Run to Win

The 2008 running of the Irish Road Rover 5k was this morning in relatively warm but very windy conditions. The team competition was broken into 3 separate types of teams, club teams, open teams and corporate teams.

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I got this note in my email the other day and thought that I should pass it along:

The Portland City Council will be recognizing the tremendous accomplishment of some of our running comrades (Todd Coffin, Mike Payson, Rob Pierce, Tom Ryan, Dan Franek, Mark Goettel, Peter Bottomley, and Christine Snow-Reaser) for winning SILVER in the recent USA Cross Country meet in Ohio. The PPH failed to recognize this MASTERS TEAM for its achievement. However, we can show up at the Council meeting to pay homage to these outstanding athletes.

Anybody that is interested in cheering on the masters runners from Dirigo who did so well at the national cross country meet in December can do so tonight at 7:00 pm at the Portland City Council meeting.

Pete Bottomley wrote an excellent race report of the masters’ race if you’d like to refresh your memory about how everyone did.

The following race recap was written by Pete Bottomley, the Director of Sales & Marketing at Coast of Maine Organic Products, Inc. Pete is a masters runner for Dirigo, R.C. and competes in mostly middle distance races in Southern Maine. He ran his first marathon this past April in Boston, and this past weekend traveled out to Ohio to compete in the USATF Club Cross Country National Championships. Pete is also the race director and primary fund raiser for the New England Mile.

Dirigo splashed onto the front pages of the National running scene this past weekend at the USATF XC NATIONALS in West Chester, Ohio.

Our team was represented by Christine Reaser in the Women’s Masters and Todd Coffin, Dan Franek, Mark Goettel, Mike Payson, Rob Pierce, Tom Ryan and me in the Men’s Masters. I don’t know how to describe the course other than to say it looked like the Alaskan tundra, but more stark and the permafrost was melting! The recent 3-4 inches of slushy snow obscured the bumps and ruts in the prairie trails on which we would race the next day.

We went to bed wishing we had brought 1” spikes and hopeful that the snow would be gone by race time.

In the morning, the snow was still there and we headed over to the course telling each other that this situation was actually perfect for us Mainers!!!
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The USATF Club Cross Country Championships were this morning. Peter Magill of team Fluffy Bunny won the masters’ 10k in 34:20.2, leading his team to first place with 59 points and a total time of 2:58:04.7.

Dirigo had a strong showing to improve 3 places and capture 2^nd place this year, trailing by 12 points with a 1 minute and 27.7 second deficit. Michael Payson led the way, finishing 7^th in 35:17.2.

GCS Triad (Formerly Gate City Striders, PR Racing and Moose Milers), a Maine/New Hampshire team, finished in 13^th place with 357 points in the masters 10k. They finished in 36^th place with 1088 points in the open 10k.

Christine Reaser was the lone female Dirigo competitor, and had a strong showing in the masters 6k race despite falling on a hay bale. She ran 23:15 and trailed winner Joan Nesbit Mabe by less than half of a minute.

(Results: Masters 6k - Masters 10k - Open 6k - Open 10k - Press Release)

I got down to the Patriot’s Day 5 Miler today, which is Veteran’s Day.

I’m glad that I got there early; they put me on parking duty and I got to warn people to park higher and higher up the Eastern Prom as the parking lots filled up. Between the race and a boat launch, they filled pretty fast. Once I was basically in the road, there was only 5 minutes left to the start of the race and the few people still coming in were there for the boat launch and most tried running me over rather than listening to what I had to say so I let them head down and not find a place to park.

The race had great weather. It was 44° out and quite sunny. There was a chilly breeze, but the runners did not seem to mind it as much as us folk that were just standing around. The start began over by the East End Beach, and the finish was about ⁸/₁₀ of a mile away near Marginal Way. The trail looks like it is finally getting repaired and is in much better shape than the last time I was over in that area.

I had a front row seat (well, standing position) at the finish line, and got to hit the plunger as each runner crossed the line to mark their time. The general consensus was that the course was a little short, with Ethan Hemphill powering into a sub-25 first place finish. Christine Reaser won the women’s race.

There was a great turn out today; there were around 130 runners for a noon start in mid-November.

(Results)

The Craig’s Cup 5k cross country race was this morning, which once again served double duty as the Maine USATF cross country state championship race.

There were over 200 people registered runners and 180 finishers this year, which had near perfect racing weather and conditions despite the heavy rain over the past day and a half.

The course was not nearly as wet as I would have expected that it would be, leaving the runners only moderately dirty rather than drenched in mud. Dirigo managed to beat Triad/PR Racing by exactly 3 minutes, with cumulative times of 1:25:06 to 1:28:06.

Ethan Hemphill repeated his win from last year, bettering his time by 4 seconds to finish in 16:29. His margin of victory was 12 seconds. Christine Reaser won the women’s race with a bit more breathing room, finishing in 19:43.

(Full Results - Photos » Set 1 - Set 2)

Update: All of the results for races I knew about are now accounted for, as well as the results for a race I hadn’t previously been aware of. There were at least 4561 people who finished a road race on Wednesday.

It is the Fourth of July today, one of the more popular days for a road race in the country. Here is a short recap of the Bridgton Four on the Fourth, the L.L. Bean 10k in Freeport, the York Four on the Fourth, the Winthrop Friends on the Fourth 5k, the Walter Hunt Memorial 3k in Brewer-Bangor, the Kennebunkport Goose Rock Beach 5k, and the Around Mount Desert Island Relay. Updates will appear as I find the results for each race, and I may add more races that I was not aware of, such as the Thomaston 5k.

The first race is the Bridgton Four on the Fourth. This is the one that I decided to run, and the weather was absolutely perfect for a fast, short race on a course with plenty of shade. Erik Stanley broke 20 minutes for the first time in quite a few years, winning the race in 19:57. Carry Buterbaugh ran just over 6 minute pace to win the women’s race in 24:08 on her first attempt at the course. There were 1411 finishers, about 30 shy of last year’s numbers. (Full Results - Photos)

The York Four on the Fourth was won by the local Anthony Balkier in a time of 20:52. The women were led in by Kelsey Smith in 26:50. There were 780 finishers, a healthy growth over last year. (Full Results)

The L.L. Bean 10k in Freeport was won by Ethan Hemphill in 32:33, half of a minute faster than his winning time from last year. Emily Levan had a strong showing to win the women’s race in 36:15, almost a minute faster than second-place Sheri Piers. Joan Samuelson fell back about a minute from last year’s winning time and was the fifth woman to finish. The race grew quite a bit this year, with nearly 200 extra finishers from last year to bring the total to 711. (Full Results - Race Video)

The Kennebunkport Goose Rock Beach 5k was won by again by Mike Griffin, running 6 seconds faster than last year with a winning time of 15:51. He was 50 seconds ahead of second place; a slightly smaller lead than he had last year but still a commanding one. Christine Reaser also repeated last year’s performance, finishing in 18:26. There were 644 finishers, about 30 less than last year. (Full Results)

The Walter Hunt Memorial 4th of July 3K in Brewer/Bangor was won by Steven DeWitt in 8:37. Hilary Maxim led the women in 10:54. Both runners won by less than 10 seconds. There were 490 finishers this year. (Full Results)

The Winthrop Friends on the 4th 5k was won by Gabe Rivard in a speedy 15:07. The women were led by Donna Harriman in 18:31. The race increased by over a third this year, with 407 finishers! That is some huge growth. (Full Results)

The Thomaston 5k was won by Mike Hersom in 19:07. In fourth place over all, Caity Tully won the women’s race in 20:41. There was also a 1 mile kid’s race which was won by Abby Hersom and Keenan Hendricks in 6:33. There were 89 finishers in the 5k, and 58 children in the 1 mile race. (Full Results [5k only] - News Story - Video [start line] - Winner Photo)

The Around Mount Desert Island Relay consisted of 9 teams, 8 of whom finished. The race is comprised of teams of 8 people each, although 11 people ran at least 2 legs of the race; 3 of those 11 ran 3 legs. Team Mules, from Maine, set a course record of 6 hours, 16 minutes and 29 seconds. Crow Athletics was a little over a half hour behind them in 6:52:23. Each team was given a Barbie or Ken doll with a matching bib to use as a baton. There were 68 legs of the race completed by 54 people. (Full Results [pdf])

There were at least 4561 people who finished a road race in Maine today.

The 9^th annual Kerryman Pub Road Race and Mary’s Walk were today in Saco, Maine. Ethan Hemphill and Timothy Rider both broke last year’s record setting pace by over 10 seconds; Ethan won by 2 seconds in 15:23. That ain’t walking, especially this early in the season. Kristin Barry won by almost a minute in 17:52, followed by Christine Reaser in 18:41 and Abby Iselborn in 19:16. Lynne Mooney and Dan Franek won the master’s races. There were a total of 660 finishers.

(Full Results - Race Photos - More Photos)