CCAC Grand Prix 2003-2004: Prologue
Cape Cod Athletic Club , December 2, 2003
Down Easterly
[CCAC Newswire – 2 December 2003]
We were running in temperatures hovering around 50°F over Thanksgiving weekend. Temperatures are dipping into the high teens tonight as we receive a first dusting of snowflakes. With the coming weekend forecast predicting snow, wind, rain and temperatures in the 40’s, the biggest challenge of this year’s series may be getting to the starting line without being horrendously sick.
With the exception of Harry’s kickoff in Hyannis, the series spends much of its time this year on the lower Cape, visiting Orleans, Dennis, Brewster, Brewster, and Orleans, before the wrap up banquet at the Radisson in Hyannis. We’ll call this the “Down East” edition. All of the courses promise to be challenging without any help from the weather which will serve as the final handicap. As a foreshadowing, the Last Gasp has a beautifully punishing hill in the last .05 mile after 3.5 miles of virtual flat, the First Gasp will sustain an elevation loss and gain of about 200′ over 3.5 miles, and the Orleans finale will run on some of the infamous middle hills of the John Gray Road Race. Who knew their were hills on Cape Cod?
How’s the competition shaping up? In the men’s open division, we’ll see a lot of duals between Joe Navas, Sean Doherty, and Geof Newton who have all been finishing very close to each other in recent races. Sean is in heavy speed building mode as he prepares for an assault on the American record at Ballycotton in March. Joe is a virtual lock in the 30-34 AG while Newton, still in base training mode and recovering from some foot problems suffered in August will vie for the 35-39 title against Doherty. The D-Y cross-country team, with impetus from their coach, Cathy Whitelaw, will wreak disarray in the open division, further mixing up the results and throwing in a few spoiler positions. The rest of the men’s divisions are open to speculation. Who’s healthy? Who’s going to go all the way? We’ll get some ideas on Sunday but Harry’s is usually a poor indicator of future participation, drawing a much bigger field from across the Cape than many of the other races. In some of the other age divisions, we’ll see heavy competition in the 50-54 and 55-59 age groups and may even get a visit in the 60-64 AG from John Newton. One of the original members of the CCAC, he recently jumped up to the 60+ AG and whetted his appetite with a 3rd place trophy from the Andrea Holden Road Race.
In the women’s races, our biggest duals for open honors will likely feature Mary Peabody, Karen Zunti, Cathy Klim, Patty Germani, and Mary Ryan. In the 35-39 division, sparks will fly between Mary Ryan and Lynda Baron but we’ll virtually concede the 45-49 division to Mary Peabody who has been tearing up the women’s masters field this summer and the 50-54 AG to Cathy Klim who has set some genuinely fabulous marks at some major races the past few months. But it’s all a question of who can survive at the top for the requisite 4 races and who will wimp out.
The series gets underway at Harry’s Bar and Grill at the West End rotary in Hyannis on Sunday, 7 December at 11:00 AM. Chowder and maybe some special goodies from the shellfish fields of aquaculturist Mike Naughton will meet all the finishers after their 5 mile romp through Hyannisport. If you like to run on Cape Cod and want to hang with some of the best, be sure to get there.
The Grand Prix series continues every weekend (except 4 January) until the end of January at various locations across the Cape. Cost is $5 for all runners and walkers. All are invited to attend but only club members are eligible for points and awards to be presented at the annual club banquet in February. For more information, visit the CCAC at http://www.capecodathleticclub.org/.
