The Brrr-lingame 5 & 10 Mile Trail Races took place over the weekend in Charlestown, RI. Derek Jakoboski won a relatively close race over Greg Hammett in the 10 miler. Derek ran a 1:02:41 and had a 27 second lead when he broke the tape.
“I haven’t been running much, so I had my doubts. I took it out too fast and found myself in first and on my way to blowing out at mile two. So I just hung on and waited to see what would happen. I bashed my knee on a rock at mile six, ran a couple bonus meters when I went off course, but it worked out. I was glad to see the finish line though, as Greg was gaining fast. This was my first race of the season, so it’s good to know where I’m at.” -Derek Jakoboski
Derek was actually the series champion when it debuted two years ago. Race director Mike Galoob (yeah, that Mike Galoob) filled us in on a little of Derek’s background: “Derek is a local multi-sport athlete. He’s one of those annoying young guys who seems to be awesome at everything from swimming to rock climbing, cycling to trail running, without ever seeming to “train” at all.”
On the other hand, Jennifer Ribeiro won the women’s race running away. Jennifer ran a 1:25:31 and won by nearly ten minutes.
“I’m pretty new to trail running but am planning to do a 50K next month, so I was using this race as part of my training. I was injured and unable to run for about a year and a half and just got back into training a few months ago, so needless to say I was super happy to just be racing!” -Jennifer Ribeiro
As was mentioned earlier, these races are part of a series, called the South County 4th Season Race Series. Most of us probably aren’t even thinking trail right now, but amazingly they’ve already run 4 out of the 5 series races. “The second place woman, Janet Sanderson, is on track to take the series championship, even with missing the last race due to travel plans,” said Galoob. “She’s a veteran trail & ultra runner. Similarly, Bob Jackman has the men’s title locked up for the second year in a row.”
There was also a 5 mile race held the same day. Nick Pignatello in 37:45 and Piper Faulkner in 44:05 were your winners. “The key story of the 5-mile distance (and many of the races) are the older age groups,” explained Mike. “There’s a great rivalry between two 80 year old guys who seem to be more competitive than any of the rest of the racers.”
While this series is wrapping up soon (Big River Half Marathon & 10k on 4/5), the rest bulk of the trail racing for the year is just about to get started. We recommend checking some out. “These local trail races definitely have a great spirit of grassroots competition and adventure,” said Mike. “As you can see from Scott’s pictures, the New England winter hasn’t bothered them much!” Speaking of Scott Mason’s pictures, you can check them out on his site.
