Lake Winnipesaukee Relay - September 22, 2007

Contributed by Mark Graf

Hey! Whaddya know? A Race report!

I'll spare you the gory details. There's really only one anyway...

Eight of your fellow SqRR'ers ran the Lake Winnipesaukee Relay on Saturday: Eight legs, 65.1 miles, zero net elevation gain. (But nary a level spot on the whole course.)

The "gory detail" took place before Brian Irwin even crossed the Starting Line on Leg 1: The Race administrative apparatus somehow took our cleverly-conceived team name ("Swampthang") and changed it to "Squannalook". Huh? Who came up with that?

From there, however, all went pretty smoothly. Temperatures were unseasonably warm, but each runner put in a good leg. We finished 34th out of 86 teams overall (click here), and 7th out of 13 teams in the Men's Open Division (click here).

For those of you who are hopelessly analytical, you can review the times and details for each leg by clicking here. The Team members (so that you can congratulate them when you next see them) were...

Leg 1 Brian Irwin
Leg 2 Mark Odell
Leg 3 Charlie Thaxter
Leg 4 Laura Brown
Leg 5 Chris Russell
Leg 6 Howard Hersey
Leg 7 Mark Graf
Leg 8 Kelly Wilson

Special kudos go to...

Brian Irwin, for getting us off to a good start. (And for his artful appetizer presentation at the pre-race gathering on Friday night!)

Mark Odell, who put in a stellar performance with the 9th-fastest time recorded in Leg 2. But get this: After 11 grueling miles and only a short break at the Exchange Point, he started out again, caught up with Charlie on Leg 3, and paced him another 10-point-something miles all the way to the end of his leg. "I just needed to get in a long run," were his modest words.

Laura Brown, for bringing along support personnel in the form of her non-running husband, Shawn. (Bet he'll never do that again!)

Chris Russell, for running the long-but-scenic Leg 5 entirely without Team support.

Howard Hersey, for a strong showing that moved us two notches further up in the overall rankings after Leg 6.

Me, for... umm... Lemme think here. For not throwing up.

And Kelly Wilson, who came all the way from Rutland, VT to amble down and up (mostly up) those killer hills on Leg 8.

Enjoy the photo of the tired but contented Team.

Wouldn't it be great if we could enter two teams next year? Something to think about.

Respectfully submitted,

Mark (Leg 7)

View complete race results on Cool Running