A view from the course, although you don’t notice during the heat of the battle. Courtesy of Dave Dunham.
The world of trail running is very different from that of road running. What you do on the roads doesn’t directly translate to how you’ll do out there on the twisting single track. Throw in smaller fields with what is most likely a higher percentage of more experience competitors (for that terrain, at least compared to the diluted road race scene) and anything goes.
That was the case at the Ravenswood 4.1 Mile Trail Race on October 19th in Beverly, MA. Todd Callaghan led the way as masters runners took 6 of the first 7 spots. Todd and Dave Long battled it out up front, with the former slowly pulling away from the latter. Todd ran a 26:50.8, which gave him a comfortable cushion. Long rolled in at 27:26.1. Rounding out the podium was Jim Pawlicki in 3rd with a 27:53.5.
If those results sound familiar, it’s because they are. It’s basically a slightly faster version of the 2013 edition. Last year Callaghan won in 27:05, followed by Long in 27:29 and Pawlicki in 28:40. The field was deeper this year so the pace was hotter right off the bat.
Todd and David Long hustled out at the start and I took a back seat. The back seat got comfortable apparently as I never got back in touch, only seeing David at one point shortly after 3 miles. Leaf covered single track, fire roads, boulders, planks, you name it - we ran over it. Eric Narcisi shadowed me for the first two and a half miles - keeping me from letting up at all which was good thing.
Narcisi was right on Pawlicki until about 2.5 miles in where Jim broke it open on a pretty good climb. Narcisi was the first open runner to cross the line (4th place, 28:06), he had more masters (and a senior) right on his heels.
Dave Dunham ended up in 5th place in 29:32 and he was the first senior on the day. Chris Smith of the Somerville Road Runners was next in 29:58. From Dave’s blog:
I caught Smith as we turned on to the first section of single-track and was happy to have a clear view of the trail ahead. I could hear him and Doug close behind as I hit the mile in 6:54. Soon after I lost sight of Jim and Eric and by 2 miles (7:27/14:21) I couldn’t hear anyone behind me except when we passed spectators (who called out for them).
By three miles (7:20/21:41) I was starting to get into a good rhythm and took a quick peek back when I hit the carriage road. I could see Smith about 15-20 seconds back and was also worried about Doug’s superior speed over the faster footing. I kept working as hard as possible (how daring I wanted to be on the iffy footing was the major factor) and hit four miles in 6:34/28:15). That split was my fastest thanks to mostly carriage roads and some downhill running.
Like the men, the women’s race was faster than last year too, although it didn’t feature the same top finishers. Emma Kosciak continued her dominate tear through the North Shore Trail Series by winning in 31:32. Kaitlyn OBrien was the next woman in 32:08. Last year the winning time was 32:11 and Kaitlyn was 3rd in 32:45. Both Emma and Kaitlyn finished high overall as the two came in 9th and 12th, respectively. The series is all but in the bag for Kosciak as it heads to its last event, the Stone Cat Trail Marathon on November 8th.
