Week in Review: 9/26/2012

by Brenda Chroniak

The days are getting shorter, the air is getting cooler and, for some of the team, the off season is here. If you're still out there training in the early morning/evening, please be safe in the dark by wearing reflective gear/lights and being aware of cars. I want everyone to stay healthy and in one piece!

Local racing is definitely slowing down, but the Week In Review is carrying on to represent those team members who seemingly never have an off-season.

Bill Reeves, for example, raced the Wallis Sands Triathlon in New Hampshire this weekend and placed first in his age group and fourth overall. Brendan Hall raced the Amica 19.7 Newport, placing third in his age group. And they weren't the only ones braving a swim on a brisk fall morning--Kayle Shapero, Grace Tkach, and Ira Sills all competed in the Sharkfest Swim, where they reported NO sharks but PLENTY of jellyfish. Better you than me, guys... They all deserve congrats for top-10 age group finishes across the board, and Grace and Kayle get extra props for podium finishes (first and third, respectively). And of course with Cyclocross season in full swing, Carrie Mosher and Pete Jensen raced Sucker Brook, and both gave it their all.

This weekend some of our CX athletes will be back at it racing the Gran Prix of Gloucester, the team will have a strong showing at the Duxbury Tri, and we'll have some runners representing BTT in the Jack Kerouac 5K, the Vermont 50 Trail Run, and the Maine Marathon.

Last but not least, I'll leave you with a race report from a pretty cool bike race that Krista Schepanovsky did a few weeks back. 

Race Report: ADK Bronze

by Krista Schepanovsky

This is not about a tri, but a bike race in Lake Placid. I thought some of you may be interested as many have done IMUSA and also saw many BTTers at the movie about RAAM. Also, it was a really awesome race and though it’s been running since 1999, not too many people know about it.

Last weekend I did a bike race in the Lake Placid area that I have to say was one of the hardest I've done, but also super fun.

For those of you who know the LP course, it starts at the corner in Wilmington where you turn left to head back to LP, then down the Keene descent...but at the bottom of Keene rather that turn left to Jay, you make a right turn, and head another 90 or so miles toward Ticerondoga. This part got crazy at times...there are 2 major descents of approximately 2 miles—each  steeper than Keene—and there were many long stretches of nothing.

With just one checkpoint, you had to be really self-sufficient and have enough water, etc. Yes, I listened to all the warnings and made stupid errors of judgment here. At one point, we went through a town right before a major 6 mile climb that cruelly comes 115 miles into the loop, and I thought, no I do not want to get passed, so I do not need to stop for more water...then the climb began...and went on...and on. I cursed and hated myself, and then finally saw a bar and patio at the top of Hurricane Mt before Keene...I stumbled INTO the bar and caught a glimpse of myself in one of the pub mirrors and was barely recognizable-looked like sh!t, beet red, patches of zinc and sweat...and bartender says: "wow, you sure look like you could use a beer!" Hell yeah! But, had 20 or so miles to go..so..there was a 2 mile descent into the other side of Keene, then back on the LP course, Jay to Wilmington.

The amazing thing was this was a 136 mile race that was part of a FOUR LOOP course...and those who finished in the time limit qualified for RAAM solo. This is known as the hardest of all the RAAM qualifiers and I can see why now--the 540 miles is daunting enough, but there are so many other factors that make it difficult. After riding the course I began to understand the crazy logistics behind riding and crewing such a race...not only are there limited services and one checkpoint, the temps ranged from mid 80s during the day to 30s at night, high wind gusts, rain, etc..and every time I thought something was tough I would remember the other crazy fellows going around three more times! And to imagine those descents at night-unreal!

I met some really interesting people, RAAM vets and other crazy folk, and it was interesting to see how bikes were set up, talk about how they trained, what they ate, etc... There is so much I could go into here!

I highly recommend this! It was a blast. Or, if you are in LP, check out the course. The cue sheet and info can be found here: http://www.adkultracycling.com/adk540/index.htm

They also have a preview ride of the course in June, and some other interesting rides. Next up is an overnight century at Halloween. If you’re interested-let me know! We are planning our costumes! ;)

Week in Review: 9/12/2012

by Brenda Chroniak

Fall is officially here, the New England triathlon season is winding down, and the team's cycling enthusiasts are thinking about Cyclocross (Carrie Mosher and Peter Jensen are even racing CX already, with two top-10 finishes for Carrie in one weekend!). The last two weekends have been busy with races of all kinds, and great efforts from our fabulous team of athletes.

Starting with this past weekend, I'm bummed that neither Jamie Strain nor Pat Dwyer has posted his results from the Ironman 70.3 championships in Vegas, but given what a brutal day all the athletes were faced with (read Friend of BTT Jana Richtrova's race report), there's a chance they are both still too busy trying to recover to post results yet... or they are at a blackjack table somewhere, repeatedly saying "just one more hand."  You decide. Either way, congrats are due to both of them for not only qualifying for this race, but also gutting it out and finishing strong in tough conditions.

Congrats are also due to Meg MacSwan, who ran a Boston-Qualifying time at the Lehigh Valley Marathon this weekend, placing 16th in her division! YAY MEG!! What a fantastic season you've had.

Also, Elaine Metcalf got some podium time at the Title 9 Women's Only triathlon, placing third in her division and coming in 11th overall, Matt Pawa and Amy Greenwood both had super strong finishes at the Pumpkinman 70.3, Mary Beth Begley and Laurie Damianos had great races at the Nation's Triathlon in Washington, D.C.; Bill Reeves outright won the Concord Family YMCA Triathlon (woot woot!), and Fedor Smith had a top-10 age group finish at the Hyannis Sprint II.

Looking back to Labor Day weekend, Audrey Perlow rocked the Virginia Beach Half Marathon, Kim Kaltreider had a fourth place age group finish at the Mayflower Sprint, and we had a strong team showing at the Circle Triathlon in Ashland, NH, with Will and Sue Bruce both podiuming (second and first age group finishes, respectively), Chrissie Flashner placing second in her age group, and Tim Daley coming in with a top-10 age group finish. I also know of a certain someone who raced three days in a row that weekend, but didn't post race results for any of those days, even though he's been on the injured list since then and has had plenty of time on his hands to log in to the BTT website and post those results...  But since those results aren't posted, I won't name names.

This coming weekend is brought to you by the letter B! We have teammates racing Reach the Beach, the ADK 540 Bronze Blast bike race, the Amica 19.7 Boston, the Blandford Beer Cyclocross Race, and the Buzzards Bay Sprint Triathlon (both a Tent Series race as well as one of the three team races in the Max Performance race series). It's also the Nahant 30K, the Dover Sherborn Triathlon, the CVS Caremark Downtown 5K, the Mardi Gras Festival Run, and Lobsterman. Needless to say, a LOT of people are racing, so pretty please with sugar on top post your race results in a timely manner and send me race reports!  :)

Chroniak out. 

Week in Review

by Brenda Chroniak


Greeting from Vermont, BTT! Noah Manacas is kicking off the first stage of the Green Mountain Stage Race today and I'm Sherpa-ing. Good luck, Noah! And that's a nice segue to let everyone know that I don't discriminate in posting race results. Triathlon, running, cycling, swimming, cyclocross, trail racing, etc., I don't care what sport you log in. As long as you list it, I will give you a much deserved shout-out.

He's the only team member crazy enough to be racing every day this weekend, but there are plenty of others with races this weekend, too. Good luck to Kim Kaltreider, Audrey Perlow, Tim Daly, and Sue Bruce!

Taking a look back at the week in racing that was, I don't know if BTT is having an exceptional racing season, or if I just never paid such close attention before, but we had another killer, podium-filled weekend. Matt "Serious" Pokress outright won the Cranberry Olympic and Chris Borges placed second in his age group, with Shay "Fun" Pokress and Matt Mead both having great races that day, too, and the previous day in the Sprint race, Meg MacSwan and Kelwin Conroy both won their age groups, and Meg was third female overall. BTT also won the relay division with the speedy team of Grace Tkach, Kathy Connolly, and Jen Tucker.

Also that weekend, Mary Beth Begley was third in her age group at the Memphis Soul 5k (thank you to those who volunteered), Bill Reeves was first in his age group and second overall at the Check for Change Sprint Tri, Ira Sills and Janice Biederman placed first and second in their respective age groups at Rev3 Old Orchard Beach, and Beth Edwards and Kim Kaltreider made up 2/3 of the 19-29F podium at Cranes Beach. Beth was third female OA that day, Kim was sixth female.

Is anyone else totally and completely impressed with what a talented and hard-working team we have?!? I sure am.

Happy Labor Day Weekend. Enjoy these last few days of summer.