Bill Luti 5 Miler

Saturday had a small group of us heading up to Concord NH for the Bill Luti 5 miler. Along for the race was Heather, Seth, and myself. The weather was looking pretty good for a July race, it was overcast, but still pretty humid. This race always attracts a pretty fast crowd as there is money for the top three. This race also serves as the sixth and final race of the CARS Series. Going into this race I had the lead in the series and only had to make sure nothing bad happened in order to make sure that I held on for the series win and the $250 dollars that come with the series championship.

Before the race I did a very easy two mile warm up. I did not feel that good at all. In the last few weeks I have brought the miles up and added some pretty good workouts....so I kind of expected to feel a bit flat. The goal going into this race was to make sure I win the CARS series, get in a very solid effort, and start working on getting use to racing again. At the starting line I looked around and saw the usual CARS runners including Scott Clark (2nd in Standings) and Dan Verrington (3rd in standings) and a very fast crowd including Mark Miller, Justin Freeman, Jim Johnson, Greg Hammett, Rich Smith and a slew of very fit looking younger guys.

As the race went off a group of three including Justin Freeman, Mark Miller and a younger guy took to the lead right away and quickly established a lead. I stayed steady in the following pack, which was running pretty conservatively for a flat opening mile.....probably because we all knew the 2nd mile had a very significant uphill. We hit the first mile in 5:24, I took a look over my shoulder to see about 12-15 people still in this chase pack.....which seemed like a lot of people. As we hit the hill I moved towards the front along with Jim Johnson, Rich Smith and Greg Hammett. As we hit the top of the hill and made a right hand turn things kind of got shook up, Jim Johnson and Rich Smith went by me. They were moving pretty good so I let them go. I started to push a little bit to open up some space and start dropping some of the group I was with. Going with me was Greg Hammett, Alex McGrath, and Andrew Chalmers. From The top of the hill to the 3 mile mark is all flat and down hill. It also includes going past Bill Luti himself calling out the 2 mile split which went by in 11:00 (5:36 2nd mile).....pretty slow. During this stretch I could see Jim pulling away and Rich was coming back along with the younger guy who was out quick, all while I was swapping places back and forth with Greg and Alex. Just before the three mile mark I lost contact with Alex as he put a small gap on me. I hit 3 miles with a 5:17 mile. At the three mile mark the course heads up again, a long slow climb up out of the St Pauls school grounds. During this mile I managed to get a small gap on Greg, and catch and pass Rich Smith and the younger guy who was out real fast (who looked like he was done at this point). This brought me up to 5th place in the race and just about 10 seconds back of Alex McGrath. I hit the 4th mile mark with a 5:47 split (ouch!! this is slow) At this point I could see that Justin was going to win, Mark Miller was 2nd and Jim was up to 3rd. At this point I just wanted to finish where I was in 5th place. There was no sense in going after Alex and I just wanted to hold off Greg and Rich who I could hear not more than a few seconds back. The last mile went as I wanted, I maintained my place and ran a strong last mile in 5:10, holding off Greg and Rich and finishing in 27:14 for 5th place and securing The CARS Championship.

Results







Pictured: Overall winners Justin Freeman and Jennifer Adams with Bill Luti






1. 26:06 5:14 Justin Freeman 32 M 2 New Hampton NH
2. 26:18 5:16 Mark Miller 28 M 1 Keene NH
3. 26:32 5:19 Jim Johnson 32 M 353 Salem NH
4. 27:08 5:26 Alex McGrath 18 M 226 Marlborough NH
5. 27:14 5:27 Chris Mahoney 31 M 107 Haverhill MA
6. 27:17 5:28 Greg Hammett 31 M 361 Chesterfield NH
7. 27:19 5:28 Rich Smith 39 M 3 Enfield NH
8. 27:27 5:30 Andrew Chalmers 19 M 381 Ashland NH
9. 27:43 5:33 Scott Clark 43 M 5 Gilmanton NH
10. 27:47 5:34 Scott McGrath 22 M 227 Marlborough NH


Capitol Area Race Series (CARS) Results

Men:

1st Chris Mahoney
2nd Scott Clark
3rd Dan Verrington













Women:

1st Heather Searles
2nd Emily Searles
3rd Ann Rasmussen



Picture: Heather Searles receiving a very special plaque for winning the USCAA XC National championship last fall.


Congratulations to Heather for her CARS series championship. I also want to congratulate Emily Searles (Heathers younger sister) on a great 2nd place CARS series finish. She ran a very strong 2nd half of the series to take 2nd place away from Ann Rasmussen. Nice job by you crazy fast Searles sisters!