Well, it was a great day for trail racing. Sunny and warm (a bit too warm at the 12:30 pm start) but the 10th annual Groton Trail Race got high marks from all eight(?) members that took part.
Paul took a week off from marathoning got a "V" in the race, taking first in the short race.
NETT was well represented in the the long race (9.5 miles) with two men in the top 10 and three in the top 20, while the women's team had three of its finest out as well. On the mens side, Crazy Dave took 5th, Young John Kinnee was 9th (?) and Frank KJ cracked the top 20 with a very solid effort.
On the women's side, Adrienne Cyrulik took to trail racing like a duck to water, finishing as the 5th woman overall in the race, despite her claims she was underprepared and unsure about the course, etc. Our off-road expert Jennifer Shultis snuck in the race in stealth mode but finished very well, as one would expect from the captain of the top adventure racing team in the country.
But the REAL surprise of the day was Tina Wang's very strong run--but more importantly her great attitude about it all. Tina's on the record as not being a huge fan of the off-road running, but given the size of the smile on her face coming into the finish (as captured in this great pic by her son/team photographer Nicholas) I'd say Tina might be mixing it up on the dirt more often.
Another pleasant surprise was the appearance of Crazy Dave's college teammate Shane Mason coming out and mixing it up on the trails like an old pro. Man, it was great to see him out there.
Race director Paul Funch did a fantastic job of marking the course for this race--every corner and turn was very clearly marked and the water stops were great. Nice work Paul.
Special thanks to Nicholas for the photos, Adrienne for the pumpkin bread, and Frank and Tina for taxicab.
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