Ed's Week in Review: September 22, 2011

Green Day may have asked to be woken up when September ends, but BTT is wide awake in September.

First over at FUNtastic Nantasket Beach Triathlon we saw the ladies of BTT killing it.  Lauren Bonaca took 1^st in her age group 3^rd female overall, and right behind her was her sister Carolyn Soules with a 2^nd place age group finish, 5^th female overall, and just behind her was Kim Kaltreider with a 2^nd place age group finish, 9^th female overall….way to represent ladies!

Over at Buzzard’s Bay Mary Beth Begley continues to find her way to the podium, winning her age group (way to go MB)!  We also saw great performances from Keith Rousseau, Tim Daley and Kelly Jackson.  Mary Bethtalks about her experience

Another big race event took place last weekend.  The challenging Reach the Beach 200+ mile 24 relay race from Cannon Mountain to Hampton Beach.  The Blue and Green was seen all over the race, represented by (and I apologize if I missed anyone) Matt Coarr, Brendan Hall, Jess Douglas, Nicole Kimborowicz, Kelwin Conroy, Jay Higginbottom, Doug Sherwood, and Kate O'Malley.  MattHard-Coarr shares his experience in the Ultra category of the race.

Carrier Mosher, Brian Quigley and Jorge Martinez toed the line at the Green Mountain Cyclocross festival, Carrie continues to improve on her 1st CX season and her 2-3 races every! Brian race the ultra competitive 35+ master category and started his comeback to racing shape. Jorge raced the 35+ master Cat 4 and managed 2 top 10s.

We also saw great results from Elaine Metcalf and Karen Ghiron Looney over at the Dover Sherborn Boosters Triathlon; Eric Lambi on the podium again with a 2^nd place age group finish at the Whole Foods 5k; and Meredith Harjes at the TDD Triathlon.  

Meredith, who has had great experience with the TDD Triathlon shares her thoughts on the race: 

“I wanted to put a plug in for the TDD Triathlon which I've done twice, in my book it's a gold star FIRM race which doesn't get enough attention. It's down on the Rhode Island border, but it's a 9am start so the hour+ drive from the Boston area isn't bad. It's a small, very laid back race, about 200-250 people. We rolled into the parking lot at 8am and got rock star parking. 

Registration and body marking took about 2 minutes. I believe there was race day registration allowed. Barely any lines at the restrooms (real restrooms, by the way. Sinks and everything). The race site is gorgeous, it's a state park with a beautiful lake and nice beach. Lots of picnic tables for your spectators or for after the race. There is children's entertainment during the race, great event to bring your family to. Speaking of children, this race supports a local NICU.   

The 1/4 mile swim is clean and short. Both times I've done this race it's been chilly in the morning- ~45 degrees. Water temp is very comfortable though, I was perfect in a sleeveless. Only 3 waves and no issues with crowding. The race started about 15 minutes late, which is typical in my experience with FIRM races. The bike course is great, 10-11 miles and what little traffic existed on those roads was well contained by police. 

The course is very hilly, rollers the whole way with a few challenging climbs. My only complaint is that the bike in/out area is a dirt path. The run is advertised at 3.2 miles but I think it was a little short. It's an out and back, most of which takes place within the park on the access roads. Mostly flat with a few rollers and one big hill at the turn around! The race support was great on both the bike and run- volunteers and/or police at every turn and 2 aid stations on the run.”