Results of Wrenthem "Handicap" race within the race

Paul Miller, physicist in residence here at NETT, again established a complex handicapping system for the Wrentham Duathlon to try to create fair competition between experienced and non-experienced participants. Paul even offered up a $50 gift certificate he had won as a prize to the winner of the handicap race. His handicaps worked well and the person who put in the best race on Sunday won the event--HIM!

From Paul:
"Here are the handicap results. Note that if either Joe or Dmitry had worn speedos like Frank they would have gained a 1min costume bonus and won the prize ...

I awarded a 1 min shoe-tying bonus for Dmitry and Dave, but in Dave's case it doesn't help him, since he was in the same situation last year and I automatically subtract bonuses from last years times as comparison :-) Note that handicap results were all within 1 min, but I'm open to suggestions of refinement (eg add an extra min for mtn bike). I think the windy conditions favored those with more bike experience, so next year the non-triathletes should lose less on the bike and therefore do better in the handicap...

1) Paul +0:25 (base 56, bonus,1 , actual time 57:25)
2) Dmitry +0:33 (base 60, bonus 1, actual time 61:34)
3) Tina +0:34 (base 73, bonus 2, actual time 75:35)
4) Dave +1:06 (base 66, bonus 3, actual time 70:07)
5) Joe +1:09 (base 61, actual time 62:09)
6) Frank +1:23 (base 63, bonus 4, actual time 68:23)

(Ps if shoe-tying took you longer than 1 min, well, it just shouldn't--I tested and with gloves on, I can untie laces, remove shoes, for T1, then remove gloves, put on shoes and retie laces in under 1min -- in fact, 35s, double-tied!



And for those of you keeping score at home, Frank DID beat Dave in the overall race on a mountain bike, although their "racing" times were only 1 second apart (Dave simply took longer in the transitions).

NETT grabs two--no make that three--wins, multiple age-group awards over the weekend

Dmitry won the Waltham Halloween Hustle Saturday morning in a blistering time, despite being attacked by a KILLER BEE (see photo). Now, we all know Bees are attracted to bright colors, so maybe wearing that BRIGHT ORANGE shirt was the reason for the attack. Good job on the win! (Photo courtesy of Ted Tyler/JimRhoades productions)

Full results posted at http://coolrunning.com/results/06/ma/Oct28_9thAnn_set1.shtml


The real drama came on Sunday at the Wrenthem Halloween Duathlon, quickly becoming an NETT favorite event. The cast of characters included PMiller in the role of Superman, Tina Wang in the role of Tinker Bell, Frank KJ in the role of, well, JunkMan?, Toledo Joe as The Glass Hammer, Dmitry in the role of Russian Rocket and one sketchy leprechaun.

Superman saved the day again this year, leaping tall buildings and cycling through windstorms faster than anyone to win the overall title. The Russian Rocket made the run split competiion a non-event, finishing fifth overall. The Glass Hammer rode like and through the wind with the second-fastest bike split to finish seventh overall (second in his age-group), JunkMan went "ultra aero" in a Speedo and a MOUNTAIN BIKE to win the side bet (he won it in the Transitions!) and finish 17th overall--again on a mtn bike. Impressive. The world's most hideous leprechaun went so slow on the bike, he travelled back in time, finishing 27th overall.

TinkerBell floated to an age-group first and 41st overall (she won all three splits, in the age group, by the way, not jus the overall title!).



(Photo courtesy of NICKPICS).

Full results posted here
http://www.firm-racing.com/result_report.asp?RID=539&type=1

A great day and a lot of fun. Once again NETT shows you can be serious and silly all at the same time. Trust me--no one wants to get passed by a drunk leprechaun!

LATE BREAKING NEWS: This just in, new Ponyette Adrienne Cyrulik won the Lowell Monster Dash Duathlon (we assume, since her name is butchered in the coolrunning results, and the photo evidence is unclear, but yea, we're pretty sure that's her in the results). Great Work Adrienne!

Check out results and photo here

http://coolrunning.com/results/06/ma/Oct29_Monste_set1.shtml

Groton Trail race review

Here's the brief run-down on the Groton Trail Race from Jerry De Zutter:

Mini-ponys in attendance (at least that I was aware
of): John Kinnee and yours truly.

Gun goes off and in the first two miles I feel pretty
good, suspiciously good, moving ahead of a few people.
Despite telling me later that he couldn't breathe
(hyperventilating) John steadily moves away from me
with a few other runners. ~mile4, I'm still feeling
good can't hear anyone behind me but no one
immediately in front either, see John at the end of a
long straight, other runners that were with him not in
sight, those guys must've dropped him, gee is John
coming back to me? ~mile 7, some tough terrain, I'm
going OK though, see young John at a place where the
trail doubles back on itself, he's still behind the
guys he had been running with but I realize I'm not
catching him and he looks to be running pretty well.
~mile 8.5, I'm not worried about young John anymore
because I can tell (more doubling back of the trail) a
few veteran trail runners are closing on me. Hold them
off though and finish 1:04 something for 9th place.
I'll take it (and the burger and Belhaven on tap at a
local pub after). As for young John, turns out he
lights the afterburners in the last 2 miles and blows
by the guys that were a bit ahead of him (Steve
Petersen and another fairly speedy trail runner, not
sure of his name) to post a 1:02 something, 6th (?)
place. Very strong race for John!

NETT Women 2nd, Men 4th at Mayors Cup; Dawn and Laura run Chicago..more

The NETT Women's Program took another giant leap forward, with a second-place finish in the Franklin Park 5K at Mayors Cup. The team of Adrienne Cyrulik, Tina Wang, and Deb Robertson scored 27 points, second only to the Greater Boston Track Club. Adrienne led the Ponyettes finishing the long 5K course in 21:33, followed closely by Tina only five ticks back and Deb finished very strong in 22:46. As a team, they outpaced much more experienced clubs such as Central Park TC and Somerville Road Runners. Great work ladies! Let's keep the momentum rolling!

On the men's side, NETT finished fourth with 36 points, only two points behind GBTC (Darn!!!) The team of wiley veterans Dave Hannon, David Mingori, and Frank Kjaersgaard ran well as a team, finishing in places 9,11 and 16 for team scoring.

Special thanks to Doris and Deb's folks for cheering on the NETT teams again out there, as they did at Topsfield.

Meanwhile, out at the Chicago Marathon, Dawn Mampreian and Laura Weiland ran strong, finishing together in 4:11:40. Details are not in yet, but congrats to these two as well!!

The writing's on the wall: Let's pick it up GUYS!!!!

Update on Mini-Pony XC Grand Prix Scoring through Topsfield

Okay folks, the scoring for the NETT Mini-Pony XC Grand Prix is heating up. Through the Topsfield race today, here's where we stand:

Dave H: 18
Paul M: 15
Paul Y: 13
Ben W: 12
Tied with 10: Joe H, Dave B, Anthony C,
Dmitry D: 6
Dave M: 5
Frank KJ: 1

Volunteers at the Chamberas Race all received 10 points. Beyond that, scores are based on your finish among NETT runners in a race (Dmitry was first out of six runners today, so he gets 6 points).

Women's scores will be posted later.

Next up on the XC Grand Prix is the 4th Annual Otter Brook 5K XC Race in Keene NH on Saturday, October 14 and Mayor's Cup in Franklin Park on Sunday, Oct. 22. Email Dave if you're planning on attending.

NETT Women win GBTC invite! Drozdov wins men's title

In their first formal race together, the NETT Women's Team--okay well two women and two of their friends--took first place at the GBTC Invitatational XC Meet in Topsfield this weekend. Tina Wang finished 2nd overall in her first-ever XC race in 23:04. Deb Robertson, a friend of Tina's, was 4th in 24:31 and Dawn Mampremian and Laura Wieland finished together in 25:18. Special thanks to Deb and Laura for coming through at the last minute and completing the women's team score and running very well.

On the men's side, Dmitry Drozdov won the men's 8K(ish) race overall in a blistering time of 26:30, almost 30 seconds in front of the second-place runner. Paul Miller was the second NETT racer in 27:56, followed by DaveHannon, Paul Young, Dave Mingori and Frank Kjaersgaard. The men's team finished third, only five points behind BAA.

Full results of the race are posted here.

Team members feasted on fried seafood after the race at Woodman's in Essex.

Cotton takes fourth at Mud Sweat and Gears

Quietly, below the radar, NETT's Nick Cotton has been increasing his multisport fitness over the summer and even getting on a mountain bike now and then. "I'm not a mountain biker!" he says, but the results at the Mud Sweat and Gears duathlon say differently. Nick finished fourth overall with, not surprisingly, strong run splits (4th and 5th), but an 8th-fastest mtn bike split! I dunno, Nick. Looks like you might have a future in this stuff. Nice work out there.

NETT News 10/1/2006 Young takes 2nd in New Hampshire, Greenway Challenge, and more.

The lead news this weekend was Paul Y taking second at the New Hampshire marathon Saturday in a strong 2:52:31 on a very hilly course up around Newfound Lake. Paul did lead duties from mile 5 to mile 25 before running out of gas in the last mile. It was a great effort and a well-run race for the Youngsta, taking top masters spot. Official results posted here.


And from Dave M. out at the Greenway Challenge a multisport relay (or solo event if you're REALLY crazy like the Queen):

"This year's course consisted of 3 running legs of 3.8 (road), 2.5 (trail with the last 3/4 on pavement) and 3.35 (road); 3 biking legs (13.7, 13.8, 21.4) and 2 paddling legs (4.5 river and 1.5 lake). I was once again on the Great Canadian team, which is a canoe & kayak store a friend of mine owns, and we won for the 5th time in the last 6 years. Our winning margin of right about a minute (after 4.5 hours) was the closest of all our victories. We did it with 1 runner, 1 biker and 2 paddlers."

Jennifer S (of course) did it solo (all bow), finishing as 1st solo woman and either 5th or 6th overall (out of 19 soloists) beating many of the relay teams. Quite impressive. (Photo of Jennifer at 2005 Greenway--how can someone do that kind of event and SMILE the whole way???)


Dave managed 21:15 (5:35's), 14:48 (5:55's) and 18:57 (5:39's). The 1st run was basically flat and fast. The 2nd was on very soft trail. Flat terrain but tough footing. The last run was rolling but net downhill. "I was definitely feeling the burn on the 3rd leg so was happy to sneak under 5:40's and hold off a good runner (who was also fresh) from the 2nd place team," he says.

Details and results will be available at www.greenwaychallenge.org

On Sunday, John Kinneee won the Down and Dirty Duathlon in Lynn. John won the first run split, the bike split and the second run split!! Yikes. Results here.

And out at the Harvard Apple Ramble 10-miler the team of Kjaersgaard and Wang ran great with Frank clocking a 1:03 and Tina continuing to impress with a 1:11. Nice work on a tough course! Full results here