Eastern New England Trail Race Series

How does he do it? At 61 years young, Marshall Randolph amassed an unthinkable 1109 points to win the Eastern New England Trail Series in 2009. Throughout the year he dealt with injuries, burnout and a solid challenge by second-place finisher and teammate Jack Burke.

Recently, Dave Hannon of New England Track & Trail sat down with Marshall to get his thoughts on the long campaign that led to his topping the leaderboard this year.

Q: First off, I wanted to get your overall thoughts on what you’ve accomplished in winning this series.

Perhaps the most notable thing about the New England Trail Race Series this year was the remarkably good weather at the races I ran. As a Virginia native the New England weather can be quite a challenge for me, particularly when you toss in the black flies of summer. If it were me on the Mayflower, stepping off onto Plymouth Rock in a Nor'easter or swarmed by black flies, I would have yelled back to Myles Standish (or Pocahontas, or whoever it was), “Whoa, dude, wrong place—turn this puppy around and set the GPS for San Diego.”

But overall, the worst weather we had was a light drizzle at the Edaville Rail Run. And maybe the best was the gorgeous day running the Wapack Trail Race.

Q: Had you planned to do this series from the start of the year?

I didn't intend to compete in the eastern New England Trail Race Series. It may have been you [Dave Hannon] who mentioned that you could find a listing of trail races at their website. I checked the site and went to the results page, since I had done perhaps four of them already. I scanned down to about halfway through the rankings where I thought my name should be and I couldn't find it, not realizing that I was actually leading the series-- I don’t usually look up that high! Well, now, I thought, “Maybe old age and treachery will stand a chance against youth and good looks.”

I started to target the series races, only to find out that Jack Burke was doing the same thing (fortunately his old age and treachery aren't as well developed as mine). We were pretty much neck and neck through the weeks, but heading into the last race, I had a lead and we decided to run the last race, the Fells Trail Race, together. It was really enjoyable coming across the last finish line with Jack, a class act if ever there was one, each of us having some similar tales of the year, no doubt.

Q: Which was the most difficult race in the series?

Wapack certainly gave me the toughest test. It's not enough to run over four mountains, but then you turn around and run back?? And nobody dies during this thing? Unbelievable.

To make it even more challenging at Wapack, I lost my gel flask before I ever had a chance to down any, so I only had some fluids, making the last 3 or 4 miles a real sufferfest. I missed most of the jaw-dropping views keeping my eyes glued to the trail. Summiting Watatic on the return, I tripped right at the edge of the granite crest with such force that three hikers came rushing over to see if I was okay. Fortunately only my little finger took the brunt of that one. I took a couple more spills before finishing, but looking back on the season, though, these were the only three falls I took so I’d say that’s a good thing.

Q: What was your favorite race in the series?

I can't really pick out a favorite trail race among the many but there are aspects of many that I liked a lot. I didn’t know what to expect at these races, so there was a lot to be savored at these races.

For example, one place that sticks in my mind was part of the Blue Hills race that we ran in April. Perhaps halfway into the race the trail cuts uphill through stunted trees and beautiful single-track, skirting the odd block of rock. I ran alone through this area and it reminded me of some of the alpine trails up in the White Mountains and it was hard to remember that we were just miles from Downtown Boston.

Almost as enjoyable as the trail races were the cross country races in the series and I really like the variety they bring to the series. After longer races like Wapack, races like the Thomas Chamberas 6K and the Wayland XC Challenge are a breath of fresh air. They are open to all but get some real speedsters, like Olympian Jarrod Shoemaker, so it’s fun to mix it up that way.

And each race has similar things that stick in my mind. The Merrimack River Trail Race has the flats and compensating muddy cliffs (that sucked off one of my tightly laced shoes which ended up 30 feet above me since I couldn't stop on the downhill). Not to be missed, of course, is the post race stand-up comedy routine that Steve “Petey” Peterson puts on each year! The Groton Town Forest race has its intricate trails, welcome mid-race flat interlude, and the up and down swoops near the end. The Overlook race, which has one of the most enjoyable last miles of any trail race--slight descent making it feel like, “Yes, I really can run!” The Busa Bushwack is special too, because in addition to being a great course, it honors our own running legend Richard Busa.

Q: Did you have any navigational issues during the races?

Surprisingly, I didn't get lost once in the 14 races, so that alone is pretty cool. Well, actually I guess I did get “lost” at the Busa Bushwack, but that was due to a race marshal sending us back up part of the course. Most of the folks in the pack I was with were chuckling at the minor chaos. Instead of being “lost,” it turned out the marshal was wrong and we inadvertently short-cut the course by maybe a minute or two. Does that disqualify me from the series?

Q: Any secrets to your success this year that others can learn from?

Well when it comes to year-long series like this, stubbornness is the more important virtue and I’m the perfect example!

I would like to thank Rene and Rob for being instrumental in maintaining the series this year. And of course all the individual race directors doing the work on their end. On a personal level, it was really nice to see the committed trail runners routinely, like Emily Trespas, Dan Scotina, and Rob MacDonald, and to be befriended by all the new folks I met out there as well as the friendly faces from NETT that were at many of the races. It really is a great community.