Mike LaPlume
While my connection to Belmont goes back many years to when Scott Clark coached at Sant Bani, my connection with Newfound and Mike LaPlume is more recent.
Back in 2021, LaPlume had assembled a squad which was looking to make a run at the state title. But coming out of covid protocol, the boys from Bristol had run a “northern schedule” and we hadn’t crossed paths with them. Having reverted back to smaller regional meets with hand timing, results were few and far between. I wrote in the championship preview essentially that Mascenic was in the driver’s seat but hiding in the weeds was Newfound. That prediction actually came true, with Mascenic winning 94 to 115 over Newfound. Later that day, on my way back from the meet, I got a photo from LaPlume of the Newfound team, crouched down in the puckerbrush, way at the bottom of the course by the wet spot, a nice tongue in cheek homage to what I had written in the preview.
From that point on we linked up for a number of reasons, the next one being our annual Dead Possum Half Marathon. With things still not back to normal, Mike asked and I agreed that he could use our race as the last race in a series he and his guys looked to do over the winter as indoor track wasn’t back yet. I think our paths then became intrinsically linked, when LaPlume asked for the registration link for a race I literally put on from the end of my driveway which finishes off with a secondary event called Soupapalooza. If you wonder what Soupapalooza is, use your imagination and you’ll get pretty close.
Mike and a couple boys came down, ran New Ipswich’s hilliest half marathon, stayed around for some soup, and the connection was forged. I still get emails from the Downes boys now and again, having run on one of our Valhalla teams post high school.
Not long after that the bond became stronger through our girls’ teams though, as the Newfound girls were getting good at the same time my girls’ squad started getting the idea that they might have a shot at the title in the future. A gregarious group of freshmen meshed well with my junior class of girls and the crews became great friends, working as hurdle crew at states and joining forces in the off season on Valhalla teams which competed at Junior Olympic Nationals. This blurred the lines of team battles during high school meets, where I’ve been audibly caught on camera rooting for both teams.
Having been teammates the fall before while racing in College Station for Valhalla, the synergy during the spring track season, and then into the summer was fantastic. My daughter, now a freshman at Dartmouth, has joked that Addie is my wife’s favorite daughter, even though there is no blood relation. She has video evidence of Gretchen, squealing loudly at the Wilderness championships when greeted by Addie.
This led to three of my seniors having their senior pictures done by Reece, who has even done some photography work for NHXCTF before. Safe to say the pics were amazing.
And this friendship is not lost on Laplume or myself as coaches. In a sport where you try to beat on each other at every opportunity, our coaching lends itself to that of a friendly rivalry as opposed to combative rivals. We talk training, and workouts for sure, but we tend to gravitate towards personal growth and experiences for our athletes more than winning and competing. The what comes next is never about where we end up in the rankings but how far our athletes have come in finding what motivates them.
Laplume refers to me as “Buttermaker”, straight out of the “Bad News Bears”. He somehow thinks I have a rough exterior. I’m not sure where he gets that but I guess I’ll have to be good with it. But he kids me that while I want everyone to think I’m a hard@$$, in reality I just want to see kids, some being my athletes, grow into good people. He calls Scott Clark – Vader, as in Darth Vader, as he feels he likes to portray he’s a dark force, but we tend to be much the same. I haven’t come up with a good moniker for LaPlume, although “the feather” wouldn’t be a bad one, he being the softer one of the bunch. “Feathers” much like “Butters” of South Park fame, has a nice ring to it.
So it was an easy “sell” for me as I hadn’t seen the green run yet this season. And seeing as you all have been able to follow Newfound this season, thanks to that group of girls picking the blog where my girls had left off. It was nice to be greeted with a warm reception upon my arrival.
Last year once my girls had unveiled the Chickenlegs race car shorts they used as part of their uniform, Newfound adopted their “pickle” shorts as their unofficial outfit and pickles have become the theme for them this year. In addition to adding wife Kendra to the coaching roster, they have a mascot that travels with them called “Pickle Rick” an inflatable pickle now of Instagram fame. A pickle even made an appearance at the Newfound Fun Run, where Reece ran in a pickle suit to win a jar of pickles on a warm day. That’s one hot pickle!
It would be an understatement that I’m pulling for them this season. Missing out on the postseason last year in a tie for fifth, I think they’ve got what it takes to get there this year, and even feel they’re in the driver’s seat for a runner up spot in D3s. I don’t want to do anything to jinx it, but I’ll certainly be pulling for them even if cheering isn’t allowed in the broadcast booth. They’ve bullied me into coaching and accompanying them to JO Nationals and I can say I don’t mind. They’re a great bunch of girls to be around. And that is a reflection of the coaching as well.
I’ll see you out there.
