The day after we got to see the best track and field athletes in New Hampshire, I traveled to Mount Sunapee to witness youth runners take on the New England High School Trail Running championships, hosted by SIX03 Endurance in conjunction with the Sunapee Scramble. The Sunapee Scramble also serves as the USATF US Mountain Running Championships, with mountain running pros from all over the United States looking to make the US team for the World Mountain Running World Cup in Quebec in October.
But I was here to watch the youth race, and more specifically my neighbor Donovan, who’s finishing up his sophomore year at the school I used to coach at. While not formally coaching in any way, I’ve helped him by providing a summer training schedule that will get him to the beginning of the cross season with a bunch of time on feet under his belt and, fingers crossed, free of injury. He made steady improvement from freshman to sophomore year, finishing as the team’s second guy and 25th at the divisional meet, twenty places and a minute and a half better than the year before.
Anyways, while I’m a big believer that the summer is the beginning of training for the fall cross country season, I stay away from any structured training plans which look to increase speedwork or enhance someone’s ability to run super fast. My feeling is the summer is a time to add more distance, strengthen the aerobic system without stressing the mechanics too much. Just build a base so when cross country training comes along you’re ready to absorb the work.
Right along with upping your mileage, I’m a big believer in stoking the desire for running beyond what scholastics have to offer. When we think of running as a whole, we often get caught up in what is offered at the school setting, falling into a rhythm of the three seasons, spring track, cross country and indoor track. However if you were to look at running a bit more holistically, we’d realize as regular adults, the running we do doesn’t usually fall into any of these three categories. It’s kind of funny that in HS it’s cross country, indoor and outdoor track, but as adults it’s road races, ultra running and things like trail racing and mountain running that fill our souls, not track and field. As a coach I saw developing young people to love running a bigger priority than any specifics about their performance might have.
And there might be no better format for bringing the love of life in running to a younger person than the trail racing scene. Not only does it automatically come as a lower stakes situation (there is no way to guestimate what your pace should be for events like this) but the camaraderie and friendliness of these type of events makes participants more friends than foes, partners in the grind.
And the Sunapee Scramble delivered on that front. While it served as the championships to determine the US World team, with pros engaging in the racing, there were everyday folks as well simply looking to challenge themselves as well. Additionally it was a bit of a who’s who of NHTF and NHCC alumni, with sightings of Keene’s Jake Velasquez, Fall Mountian’s George Gowdy and Ben Tetu, John Stark’s Eli Lemire, Merrimack Valley’s Colton Ham, ConVal’s Rachel Hurley, West’s Julia Robatialle, Monadnock’s Dawson Adams, Bow’s Maya Brochu, Hinsdale’s Maggie St, John, and Coe-Brown’s Lars Hogne, who finished 6th overall in the men’s open race. Not bad racing against the pros.
In the end there were 247 finishers in the open races, with the wins going to Mason Coppi of Lakewood, CO in 1:09:48 and Elisa Morin of Quebec City Canada in 1:23:52. One of my favorites on the IG is Dan Curts, either part of or former member of the Northwoods Athletics crew from the Upper Valley, finished second, which was really cool to watch him up close and personal, as well as introduce myself as he looked to relax and get off his feet.
In the high school races there were only five participants, with ME’s Enzo Giampoalo taking top honors and Donavan taking second. While the high school attendance was low, I’m mean it was the day after Meet of Champions, the excitement was high. The trail running community, and essentially the mountain running community is about as laid back as you can get. The music was pumping, the spectators hooting and hollering, and the emcee Josh Ferenc was keeping the commentary likely. Hard not to like it.
We didn’t stick around long but not because we weren’t having a good time. Donovan and his folks had a gathering to attend in the afternoon and I needed to get home to attend to Sunday dinner. However we liked what we saw and we all anticipate we will be back next year, most of us as participants and the rest as spectators. Donovan said he’s definitely coming back, and we both said we would be spreading the word around to other high schoolers, this article being part of that encouragement.
As we were driving out, a group of the open participants were out down the access road colling down. Within their ranks was Giampoalo embraced and part of that group as well. I thought how spectacular it was for the inclusivity, what a big part of the sport is about, and how easily it translates in sports like this. Running is certainly about the running, but it’s not all about the running. And that’s what makes it great.
See you out there.
