The New Hampshire Grand Prix continued it’s slate this past Sunday with the 6th Annual Granite State 10 Mile road race in the capital city of Concord, NH. With the race headquartered on the campus of New Hampshire Technical Institute, the crowd of 242 finishers each supported the Boys and Girls Club of Central NH, the NHTI Cross Country team for use of the facilities, and the Concord High School Girls’ Cross Country team for working the water stop at miles 3/7.3. The 10 mile event managed to bring forth a locally competitive field in addition to supporting the previously mentioned causes.
With a constant rain and decreasing temperatures, the conditions were far from perfect. But it didn’t rain on Naseem Haje‘s parade as he lead gun to wire to win the event in 56 minutes, 23 seconds. Currently a Millennium Running athlete and Runner’s Alley employee, Naseem is seeking to return to form after a bout of injuries since his days at Adams State. With winning the Granite 10, he snatched his first race victory since 2014 and could definitely be one to watch in the coming years. The next closest competitors to Haje traveled down from the New Hampshire/Vermont border; Upper Valley Running Club duo Joe Burnett and Rich Smith claimed the 2nd and 3rd spots. Joe traversed the layout in 57’22 with Rich crossing the line in 58’18 (and matching his result from 2011). Rich was also the top master’s runner in the event. Former University of Southern Maine steepler Chris Dunn rounded out the sub one hour finishers on the day with his 4th overall finish of 59’37 while 2nd male master Jason Porter (BAA) narrowly missed the barrier with an oh-so-close 60’01 – closing the last 3 miles in 17’08 proves he wanted it badly!
The women’s race was controlled by a dual effort of Whirlaway teammates with Amy Bernard and Christin Doneski running within 40-50 meters of each other for most of the race. Competing well in the later miles earned Pinkerton Academy XC Coach Bernard the win in 65 minutes, 15 seconds. Amy’s result was the 3rd fastest time ran on the hilly Granite 10 Mile course behind Denise Sandahl’s performance from ’13 (63’06) and Megan Call’s winning time from ’12 (64’23). Doneski wasn’t far behind – her 65’32 was good for 2nd female and (in dominant fashion) top masters woman. Upper Valley top performer Hannah Taska was the female bronze medalist on the day with her 68’13 finish while North Conway’s Terry Ballou placed 4th in 68’59. Taska’s UVRC teammate Megan Miller would be the only other gal to traverse the 10 miles in under 70 minutes as her 69’10 was good for 5th female.
Full results via Granite State Race Services
Aside from the previously released coverage, we managed to shoot 20 minutes’ worth of video footage. To watch certain portions of the race, footage from the ~2.25k mark starts at 0’58, 4 mile footage at 4’22, 7 mile footage at 9’05, and finish line footage at 10’48.
