UPDATE: NETT runs strong at Pineland Farms Trail Challenge

With the official results in, NETT officially recorded a kickass performance at the Pineland Farms Trail Challenge.
Crazy Dave managed to pull a race out of some orifice and win the 50K in 3:42, less than two minutes in front of David Herr in second. "Even a blind squirrel finds a nut sometimes" was the phrase of the day on that one!

In the women's 25K, Mary Smith (4th woman in 2:06 winning the Lawn Girl award?) and Adrienne Cyrulik (13th in 2:12) represented NETT very well in the women's field. Adrienne says "I thought it was a great race. I was too focused on the incessant rolling hills and leg cramping during the last 4 miles to appreciate the scenery, but I know it was gorgeous. I also realized towards the end that I did my math wrong and it actually was 15.5 not 15- that extra half is critical! :) I would definitely do it again."

In the men's 25K, it was NETT pal Pat Dwyer taking the win in 1:42, with NETT newcomerss Brodie Miles 10th overall in 1:51 with a very solid run and Jack Burke cruising along to a 2:19 making it look easy.

Overall the team of Brodie, Mary, Adrienne and Jack finished 4th in the 25K team results!!!

Here's Brodie's take on the race:

"A)I'd call the course "relentless" - Pre-race I thought to myself, "it'd be cool to be in shape for the 50 miler next year," but three loops of those rollers? It'd be like dying of paper cuts.
B) And while the course was scenic and beautiful - those fields were not my favorite. Cambered! (is that a real word?) Sunny! Hot!
C) For all my complaining - the 25k was fun and do-able. A challenge for sure - but who wants an easy course? And of course, what idiot would do that race just for the shirt. Me - that's who. A tech-t with a tractor on it? - Icing on the cake!
D) And congrats to the NETT women - I think the woman who won set a new course record (judging by the old one that was posted - 2 flat I think it was). So the Coyotee.ettes were all over that time."

Mary Smith on her longest trail race to date:

"I think it was a great day for all of us sporting NETT gear. Personally I had to keep reminding myself that the race WAS 25K & to not start too fast...but it was hard since the trails were so much "smoother"/less technical than what we'd trained on. I definitely liked the sections through the woods better than running along the edge of the fields. Maybe I'm crazy but I'd rather run those hills twice and skip out on the slanted field edge.

About 80 min into the race I realized that I was feeling great and somehow found myself passing people like crazy...and I have no idea where that feeling came from!! I also experienced 1st hand how much time carrying my own water/gatorade saves.

I can only think of 2 things that could've made the day a little better: 1-Having the "Distance Covered" / "Distance to-go" marked more clearly on the course. The only time I knew how much farther I had to run was when I had less than a mile to go.

2-Being a little cooler. It was a little warm, especially running through the open fields. But on a positive note, it allowed for a nice start to my annual 'watch tan line' Great job everyone...and especially Congrats to Dave, who ran twice as far as the rest of us!"

And here's Pat Dwyer's report on his win in the 25K:
"I went up to this race on the suggestion of one of my Boston Tri teammates, Juli Davenport, who was first overall woman in the 50K. I went up to run the 25K as a prep for Ironman Lake Placid. I was definitely running on some "heavy" legs from the training volume I was doing. Just like at the Merrimack River Trail race, I got some funny looks as I stood at the starting line in my road racing flats (although they were fine on this course). I ran with a pack for the first couple of miles. Everytime I would get a little lead, it would evaporate on the downhills (I'm a slow descender). About 17 minutes in I started to think that it was stupid for me to be leading. I was just about to drift back and let someone else do the work when I realized the "voices" behind me were no longer there. I turned back to see no one. That's when I pushed the pace for a couple of miles. The nice thing about the course is that if you get a lead, you can virtually dissappear with all the turns. As we hit the first field clearing (where you can see everyone), I realized I had a pretty significant lead of at least 2-3 minutes. I continued to run fairly hard from fear of getting caught. However, around an hour into the race, the constant hills started to wear on me (it could have also been that 140 mile bike ride I did the week before:)). At that point, with an even larger lead, I went into cruise control. I figured that as long as I didn't completely blow up, I was going to win. I would up being the second person to cross the finish line...Crazy Dave being the first (although he won the 50K). In fact, my wife thought Dave was in the 25K...and she told me at I was only 2 minutes behind the leader...to which I said she was crazy unless someone cut the course! Anyway, I wound up winning 5 minutes over second place. My impressions from the race are that it's fantastic. Great course (think Cape Ann 25K w/more rollers and on soft surface) and great after party. Great awards. Just a great race atmosphere. It didn't hurt that it was the best weather day of the long weekend. And the best part about it was that my legs actually felt great afterwards (unlike a road race)."

I see a trail runner being born here!!

And lastly, the nearly unbeatable Leigh Schmitt ran away with the 50-mile race in 6:35, telling Dave he was pretty lonely for much of the race. In additon to his trail running prowess, Leigh is also a master sculptor--You've never seen a guy who can pile pasta salad on a paper plate like Leigh!!

All in all, the race got very high marks from everyone that ran or watched it. Great food after--music, gelato, free beer, and burgers. Special thanks to all the NETT friends that came out to watch! Definitely helps to see a friendly face out there when you're grinding away the long miles.

All photos courtesy of JentheArtTeacher Productions.