USATF-NE XC 8k Championship (Masters)

Sunday morning, I drove down to Franklin Park in Boston to compete in the USATF-NE XC Championships. It would be the second time racing in this masters only race as I raced it last year. The distance is 8k and features 4 loops through the woods and trails of Franklin Park near White Stadium. For the masters race, we get to charge up Bear Cage Hill twice through our journey of this course which also serves as the site for numerous collegiate and high school xc championships.

After signing up and conversing with several CMS teammates (Ernie Brake, Scott Clark and Dave Harper) as well as longtime running supporter, Brad Hurst, I warmed up with the elusive Eric Morse who made the three hour journey from Vermont to give a try for a New England title.

Cool temps, little wind and blue skies topped off a beautiful morning and would serve as excellent conditions for racing. And the field that was present would lead to fast racing.

As the 12 CMS runners lined up in the box (5 master/7seniors and vets) we were off at 10:00 AM. My plan was to try to run even which meant not going out too hard. As I could not get my watch to start I went through mile 1 in about 5:30 which put me in about 30th place. The pace seemed fine and I felt good. Along came Mark Reeder and I tried to go with him and John Barbour but could not hold pace and sort of lost a bit midrace. I hit two miles in 11:20 and 3 in about 17:05 and those were the only splits I got for the race. I was battling several Dirigo runners the entire race and passed Chris Teague (HFC) at about 4 miles and started battling with a BAA dude up our 2nd climb on Bear Cage but he pulled away on the downhill. I ran as hard as I could and finished up with a 28:21 about 8 seconds slower than last year. All in all it was a good team effort as we finished 4th overall. We were led by Eric Morse (5th), Scott Clarke (12th), myself, Ernie Brake and Dave Harper. These results are unofficial as no results have been posted on coolrunning or the USATF website. Kent Lemme won the race and Francis Burdett (both of the Greater Springfield Harriers) was runnerup. Greater Springfield won the team title.

I stuck around and watched the men's and women's open races. CMS men's team ran strong and finished in 4th place overall. Congrats to all for a great job!

Results are now on coolrunning.

Above photo courtesy of Krissy K.