Eastern New England Trail Race Series

I was recently contacted by the race director for the "Discover The Woods" 5K Trail Race and 1 Mile Walk/Fun Run. Although a bit late to be added to the schedule I thought it might be a fun family event that the visitors to this site might find interesting and enjoyable.

Holly Hill Farm, 236 Jerusalem Road, Cohasset, MA is having its 4th Annual “Discover the Woods” 5 K Trail Run on Sunday October 2nd. There is a 5K run at 9 am and a 1 mile fun run/walk at 11 am through the 130 acres of woods that abut and surround the 5 acres of organically grown vegetables, flowers and herbs. Online registration and more information are available at www.hollyhillfarm.org or by calling 781-383-6565. Proceeds from these events will benefit the Friends of Holly Hill Farm, the non-profit education center that uses the farm as its outdoor classroom for school field trips, workshops, and summer programs for children and adults.

Fall is traditionally the height of the trail running race season. The very challenging Wapack 17.5M Trail race was completed last weekend and the upcoming events for September are the and Annual Kismet Cliff Run and 5M Trail Race to be held on September 18th in North Conway, NH. From what I understand it is a great location, held in Echo Lake State Park, and is very well organized. Not a bad reason to visit the White Mt. area for the weekend and enjoy a run in the woods with like minded folks. Contact Gabe Flanders at gflanders@gmail.com for all the information or download the app from this website.

On Sunday September 25th the North Medford Club will once again host the Overlook 10K Run and 5K Walk/Run Trail Race. For those familiar with the race it is a combination of terrains to appeal to anyone's taste. There are fire roads and single track, climbs and descents, water crossings over recently constructed pedestrian bridges, sights such as a junk art display, waterfalls, and reservoirs, pine needle floors and rocks and root trails. The entire run is within Audubon, North County Land Trust, and the City of Fitchburg Water Department property. There are often sightings of heron, deer, fox, mink, owls, and even a black bear or two. The challenge is not missing these opportunities while still staying on your feet. The course requires constant attention to the trail immediately before you. It is a true cross country course. This year the starting and finishing lines have been moved to a more convenient location that does not require a walk to the start. For information contact Rene Lavoie at rainman52@verizon.net or through the contact information on the website.

A bit late with updates to the series schedule (my apologies) but dates are beginning to come in and links to registration are being added as they are established. Two races have already been held, Merrimack and Blue Hills, and results can be found on coolrunning. There is a good possibility that results and standings will be available for the series this year. Check the standings link on the website in the coming weeks.

Good luck to all.

Thanks to Rob MacDonald the final results are now in for the 2010 ENETRS. As you can imagine the compiling of the results and standings is a herculean effort and speaking for myself and am confident with all the participants in the series we are in high admiration and gratitude.

The men's overall winner is John Burke of NETT with 871 points covering 12 races. Second is Ben Nephew with 595.09 points in 6 races. Third place goes to Luke Whalen with 497.22 points covering 8 races.

First place for the women is Emily trapas with 755.03 points while running in 10 races. Second place goes to Michelle Roy with 402.87 points while running in 5 races. Third place is Sherisa Sterling from the North Medford Club with 399.13 points covering 5 races.

Final numbers include 1870 male runners and 1365 female runners for a total of 3235 participants. Impressive showing from the trail running community.

It is now time to take a break and reevaluate the series. Rob has graciously compiled the results for the last two years and now it is time for a change. If there is anyone who enjoys playing with numbers and would like to take over the keeping of results or if they would like to be part of a team who shares the duties please contact me at rainman52@verizon.net. I will putting together a race schedule for the 2011 season.

In the meantime, happy trails to all those who continue to run the trails despite winter conditions and everyone else be safe on the roads.

The overall standings are being completed and the overview is that there is no shortage of obsessively motivated runners who prefer to spend their days and in some cases their nights in the woods following the roads/trails less followed. Perhaps there is a slight antisocial vein running through our community. I prefer to see it as a return to ourprimitive origins when running was necessary and somehow pleasurable. Maybe there is the genetic imprint somewhere that recalls the satisfaction of running down prey and the rewards. I like to think there is a shadow of that same prehistoric flash in time that stays with us and manifests itself in our satsifaction for a ribbon, trophy, tee shirt or a bagel. Or it could simply be that we enjoy the peace and quite of our steps on dry leaves, the creeking of overhead limbs moved by the wind, and an occasional woods creature moving about.

Much thanks goes out once again to Rob MacDonald for the unenviable job of scoring this series. Until you have attempted it you may not realize how envolved it is. He has mastered the program but it still requires hours that are not often free time. We are truly indebted to Rob. After two years I have asked him to relinquish the responsibility feeling that he wouldn't voluntarily do so. This is certainly not a reflection on his work which has been outstanding. I believe it is time for him to do more running and less data imputting. Therefore, the series is looking for a replacement for the upcoming year. There is a written out program for calculating individual races as well as one to keep the overall standings. For someone with computer skills it should not be a steep learning curve. Anyone interested can contact me at rainman52@verizon.net. The site is paid up for another year and I will be willing to maintain the schedule and load results, standings, and applications.