Posted: Thu Oct. 04, 2012 8:02 am
Posted for Joel:
Our goal for Reach the Beach relay were two-fold: A) Place top 20 in overall results of 425 teams. B) Place top 3 in our division of Men Masters. Our projected overall time was somewhere between 23:30 and 24:00. On review of the posted starting wave times we found two other men masters teams in our wave at 2:40 p.m. We had hoped that within the first cycle of 12 relay legs we would know if we could hang with these teams for the full duration of 36 legs of the course. This would be difficult to tell with so many other teams on the course at the same time. Luckily, our numbers guy with his stopwatch and spreadsheet were able to keep us on target through the confusion.
The first few legs were a bit rocky for us with the team captain forgetting to distribute the vehicle identification #s to allow the vans into transition areas, and then forgetting to give the baton to runner #1. Also, legs #2 and 3 took longer than expected due to the heat, but fortunately the other teams were also slowed down by this. By the time leg #5 was under way we needed night gear per the rules and had to scramble in the parking lot to replace a broken headlamp while runner #4 (Matt McKenney) was hauling ass into the transition area. A 100m sprint in flip-flops prevented this from holding up the team. We had a few other issues during the race including van #1 runners having stomach-aches due to unwisely refueling on restaurant sandwiches and beer, and even an Amtrak train stopping our runner at a railroad crossing. But overall, the team pulled together and managed to make up time when, and wherever needed. After working the kinks out it seemed like we were building momentum and by relay legs #24-30 we were picking off slower teams from earlier waves, gradually moving from the #250 team position to about #75. It was up to van #2 at that point to catch at least 55 other teams before the finish line. They ran fast and were gaining ground, but we still didn?t know if there would be enough road left to make it happen. As our last runner (Dan Vigneault) stepped off, we gathered on the beach in anticipation and starred at the clock.
We crossed the finish line together in 23:39 (6:59 avg pace) and were stunned to find that we met all our team goals with a 17th place overall finish and 1st place in the men masters division. We celebrated with live music, beers, and war stories of the experience.
Here are some attached pictures of us at various places along the course. If your wondering, those are not ?wife beater? tees, but trailer park racing singlets. Back row, from left: Joel Pickering, Travis Hodgdon, Matt McKenney, PJ Lovely, Chris Martin, John Proper, Adam Sharp, Dan Vigneault. Front row: Nathan Richer, Brent Wilmot, Brad Tetu, Ken Wiley.
[img:0b1e7f8a41]http://www.team-pinnacle.org/media/images/forum/2012_RTB_Team.jpg[/img:0b1e7f8a41]
[img:0b1e7f8a41]http://www.team-pinnacle.org/media/images/forum/2012_RTB_Team_Unofficial.jpg[/img:0b1e7f8a41]
Joel Pickering
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