Monthly Archive for August, 2008

Wicked takes on Lynn Woods

Published
by
Tim Short
on August 21, 2008
in Uncategorized
. 0 Comments

getting ready to run the Woods!

Members of Wicked get ready for the big race

What would a night in August be without a run through the Woods? Lynn Woods that is! The annual Lynn Woods Relay took place on August 20th, and it did not disappoint. The festivities kicked off around 6pm and from there it was a battle between some pretty funky teams. Part of the fun of any relay race would be looking at the team names. From Fear the Dear to Team Mcclovin, each relay team name can inspire or just make one laugh. Not to be out done by the runners on team Needs-A-Haircut would be our very own relay teams. We had Wicked Awesome, Wicked Divas, Wicked Testosterone, Wicked Weary, Wicked Senile, and Wicked Mixed Up.

Dave Dixon showing off his new Wicked Apparel

This was the first year that Wicked had 6 teams particiapte in the Lynn Woods Relay! What a great showing! There were some new faces and some hardcore veterans navigating the trails. One of those new faces was Emily Barnes (Emily is Jason Barnes daughter).  She filled in at the last second when team Wicked Awesome had an unfortunate run in with the injury bug. With all the fun being had, it was great to see so many Wicked runners out on the trail. Our very own expert photographer Chip Bott was taking some nice shots of runners coming to the finish, so look for those very soon! Oh and the team photo (should be up soon) was taken by Deb Touchette.

The Club also brought home some serious hardware. In the Men’s Open Division, the manly Wicked Testosterone team captured 5th Place. In the Senior Men’s Division the Wicked Senile guys took 3rd place. A big congratulation goes out to the Wicked Diva’s who brought home a solid 2nd place performance. Great job to all who ran!! You can find the team results under the race results tab or  click here to go to the Lynn Woods website to find the full results.

Weekend Race Report

Published
by
Tim Short
on August 13, 2008
in Uncategorized
. 1 Comment

A Special Report from Stephanie Cooper, a WRC roving correspondent:

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Wicked Runners fanned out State Wide this weekend, showing our North Shore Pride on the Cape and Islands, Western Mass and right here in Salem.

 

Beautiful race day conditions met the Wicked Runners at the 36th running of the Falmouth Road Race.  Rick and Dick Hoyt, Bill Rodgers, Joan Benoit Samuelson, our Wicked Crew and 11,000 others ran the 7.3 miles from Woods Hole to Falmouth Heights past scores of cheering fans handing out oranges and spraying hoses.  There was live musical entertainment along the way and hot dogs, popsicles and Cape Cod chips waiting under the giant American flag at the finish line. 

 

The Falmouth Road Race Wicked contingent was (in no particular order):

Sally Holtzman        1:04:55

Chip Bott                  1:00:20

Doug Bollen              1:02:44

Steph Cooper           1:12:11

Alison Phelan           1:02:35

Tim Clarke                1:00:58

Michele Campbell    1:20:26

Beth O’Grady              58:32

 

Not far away, on beautiful Martha’s Vineyard, one of Wicked’s famously fast running couples tore up the roads two weekends in a row.   Rachel Hunt and Colin Maclay ran the Vineyard Scoops the first weekend of August finishing the

5K course in 23:38 and 23:06 respectively.  This weekend they again left the locals wondering “who are these Wicked Runners?” with Rachel completing the Chilmark Road race in 23:38 and Colin in 22:59.  Next week the duo will bring their fast legs to the Lynn Woods Relay on Wednesday night, and we will be glad to have them!

 

Denise & Patrick showing off some hardware!

Denise & Patrick showing off some well deserved hardware

 

Meanwhile, closer to home, another crazy couple took home first place hardware at the Witch City Triathlon in Salem!  TEAM Smurphy, otherwise known as Patrick Smith and Denise Murphy won the mixed relay category, finishing in 1:12:54.   Patrick swam and ran, while Denise cruised through the 12 mile bike course in 38:41- that’s almost 20 mph for the entire race!  Are they ready for Timberman or what?    Bill Morse joined the Smurphys for Witch City, his first triathlon ever!

 

Fred Bollen traveled out to Shelburn Falls for the 30th Annual Bridge of Flowers Classic 10K and turned in an admirable 57:08!  The race, which typically draws 800 runners, was up to 1,200 this year as the race is part of the USA Track and Field NE Grand Prix series.

 

Whew, a busy weekend.  No rest for the Wicked!  This week we prepare for the Lynn Woods Relay on August 20, the Witch’s Cup Criterion Race at Salem Common on Wednesday evening and the Timberman Triathlon at Lake Winnie.  Stay tuned for race reports and have a great week!

 

Weekend Doings

Published
by
sheabilly
on August 5, 2008
in Uncategorized
. 1 Comment

A Special Report from Stephanie Cooper, a WRC roving correspondent:

In preparation for the Timberman in 2 weeks, WRC members Jay Curry, Bill Morse and Stephanie Cooper joined our trail running brethren from the North, GAC, for the “Mulvey 1/2 Iron Man” on Sunday. Organized by Cheryl and Ed Mulvey, the measured course covered all of the 1/2 Iron Man distances, but also allowed participants to do select portions of each of the three events. After a swim in Stiles pond, athletes headed to the Mulvey’s home in Boxford to set up the bike/run transition area. The bike course covered 4 repeats of a well marked 13.1 mile loop, passing by a well stocked aid station, which in traditional GAC style included excellent snacks such as pb & j sandwiches, brownies, cheese-its and all manner of sports drinks. Veteran GAC member D.J. cruised the run course in his Honda Element providing refreshments and a ride for anyone wishing to cut the course short. The day ended with a BBQ and some well earned relaxation. The Mulvey 1/2 was a great confidence booster, a lot of fun and the best free race around!!

For anyone interested in participating in another great GAC event, the applications for the November 8th Stone Cat Trail Marathon and Ultra Run are now available on the GAC website! Several Wicked Runners including the Touchette Family, Billy Shea, Steph and Dan Cooper, Jay Curry and Bill Morse have already registered.

And that intrepid trio Patrick Smith, Denise Murphy, and Dan Cooper were at it again this past weekend. Patrick participated in the Greenfield Lightlife Triathlon, a .63 mile swim, 30.4 mile bike, and 7.2 mile run. Congratulations to Patrick who finished first in his age group, 8th overall, with a time of 2:34:07. Denise and Dan participated in the Lowell YMCA Triathlon: a 1 mile swim, 22 mile bike, and 6 mile run. Denise finished 6th in her age group with a time of 2:41:21. Dan was 3rd in his age group with a time of 2:15:52. Excellent job, Denise and Dan.

Congratulations go out to Kathey Moskal who achieved a PR in last Wednesday’s Danvers 5K and also to Danny Leadvaro whose first race at Danvers yielded a very impressive 21:25. Great running, you two.

Finally, this writer will be on hiatus for three weeks (Aug. 5-28) traveling abroad. For those of you who have very unexciting lives or perhaps may be bored at work, I have set up Sheabilly Blog to document my trip. I have no idea how faithful I will be in writing as I may have limited access to a computer. But, I will try my best. This was all Colin’s idea, by the way!

Good luck to everyone running Falmouth this Sunday and the upcoming Lynn Woods Relay. I look forward to reading all about them here on the Blog. Ciao!

All Ages Track Meet

Published
by
sheabilly
on August 3, 2008
in Uncategorized
. 3 Comments

It was a beautiful Sunday morning and the city’s youth were out in force to compete in the annual All Ages Track Meet at Bertram Field. While the kids were the stars, adults got into the action, too, including our very own Tim Short and Jason Barnes who dueled to the finish in a one mile run. And talk about Wicked support! Doug Bollen, Beth O’Grady, Eileen Dunn, Karen Giroux, Chip Bott, Shannon Bott, Tricia Pini, Jim Lacey, Jason Barnes and Maria Ramirez were all there either to help out or watch their children compete. Yes, there were lots of “Wicked Children” there. Below are a few “family” pictures from the event. Check out Chip’s photos soon to be uploaded to Salem.com.

Christopher Barnes, Katherine Bott, Finn Lacey

Julia Bott

Luke Bott- “Mr. Machine”

Laura Barnes

Nicole Webber on right (Maria’s niece)

Tim Short and Jason Barnes

Roughin’ It In Vermont

Published
by
sheabilly
on August 1, 2008
in Uncategorized
. 3 Comments

Two of our newer Wicked members, Bill Morse of Dracut, 57, an attorney, and Jay Curry of Lynn, 36, a registered nurse at Union Hospital in Lynn, tend to seek out challenges that test the limits of human endurance. That drive literally drove them recently to the tiny town of Jay, Vermont, about 5 miles from the Canadian border to compete in the Jay Mountain Trail Ultramarathon, an amazing 33 mile run encompassing both single and double track, a grueling 50 foot rocky river crossing in ankle to shoulder deep water, mountain climbing up Jay Peek (3,800ft. elevation), a run through a beaver dam, and lots of mud slogging. Check out the website and its ominous warnings about the inherent dangers of this particular trail marathon at Jay Mountain Trail Ultramarathon.

Bill reports that the area had just sustained six days of rain prior to the Saturday, July 26 race. This made for some sloppy conditions. “The mud was especially tough and the rivers and brooks that we had to run up or down for miles at a time were high in some spots with fast moving water. There was one river crossing that had a ‘rope assist’ all the way across. The current was very strong. The course conditions were so tough this year due to the previous week’s rain that more than one half of the field of 400 did not finish.”

Jay recalls the race vividly. “The race started on some double track trails for about 4 miles before you got to the first river run. During this portion you also had to run through culverts with rushing water. I felt like I was in an episode of Fear Factor. After this you had the roughly 3 mile climb up to the summit of Jay Peak. This climb was steeper than Mt Washington and reminded me of the last 50 yards of that run. We were told to walk down the descent to save the quads, but the trail was so steep that is was hard to walk. After this, we had more trails of deep mud, more rivers, running through waist deep swamps, wide river crossings with strong currents. The last 5 miles or so were through corn fields and open fields. I finished the race in about 7hrs 58 minutes. I felt more wiped out and sore than I did after the Ironman. The aid stations were will stocked. The rumor around the finish line was that about half the field were either pulled because they didn’t make the cut-off or dropped out. I loved this race. I loved the challenge.”

Bill finished the event in 8hrs. 46min. “This was a very tough race, but, moreover for me it was one of three killer trail races that I’ve been lucky enough to get through over the last three years, namely the Greylock Marathon in 2006, The Escarpment Trail Run in the Catskills in 2007, and now Jay Mountain in 2008. The triumvirate is complete. One more thing off my ‘bucket list!’” Bill and Jay had an ongoing joke for this race. “I (Bill) told him (Jay) that his 20 year younger legs would beat me by an hour. It ended up being 50 minutes. Long live we seniors!!!!” (Here, here!)

And what event is Jay planning for the future? Well, he and fellow Wicked members Patrick Smith, Denise Murphy, and Tim Clarke are all signed up for the Lake Placid Ironman which will take place in July 2009.

And just in case you thought these two amazing athletes took some well deserved rest after this event—wrong! They were back out there right away with their regular routine, swimming on Tuesday night at Stiles Pond and running Lynn Woods on Wednesday night. Seriously, you guys should think about auditioning for Fear Factor. I have the utmost faith that you would be most successful. A tip from Jay on trail shoes: “I highly recommend running with the Brooks Cascadia trail running shoes. They didn’t hold the water, so my feet never felt heavy.”