Gate City Striders

The Great Bay Half Marathon served as the kick-off event to the 2009 New Hampshire Grand Prix Series. And, even with 40 club members choosing to stay closer to home and run the Nashua Soup Kitchen 5k & 10k races, our team had its highest turnout of the season and best results yet!

Rich Smith was again our fastest male runner. In fact, at this race, he was the fastest runner overall and set a new course record in the process! His time of 1:15:01 (5:44 pace) was not only good enough for the win, but it bested the previous course record by 8 seconds! As a result, Rich finished 1st in his 35-39 age group and first on the Mens Open Team ahead of Mark Wimmer (1:31:01) & Dan Sweet (1:41:33). Kevin Mcintyre was the next fastest GCS-Triad runner after Rich finishing in a time of 1:21:56 which gave him 2nd in his  40-44 age group and was more than enough to hold off Mike Wright (1:25:05) & Steve Wolfe (1:25:11) for first place on the Mens Masters Team. Dan Ferreira was next on the list of TRT finishers. Dan completed the course in an impressive 1:25:47 only a week after running a 3:01 marathon in New Jersey last weekend! Dan’s time was also good enough to claim 1st on the Mens Youth Team head of Justin Soucy (1:30:48). Rich Galera finished 3rd in his 50-54 age group first and on the Mens Seniors Team with a time of 1:29:03 outpacing Trevor Ward (1:32:59) 1st in his 55-59 age group & Ken Snow (1:33:06). And, Gary Circosta led the way for the Mens Veterans Team with a time of 1:41:20 which was good enough for first on the team just ahead of Dick Doyle (1:49:44) & Stan Klem (2:01:27).

On the womens side, Karen Pattelena once again paved the way finishing in a time of 1:32:33 which was good enough for 1st in her 40-44 age group and first on the Womens Masters Team ahead of Cathy Merra (1:34:12) 2nd in her 45-49 age group & Heidi Havron (1:44:20). For the Open Women, Bonnie Ritchotte set the standard with a 1:33:30 finish which gave her 1st in her 35-39 age group ahead of Leslie Reap (1:38:37) and Team Captain Liz Fay (2:01:01). Hot on Bonnie’s heels was Peggy Lai who finished 15 seconds back in 1:33:45 good enough for 1st in her 01-19 age group and first on the Womens Youth Team ahead of Amber Cullen (1:40:13) & Cassie Wright (1:54:31). Barbara Joy & Aline Kenney were each a team of one. Barbara finished in 2:01:52 and took the uncontested first place spot on the Womens Seniors Team. While Aline did the same on the Womens Veterans team with a time of 1:59:17.

In the NHGP Team Scoring Competition, our club came in first with 145 points, followed by GSRT with 107 points, GDTC with 83 & RR with 73. We had 23 runners score points for us. Leading the way was Rich Smith, Karen Pattelena & Bonnie Ritchotte who each scored 10. Richard Galera & Peggy Lai scored 9 points each. And, Kevin McIntyre, Trevor Ward & Cathy Merra each rounded up 8 big points. A complete list of GCS point scorers can be found here.

GCS-Triad Racing Team Individual Results for The Great Bay Half Marathon can be found here.

Our next New Hampshire Grand Prix race is The Foothealth 5k (finally a short one!) which is on tap for on May 2nd in Derry, NH. GDTC will be ready for us at this one for sure. So, we’ll need to arrive with a full compliment of runners if we’re going to defend our 2008 NHGP title. More info on that race (including race registration) can be found here.

Our next New England Grand Prix race is The Bedford Rotary 12k on May 16th in Bedford, NH. This race is always highly attended amongst Club members and this year will surely be no exception as it’s our opportunity to show the rest of the region what NH running is all about! For additional race information, including a course map and directions to the start please check out the race website here.

Any current club member can run any of the seven 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 and let me know.