Tag: Bob Jackman

Fast Times at the First Quahog Mile

May. 16 Articles, Racing no comments
Quahog Mile Mason Goodman Kramer

Goodman and Kramer out front early on, courtesy of Scott Mason Photo.

By Tyler Andrews

While many may still be resting their legs, recovering from the spring Marathon season, 88 runners tested their turnover this past Sunday, May 11th, in Warwick, RI in the first annual Quahog Mile Road Race. In a world where 5Ks flood the calendar from St. Patrick’s Day to Thanksgiving, 1-Mile road races still find a unique appeal in their relative scarcity.

It was the first year for the Quahog Mile and race director Bob Jackman. Besides putting on a fun event, Jackman had one goal: some fast finishing times.

Two factors helped aid in this. First, the Quahog Mile featured an enticing array of cash prizes for a self-proclaimed small race, with $300 for first and paying through to 5th place. Second, Jackman designed the course for speed – a gentle dog-leg left with a generously downhill final 400m.

And did the carrots pay off?

They sure did. Jackman had said 4:10 would win the race, but when the winner (David Goodman of NE Distance) crossed the finish line, the clock read 4:05. Just behind him was Will Sanders who also broke Jackman’s prediction, running 4:06 (full results here).

Quahog Mile Mason Goodman Sanders

Goodman for the win! Courtesy of Scott Mason Photo.

The pair had run the whole race together, with Goodman leading from the gun. With a quarter mile to go, Sanders tried to press, but Goodman maintained his lead and would win in an impressive wire-to-wire run.

Behind them were Dan Kramer (NB Boston) in 3rd in a time of 4:24, Dan Hawkins (Tuesday Night Turltes) in 4th in a time of 4:33, and Mike Pezzullo (Tuesday Night Turtles) in 5th in a time of 4:53. Kramer got out with Goodman and Sanders and fell off halfway through. We’ll forgive Kramer for not holding on. After all, he did win the 3000m at the New Balance Boston Twilight Meet the night before (Kramer ran an 8:39.07 and dominated the field).

The women’s race also featured a near-photo finish. Lindsay Willard (BAA) took the early lead before being passed by Katie Moulton (Rhode Runner) in the first half. Kailin Collins (Unattached), stayed right with Moulton until the three-quarter-mile mark, when she moved by and made a bid for glory. Moulton responded well but didn’t have quite enough. Collins crossed the line in 5:03 for first with Moulton two seconds back in 5:05 for second.

Behind these two were Willard (3rd, 5:19) Kim Chula-Maguire (Ronald McDonald House of Providence RC) (4th, 5:21) and Miranda Fani Srour  (5th, 5:22).

All in all, the race was a huge success according to Jackman, who hopes to make the race an annual occurrence. After seeing how fast runners were able to cover the 1-Mile course this year, Jackman is confident that next year will be even faster.

“If the race is a go for next year, I expect a sub-4,” he told The Level.

We’ll have to wait until May, 2015, but we’ll be sure to watch and see if the runners can beat the predictions once again.

Thanks to Bob Jackman for contributing to this!

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Jakoboski, Ribeiro Win at Brrr-lingame

Mar. 29 Articles, Racing no comments

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.

Mason Jakoboski Brrlingame
“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.

Mason Ribeiro Brrlingame
“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.

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Newbould Answers the Call

Jan. 30 Articles no comments
Dunham Sidehiller Mason

Dunham storms through a downhill portion of Sidehiller, courtesy of Scott Mason Photo.

In a casual post race interview after the Whitaker Woods Snowshoe race, Jim Johnson started rattling off names of some of the faster runners that hadn’t made an appearance. Brandon Newbould was on that list. Maybe he heard it and was compelled to make his presence felt, or perhaps he was planning on running all along. All we know is the end result: Newbould won the Sidehiller Snowshoe Race, beating Jim Johnson of all people. Funny how things work out sometime.

The course was a bit different from years past. Normally there would be a road crossing and then a couple of miles through some trails (and through backyards) before finishing up back at the fairgrounds. There was one key thing missing this year though: snow in the trails across the street. Not enough for the race, certainly, so race director Paul Kirsch had to make due.

What Paul ended up creating was a two loop, four mile course that took the runners through a lot of ‘sugar snow’ (it’s exactly what you think it would be like) that was fairly challenging even minus the big climb on the part that was cut out.

Brandon made a break from the pack on the first loop at short but cruel little hill that was built into a small out-and-back portion. From there on in he was chugging his way through the sugar snow, the driving winds and blowing snow all on his own. Speaking of the weather, have I mentioned that it was brutal? Temps were around 6F, with a windchill that brought it down to the -12F range. People were so bundled up that it lead to a lot of “you were there?”-type conversations via social media afterwards. In fact, Brandon came up to me to say hi after the race, and I froze in a brief moment of panic as I didn’t recognize this guy who clearly knew me. Guess  a snowbeard really does make for a great disguise.

Having spent some time living in Alaska, Brandon is well-adapted to the cold. If you didn’t know about his Alaska background, perhaps you read it on his tights? Being so far behind him in the race, I didn’t notice them until looking at the pictures afterwards. Accompanying a picture of them on Facebook was this exchange between the Newbould’s, posted by Brandon’s wife Meredith:

Me: “Why were you wearing those tights?”
B: “You weren’t there to prevent me.”

Winners can wear anything, right? Bruce Denton had the spikes that never came in second, and if Brandon keeps winning in these bad boys then who are we to question them? This time around, the tights helped Brandon run a blazing 27:25 through the sugar snow en route to his win. The tights are Level approved. Jim Johnson wasn’t too far back, running a 27:37.

Following the first two were Kevin Tilton (28:11) and Bob Jackman (28:21). Or was it Bob then Kevin? I have a hard time telling them apart in these pictures. Maybe I just have a hard time telling bundled up, bearded men in glasses apart in general.

Tilton Jackman Viger Sidehiller

Tilton leads Jackman…or is it Jackman leading Tilton? Either way, courtesy of Joe Viger Photo.

In the women’s race, Abbey Wood didn’t take control until much later in the race than Brandon had, but still ended up with the same result. Abbey passed Melissa Donais just before the third mile and said, “I was running scared, especially when I realized it was Melissa who was right on my heels!” Closing in 8:15 for the last mile, Abbey wrapped up the win a seven second cushion over Melissa (34:00).

Abbey wasn’t one to complain about the conditions, and thought they “were perfect”. She’s still relatively new to the sport (only one prior race) so expectations were tempered ahead of time. Not bad for a second race!

The top masters on the day were Ethan Nadeau (28:51, acidotic RACING) and Kristina Folcik-Welts (35:02, La Sportiva). Kristina is pretty fast for a 46 yr old, huh? We’re pretty sure that’s a typo in the results.

This race was a qualifier for nationals. Up on the United States Snowshoe Association page you can find the listings of all who qualified, including those from Sidehiller. Nationals will be on March 1st in Bennington, VT. We’ll be there!

Have we mentioned it was cold? Very sincere thank you to Scott Mason, Joe Viger, and MrsEJN for gutting it out in Hoth-like conditions to get photos and video of the runners in action. Please check out Scott and Joe’s work. It’ll be well worth your while.

Mason Viger Sidehiller

Joe Viger in action, courtesy of Scott Mason Photo.

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Mullins, Hribar Win at RI 6 Hr Ultra

Nov. 21 Articles, Racing no comments


By Bob Jackman

The 5th Annual Rhode Island 6 Hour Ultramarathon & Relay took place on November 10, 2013. The RI 6 Hour is Rhode Island’s ONLY ultra-marathon and served as the USATF-NE Ultrarunning Championship for the 5th year in a row. There was a huge spike in entries this year with over 100 entered in the Ultra and 23 teams in the Relay. Those numbers gave me approximately double the amount of runners on the course compared to last year.

Kristina Marie Folcik-Welts was happy to see Scott Mason.

Both the Male and Female 2012 Ultra Champions were back this year, but the three-time defending relay champions acidotic RACING were not returning. Even with the defending ultra-champions returning it did not mean that the titles were etched in stone; there were plenty of competitors ready to take them down. With acidotic RACING not in town, the relay runners were licking their chops as there were cases of Bucket Brewery beer on the line!

Padraig Mullins went straight to the front in the men’s race, but was followed closely by 3-time champion Ben Nephew throughout the day. Padraig kept steady and Ben just could not close the gap, instead having to settle for his first loss at the RI 6 Hour. Padraig finished with 47.272 miles with Ben at 45.917 and Dima Feinhaus closed out the top three with 43.216. The next three males finished within a minute of Dima, all with a total of 43.216 miles.

Joshua Grzegorzewski playing it cool at the ultra, courtesy of Scott Mason Photo.

On the women’s side, defending champion Maddy Hribar took the lead and never looked back, winning her second title with 43.216 miles.  Second place went to Jennifer McHale whom started off a bit slower than Maddy and was running stronger and stronger as the day went on, running quickly through the final hour, finishing with 40.515 miles. Rounding out the top three was Gabrielle Pedersen with 37.814 miles.

In summary, the top-three open runners in the USATF-NE Ultrarunning Championship were Ben Nephew (45.917), Dima Feinhaus (43.216) and Ryan Welts (43.216) for the men and Maddy Hribar (43.216), Issy Nielson (35.113) and Katie Mack (35.113) for the women.  In the 40+ competition we had Dima Feinhaus, Thor Kirleis and Mike Auger for men with Barbara Bell and Karen Ringheiser taking home the female awards. USATF-NE members battled hard all day for $1,000 worth of prize money.

The relay saw teams bouncing around the standings all day, but the Fuel Belt 4 team began to rise to the top mid-way through and held on to the lead, running 20 laps, just over 54 miles. The next three teams all finished with 19 laps, with Wild Colonial Running Club taking second and the Tri-New England Men’s Team edging out the Tuesday Night Turtles by 1 minute for third and the last case of Bucket Brew.

After the race runners headed over to Track 84 to enjoy some home-made New England clam chowder, baked ziti and other goodies along with some complimentary Bucket Park Loop Porter and Pail Ale.

The 6th Annual RI 6 Hour Ultra and Relay will be held in November of 2014.  Check out www.better-pace.com for details after the New Year and check out our other races, including The Quahog Mile, which is new for 2014.

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RI 6 Hour Ultramarathon

Nov. 14 Articles, Racing no comments


By Bob Jackman

The 4th Annual Rhode Island 6 Hour Ultramarathon & Relay took place on November 11, 2012.  The RI 6 Hour is Rhode Island’s ONLY ultra-marathon and served as the USATF-NE Ultrarunning Championship for the 4th year in a row.  This year there were 60 ultra-runners and 15 teams signed up representing 16 states as well as Brazil and Sweden.

Once again race day greeted us with ideal conditions for an event held in November in New England.  Slightly overcast skies and temperatures in the 50s, made for a good day for running and hanging around in between relay legs.

The race played out pretty much how I had anticipated.  Two-time champion and course record holder, Ben Nephew was back and stood out as a favorite on the men’s side.  On the women’s side 2011 women’s  runner-up Maddy Hribar was back and I noted that she ran a 18:16 at the Pine Creek Challenge 100 in September, taking the overall win there.  So with that fitness she was bound to be in the hunt for the win.

In the relay, two-time defending champions acidotic RACING was back and were aimed to finally break the 60 mile barrier.  Ready to chase them down were the Fuel Belt Racing Team and the home town favorites, the Tuesday Night Turtles, most of which were volunteering at the race, as well as running in the relay.

As predicted the pre-race favorites made their way to the front of the pack and never looked back.  But that doesn’t mean there wasn’t any excitement during the race as the second through fifth places were jostled around all day long.  With an hour to go it was still uncertain who the top three placing runners would be and in the relay third and fourth place ended up being separated by less than 2 minutes at the end of the final loop.

When the smoke cleared, the top three men were Ben Nephew (45.92 miles), Thor Kirleis (40.52) and Alan Bowman (39.17).  On the women’s side Maddy Hribar took the win and third overall with 40.52 miles, followed by Kimberly Battipaglia (37.81) and Lindsay Anspach (37.81).  The runners split $550 in cash awards.

The USATF-NE Open titles were won by Ben Nephew and Lindsay Anspach.  The 40+ Male title was won by Thor Kirleis.

The relay saw acidotic RACING taking their third title, just missing the 23 laps they were looking for but finishing with the fine total of 59.42 miles.  They were followed by the Tuesday Night Turtle “A” Team (54.02) and then Fuel Belt (51.32).  The relay teams were awarded with cases of Bucket Brewery Park Loop Porter.  This beer was brewed specifically for the RI 6 hour and was flowing free of charge at the after party located at Track 84 in Warwick, RI

The date for next year’s event is undetermined at this time, but we will be back and look to increase the numbers for the 2013 event.  Click here for full results of the 2012 race.

All images courtesy of the talented Scott Mason.

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