Mt. Washington Hill Climb

Yesterday was the annual Mt. Washington Hill Climb.  CSUskiers taking part included Rob Bradlee, Donna Smith, Lisa Doucett, Fabio Schiantarelli and Charlie Kellogg plus many from the running section.  It was hot at the base, and of course when the breeze is blowing from the west and the road is on the east side of the mountain, that means tough conditions until you hit tree-line at the half way point.  The women's record was beaten by Shewarge Amare, currently of NYC, in 1:08:21.  The men's race was won by Chris Siemers of Colorado in 1:00:22.  Kris Freeman ran and finished 15th in 1:07:56.

From Lisa Doucett:
It was hoped the winds would be refreshing once above the tree-line, but there were intermittent gusts at best and even those faded away.  The long climb on the dirt section from the around 4.5 mile mark to nearly 6 miles offered no relief at all.   The final section, a legendary wall of roadway, was tough to navigate to the finish line.  I overhead a great nickname for that section as I was going to the start, "Dante's Pitch."

As usual, it was great to see friendly CSU volunteer workers at the finish.  Larry and Sara Mae Berman were the first to offer their support, other CSU'er handed out the silver blankets and medals to all finishers.  At least we were able to hang around the summit in t-shirt and shorts for the most part, and seek the all important ride down the mountain.  It was the 50th Anniversary of the road race, Jock Semple of the Boston Athletic Association and Fred Brown of the North Medford Club were the first race directors.  For the past 29 years, Bob Teschek of Granite State Race Services has been the director, and he  retired following this year's race.  In 2011, Dave MacGilvray of DMSE will direct the race, so things like the lottery entry system and other characteristics of the race may change.  It was Jock Semple who loved to set off the starting cannon and instruct the runner's that it is "only one hill."


CSU Results - Men

139    Dima Feinhaus    1:30:42
162    Rob Bradlee       1:33:44
186    Derek Sawyer    1:36:45
225    Sumner Brown   1:40:04
229    Jim Terry           1:40:28
434    Fabio Schiantarelli 1:58:27
493    Paul Grant         2:04:33
580    Tom Parker       2:16:30
596    Fred Ross         2:19:10
643    Joe Leader        2:35:54
652    Earton Robertson 2:48:04


CSU Results - Women
19      Suzy West         1:19:22
49      Donna Smyth     1:40:22
51      Lisa Doucett      1:40:57
145    Karen Mahoney 2:04:34