Groton, MA,
October 17, 1998

The weather and fall foliage were perfect and drew a large turn-out of 107 runners for the First Annual Groton Town Forest Trail Races. The goals of the races were to raise money for trail signs in the Town Forest and to publicize the beauty and variety of trails in the Town Forest. The importance of the first goal was reinforced when large numbers of runners got lost within the complex web of intersecting trails, and only 88 crossed the finish line. Most of the experienced trailrunners took this "in stride" as being typical of a first-time trail race. Certainly many lessons were learned that will serve to prevent this in future years. The second goal was seemingly met as well, as at least 26 of the 39 runners in the 3-mile race, and 10 of the 68 in the 10-mile race, had never run a trail race before. In addition, many local (even Groton!) runners said they had never been in the Town Forest before and they found the trails much to their liking. Race Director Paul Funch hopes to make these races an annual event, and he promises to keep most everyone on course next year, but he believes it wouldn't seem like a real trail race if no one got lost!

John Grenier was – um – reflective in his assessment of the race: "I am NOT an hour slower than John Carey for ten miles! I turned a ten-mile race into about 14. I guess the race was for a good cause – trail signs." But, he added in a grudging nod to the true allure of trail races, "It was a nice place to run." Amen.

10-Mile Race						
1	1:13:39	Carey  John		Oxford  MA		37  CMS
2	1:13:40	Melo  Chris		Atkinson  NH		36
3	1:13:45	D'Agostino  Donna	Topsfield  MA		35
4	1:18:22	Auciello  Jamie		Hopkinton  MA		27
5	1:18:31	Allison  Don		Waltham  MA		43
6	1:26:42	Morse  William		Dracut  MA		47
7	1:26:51	Hannon  Dave		Johnston  RI		27
8	1:27:23	Chesto  Jon		Ridgefield  CT		27
9	1:27:58	Hargreaves  Paul	N. Brookfield  MA	42  CMS
10	1:27:59	LaChance  Sue		Lunenburg  MA		38
11	1:28:01	Spence  Scott		Groton  MA		34
12	1:28:03	Peterson  Steve		Chelmsford  MA		32  CMS
13	1:29:07	Mann  Walter		Townsend  MA		46
14	1:29:08	Parker  Thomas		Nashua  NH		31
15	1:29:15	Premus  Vince		Pepperell  MA		34
16	1:30:34	Hult  Peter		Harvard  MA		17
17	1:33:33	Baxter  Brenda		Groton  MA		36
18	1:35:11	Reusch  Tracy		Harvard  MA		34
19	1:35:11	Speidel  Tom		Nutting Lake  MA	37
20	1:35:39	McClellan  John		Groton  MA		36
21	1:35:51	Ackerman  David		Bedford  MA		37
22	1:35:54	Phillips  Jack		Charlestown  MA	32
23	1:36:38	Butts  Dolf		Nashua  NH		31
24	1:37:01	Doubleday  Richard	Brookline  MA		36
25	1:37:07	Koehn  Karin		Boston  MA		29
26	1:37:20	Cormier  Karen		Ayer  MA		26
27	1:37:20	Lillis  Ellen		Ayer  MA		25
28	1:37:36	McCoy  Kevin		Providence  RI		42
29	1:37:49	Mills  Mark		Alton Bay  NH		43
30	1:38:53	Martineau  Liz		Groton  MA		37
31	1:39:03	Thomas  Alice		Fitchburg  MA		35
32	1:47:09	Parker  John		Milford  MA		59
33	1:47:17	Belsky  Stephen		Groton  MA		42
34	1:48:30	Para  Sue		Dudley  MA		21
35	1:48:32	Molloy  Lindsey		Groton  MA		49
36	1:48:34	Officer  Lawrence	Pepperell  MA		41
37	1:48:35	Kick  Jack		Dunstable  MA		66
38	1:48:36	Robinson  Andy		Groton  MA		45
39	1:48:45	Brown  Matthew		Pepperell  MA		49
40	1:48:50	Maguire III  Joseph	Dunstable  MA		15
41	1:49:03	Watts  Deb		Holden  MA		38
42	1:49:06	Johnson  Skip		Groton  MA		44
43	1:49:07	Molloy  Kevin		Groton  MA		49
44	1:49:10	Sterling  George	Windham  NH		53
45	1:50:43	Murphy  Tim		Chelmsford  MA		31
46	2:00:18	White  Justin		Westboro  MA		37
47	2:00:20	Fox  Donna		Westboro  MA		38
48	2:00:21	Leiter  Myron		Wayland  MA		62
50	2:10:44	Miscovitch  Rex		Pepperell  MA		46
49	2:10:45	Kessler  Ruth		Burlington  MA		42
51	2:11:04	Gulliver  Art		Leominster  MA		59
52	2:14:02	Brady  Liam		Lynn  MA		42
53	2:14:50	Grenier  John		Leicester  MA		47  CMS
54	2:15:45	Matisse  Linda		Groton  MA		41
55	2:16:04	Grieco  Melissa		Methuen  MA		23
56	2:16:06	Hanson  Ellen		Allston  MA		29
57	2:16:14	Page  Robert		Groton  MA		54
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3-Mile Race

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December 13, 1998, barry