The Pipestave Hill 5k Trail Race, the second race in the New England Running Company North Shore Trail Race Series, featured a close finish between Max Bulger and Andy Scott. Max got the ‘W’, even though both finished with a time of 19 flat. Two epic rivals that matched each other stride for stride in a heated race they’ll never forget? Or just two friends using the race to get in a harder effort? Perhaps we’ll never know.

Jennifer Howland was the women’s champ, posting up a time of 22:17 and besting her nearest rival by 32 seconds (Emma Kosciak, 22:49). Jennifer was also 11th overall.

Over on the masters side of things, David Long gave the young ‘uns a run for their money with his third overall finish. David ran a 20:08 and was the first in what turned out to be a floury of masters runners coming in. Starting with David, 6 of the next 7 runners were masters runners. Mironda Meyer (27:49) was the top female masters runner.

The next race in this series is the Kupenda 5 Mile Trail Race on Saturday June 7th. Series standings will be posted soon on the New England Running Company website.