Saturday, September 3, 2016


The North Face Race to the Top of Vermont

4th series, race #1

Starting out for the run at 9am, the weather was great! Overcast with a few sprinkles and 65 to 70 degrees. Started to get sunnier as we progressed. The race course is the Toll Road on the East side of the mountain, 4.3 miles in length and rising 2,564 vertical feet. Thank you to RD Greg Maino, the wonderful volunteers and the Great Sponsors for another successful event!

Starting the 4th year of the series, there are more runners than ever! I’d like to welcome Kevin Cavanaugh, Josh Curtis, Sao-Mei Leung, Paul Jones, Darrel Lasell, Jill Larson & Elaine Dill for joining us in the series and wish us all good luck in staying injury free and finishing all the races!

Leading the 465 finishers, was Josh Ferenc, finishing in 35:48. He turned around and ran back down, hopped on his bike and raced up again in the bike race that started at 10am, now quite sunny and warm! This year they had a division for that which he won in 1:45:28, leading 4 others!
Josh headed back up on the bike leg!

We had 14 runners finishing this first race! Leading the way was Kevin Cavanaugh in 43:45 finishing 2nd (of 53) in the 40-49 men’s age group! Next was Jeff Gould in 46:03 finishing 3rd (of 52) in the men’s 50-59 age group! Following Jeff was Josh Curtis in 46:41 placing 7th in the men’s 40-49 age group. Len Hall was out first 60-69 in 48:16 placing 2nd in that group. Len was followed closely by Bob Mulvaney in 49:01 placing 3rd in Len’s group. Our first woman was Donna Smyth in 52:57 and 4th of 41 other women in the women’s 50-59 age group. Coming in after Donna was Sao-Mei Leung in 59:04 placing 8th in Donna’s age group. Paul Jones finished in 59:04 and was 20th of 47 in 40-49 age group. I was next in 59:38 finishing 1st in the 70+ age group. Darrel Lasell was next in 1:05:53 placing 34th in the 50-59 age group. Then Jill Larson finished in 1:06:24 and was 20th of 47 in the 40-49 age group. Walter Kuklinski did well, as he was recovering from an injury, finishing in 1:07:15 and 18th in 60-69 age group. Elaine Dill was next in 1:07:46 and was 4th of 8 in 60-69 age group. Dennis Gilyard, also coming back from an injury, finished in 1:08:10 and was 21st in 60-69 age group.

Here are the stat's for the 4th series, please let me know if you find any errors and see you tomorrow @ Greylock!

Series points and standings for the Race to the Top of Vermont: (465 finishers)
      1)          Josh Ferenc(34M)                    100.00
      17)     Kevin Cavanaugh(47M)             81.82
      31)     Jeff Gould(51M)                          77.74
      38)     Josh Curtis(41M)                         76.68
      51)     Len Hall(63M)                              74.17
      57)     Bob Mulvaney(63M)                  73.02
      98)     Donna Smyth(56F)                      67.61
      172)   Sao-Mei Leung(50F)                   60.61
      173)   Paul Jones(36M)                         60.60
      185)   Fred Ross III(70M)                       60.03
      258)   Darrel Lasell(58M)                       54.33
      264)   Jill Larson(43F)                              53.91
      276)   Walter Kuklinski(67M)                53.23
      288)   Elaine Dill(68F)                              52.83
      290)   Dennis Gilyard(65M)                   52.52



Current Streak:
        1)      Fred                                                  17        
        2)      Walter                                               11
        3)     Donna                                                   8
        4)     Jeff n Len                                             6
        5)     Bob                                                       5

        6)     Dennis, Kevin, Josh, Sao-Mei, Paul,
                Darrel, Jill & Elaine                               1



All time finishes:
        1)          Fred                                       17
        2)          Laurel                                    14
        3)          Donna                                    12
        4)          Walter                                    11
        5)          Jeff n Len                                6
        6)          Bob                                          5
        7)          Dennis, John n Dick Hoch        3

        8)   Kevin, Josh, Sao-Mei, Paul,
              Darel, Jill & Elaine                          1



Total all time series points:
        1)               Fred                        912.63
        2)               Donna                     789.97
        3)               Laurel                     678.77
        4)               Walter                     616.61
        5)               Jeff                         470.68
        6)               Len                         446.15
        7)               Bob                         359.83
        8)               John                       190.97
        9)               Dick Hoch               121.67
       10)             Dennis                     167.73

       11)             Kevin                         81.82
       12)            Josh                           76.68
       13)            Sao-Mei                      60.61
       14)            Paul                           60.60
       15)            Darrel                        54.33
       16)            Jill                             53.91
       17)            Elaine                        52.83


Following are pictures from the race, if you get any please send them to me for possibly using in updates. Thanks!

Good to see Dennis and Walter, and his wife Jessica, again!

The "secret" potta potty :)

Arriving at the starting area after about half mile walk up from parking area.

Bob, Len & Donna warming up.

Jeff with new series runner Josh Curtis.

Donna doing more warm up.

Another new member, Kevin Cavanaugh #226.

Jeff, with lots of Hockamock Swamp Rat Patches!, talking with Abby Mahoney n Dawn Heinrich.

Another new member, Darrel Lasell, warming up.

Thanks to Lee Krohn for a great starting picture!

Darrel on the far left, thanks again to Lee!

Thanks again Lee for this photo of some of the great aide station workers!

Lee caught this photo with Dennis on the left n Darrel on the right!

Thanks to Dragonfly Aerials for this great picture!

Lee captured this string of runners working their way up.

Was great to see Granite State Race Services doing the timing! In my opinion, they are the very best!

AND instant results right at the finish!!!

Darrel is no stranger to Mount Mansfield, having hiked it many times!

Blessed with great weather! Highest point in Vermont in the distance :)

Another great aspect is the kids race they have at the base, so wonderful!

Headed to the Bar-B-Q, awards n raffle!

Amanda Marino & Josh Ferenc were the winners in 41:39 and 35:48! Congrat's!!!

Thanks Greg Marino, and all involved, for a great event!

Former USA Olympic XC Ski Racer,Trina Hosmer worked registration Saturday n awards after the race!

Northeast Delta Dental CEO, Tom Raffio not only helped sponsor the race but also ran the race!

Jeff Gould finished 3rd of 52 in his age group!

A very competitive 60-69 age group won by Keith Woodward with Len Hall 2nd n Bob Mulvaney 3rd!

I was surprised and very happy to win my 70-79 age group!

Abby n Sau-Mei at the awards n raffle, great to see you there!