Bedford Good, Rhody Next

We runners can be a critical bunch. Go to any race and you'll hear some complaints about the weather, the course, the amenities, the awards, or (usually) some combination thereof. Over at the high school in Bedford, New Hampshire last Saturday, (May 16), though, nary a discouraging word was heard. Weather was ideal, the hospitality excellent, the post-race feed more than adequate, the competition fine, and comments this correspondent heard pertaining to the new course were uniformly positive. A fast finish on a spanking new track (reminiscent of the Ro-Jack's days), and an undulating course that some said actually felt as if it contained more downs than ups -- unheard of. (Of course, some of us long for the days when age-group cash awards went two or three deep, but in this economy whaddyagonnado?)

It was good showings by Greater Lowell teams. Let's start with the women: The all-masters-plus squad of Mel Hire (54:20), Moira Durnin (55:27), Peg Bastien (56:58) and Patty Foltz (58:19) ran well enough to place 8th out 13 Open teams -- quite an accomplishment! Of course at the masters level they were even better, placing 5th. Seniors and Vets were one and two runners respectively shy of complete teams, though when that day comes look out, as Senior Moira and Veteran Patty are among the best. Patty won the 60-69 division, despite running with a painful leg injury, to increase her Grand Prix lead.

Men: Again we're talking all-masters-plus, in fact Tom Doody at 47 may be the baby of the lot. (Oops, sorry Adam.) Tom's appearance was a happy surprise (at least to some of us) and he showed he was plenty fit by placing 25th overall and #5 Master in a fleet 40:21, leading GLRR to a 6th place Open finish out of 15, and 3rd of 11 Masters. He was joined therein by Mark Reeder (42:02), John Barbour (42:16), Dave Oliver (43:02) Tom Offenbacher (45:59) and Adam Sherer (48:18). Senior team scoring was muy interesting: several observers, both impartial and otherwise, noted that one result of the aging of the 'running boom' generation is a packed Seniors group, and that a 12K ought rightfully be scored five deep rather than the present three. At three-deep, GLRR was at the mercy of a Whirlaway squad which, Craig Fram having turned 50 and Reno Stirrat having recently joined, is tough to match. And though we gave it our best, we were a little short, 2:09:33 - 2:11:17 (2nd of 11 teams). Go five deep, though, and adding the prodigal John Dowling (46:03), Ken Jacobson (46:50) plus ever-youthful Phil Riley (48:41) and Ken Goodin (51:53) and the flips are flopped. The Veterans team was full and fine even without American-in-Paris Bill Dixon, placing 3rd and represented by Gary See (57:03), Tom Foltz (58:31), Steve Kanarcus (59:15) and Jon "Father" MacKenzie (1:08:58), who was last seen picking up the rice in the church where the wedding had been.

June 7th is not far off, and by now many of us can find our way to the dog track in Lincoln with our eyes closed, though please let's no one try that. This is the sprint race of the year, a 5K that may or may not finish on the dog track itself this time. It'll take nothing out of you so there's no excuse for not giving it everything, whether you're training through or not. And for Senior men it's a chance to atone for our collective failure to account for the evergreen talents of John Dowling, who fooled us all by taking the wild card position at Bedford in the Dixon Cross Country Wager Pool. If you're not on Glenn's list and can run, please let one or both of us know. Right now. No, don't wait. Do it now. Okay, that's good.