There may not be a ton of fanfare or money on the line, but the Tour De Pug is sweeping the MNC Junior team with hard-fought competition and high stakes. This 4-event stage races is currently halfway completed. While we’ve had an inevitable drop-off in numbers due to weekend conflicts (making for a rather small field completing the entire tour) the individual events have been exciting and the racing has been fun and productive!
Things kicked off Thursday with, of course, a prologue. This 3-4k race was entirely double poling, featuring the speedy flats of Sprint loop, the steep climbs of Airplane loop, and the grueling swooping curves of Pit loop. After a few weeks of adjusting to sea level, our Truckee, California transplant Brandon Herhusky (aka ‘Dingo’) demolished the men’s field with a blistering time. Likewise, SMC standout Emma Barnes stole the show in a women’s field that had highly reduced numbers due to XC racing and college visits.
The prologue set the stage for the rest of the tour, but the second stage was the infamous Bolton Hillclimb, quite a different beast from the rollerski race. This served to close up the front of the standings a bit, and also produced some of the best racing of the year! Everyone either set a PR, or raced this test for the first time!
Eliza, freshly returned from a visit to beautiful Harvard, wasted no time getting down to the business of racing and making her mark on the tour. She shattered the women’s course record with a blistering sub-18 minute performance, followed by Coach Sara and Magda who each had their first experience with Bolton while clocking impressive sub-20 minute efforts.
Magda clocks a speedy time
Celebrating at the summit chair
Lone MNC Masters racer Karen Alence beat her previous best time by 30 seconds in another excellent attempt…there are a few Masters times on the results list but we’d love to see those numbers grow!
In the men’s race Coach Adam slipped under the 15-minute barrier with a 14:59, although he spent much of the race looking back as he was being hunted down by Will and Tour leader Dingo. 30 seconds after Adam crossed the line, Will raced to a new PR and promptly lost his breakfast at the summit. Brandon followed soon thereafter, meaning there would be some tight overall standings in the tour.
Coach fighting hard
Will, pushing to a new PR
Aidan had an impressive race, and has improved his time dramatically with each test. Look at these times!
8/19/15 21:58
8/17/16 18:06
10/15/176 16:51
Aidan out for a rip in his new shades!
Phil also reached the top in impressive fashion with a great first effort! We were also joined by Ali and Ben, who hiked up twice due to injuries that kept them from running…Coach Adam did give Ben the club’s newest toy, a 10lb weight vest, to add to the challenge. Big props to these two for making the most of their recovery and continuing to get out there and train.
The whole gang atop the rickety fire tower
Everyone rallied and once we were a little more than halfway down we turned back and ran up to the summit once more (not as a race, but still a good clip)…we’ve had a team goal of putting in more running and bounding work this fall. Almost every Wednesday, we do a series of dynamic and functional warmups and footspeed drills before lifting at Dee PT. Also, nearly every weekend for the past 2 months we have put in lots of time with L3 bounding and skiwalking. The point of repeating tests like Bolton is to measure how training is affecting performances: The positive results today show that lots of progress has been made!
On the way down, MNC mascot Tyke even got in on the good vibes when he met a new lady-friend on the trail. I think it’s safe to say sparks were flying!
Tyke being a big flirt!
Finally, this report would not be complete without the official results and Tour de Pug standings! It has turned into quite the battle at the front of the men’s race, with Will and Adam’s results from today taking a bite out of Brandon’s strong DP performance. Adam will be withdrawing from the Tour after today, however, as more substantial timing and organizing duties for the final 2 events will take precedence over racing. The women’s field may only have a few participants in the standings now, but will see more competition next week as we expect at least 25-30 competitors total for Thursday’s Night Sprint event when everyone is back in action.
Tour De Pug Standings (use tabs at the bottom to view individual events)
Bolton Hillclimb Historial Record
Coming up…
10/20 Tour de Pug Stage 3: Freestyle Night Sprint with SMC, GMVS, UVM Club Team, and Craftsbury (bonus points awarded for final placing)
10/22 Tour de Pug Stage 4: Freestyle Pursuit (handicap start)
