NETT Takes Five of Top Seven Spots at Walpole 5 for the Fourth

A gaggle of Mini Ponies took to the woods of Walpole today at the Walpole 5 for the Fourth, a XC hosted by the new club, the Walpole Rebel Runners, in Chris Smith's hometown to raise money for Walpole's Fourth of July Celebration. The NETT results were impressive on all levels.

Here's Mary's report of the day:

"The Walpole Trail Race (5 for the 4th) was a nice event.  It was on the trails behind the Walpole HS (Chris Smith's old stomping ground).  It was a small low key trail race (perfect for NETT).  The trails weren't very technical, 1/2 of the race was on a gravel fire road, so it was a very runnable event.

In total, there were 6 mini ponies at the race but only 5 mini pony runners.  Dave did not race, since he's recovering from a 'small cold'.  Dave ended up unintentionally volunteering at the turn around point (an out and back that they didn't have a volunteer at).

Chris Smith battled with a high schooler (or so I'm told) and won the race.  He was followed by Big Ben (3rd overall), then Marshall (not sure of his place - but I assume he would've won his age group), followed by Me (2nd woman) and then Amanda (3rd woman).

At the start of the race Amanda said she was going to just "jog" the run and was worried that she shouldn't have worn her NETT shirt as she'd embarrass our group  - obviously she came in 3rd and was no where near an embarrassment :)

Big Ben entertained (as usual) providing random tidbits of knowledge - ask him about the difference between a Rotary vs a Round-a-bout."

Marshall added his take on the day as well:

"Mary graciously let me overtake her about a half mile from the finish because
she knew that my spirits can always use a boost. I certainly appreciate the 10
miles that she was forced to run Saturday making it possible for me to run with
her today.Toughest part of the day was having Amanda doing an IT band recovery 2 mile jog
and then lighting it up for the 3rd mile and almost catching Mary and me at the
finish.

And ya gotta watch those warm down runs.... someone put a brand new root in the
trail and I hit the ground with every part of the front of my body which was
probably lucky since I seem to have escaped unscathed."

It was a fun day with some of the core NETTers.