We go back to July for this one, something that’s been on our radar for a while now. Thanks to Dave Dunham and Joe Viger for brining it to our attention. Text below by Dave Dunham, pic by Joe Viger.
Mt Washington on foot and wheels
My CMS teammate Erik Vandendries had an unusual double this weekend, taking on the Newton’s revenge on Saturday and the Cranmore mountain race on Sunday. Newton’s revenge is a bike race up the Mt Washington Auto road and Cranmore is a running race up (and down) Mt Cranmore. His 5th place finish at Mt Washington and 6th place finish at Cranmore are impressive feats but I think his other “double” is even more impressive.
Erik ran his first Mt Washington earlier this year posting a 1:12:20 to take third place in the 50+ age division. His time was the 6th fastest ever run by anyone over the age of 50. Add to that his 1:03:15 from Newton’s revenge and he rode/ran a combined time of 2:15:35. It got me thinking if anyone has gone faster. I scoured the results, cutting off at 1:15 for both of the bike races and the running race. I have the running results back to the very beginning and was able to get all of the Newton’s revenge results (this year was the 10th). The hill climb bike race is entering its 43rd year but I was only able to get results back to 1997.
In the last 19 years I found no runners (except Erik) who have done one of the bike races and the running race in the same year. Only two other runners had gone under 1:15 on the bike and on foot. Erik’s combined time of 2:15:35 tops both.
Name Bike Run Total
Lou Bregou 1:06:21 1:13:43 2:20:04 Different years
Matt Mallet 1:07:51 1:12:52 2:20:43 Different years
Erik Vandendries 1:03:15 1:12:20 2:15:35 Same year
Okay so to recap:
6/20 - Mt washington road race, 1:12:20, 23rd overall
7/11 - Newton’s Revenge Bicycle Hill Climb (Mt Washington), 1:03:15, 5th overall
7/12 - Cranmore Hill Climb, 6th overall (1st senior)
For good measure, Erik also ran the Loon Mt Race on July 5th. You know, just to keep the legs ‘fresh’ for the upcoming double. Erik placed 16th overall at that championship race and his 1:04:12 placed him second in the senior division (to Dave Dunham). That is a bad ass stretch of racing, especially the Newton’s Revenge/Cranmore double! Or, as Matt Veiga commented on Dunham’s Facebook post regarding the Mt Washington double…”He did a cool down at Cranmore and took 6th overall yesterday. He’s a beast.” Yes he is!
