The 27th running of the Nipmuck Marathon was Nipmuck Dave’s last one as race director. True to form his last pre-race briefing was unique in that it contained just a few words regarding the trails and the hazards of running them. Instead he positioned six volunteers (myself amongst them) around the assembled runners with boom boxes. He had briefed us to hit play on a give signal. The moment came and in unison we followed instructions – nothing happened. Dave carried on giving his speech while we checked the taped was turning and the volume was turned up. Suddenly a load flatulent sound was heard. One of the boom box holders looked slightly embarrassed, across the group another similar sound, and so it continued while the speech carried on, loud farts bellowed out, pretty soon everyone was chuckling and it was hard to imaging we were about to run a marathon!
The course was unchanged, but very humid conditions slowed everyone down. The air felt thick and the rocks were slick under foot. Guthrie, me, Ultra, Snobody, Sandy Beauvais and John Muir were the familiar faces within the field. A few young bucks dashed to the front of the pack and stormed off to the first turn around. I was confident we’d see most of them again looking sorry for wear and I was right. The second half together with the heat left many of them dragging as I sped past.
Generally, times were slow and this was most likely because of the conditions. After Guth finished we couldn’t hang around to see the others cross the line. Diesel had been confined to his crate since 5:30 am and we had to get home to release him. Once home we flipped a coin to see who had was now going to walk him. The coin was a dud – we both lost lost!
Just like Leatherman’s back in April, there were pies galore as both Guth and I took one home as age group victors. Dog walked and while the rain poured outside, the winnings tasted really good as we lounged around resting tired legs.
The race was definitely lower key this year. Many of the regular faces were missing, whether this was an affect of the limited entry restrictions Dave had imposed in the past couple of years or because interest in the event has moved on. Nipmuck is one of the longest running events of its kind in the state, it would be a shame to see it disappear from the racing calendar.
Full race results, click here
Thanks for the report Bimble – I was in Hartford while you were racing and the atmosphere was like pea soup…. must have been extreme conditions on the trails! Congrats to you all and sorry to have missed the shenanigans of that beloved race! Woohoo pie!!!!
I missed the pie…but not the humidity! Great job Bimblers. Congrats Bimble & Guth for bringing home the baked goods once again!