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From Lake Champlain to the Atlantic Ocean

Eight GMAA runners spent the past weekend in Gloucester, MA competing in the Lone Gull 10k. This race served as the USATF-NE 10k Championship, and the second to last race in the USATF-NE Road Grand Prix Series.

Liz Champagne overcame much adversity to get to the finish line – first cracked cheek bones sustained in a race earlier this month threatened to prevent her from racing; not to mention an impending flight to Germany departing just four days post-race for the Berlin Marathon; forgotten socks necessitating her to race in a mid-calf floral patterned pair borrowed from her 84 year old mother (at least they were Darn Tough!); and finally confusion over her entry being listed as Liz Champlain instead of Champagne (the wine not the lake!). Liz persevered valiantly to finish in a level 8 min/mile pace, good for 8th place in the 60-69 age group – and keeping her in the running for the Ironrunner competition. Good luck in Berlin, Liz!

Ian McCallum-Cooke, with far less adversity to overcome, ran the fastest time of the the day amongst his GMAA peers in a ***NEW PR*** of 32:51. Ian has earned himself a spot farther toward the front of the start line for next year. Ian would like to give all the credit for his success to his fantastic BTV training partners and teammates.

Two club members with Septembers birthdays, Nick Persampieri and Kasie Enman, drew the short and long sticks of the age group lottery, respectively. Kasie turned 40 just before the race, so was the youngest Masters age grouper in the field and took full advantage of her comparative youth by winning the Masters title in what is rumored to be a masters record for the course. Nick (pictured above with the nipple bandaids), on the other hand, would be turning 60 the day after the race, so had to battle it out as the very oldest runner in the 50-59 group – as a 59 year 364 day old. Even so, he did manage to finish in the top third of his field besting many young whippersnappers.

Speaking of whippersnappers, Gordon McFarland and Allan Bates represented the GMAA with pride coming in 2nd and 3rd for 70+ age group. This was a rare defeat for Gordon who was playing it conservatively with a nagging achilles.

Other GMAA runners in the mix were Andy Klem and Alex McHenry. Thanks to Alex for driving half the crew down in his Nissan Versa!

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Pine Street Mile Recap

GMAA runners posted fast results at the Pine Street Mile on Sunday, Sept 8 at 9:30 AM. The event was hosted by RunVermont and was the sixth race in the 2019 GMAA Performance Series.

Kasie Enman (5:14), Jess Marini (5:22), and Zoraya Hightower (5:28) finished third, fourth, and fifth for women in the Challenge Mile.

Out of 15 male finishers with times under 5 minutes, 6 were GMAA runners, led by John Stanton-Geddes (4:34) in third place and Ian McCallum-Cook (4:38) in fourth.

Click here for the complete results for all Pine Street Mile events.

For updated Performance Series standings, click here or go to the Team Racing page.

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Archie Post 5 Miler Recap

It was a near perfect late summer morning, when 53 runners lined up for the 51st Archie Post 5 Miler. After acknowledging the Archie Post as Vermont’s oldest continuous footrace, named for the talented athlete and coach from UVM, the new race directors Ruth and Liz sent the runners off on the fun, but challenging course.  The field included Russ Cooke and Bob Sayers – retired AP race directors – for the first time in 10 years!

Charlie Schaefer crossed the finish line first in 26:58, followed closely by Neal Graves in 27:26.  Allie Nerenberg was the first woman to finish posting a time of 35:35. Congratulations also to our youngest finisher Taylor Carlson, and our oldest finisher Peter Mitchell. Delicious fruit pies from Adams Farm Market were awarded to our overall and age group winners. Overall winners also earned a $25 gift card from SkiRack.  Every runner and volunteer left with a coveted pair of Archie Post socks and jar of Bove’s tasty pizza sauce. 

Overall everything went very smoothly, in large part due to our team of awesome volunteers – we really cannot thank you enough.  Shout out to our faithful sponsors: SkiRack and Boves and to Hannafords and The Bagel Place (Williston Road) for generous fruit and bagel donations.  The AP post-race snack table wouldn’t be complete without Ben & Jerry’s – special thanks to Russ Cooke (and Cathie) for sharing their stash.  

Happy Labor Day to all – we hope to see you again next year!

Full Race Results Posting
Race Photos by Nik Ponzio

Volunteers:
Karen Allen , Bill Allen , Karen Bove, Lyman Clark, Russ Cooke, Harry Curth, Sam Davis, Joy Dubin Grossman, Ira Gardener-Morse, Sue Hackney, John Hackney, Hillary Holmes, Paul Huyffer, Martha Keenan, Kristi Kilpatrick, Forrest LeMoine, Ray Mainer, Karen Oppenheimer, Jim Rudolph, Bob Sayers, Randy Sightler, Chuck Spear, Paul Wagner