Mad Dash
I know it has been a while but here is the low down dirty trash on the Mad Dash. Team Gloucester was very well represented in this race with the TG regulars meeting up with our allies in the great state of Vermont, better known as Mike and Maryke. Also joining the crew was the Pixie Harrington Harriers and Gossip Group, who are thinking about coming to the dark side and running with that codfish across their chest.
After an entertaining journey from Gloucester with Bob and Pixie in which we talked about everything from the Mayors race to the Red Sox, we arrived at chateau Gillis nestled on a hill overlooking the vast wilds of Middlesex Vt. It was just a beautiful spot to be on a great weekend, very nice and peaceful; it was so quiet you could hear a field mouse fart a mile away. After checking in at Chateau Gillis and getting the grand tour of the grounds and getting the bunking quarters settled it was time to do another favorite thing TG enjoys to do. That’s right you guessed it drink beer and eat munchies while we waited for the rest of the Harrington Harriers to arrive then all of a sudden we learned there was a Mall emergency declared and they would be later than we expected. So we then made the decision to go get some good pasta at Sarducci’s, a nice little Italian restaurant in Montpelier. After getting our carb load for the next day we made our way back to chateau Gillis with the Harriers in tow for some good sleep and sleep we did.
The next morning we awoke to a chilly 55 degrees but just ideal running weather. After getting some breakfast and doing some last minute preparation it was time to head to the race start in Waitsfield. After checking in and getting our numbers some of us went out for a little warm up run then it was time to get down to business and we all went to the start line and go ready to go. Mike and Maryke did the 4 mile race while the rest of us took on the 8 mile race. That is what is great about the race there are actually two you can pick. Both races started at the same time and together and that was a little confusing but after the first ¼ mile the course splits and the 4 mile goes off to the left while the 8 miler goes straight and continues out into a corn field. The course is awesome it runs along the Mad river and is flat and fast for a trail race.
The great thing about the course is you can pretty much see the leaders the entire time in both races. Once it was all said and done here is how the Team stacked up. In the 8 mile race Bob was able to place 5th overall and 1st in his age group with a time of 51:51 following not far behind him was Dave in 11th place overall and 3rd in his new age group in a time of 55:04. Then came the race within the race with Pixie out kicking her running pal Beth to take 58th place in 1:15:29 an then Beth in 59Th place in 1:15:30 see there is some power in those little legs of hers after all. Then came Lisa English in 62nd place in 1:22 and then to round out the field was Reneau Longoria in 65th place in 1:43. Kudos to both Lisa and Reneau on a great job with this being their first trail race and actually first trail run.
On the 4 mile side of the house here are the results: Mike was able to run a great race and come in 26th place in 28:27 and Maryke followed behind him in 120th place in 40:08. They both then turned into the official TG cheering squad for the 8 milers and help us all into the finish, After the race was the awards and raffle in which Bob and Dave walked away with hardware and Pixie won the grand prize in the raffle, a ski pass for one year to the Mad River Glen ski resort. Pixie gladly donated it to Mike and Maryke-- both ski and were figuring out their schedule on the ride back to Chateau Gillis. Once back at Chateau Gillis it was time for showers and watching the first ½ of the Pats game. We then loaded up the Rav 4 for the ride back down to Gloucester.
Overall this is a definite Team Gloucester certified race and I hope we can get a bigger group next year. The one thing I did take away from the weekend is that you can definitely continue to beat a dead horse of course. Oh! Stop it Wilbur !
