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Once again CSU made a triumphant showing in the annual Lake Winnipesuakee relay. CSU's Mixed open team garnered a strong eighth place overall and fourth in the Mixed Open ranking in the 65.1 mile, eight legged relay. The placing is impressive given the 26 Mixed Open and 99 overall teams competing, which was an increase from 19 and 90 respectively from last year.
The finish also secured each of the relay members a vaunted Lake Winnipesuakee victory glass (beer mug this year) with the spiffy green loon emblem. This was especially important to Del Williamson, who cagily reminded all CSU runners pre-race that she has never competed in the Winni relay WITHOUT securing a victory glass. Not wanting to let Del down, or experience her wrath, the CSU'ers delivered.
The 8:00AM start time necessitated the early leg runners camp overnight near the Lake. Having secured accommodations at the Samoset Condos Terry & Sue McNatt, with kids Carson, Lucy and the K-man (Kyler) in tow settled in Friday night along with Del and Geoffrey Kent. A pre-race meal of pasta and a medley of Del's homegrown grilled and steamed vegetables stacked the team with much needed energy.
The night before was also time to finalize the chauffeur assignments as a key to success in the Winni relay is getting each runner to their appointed leg on time. Another key factor is not forgetting to pick up a runner after they finish their leg.
The forecast on race day was for cloudy skies with some spotty rain starting around 2:00PM with temperatures in the low 60's. Ideal running weather! As Terry and Sue had planned the leg assignments along with a forecasted overall time of 7:13, the plan was to have only the last two legs experience any rain. Given that last year's mixed open was won with a time of 7:28 the team was feeling confident that it would be drinking from victory glasses at night!
Terry and Del headed out early to Funspot to position themselves for the first two legs. Terry started strong on the downhill start and had two minutes of nice cool temps before the rain started to fall. Although forecasted for mid-afternoon, the rain made an early entry dampening the 10.7 mile leg. Terry ignored the steady rain and blazed through the rolling hills and the 3 mile climb to the next leg in 2nd place overall with a time of 1:02:38, An excellent 5:51 pace and 1:22 below forecasted time. A good start indeed.
Passing the baton off to Del for the 11 mile second leg the marathon prepping, running savant ran the 11th fastest time of the day on her leg (99 runners) with a 1:12:56 time. Del ran a very strong 6:35 pace for the 11 arduous miles that also had the heaviest periods of rainfall of the day. For perspective, if Del had run in the women's open field she would have had the fastest time by over 1 minute, with only two open women running under 1:19.
After two legs CSU was in fourth place overall. Behind eventual overall and mixed open winner Somerville Road Runners (#1 & #2 on first two legs), Men's Open winner Rochester Runners (#4 & #1) and mixed open team Salisbury Sinners (#8 & #3). After Del ran a full 3 minutes under her forecasted time, CSU was now almost 4 ½ minutes under Terry's forecasted time for the team.
In a Lake Winni oddity the overall race winner ended up being a mixed open team. The Somerville Road Runners led wire-to-wire in the race. The men's open winner Rochester Runners were in second place from leg 2 through the finish. While these two teams had pulled away from the rest of the pack the other spots were very much up for grabs.
Being unaware of the altitudinal challenge presented by the third leg on the course, as well as being a strong hill runner, Dima Feinhaus was the unwitting candidate that Terry slotted into the notorious leg 3. A leg that is 9.3 miles and described as "steep hill .5 mile from the start, big rolling hills in middle, around 2M gradual uphill to finish" where the "steep hill" is an ascent and the "rolling hills" can hardly be described as "rolling". Post race he admitted to being initially shocked at first seeing the steepness of the early hill but he sucked it up and went on to post the 15th fastest time of the day in an excellent 1:03:17. More importantly he not only held onto CSU's overall fourth place in the race he passed the mixed open runner from Salisbury Sinners and vaulted CSU into second place in the mixed open!
As the rain started to end next up for the 4 mile fourth leg was Sue McNatt. Sue ripped off a 27:24 maintaining CSU's overall fourth place position and second place in the mixed open. As Sue neared the handoff for leg 5 she noticed that she was closing fast on HFC's standout Eileen Cakouros. As Sue pace quickened to passing speed she could hardly contain her zeal that she was going to blow by her. Thinking Eileen must be having an off day or injured, Sue suddenly realized the Eileen was warming up for the 5th leg and not actually running in the 4th leg (darn!!). The mirage of a competing runner helped Sue post the 17th fastest time of the day and it would have been the third fastest if Sue had competed in the women's open bracket.
Next up on the 5th leg for CSU was Lorin Obler. While you'll hear Lorin whine (pun intended) about his lack of sleep with 8 month old baby Veronica, he hasn't been as healthy or as fast in a couple of years. Fatherhood has apparently imbued him with a renewed racing spirit. The 10.8 miles of rolling hills were no match for the spirited Lorin as he sprinted to the 3rd fastest time of the day in 1:03:37, just under a 5:55 pace. However, the vagaries of the relay resulted in CSU dropping from 4th to 5th overall and from 2nd to 3rd in the mixed open. This was due to the Salisbury Sinners runner having the 2nd fastest time of the day. Lorin's tireless effort carried him to the handoff leaving CSU only 30 seconds behind in the mixed open race.
Having watched the 4 preceding teams cross from leg 5 to 6 Geoffrey Kent was aware that CSU was in 5th place overall and third in the mixed open. Taking the baton from Lorin, Geoffrey tore off after the Salisbury runner intent on tracking her down and passing her. Geoffrey zipped passed her just over a mile into the 6.4 mile leg. While running a seemingly pedestrian 45:45 ( 27th best of the day) for the relatively flat leg, Geoffrey nonetheless succeeded in placing CSU back into 4th place overall and 2nd place in the mixed open.
Unlike Geoffrey who ran the 27th fastest time and increased CSU's overall position, by passing a runner who ran the 50th fastest time, Lisa Doucett drew the short straw and encountered some serious competition on leg 7. Running a solid 1:03:37 Lisa had the misfortune of running against the 1st, 4th and 7th fastest runners of the day. The 8.5 mile leg runs in almost a straight line with big rolling hills. Even when you drive your car on this leg it seems like a LONG 8.5 miles. Lisa's run kept CSU in the hunt for the Winni loon glasses.
Heading into the final leg of the relay the weight of securing Winni glasses was, fittingly, on the shoulders of Del's marathon amigo, Deb Thomas. While having run other Winni legs previously Deb wasn't too familiar with the short (4.4 miles) but hilly 8th leg. Deb sought out Geoffrey, who ran the 8th leg last year on the men's open team, for advice on the leg. Hoping to build Deb's confidence heading into the critical last leg Geoffrey fibbed to Deb that while there are two long hills they are not steep and thus running up them isn't that hard. He also told Deb that the leg affords some "great scenery" and that she'd enjoy her run. Deb's 35:05 held off a strong challenge by HFC's mixed open runner who finished just 24 seconds back of CSU.
Upon crossing the finish line she quickly sought out Geoffrey and asked bewildered and a bit peeved "what great scenery? All I saw was hills and asphalt". To which Geoffrey replied sheepishly "well that is how I remembered it from last year".
Deb's kick up the last hill to the Funspot finish line gave the team an overall time of 7:14:17 for eighth place overall(out of 99 teams) and fourth place in the mixed open (26 teams) securing Winni loon glasses for CSU!
As mentioned the overall winner was a mixed open team and 5 of the top 9 teams were mixed open! In the prior four years only two mixed open teams had finished 9th or higher in the Winni relay (2004 #6 and 2002 #7). Given the loaded field of mixed open teams the CSU'ers performed very admirably. Only 4 men teams finished higher than CSU's team, along with 3 mixed teams.
After some post race refreshments at Funspot and watching the McNatt kids use the Winni baton as a putter to play a round on the Funspot miniature golf course, it was time to head back to Samoset for some celebratory partying!
Before the late night revelry could begin however, there was a need to tire out the McNatt kids so they could be put to bed early. It was thought that a walk to the Lake and some swimming would do the trick. An added benefit was that dinner could be caught in the form of some fresh Winni fish! The beach was deserted as CSU descended upon it. Led by Carson and Lucy McNatt, who opted to ride their scooters instead of walking, they sped down the dirt road leading to the beach only to discover that their brakes wouldn't work given the steepness of the road and the dirt/rock terrain. Fortunately, and surprisingly given their speed, neither ended up crashing.
As the Lucy and Kyler, fully clothed of course, jumped in to test the water they were soon joined by Sue and Del (details of their attire intentionally omitted). As the women and kids frolicked in the Lake the men tasked themselves with catching some Winni fish for dinner. The task seemed a simple one being armed with fishing rods that would make an Orvis customer envy and equipped with succulent worms picked the very same morning from the apparently worm infested backyard of the McNatt's. Yet, after about 25 minutes of casting it was unanimously decided that "maybe we should order pizza". Actually, the closest the men came to catching dinner was when young Carson stepped in to cast a line and nearly snagged a low flying duck.
As the sunset over the Lake the crew headed back to Samoset. Quick showers and a convenient pick-up of pizza (BBQ chicken and White) from across the street refreshed the team. Libations drunk from their loon glasses followed into the night and mellowed the crew.
With a check-out time of 11:00 there was still plenty of time on Sunday morning run. Needing to keep an eye on those McNatt kids at all times, the team split into two groups, one getting in a scenic 5 mile run along the lake, followed upon their return by a 10 mile jaunt for the second group. After a post run dip in the lake it was time to bid Winni good-bye till next year.
If you haven't yet experienced the camaraderie, dauntlessness and sheer exhilaration of competing in the Lake Winni relay, or if you just need some kitchen glasses and can get Del to be on your team, you are urged to reserve your spot now for next years team!