Local competitions really are fun, when you combine lots of friends racing in the heat, the friendly competition makes it a fun day.

My fitness was a bit off the mark to start the race, but I was inspired when I saw Mike Moody tow the line. Last year I edged him out, and he got hurt, and vowed never to trail race again, but come crunch time, he made the starting line.

Race gun fired smoothly and the pack swarmed the track. I followed Nathan and Mike for the first bit. THe pace seemed reasonable as we came down cheney to start into forest, this first climb I saw Nathan disappear but I latched onto Mike for a bit. We hit the first mile in 8:00 minutes......too fast for me, appartantly a few others, as my pack backed off a bit and completed mile 2 at 17:00.

I was searching for a 50:00 minute finish and wanted to hit Mile 3 at about 26 flat, then race the last 3 miles in 24 minutes. I was chasing 3 guys at this point on Fern Alley, when coming out of fern alley 2 guys went left. I stopped and told them my way was shorter, they thanked me and followed. I starting turning up the heat to get to mile marker 3, when my brain kept saying, "if someone went the wrong way there, they may do it again". So after hesitation and passing mile marker 3 (26:19) I stopped and turned around to fix the spot. Running backwards was interesting, as I got to see the Huberts not too far off, then Dan, Lori, and the Sunapee folks. I fumbled with some big birch logs to make the trail a bit more obvious, then I felt better and started the chase.

This was fun, as before, I struggled to keep my pace, now I was catching and passing people. I caught Lori, and decided to run just a tad bit faster than her to try to pull her along, SHe kept up for a bit, then I turned my sights to try to catch Dan. I knew he was about 2-3 ahead of Lori, but before I got too close, I stepped on a knubb with my toe, but my heel wrenched straight to the ground, and my ankle didn't like it. I tried to run if off, but soon realized, I was making it worse, so slowed to a trot, then walk.

Lots of great support out there, Knowing the trail, I could of returned home quicker, but decided to walk out the finish. ( I was afraid my kids were at the finish, so I had to get to the line ). I started to take the noname shortcut, but then stopped and retraced my steps to finish the race in case I tried to do a few of the series races.

Finished over an hour.

Kudos to the team for great finishes, Steph and Bri and their meticulous organization, Gurney for 2 laps on his bike, sick and providing first aid, the water girls, Newport Fire EMS.

Bravo to the kids as well. Locals were great.

Nick Ippedico 2nd (Sandy's son)
Brendan Halleck 3rd
Tyler Currier 4th
Twins 6th and 7th
Aaron's Daughter, then Sean Moody even Gareth Richer ripped the course up.

well done team.

PJ

Thanks Brian and all volunteers for pulling off a great event Saturday.

It was great to see so many area runners participating in this event.

As for myself, I had a pretty good race. I noticed that all times were about a minute or so slower than last year due to heat and humidity and a slight addition to the distance (+- 30 seconds). I preferred the turn down Ryan's trail which made the course better than the steeper decent at that point.

I started conservatibly so I could make the top of Summer St and still have something left. I hit the 2 mile marker in 16:10. Several people passed me over Big Rock to the top. I stopped and took water at the top, then closed on a group of the top women going down Summer. I had thoughts of PJ and Dan both closing on me (remembering the Pinnacle Challenge MTB), which inspired me to press the pace.

After turning onto Watkins Way I started picking off people. By the time I got back to Pinnacle Summit Rd I had passed six people and trailed the second place woman. I went by her on Hale Trail and to my surprise, John Dowling and Tim Perley (two of three 50-59 runners ahead of me) were right in front of me. I chased them all the way to Snake Alley where we caught and passed Jody Diemar (the first place woman).

We all stayed within seconds of each other to the ski jump stairs where their stamina proved to better than mine. John and Tim left me up the stairs and Jody passed half way up. Those stairs certainly can make or break you in the race!

I felt good running as well as I was and decided hold my current position. I finished 10 seconds behind Jody with a 48:37 and 4th in the 50-59 age group (21st overall). Last year I probably would have taken an hour to finish.

It was good to see my wife Laurie out there. I think she's beginning to like the trail running as she decided to run race within the week before.

I had a great time in the woods watching the kids race with their parents.

Dana

This was hard for me. I prefer having two wheels under me but with the 24HOGG coming up and just the general idea that cross training can be good for you I decided to do a little running this year. I have done about half a dozen training runs of 6-7 miles this year non of them very fast but relatively pain free since I have found a pair of shoes that seem to work. On Saturday I did about a mile warm up and felt ok. At the start it seemed faster than I wanted and the climb up over big rock really gassed me. Guenther Hubert passed me at that point and I used him as a pace setter for the next 1.5 miles then lost him. Every thing seemed to settle in with about 4 runners going about the same pace and just like mountain biking they would pull away on a climb and I would catch them on the down hill. The stairs were awful, it was really hard to run after that. It took me about 200 yards to get my legs back but my finish felt good. Took 6th place at 55min flat and I am happy with that. Thanks to everyone that worked the event it was a fun morning. Next year I'll do more training.
Dan