the first leg from Cannon Mountain. Chrissy finished up more than 25 hours later in Hampton Beach. In between is a blur of long winding roads, yellow arrows we’ll see in our sleep for months, wet vans full of half-awake runners, headlamps and reflector vests and at least one irate father yelling at his son. There were some really really gutsy performances from all of our runners--nothing makes you dig a bit deeper than knowing your previous and next teammate are going to do the same. We had a lot of that. Karyn MM basically undid months of rehab to get to that last exchange zone of hers with Dima and Karen's help...Martin could barely walk after crushing his legs (pun intended-snore)...Peter produced more sweat than any single mammal should be allowed on his last leg...Tom defied the laws of physics and basically ran downhill on a steep steep uphill grade...the list goes on and on and on..every time someone did something great, the next person matched it and raised, right down to Chrissy's finishing kick that left us all in the dirt. It was great to see.

ONCE IN A LIFETIME?
The end result? We finished in 25:36 which put us 26th out of 355 total teams. We were 9th in the mixed open category which accounted for 166 teams. That’s an average of 7:21/mile.
See full results here.

A huge thanks to Karyn MM for the work in organizing. The list of thanks goes a mile long, as these kinds of things don't just happen, but everyone knows who they are.

NOTE: For a slideshow of GREAT PICS from the Reach The Beach relay, check out Karyn's site here.

Passing time has no surprise
When pleasure found is my resource
I start to drift with the tide
Maybe I'll reach, I'll reach the beach
The Fixx

(With apologies to Talking Heads for ripping off their perhaps most overused lyrics in the history of music...just seemed to fit)

NETT takes to the trails at Wrentham, Fitchburg and Carlisle

Well it was a busy weekend out on the trails for the Mini Ponies, with NETT Men going 1-2 at both the Wrentham Forest Challenge and the NMC Overlook 7 Mile trail race in Fitchburg while the ladies mucked it up at the Run Like a Girl 8K.

In Fitchburg Sunday, it was Dave Mingori topping the results list a mere 9 seconds in front of Young John Kinnee for the win in 45:31. Dave reports: "It was a VERY wet with some rock ledge sections on a descent around mile 5 that were downright dangerous. I actually walked around a couple of them. 2 stream crossings that were calf deep. Real nice trails that I'd like to go back and explore more. John and I ran together for the first couple miles when I pulled away and gapped him by probably 30-40 seconds. He hung very tough, got a 2nd wind and began closing, forcing me to really push that last hill."

At the Wrentham Forest Challenge 20K Trail Race on Saturday, it was Crazy Dave and Chris Smith working together to finish 1-2 flying the NETT flag all the way. (Results not available yet). The course was well marked and a bit more rugged than expected which equated to a lot of fun running. It was so fun, in fact, that Marshall Randolph decided to run nearly an extra mile out there.

Rather than go cherry picking like the rest of us, Mr. Young took on the well stacked Run to Fall 5K XC Race up in NH, finishing 16th in 18:28.

Not to be outdone, the NETT Ponyettes showed up in force at Jennifer Shultis' Montrail Run Like a Girl 8K trail race in Carlisle. I'm sure I'll miss someone, but Karen Ringheiser was fifth overall in 37:51, Chrissy Durden 29th, Deb Robertson 31st. Congrats to the ladies on these fine performances and congrats to Jennifer for pulling off a great race in its first year.

The Rick Report: Big Man 2008

Our roaving reporter, Rick Cleary took to the streets of Somerville for the Big Man race again this year. For those not in the know, this weight-graded race involves running, drinking beer and eating hot dogs. Here's Rick's report:

My favorite event of the year, the Big Man Run in Somerville, was held Saturday 9/6 under hot and humid conditions, with slower finishers getting soaked by the first lashes of the hard rains of Hurricane Hanna. This was my third year in the event, which you'll recall is limited to men 190 pounds and over (and a few 'skinnies' who are friends of the organizer or don't make the weight or sneak in somehow...) The race starts at a bar, and along the slightly longer than 5 mile course (about 5.2 by my gmap measurement) it goes into three bars where competitors have to consume a hot dog (and bun) and a beer (about 12 ounces.)

Two years ago I won the 50 and over division by 13 minutes, but last year some ringer from Texas showed up and edged me out. Order was restored in the universe this time around as he stayed home minding the Longhorns, and I managed to run just over 43 minutes. I finished 12th overall ... three straight years I've been 12th ... although three of the 11 ahead of me were skinnies so I was ninth Clydesdale. I won the 50 and up by about 11 minutes, so I really should have enjoyed a second beer in the bars.

A few highlights of this year's event:

-The weigh in took longer than usual as they went from a cheap floor scale with a needle to real balance scale. They let you weigh in with shoes and shirt on, so I weighed in at 201. That big first digit always makes me feel a little slow but it's nice to be safely over, the guy behind me was just 186 and was hooted at by the crowd.

-The course starts with a huge climb, and you finish right where you start, but I don't know when we go downhill. It's another example of an Escher loop, one that seems up all the way to me.

-Conditions were miserably hot and humid with a misty rain at the start. The pavement was slippery and the long climb over the first mile or so was sort of suffocating. I started slow and got to the first bar at about 1.3 miles in about 20th place. I always pick up a few spots in the bars, and the next running section was short ... the second bar is only about 0.3 mles further ... so I had emerged into about 15th for the long run to the last bar. There I passed a lot of guys who were having trouble with that third beer or dog; but a couple of young bucks passed me during the run from there to the finish.

-Two years ago there were four bars; too bad we're down to three now as I know more eating and drinking works to my advantage.

-The post race music was a two man Irish band. I have a lot of Irish heritage but why anyone likes Irish music is a mystery to me. There only seems to be two songs, "Ol' Murphy died and we all went drinkin'" and "Colleen left me so let's all go drinkin'" (Actually four songs, there are fast and slow versions of each of those.) I waited around a long time in the steamy bar for the awards, since I saw that I'd won my age group, but finally I just couldn't wait any longer or hear one more chorus about Ol' Colleen Murphy and I got the organizer to hand me my championship mug and tee shirt. I think I won some money but I told him to use it to buy drinks for the volunteers; not that he could possibly have heard me above the over-amplified Irish crooning.

-Last year the family came along and enjoyed the spectacle; but they were wise to stay home this time. The post race choices of either being outside in driving rain or inside listening to the Irish crooners did not seem family freindly

Full results HERE... though it doesn't include weights so it's not too much fun yet.

Fashion Show! Mini Ponies get new gear!

Well the new cycling/triathlon uniforms are in and a BIG thanks go to Jerry D for his work on these. Jerry put in a lot of time and pulled a few strings to have a real graphic designer put together logos and designs. Our model, Frank, is wearing some of the new coture here. Note the web URL on the shorts (great touch!) and the coyote howling above the skyline. Many, many thanks Jerry! Really kicked things up a notch.

Meet the Olympians at Spellman Museum in Weston

A group of local Olympians including the recently returned Olympic triathlete Jarrod Shoemaker of Sudbury will be speaking Thursday night at the Spellman Museum of Postal History in Weston, Mass.(on the campus of Regis College)Also speakding will be Josephine Warren Madden, a member of the USA Olympic track team that competed in the 1936 Olympic games in Berlin. Other Olympic athletes will also be attending. Thursday, September 11, 2008, 7:00 p.m.


For more info:
http://www.wickedlocal.com/wayland/news/x1001331945/Local-Olympians-share-their-experiences

and
www.spellman.org

NETTers Labor hard on Labor Day weekend

MiniPonies were out hoofing it up all over the place this weekend. Here's a report from Paul Young:

On Sunday I returned to Wapack after a 9 year absence and ended up in a very tight race for first place. Garry Harrington, Keith Schmitt, Peter Keeney and yours truly all reached the turnaround in close order. I pushed the pace on the fire roads heading back and managed to gap those guys and make it to top of the last big climb in first place only to get turned around on the ridges and blow my cushion. Garry managed a kamikazee down hill on the final single track hill and gapped me by around 20-25 seconds. Final result was a PR in 2:39:05 but second place. Garry, Peter and I all broke 2:40."

Also note, Dima Feinhaus and Karen Ringheiser were at Wapack, with Dima finishing in 3:08 and Karen second woman in 3:40.

Karen and Dima also headed down to the Walpole Road Race, where they bumped into Karyn Miller-Medzon. Here's Karen's report:

"Karen came in second in her age group in the 10k and Dima finished 4th overall (I think).That, despite having run a very difficult race the day before (GREAT training for RTB!!!) I tried an "inaugural" attempt at 5k post-surgery in Walpole, wasn't sure I'd finish at all, and ended up with 25:06 (slowest since the first race I ran in 2002....but a milestone nonetheless). My boys also ran (Daniel in 20 flat and Noah in 22:50). That's our Labor Day update!"

Congrats to all!

NETT's Taiwan Training Trip a FULL Success

Frank KJ and Tina just returned from a visit to Taiwan and Frank was kind enough to provide us with a detailed account of a couple runs he did while he was there. Here's his report:

I just returned from our vacation in Taiwan to visit Tina’s family I wanted to share my experience of running in Taiwan. Since the tropic of Cancer cuts right through Taiwan it is hot and humid 24/7. And since two-thirds of the island is mountains steep climbing is hard to avoid.

Tina’s parents lives in northern Taipei at the foothills of the Yangmingshan mountain range. The mountains were created 2 million years by volcanic activity and it is still possible to see and smell the sulfur. My long run up to Yangmingshan started 6AM and right from the start it goes uphill. The first 2.2 miles covers 750 ft of climbing on a small road where the density of Taipei is quickly replaced by small farms, restaurants and hot springs overlooking Taipei. There are also plenty of stray dogs; they are so common all over Taiwan that I quickly accept their presence. Or maybe it is simply just too hot for them to chase me. The fact is that by 6AM the temperature is already 86F and the humidity is around 70% so my NETT singlet is already drenched in sweat.

Once I turn into the main road the grade lets up a bit and becomes more gradual so I can find a rhythm. The next 1.5 miles takes me up to Yangmingshan village. I am pleased to see that the Taiwanese have started to embrace cycling because I see a lot of cyclists taking on the climb on road bikes, mountain bikes and believe or not folding bikes. It is quite a sight to see someone ride up a 6% road on a folding bike with its small wheels. Since most people live in apartments in Taipei folding bikes are more practical and typically in higher demand than other bike types. They all politely say ‘Good morning’ or ‘Zao’ as they pass me and curiously look at my NETT singlet and fuel belt. So far I haven’t met other runners. (Frank's altitude data pretty much tells the story of his climb up to 2400 feet or 800 meters)


In the village I see another common morning ritual – senior citizens practicing Tai Chi or other forms of exercise. I plod on upwards and the grade kicks up a notch again as I exit the village. The next 3 miles are brutal but the view down into the valley is my reward. In the last mile there is no shade but I am lucky clouds cover the sun and there is a breeze. I can see some of the sulfur pits from the road and the hot water is sending up steam. Once I reach the pass I can actually feel that the temperature is a bit lower at 2600 ft above sea level.

I don’t have the exact distance but I estimate it to 12.5K making the average grade just shy of 6%. Well, 2400 ft up means 2400 ft down. Downhill, I earn some blisters since I am lousy at running downhill and ‘brake’ too hard on the steep sections. It is now past 8AM and the temperature is 92F.


My ‘short’ run is a repeat of a run I did on my first visit to Taiwan in 2003. It is a 4.5K run up a steep road to the Chinese Cultural University from where there is a great view over Taipei and the mountains south of Taipei. Via a series of hairpin turns it climbs 1200 ft resulting in an average grade near 8%. On this run I actually pass another runner on the way up and see him again on the way down. I have no idea how he survives without bringing any drinks. I am so happy I have my fuel belt. With the hairpin turns the scary thing about this run is the scooters which come fast around the corners; no sidewalks and barely any shoulders on this hill that makes Bentley and Brandeis look speed bumps.

I have added a photo sporting the NETT singlet from Kaohsiung with the fish dragon statue and a couple of photos of crickets and diverse intestines on sticks. Bon Appétit.

Thomas Chamberas 6K XC Race brings in speedsters, donations

Another successful edition of the Thomas Chamberas 6K XC Race is in the books, thanks to the hard work of our organizers, volunteers and the runners who participated.

First and foremost the race raised upwards of $2500 in donations for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, so thank you to all who entered, donated or volunteered.

After an uplanned but rousing version of the national anthem courtesy of Michael Mahone, the Can Man, the race was off. This year’s race saw some of the steepest competition yet at the front of both the men’s and women’s races. NB Boston’s Ryan Carrara successfully defended his title in Carlisle this year by outkicking Aaron Price of the BAA to win by a mere three seconds in 18:02. But man oh man, what a deep field up front. As part of the USATF-NE XC Series the Chamberas race drew runners from several of the top clubs in New England and as you review the names in the top 25 or so finishers, you see a lot of very well known names on the list, an indication of how competitive this race was.

The same holds true on the women’s side, where Lara Johnson kept the women’s overall title with the BAA winning in 20:38, good for 29th overall. But Johnson certainly had to work for it with the likes of SISU’s Caitlyn Clark, Emily Kroshs, NB Boston’s Christy Mae Carrara and always impressive GBTC’s women’s squad in hot pursuit.
We’ll hold off on posting team scores to avoid any confusion, as there may be minor differences between our race’s team scores and those in the USATF series (series scoring requires USATF membership).

Thanks to the sponsors: Greater Boston Running Co., Etonic, Brooks, Asics, Reebok, CitySports, DarnTough Vermont, Eastern Mountain Sports, La Sportiva, Welchs, the Boston Athletic Association.

As always, huge thanks to our crew of volunteers this year including: Ben, Cindy, Ted and Elsa Winther, Paul Young, Doris Chow, Karyn Miller-Medzon, Dima Feinhaus, Karen Ringheiser, Mary Smith, Michelle Lang, Adrienne Cyrulik, Joe Hardin, Frank and Maggie White, Jack Burke, Eric Bucher, Chris Smith, Bill Newsham, and the myriad others I forgot. A special thanks to the Chamberas family who always shows up in droves for the event, including Thomas himself who took part in his first of many races on foot (as opposed to the baby jogger where he normally races).

Special thanks to Jim Rhoades for another batch of top-notch race photos posted here.

For another race review courtesy of Jim Johnson of MVS, click here.

Women 2nd, Men 7th at Lynn Woods

The NETT women came through stong again, taking second place in the women's open category at the 2008 Lynn Woods XC Relay, while the near-masters men's team finished 7th overall in the hotly contested men's open field.

The women started out very consistently with Deb Robertson leading off in 18:52 for the 2.5 mile loop, with Chrissy Durden running the second leg in an almost identical 18:51. Jennifer Shultis was up next and she clocked a very solid 19:21 before handing off to Adrienne Cyrulik, who threw down a monster 18-flat to bring it all home in 75:04 for 39th place overall, second in the women's open division.

39. NETT (311) 75:04
DEB ROBERTSON 18:52 18:52
CHRISSY DURDEN 37:43 18:51
JEN SHULTIS 57:04 19:21
ADRIENNE CYRULIK 75:04 18:00


On the men's side, Chris Smith led off with a speedy 14:38 putting us in 9th place. Janos Mako took the stick and cranked out a 15:16 before Paul Young matched Chris' leg and came through in 14:37 (weird huh?) to leave NETT off in sixth place heading into the final leg. Crazy Dave didn't exactly choke--but there was definitely a shortness of breath and blue on his face, as he closed it up in 14:08, but lost the battle for sixth place to a guy who threw down a 13:48. What are you gonna do, right? The NETT men finished up in 58:39. Had Crazy Dave found his fake ID from college and qualified as a master, the NETT team would have been second masters (second only to the CMS team that set the new masters record).


7 . NETT (275) 58:39
CHRIS SMITH 14:38 14:38
JANOS MAKOS 29:54 15:16
PAUL YOUNG 44:31 14:37
DAVE HANNON 58:39 14:08

Chrissy's CitySports crew also did well finishing 8th in the coed division in 77:58.
Special thanks to the runners who volunteered for teams even though we could work them all out (Bogie, Duggan and Martin).

As always, the volunteers and organizers at the Lynn Woods Relay did an outstanding job of getting accurate splits and keeping track of what appears to the naked eye to be complete and utter chaos. I honestly have no idea how they do it, but KUDOS to them.

Reminder: Thomas Chamberas 6K XC Race This Sunday!

Just one last reminder, that that Thomas Chamberas 6K Cross Country Race is Set for August 24 in Carlisle Mass.


The Sixth Annual Thomas Chamberas 6K Cross Country Race will take place on August 24, 2008 at Great Brook Farm State Park in Carlisle, Mass. at 9 a.m. with all of the funds raised going to benefit cystic fibrosis research.

The Chamberas XC race is unique because it is both a highly competitive XC event but it’s also a fundraiser for a very good cause: On July 27, 2005 Thomas Francis Chamberas was born. He was named after his late Uncle Tommy, a former standout runner at the University of Lowell who was murdered in 1994. This race was originally founded to raise money for the Thomas Chamberas Memorial Runner’s Scholarship in memory of “Uncle Tommy” but when Thomas Francis was only 10 days old he was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis.

Today, the race now raises funds for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation with the blessing of the Chamberas family.

The race attracts all levels of competitors from first-time XC runners just out for the cause all the way up to Olympic trials qualifiers and other top-ranked local runners. This year, the race is part of both the Eastern New England Trail Racing Series and the USATF New England Cross Country Grand Prix, so it’s sure to bring in the top runners in the area.

For more registration information, past results or to make a donation, please visit the race web site at http://cff.chambosfund.org or contact Anthony Chamberas achamberas@alum.bu.edu 781-899-0499.

TIMBER! NETT goes BIG at Timberman Tri

There were a slew of Mini Ponies out at the Timberman Triathlon in New Hampshire this weekend, so let's get right to the results so I can resume watching women's diving.

In the sprint tri, it was Jerry De Zutter in 12th and Paul Miller in 13th finishing together in 1:06:56. It was something of a family reunion for the De Zutters in the sprint tri, as little bro Phil came in at 1:23, big brother Jim in 1:25 and Jim Senior at 74 years young came in at 2:08. It's only a matter of time before Audrey and Bradon get out there!

In the women's sprint, Tina Wang finished very well in 1:27:40.

In the half-iron distance, Ali Azarbayejani had a good race, finishing 62nd in 4:48 Frank KJ clocked a 5:14 in his third half-iron this year! And young Dave Guertin put in a very solid effort to finsih up in 5:34. And NETT pal Pat Dwyer continued his stellar season on his way to Kona by finishing 12th in 4:28. Great work guys!

The crew had a pre-race workout on Friday AM at Walden Pond with a breakfast after. Whatever they ate it worked! Congrat to all.


And just in case you don't feel lazy enough as it is reading about these maniacs, the Hoyts, Dick and Rick, did the half iron race as well. I'm off to eat a whoopie pie!

NETTers find business as usual at the Oxford Dam Trail Race

Three NETT runners made it out to the Oxford Dam Trail Race on Saturday with good results. Here's the report from Dima Feinhaus:

"The Oxford Dam Trail Race certainly lived up to its reputation again this year as people were massively getting lost yet again. To assure success of the race, the RD made sure to use three different colors to mark the course and changed the course yet again this year. There were plenty of volunteers first two miles, but then ... not quite as many.

At one of the turns I saw NETT's own John Kinnee running across the field in the opposite direction. I was impressed and surprised that someone could be so far ahead. Indeed John was just speeding up back to the trail after taking a short detour. About a mile later as we were running under powerlines (mostly up, on loose rock) yours truly followed four runners (including John) up the steep hill against my best judgment. That was the biggest and steepest hill of the race and Ben Nephew called it the bonus hill. He made the same mistake but proceeded to win the race.

But it wasn't the end of the story for Young John. He missed the final turn to the finish and had to run an extra 200 yards at the end too but still managed to finish 6th overall--not bad. I finished 7th right behind him (2nd master).

On the women's side Karen Ringheiser finished 2nd female without a single scratch, great progress for a pretty technical race. The woman who pushed her last year chickened out and diddn't show up this year after several death threats from the NETT hit squad. Always trying to fit in, Karen missed the last turn too just like John but still managed to get back to the finish without losing any spots in the women's race. Running the race this time included a few muddy puddles and an "over the knees" river crossing--- I dunked myself into the water as a pleasant way to cool down.

Overall the race attracted more than 100 people, 50% growth over last year. Wow!

Toledo Joe takes Masters title at Wild Cat Tri, Tina goes West

Toledo Joe Hardin finished fourth overall, first master at the Wild Cat Triathlon in Lowell this weekend. Joe put in a solid swim and run and absolutely tore it apart on the bike with the second fastest bike split (27:05 for 11 miles!). Notably, the fastest run split of the day was a blistering 13:32 thrown down by a new entrant into the world of triathlon, Eric "Bosh" Beauchesne. (At least Toledo Joe's from Toledo--after growing up with us in Chelmsford, I don't know HOW Bosh could swim in the Merrimack! Yuuuccck). Joe's strong performance racks up more points for NETT in the FIRM Grand Prix. NETT is currently 7th overall with 66 points.

In other tri racing news, Tina Wang finished sixth in her age group, 79th overall at the Greenfield Sprint Triathlon in 1:27.

Congrats to both Joe and Tina! Keep up the good work!

Young nabs another top 10 finish at his 10th Escarpment Trail Race

Most people are happy if they can finish the very challenging Escarpment 30K Trail Run in upstate New York once. Some finish one and never come back. According to the race web site, "This single track trail crosses no roads, has total elevation changes of nearly 10,000 feet, and requires all aid to be backpacked in by volunteers. This is not for your average runner but for the runner who trains 12 months a year, and has spent years building a base and gaining long distance experience. Therefore, qualifying standards are required to insure that all participants have experience with endurance events and have a reasonable chance of completing the course within 6 hours."

But not one to be deterred by a rugged course, Mr. Young this year finished his 10th Escarpment, amassing one of the most impressive lists of finishes in the race’s storied history.

Unlike most years when the challenge is the extreme heat, this year, the challenge was water—lots of it. According to the race director’s report, “This year's event was highlighted by incredible electrical storms that for all of the runners aside from some of the early leaders, got dumped upon with rain, hail, and near lightning strikes.”

But true to form, Mr. Young pushed through it and finished 8th overall and third master. “It’s hard to believe I've finished 10 of these now,” he says. “It’s my longest streak at any one race. This year there were extremely wet conditions. I feel bad for people finishing after me as it thundered, lightning and hailed on them. I'll get my 200 mile shirt next year.”

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

This summer I went to Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada. It was fun. The mountains there are really high. Doris came too. I did a race up Cypress Mountain too. It was supposed to be on Mount Seymour but the snow there was still too deep. I finished 11th. Doris said that was good, but I am not sure. Most of the other guys in the race were better at the downhills than me but that's cool. I saw a black bear on my run in Whistler. It was big. A nice girl gave me a ride in her car so the bear would not eat me. He looked hungry. We have lots of pictures.

NETT crew heads North for some big climbs

A few of the NETT diehards took to the Green Mountains of Vermont on Saturday to test their mettle. Jerry the Tick, Frank KJ, Toledo Joe and Dave Guertin (who needs a nickname by the way), took on the "Four Gap" 112-mile bike ride that criss-crossed the Green Mountains with some unbelievable climbs. (Note: These are significantly steeper than ANYTHING In the Tour de France--no BS).
Here's Frank's report:

"It was hot and humid for most of the day and you throw in a couple of T-storms here and there including the summit of Lincoln Gap and it was a very demanding day for us.

Lincoln Gap was brutally steep up and scary going down. So yes, I was off my bike walking it for most of the last 1 mile on Lincoln Gap. Jerry and Joe rode the all way up - to me that seems humanly impossible on the gearing Jerry had. Brandon and Middlebury were great climbs, Lincoln was crazy and App Gap was very challenging, especially the last 0.6 miles when it kicks up to 18%; you can see the summit yet it is so far away. Total climbing on the ride was around 10,000 ft.

So the conclusion was that that Toledo Joe gets the yellow jersey for being up front on all hills and overall strength. Jerry clearly gets the polka dot jersey for his insane Lincoln Gap effort. Dave G was the clear winner of the white jersey for the strongest 'young' rider not only for his age, but given this was his first ride of this type, he did phenomenally well. And we decided I get the green jersey for having the cue sheets and telling people when to turn and sprint.

Will I do the ride again? I would probably rather go back and forth on App Gap and do whatever it takes to avoid Lincoln gap."

Thanks Frank. That gives a pretty good picture of what these maniacs did. For a finer point on it, here's Jerry's two cents:

"Yes, having done Lincoln Gap once I'm not sure I'll ever feel the need to ride it again or at least ride it without walking. Having considered it a little more I think that climb alone pushes the ride into the "epic" category. Dave Guertin does get the white jersey on his FIRST group ride. They're not all like that Dave!

My Garmin unit recorded 101 miles of the ride (forgot to start the watch couple times) and it spit back just over 11,000 ft of climb. Good stuff. Not sure we could make all 6 gaps without a significant modification to pace in between gaps."

So, what was Crazy Dave doing while these nuts were out trying to flatten the Green Mountains? He took a solid four-hour hike on the Long Trail from Brandon Gap (saw an amazing amout of moose poop and paw prints up there!) and then followed it up with a great trail run up the Chittenden Trail to the top of the ridge as well.

Then he took a nap in the van while the cyclists were still out on the roads.

Go Mini Ponies.

Dwyer, De Zutter make tracks at the Old Colony Tri

Congrats to NETT pal Pat Dwyer, who kept on his vicious tear on the tri circuit, taking the win this weekend at the Old Colony Triathlon. Looks like his regular Wednesday visits to the Bentley Track are paying off in spades (he has already qualified for Kona and finished second at the last tri he entered).

NETT's Jerry De Zutter had a solid race, as well finishing third master and scoring some more points for NETT in the FIRM Grand Prix. While official results aren't posted yet (check www.firm-racing.com), here's Jerry's report:

"My game plan was to: 1. have a solid swim (of course "solid" still means giving up the three minutes to the leaders) 2. focus on/hammer the bike leg and 3. Hang on for the run.

In the real world, here's how it worked out: 1. Had an OK swim 2. Had a mediocre bike (never felt like the hammer I wanted to be), 3. Still ended up hanging on to a lackluster run.

Really I just wanted to be quite a bit faster particularly on the bike, but I just didn't have it. Just glancing at the results before I left I think I recall a 25 min swim, 1:00:XX on the bike and a 43:XX on the run. I was also annoyed that 2 other 40-44 beat me, not sure if they are on teams or not though.

THink I need to ride my TT bike a bit more. Congrats to Pat for his win there.

Jerry


Nice work, Jer. Just think how much more intimidating we Mini-Ponies are going to look when we put on those very cool new uniforms you've got in the works for us all!

Redlining it in the Blue Hills

While official results aren't out yet, Dima, Karen and Jennifer took on the Blue Hills Trail Race again this year and had very good results. Here's Dima's report:

"I was surrounded by NETT women: Karen and Jennifer. It wasn't as hot as last year, but Ben Nephew ran about as fast as last year and was 2nd, while Josh Ferenc broke an hour. I was 12th about 5 min faster than last year. Karen was 4th woman (2nd master F) and improved her time by 1 second. Jennifer was a couple of minutes ahead of her running down the hill like a crazy maniac she is (3rd woman). The were more females at the race than usual. There was Simonetta Piergentili was the second female, she was always well ahead of me on the roads, but today she was way behind ... her 1st technical trail race.

Karen says the "race seems easier and quicker this year. Too bad my stop watch doesn't support that notion. After all that training and races on the trails I felt my more confident and at home in old Blue Hills. Humidity wasn't that hard and there was a nice breeze on the top. There was a talkative guy running just behind who was chatting away about every upcoming uphill and downhill. It was nice to leave him in the dust somewhere behind. A guy with ipod passed me just before the finish though, it was upsetting on so many levels."

A well-earned brunch

After a nice run on the Battle Road Trail on Sunday, Frank and Tina hosted a great brunch for us all. The photos tell the story.





Seeya suckers!

USATF-NE Announces Races for the XC Series

USATF-New England has announced the races selected for its Cross Country Grand Prix this fall. Similar to the road race Grand Prix, the six-race XC Grand Prix will include both team and individual scoring throughout the series. To score for NETT you need to 1. Be registered with USATF and 2. Either have selected NETT as your club or at least have not selected another club for 2008.

8/3/08 GMAA Scholarship 5K X-C Run, South Burlington, VT

8/24/08 Thomas Chamberas 6K, Carlisle, MA

9/13/08 Feel Good Farm 7K, Lyndeborough, NH

10/5/08 Topsfield X-C Festival, Topsfield, MA

10/12/08 Wayland X-C Challenge 5K, Wayland, MA

10/19/08 Groton Town Forest, Groton, MA 3.4M

10/26/08 Boston Mayor's Cup, Boston, MA

11/9/08 USATFNE X-C Championships, Boston, MA

Find the latest updates at www.nexcgrandprix.org.

Down with Sudbury! Support the Latest Rails to Trails Effort

There's a big debate going on about the latest Rails to Trails project. It seems a few staunch citizens in the town of Sudbury are creating enough of a stink that a major rails to trails bike path from Framingham to Lowell may not be complete.

The Boston Globe covered it nicely here with some great quotes from the opponents that are surely going to do them in (sometimes you just "give them enough rope" and they'll hang themselves).

As runners, cyclists, and general fitness nuts, it's partly our duty--even if we don't live in this town--to get this thing done. According to the Globe, "The trail would be part of a web of more than 100 miles of bike trails planned for Massachusetts that state officials say could one day permit riders to bike 120 miles from Lowell to Westfield, or along the Mystic River to the beaches of Lynn. The big vision has proved challenging to knit together, with efforts often meeting intense local opposition."

Resources:
In favor: Friends of the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail
Against it: Sudbury Citizens for Responsible Land Stewardship


Any suggestions?

KJ captures Masters title at Patriot tri to cap off busy weekend of July 4th racing

Congrats to Frank KJ who claimed the Masters title and 8th place overall in the appropriately named Patriot Half-Ironman Triathlon this weekend in the appropriately named town of Freetown. Frank's time of 4:44 was clearly supplemented by a 1:25 run split (3rd overall in the run) which helped hold off the second place master only a minute back. For those keeping track that is Frank's second half-iron this summer. Stay tuned for more.

Also playing the Patriot this weekend, in his debut at the distance, Dave Guertin turned in a solid 84th place (out of 333 finishers), 12 out of 31 in AG, real nice 1:42 run split to finish off a fine performance.

Also in TRILAND, on Sunday at Holliston Lions triathlon, De Zutter brothers Jim (swim and bike) and Jerry (run) teamed up to finish first overall in the relay division just before heading over to the NETT run/brunch soiree at Frank and Tina's place.


But there were plenty of other NETTers out mixing it up on the roads this weekend in 4th of July Races. Here's a short recap--if I missed you, send me an email.

Despite mom's injury woes, the Miller-Medzon clan keeps right on racing. This weekend, Eminem's speedy sons Little and Medium Skittles (currently in the NETT farm team program)ran the Lynnfield Athletic Association 5k . Noah, 10, came first in the 12-and-under division with a 21:39 and Daniel, who just turned 15, came 6th in the very competitive 13- to 19- division (and 18th overall). His time was 20:31. Some promising news for the future of NETT!

Not too far away over in Boxford, the Youngstah cranked out a 29:52 to nab 5th place overall and TOP MASTER at the Jennifer Tinney Memorial 5 Miler. Someone check this 42-year-old's back yard for the Fountain of Youth, please???

Meanwhile over in his hometown of Harvard, master blaster Jerry De Zutter successfully tested the age vs. experience theory and ran a 30:36 for 15th place at the Harvard 4th of July 5 Miler Young John "Anakin" Kinnee couldn't keep up with the Tick and finished up in 30:58. Experience 1, age 0.
(Note they both got their jocks handed to them by the first female, so I guess it's women 2, experience 1, age 0).

Out in the "west of 495" world, Dave Mingori grabbed the top masters spot and 6th overall at the 59th Leonide J Lemire 4.9 Mile Road Race in 28:22.

And Crazy Dave took 7th at the Duxbury Road Race.

And late last week, an interesting cast of characters toed the line at the Pat Poletta 5K race in Haverhill. Jim Rhoades in 11th place in 17:25, just a few ticks ahead of Battle Road compadre Chris Smith in 17:39.

Young overcomes more obstacles than usual at Cranmore

First, he gets lost on the warmup before the race resulting in a longer than usual warmup in a torrential downpour. Then he takes a rare wrong turn on one of his patented screaming downhills, costing him as much as 90 very painful seconds. But despite a couple mishaps, Youngstah managed to put finish a very solid 11th place overall (3rd master) at the Cranmore Hill Climb on Sunday.

Now many of you may have taken a wrong turn in a race--but in a hill climb/descent it can be truly devastating (because you have to trudge back up the steep section you just came down!). But Youngstah took it all in stride and extended his lead (I think) in the USATF-NE Mountain Running Series (results/standings are a bit hard to digest here, but looks like he's top master, with Martin Tighe in front of him as a 50 year old.) See photos here.

Nice work Youngstah! Way to represent NETT out there (or NETAT as they like to list us in the results for this thing).

In other racing news, Chris Smith finished 17th overall and fifth master (45:25) while Karen Ringheiser finished second female master at the New Charles River Run in Cambridge in 50:53.

NETT ranks in the triathlon world!

For those of you unaware, New England Track & Trail is an officially registered triathlon club, thanks to the efforts of Frank KJ.

While we don't have the masses of numbers that some tri clubs have (although, we've got some names on our tri roster some of you might not know!), we're definitely in the "quality not quantity" realm and it's paying off. With the very strong results at the recent FirmMan race (three men in the top 12, one of the top relay teams), NETT is currently ranked 8th in the FIRM Grand Prix, only a few points behind some much much bigger clubs like Wheelworks.

For those interested in helping our tri team score some points, check in with Frank KJ on which races are included and what it takes to score us some points. (And don't forget--Jerry hosts Tuesday night swims at Walden for the land lubbers looking to try their first tri!)

But rest assured, we're still staying very close to our trail-running roots as well. NETT currently owns the top two spots in the Eastern New England Trail Race Series (note: these standings don't include the Boxford Forest 10K, which Crazy Dave won and Mr. Young was second--that pretty much puts these two guys miles ahead of the rest.

NETT puts three in top five, second woman at NMC's Boxford 10K Trail Race

NETTers braved the heat and humidity to dominate the top spots at the North Medford Club's Boxford State Forest 10K, the fifth event in the Eastern New England Trail Race Series.

To give us the details, here's a report from the Hungarian Land Shark himself, Janos:

"The NETT group had a decent showing with 4 of us there, although we were outnumbered by the North Medford and GAC clubs. The North Medford club has to have the oldest members of any running club I’ve ever seen, as well as the lowest entry fees of $5. Since this was my first race wearing the NETT singlet I wanted to have a good showing. Crazy Dave ran a conservative race and got another win, Paul Young captured 2nd, and I got 5th place. Just to show how memory fades, I thought I had run this same race about 7 years ago, and I remember it being fairly flat with some technical running due to rocks. I looked it up and it was actually 13 years ago! In 1995 it was a 7.5 mile race that I ran in 51:15 (7:04 pace) good for 11th place out of 44. Yesterday the course was 6.3 miles in 47:12 (7:30) for 5th place out of about 25 runners. I found that the course had more little rolling hills than I had remembered, and I was feeling pretty tired running up and down them by the end of the course. The entire race was run “inside an oven” of probably 85 degree heat and high humidity despite starting past 6:30 p.m."

Janos was kind enough to host NETT members to a post-race BBQ at his house. All in all, about as much fun as a runner can have in that much heat!!

Coyotes take to the trails at Fitchburg (yes, I said Fitchburg), Lincoln, etc.

At the NMC Overlook 7 Mile Trail Race in Fitchburg Sunday, Crazy Dave and Jack Burke braved the record-high temps with good results (they finished standing up--that's good result when you're racing in 90-plus temps.)

Out in Fitchburg Sunday, "head for the shade" was the phrase of the day at the Overlook 7 mile race, the fourth race in the Eastern New England Trail Race Series. With legs that felt like tires with the air let out, Dave struggled to a third-place finish in 46:33, while Jack Burke easily achieved his pre-race goal of cracking the hour mark by finishing strong in 59:36. Pretty much all runners gave the race good marks for organization, course variety and marking.

While updated standings aren't yet posted, after four events, it looks like Mr. Young and Crazy Dave should be 1-2 in the standings (by virtue of the fact that no one else has done three races, I think?) Check back here later: Eastern New England Trail Race Standings if you really care at all.

And even the "extended NETT family" had some inspiring performances this weekend. Jean Dany Joachim not only worked to raise some money for charity, but he also posted a BLISTERING 16:18 at the Vision 5K on Saturday in Boston.

And Marshall Randolph won his age group at the Great Lincoln Steeplechase this weekend, finishing 9th overall in 50:19 in that blistering heat. In case you're wondering, his age group is 50-59 and he's at the very tail end of that--he's 59 and finished 9th overall...wowie zowie! That's just plain impressive.

Miller wins! NETT puts three in the top 12 at FirmMan Mass

Big Congrats to Paul Miller, Frank KJ and Jerry De Zutter for their fantastic performances at the FirmMan Mass 08 Half-Ironman Distance Triathlon in a scorching heat. Paul crushed the field in a convincing 4:32. Especially impressive given his being 84th coming out of the water--there's hope for us LAND LUBBERS! Paul's half-marathon split was a smoking 1:25 off the bike. Ouch.

Frank KJ was second master and ninth overall in 4:51, with a strong 2:43 on the bike and a swim five minutes faster than the race winner's! Nice work Frank!

Jerry wound up 12th overall in 4:57 and fourth master. Of special note: Jerry's bike split of 2:35 was 6th fastest overall! That is one free-wheeling tick! Jerry's brother Jim did very well in the aqua bike competition as well (just swim and bike--no run).

AND...in case that just wasn't enough good news...Tina's relay team finished 3rd overall in 4:45, thanks to Tina's super-speedy 1:39 half marathon.

And, now the "from the field reports" that we all love. Here's Frank KJ's report on the race:

"Most astounding is that Paul took a spill on the bike course and ran a little extra on the run. Guess the crash got him really fired up. For an extremely hot day he ran fast. I had a great swim but never found the legs on the bike leg; but lucky for me they came back on the run leg and I picked up a lot up heat exhausted casualties to move into 2nd (very happy with that). One of those "casualties" were Jerry who - despite an email last week claiming he would go easy on the bike - really put the hammer down. Jerry caught me at mile 23, Paul at mile 32 of the bike leg. I passed Jerry at mile 8 of the run. It was extremely hot today; I have never seen people cramping after after the bike leg in a New England race but it happened today.

Tina's team did very well winning the mixed relay category. They are now 3 for 3. They started 5 minutes behind and their biker passed me. I spotted Tina at the turnaround. She had about a minute on me and I thought I would catch her but I never got closer than 45 seconds. She was flying - as many people kept mentioning to her. (I would like to point out though that I did run 48 seconds faster thus winning the Tina vs. Frank 13.1 race Jerry mentioned the other day ;-) )

It was good to see the De Zutters and Millers cheering us on: Jennifer, Audrey, Braden and Alex out there too. I'm sure the kids all fell asleep fast with all the energy they burned swimming and playing."

Frank also points out that, as NETT is an officialy registered triathlon team, these performances give us big points in the FIRM Grand Prix!

Jerry is his usual humble self in his report:
"My performance can be explained as, you get out of it what you put into it. I started swim training 3wks ago and have very few runs over 1hr this spring not to mention no hard bricks longer than ~35m bike/5mile run (multi-brick aside). Been spinning and getting on the bike all along. So when my swim came up mediocre, had a good bike split and couldn't finish off with a solid run, I more or less got what I deserved. I wouldn't blame it on the heat or the fact that the 4 gels and powerbar taped to my bike fell off in the first mile
of the ride.

My brother Jim did the aquabike. He had a good swim but not quite the bike he was looking for. Already chomping at the bit for the next race.

But easily the race highlight of the weekend for me was the induction of my (and Paul's) daughter into the ranks of triathletes. Check out the photo album of the kids race the day before our race. Was great to watch and support the kids who really made good efforts on a hot day!!"


Tina's report is short and sweet: "It was brutally hot! Paul ran down everybody and got the first place. Jerry biked super fast and I almost let Frank catch me on the run."


Congrats to all....very very strong representation out there.

Proud to be a Pony!

Walden Pond Swim Trivia

With the Tuesday night swims getting into full swing, Frank KJ decicded it was time to share a bit of trivia about Walden Pond. Here's his report:

"With swim season at Walden Pond in full gear, I thought I’d share some facts and trivia.

Walden Pond is a 102-foot (31 m) deep pond, 61 acres in area and 1.7 miles (2.7 km) around. A famous example of a kettlehole, it was formed by retreating glaciers 10,000 - 12,000 years ago. More data and photos on WIKIPEDIA'S WALDEN POND ENTRY.

Walden Pond is of course famous because of Thoreau but what you may not know is that Thoreau had first chosen a section of shoreline of Sandy Pond (Flints Pond); I am sure you trail runners are all familiar with Sandy Pond, which is not accessible as it serves as drinking water for Lincoln. Tradition say, however, that Thoreau was not granted a permission to build a cabin because Captain Flint had heard about the extensive forest fire Thoreau had set by Fairhaven Bay (also known from our runs in Lincoln Woods). Had Thoreau had his will we might have been swimming in Sandy Pond instead.

Finally, if you just want to know how far you have been swimming in Walden, then you can find just about all the yardage listed in the PDF posted here, courtesy of Breakwater Sports Training.

In NH Elsa gets going; Tina Wang cranks at Rye

It wasn't just down in Dub-Rox where the NETT action was happening this weekend.
Breaking news into the NETT Newsroom confirm that Elsa Winther, who is SOOO far ahead of the rest of us in the running gene pool, completed her first race this weekend at Mary's Run in Henniker, NH. And, oh, her parents Ben & Cindy completed it as well but really, Elsa is the star here...NETT's News Department has scored these EXCLUSIVE first photos of the future phenom.








And lastly, the Double Duty award this weekend goes to Tina Wang. Not only was she in attendance Sunday at the Corrib race cheerng us on and scooped up a coveted NETT award at the post-race party, but she also managed to finish 4th woman overall and 2nd in her age group at the Rye By the Sea Duathlon on Saturday, finishing in 1:39. Congrats to Tina!

Whew!

Corrib Pub 5K gets high marks, high finishes from NETT

It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood of West Roxbury on Sunday at NETT members gathered to run the Corrib Pub 5K and assemble at Dave and Doris' for the post-race cookout and social festivities. UPDATE: We even made the West Roxbury Newspaper's BLOG.

First the race. As is becoming the norm these days, the Coyotettes completely showed up us menfolk by putting two women in the top 6 places in this race of more than 1600 people. Let me repeat that: Two women in the top six women (both of which ran 25K trail race last weekend!) Impressive. Mary Smith got the turnover rolling to crank out a sub-21 effort, good for 3rd woman overall and tops in her age group. And not far behind was Adrienne Cyrulik who also rebounded from the Pineland Farms race extremely well to lay down a 21:17 good for 6th place (note: results have her as 7th, but we counted--she was 6th dammit--one of those two ladies in front of her in the results doesn't really exist, trust me).

Excellent job ladies!

On the men's side, Crazy Dave didn't quite rebound from Pineland Farms quite as successfully putting in a 17:15 good for 9th overall. Dave Mingori, who has spent every free waking moment for the past three months skiing down various parts of the Presidential Range, cracked the top 20 with a 17:50, good for 5th master.

As promised, the post-race festivities were the real draw at this one, though. After we watched the awards ceremony, where Mary represented us proudly, it was back to the house for some burgers, beeaahs and socializing. It was great to see NETT faces old and new mixing together.






The NETT awards were handed out to the following folks in attendance (and some not):

Multisporter of the Year: Jerry the Tick De Zutter
Performance of the Year: Leo Fahey (Blue Hills trail race)
Workout of the Year: Alex Miller (6x1000m @ 3:15 avg on the Bentley track and not even breathing hard!)
Recruiter of the Year: Tina Wang for her last-minute heroics at Wayland XC among others.
Relay Leg of the Year: Nicholas for his swim leg on the Wang Dynasty Team at the Sudbury Triathlon.
Best Recipe: Oona Chamberas' Cinnamon Eggs!
Team Performance of the Year: Andover XC Race (Mens and Women's Champions). Honorable mention: Lynn Woods (three complete teams) and Mt. Hood Melrose.
Most Sorely Missed: Dmitry Drozdov.

Note: All photos courtesy of Frank KJ Productions
MORE TO COME>