Gate City Striders

Most of the team at Bedford

The 36^th annual Bedford 12k was the first (and only) NEGP race in New Hampshire this year and 58 GCS-Triad Racing Team members helped make it a memorable one! Our Mens Masters, Mens Veterans & Womens Seniors, each finished in 3^rd place overall and our Womens Masters Team walked away with the First Place Trophy! At the end of a very productive day (that saw us score the second most amount of Team points), GCS sat 2nd overall in Club Scoring (out of 28 teams) just ahead of CMS in the 2010 New England Grand Prix Series. Plus, we had a record 18 GCS-Triad Racing Team members grab an "asterisk" for achieving the USATF age group guideline!

Steve Wolfe & Justin Soucy

This race was the third of seven New England Grand Prix Races and our Club had its highest turnout and best results yet. Rich Smith was again our fastest male runner. He finished in a time of 41:19 (5:33 pace) which was good enough for 39th place overall and first on the Mens Masters Team ahead of Randy Macneill (44:19) & Steve Wolfe (46:07). Justin Soucy was the next fastest GCS-Triad runner after Rich finishing in a time of 44:17 which was enough to hold off Steve Rouleau (50:05) & Rich Hillman (50:45) for first place on the Mens Open Team. Mike Merra finished first on the Mens Seniors Team with a time of 47:02 outpacing Carl Hefflefinger (47:54) & Len Hall (50:02) And, Milt Schumacher led the way for the Mens Veterans Team with a time of 50:56 which was good enough for first on the team just ahead of John Lewicke (53:57) & Joe Noonan (54:55).

Karen Long

On the womens side, Cathy Merra followed up her phenomenal Boston performance with another stellar run here in Bedford. Cathy finished in a time of 48:59 which was good enough for 1st overall in her 50-59 age group and first on the Womens Seniors Team ahead of Pam Hall (1:01:07) and Lori Hennessey (1:01:24). Next behind Cathy was Karen Pattelena who finished first on the Womens Masters Team with a time of 49:39 ahead of Karen Long (50:08) & Tammy Gaffey (51:24). For the Open Women, Bonnie Ritchotte lead the way with a 49:10 which was good enough for first on the team just ahead of Kristen King (49:22) and Nicole Rogers (52:24). Finally, our Womens Vets team had a very strong showing lead again by Jane Levesque who finished in 1:12:19 ahead of Barbara Robinson (1:14:03).

Barbara Robinson

Last but not least, it is also worth mentioning that, Rich Smith, Karen Long, Jane Levesque & Shu Minami each finished 3^rd in their respective age groups. Linda Delahunty, Bonnie Ritchotte & Milt Schumacher were each runners-up in their respective age groups. And, Dave Delahunty, Karen Pattelena, Cathy Merra & Barbara Robinson each won the NEGP 12k Titles in their respective age-groups. Way to go guys!

Full GCS results can be found on our website here. And, full race results & photos can be found on Cool Running here.

Remember, any current club member can run any of the remaining New England Grand Prix races free of charge regardless of the number Grand Prix races you're able to run. And, the race entry fees will all be pre-paid by the club so that there are no up-front costs for you. Just show up and run! It couldn't be easier! If you would like to join the team for another great GCS-Triad Racing event please e-mail me right away at mwade@ganekarchitects.com and let me know.