The weather this morning for Eliot was much better than what the forecasts had called for. Rather than the torrential downpours and wind we were expecting, the runners were treated to a very humid but relatively cool and very calm morning with temperatures in the low 60s. Fog may have blanketed everything and all of the events for the Eliot Festival Days (except for the race) may have been canceled, but 412 runners still came out to run.
The men’s field was very competitive, with 13 runners going sub-16. Not quite the 25 sub-16s of 2005, but a good jump on the past few years where only 7 or 8 sub-16 runners competed. Louis Luchini was unchallenged at the finish line in 14:39, while Robert Edgerton only managed to edge out Patrick Moulton by 1 second with a time of 14:53.
Carry Buterbaugh also had a strong lead at the finish line, finishing 22 seconds ahead of Johanna Fickenscher in 18:11. Christine Reaser took 3rd place in 19:13.
In team racing, Dirigo won the day no matter how you scored the race. It seems as though they went on finishing time at the awards ceremony, but the final results have the scores age graded (as they were supposed to.) All that meant was that 2 of our 3 scorers were different. PR Racing finished in 2nd place, about 3 and a half minutes back.
The food at the end of the race was pretty good, with plenty of fruit, bagels, bread, pasta salad, cookies, and soup for all of the runners. There was even some left after people finished their cool downs.
I am not sure if there was a problem with the sponsorship, though, because the prize structure did not seem to pan out. The race announced that it would pay out 10 places, male and female, but they decided only to pay out 5 places and also reduced the money earned at that. This does not strike me as a good way to convince top talent to return to your race, especially with the constant turnover in race directorship. I think that Eliot’s best days may be past, which is shame because it used to be such a good showcase for New England talent.
My own race went well, but I still failed to meet my season goal. I finished in 16:30, going out a few seconds slower than I wanted and then falling apart near the end. One of my teammates kept himself motivated at the end by watching my form fall apart in the last half mile, although I still kept my lead on him as I struggled to the finish line.
(Full Results – Team Results – Official Photos – Photos & Videos)
Still a solid performance. What’s next on the agenda for you?
And 13 sub-16 finishes?…..no races in Virginia Beach with that amount of talent (luckily!)
New England is pretty competitive. There is a lot of top talent, and not just with the professional runners and the recently graduated young guns, there is a ton of masters and senior runners that are just as likely to dominate a race as the guys in their 20s. A race like Eliot that (advertises that it) has a deep prize pool and that is located pretty centrally (right over the Maine border from NH) can be a pretty good draw.
For myself, I’ll do some random races through the rest of the year, but I’m taking a week or so off to see if I can get my hip better and then I’m going to start getting ready for a 50 miler on January 3rd.
Yea, I think all the speedy running peeps live up there cause its cool 🙂
Do you know where the “official” race photo are posted? I lost the sheet of paper and they don’t seem to have it posted on their site. I want to see if they have any of my speedy (but not sub-16) son.
Kevin,
I’ll update the article with a link as soon as I hear the pictures are up, but I didn’t bother taking one of the sheets since I assumed that they’d advertise it. My guess is they’ll give a list of names, bib numbers and email addresses to the company so that they can send out an email to the folks who were there once the pictures have been sorted.
In the meantime, you can email the race directors at [email protected] if you want to get the official word.
Official photo link is now available courtesy of Kevin, who tracked it down.
Nice run man. Like you said, it’s too bad they aren’t trying harder to keep the depth of elites coming back. With the reputation they’ve had in the past, they could build a great elite field year in and year out. This year was better than the last couple, but paying out only half the prize money won’t make these guys come back. And that type of treatment travels fast in the elite world (or more so in the sub-elite world, since those guys need the money more!).
Have a nice break and good luck getting ready for that 50 miler. You’re a tougher man than I ..and crazier!
Sounds like you had a pretty good race…I think we all feel we could have done better at the end…I havn’t run that race. Perhaps next year.