There’s not much that gets me up before 4:00 AM, but the two events that severely cut into my beauty sleep this summer both involved the Striders! One was the Downeast Sunrise Trail Relay— which hardly counts as “getting up early” as there was no bed the night before— and the other was volunteering at IRONMAN 70.3 Maine.
 
It was pitch black when fellow Strider Lindsey Madison and I rendezvoused at the local “park and ride” (AKA Marden’s parking lot) for the short trip down to the Augusta boat launch. The sky was showing the first glimmers of light as we picked out our loaner kayaks and paddles from the pile and found the other faithful Strider volunteers, Amy and Allison Stabins and Martha Nadeau. We had a short briefing meeting in which we were given our assignments, then maneuvered our kayaks, canoes, and paddleboards to our designated spots on the river about half an hour before the first wave of triathletes entered the water.
 
At 6 am, the canon signaled the start of the elite men’s race, and the pack churned through the water in a perfectly straight line. Shortly thereafter, the elite women were off, similarly powering through the course on a perfect tangent from buoy to buoy. For the next hour, wave after wave of swimmers went by, and that’s when our work really began. Volunteers flanked the course all the way down the river, and just maintaining location against the current required some serious paddling. Several athletes needed assistance, often holding onto a boat to catch their breath. Others swam completely off course and needed to be wrangled back inside the markers. Motorized police boats patrolled up and down, shouting instructions through bullhorns at volunteers, particularly when a swimmer appeared to be in distress. When the tail end of the competitors finally proceeded down the river, we were each given an assigned swimmer to escort. By about 7 am, the last athlete had made it out of the river and onto their bike for the next leg. The exhilarated volunteers paddled their way back to the boat launch and made it home in time for breakfast!
 
Several other Striders volunteered for the race that weekend by handing out packets, directing athletes along the route, and in other capacities. Shout out to all the Striders, who included Drew McCormick, Jan Santerre, Kate Scott, and Heather Cable—our club volunteers worked together to earn a $500 grant from Ironman, which we will use to further our mission of supporting running in central Maine! Hope to see you on July 28th 2024…on the Kennebec River

by Ryan Goebel, with photos by Alicia MacLeay and Ryan Goebel

by Heather Cable

These days, you can’t get much for 5 bucks. A cup of fancy coffee, a movie rental, a gallon of gas…or a delightful 5k at the Baptist Church in Smithfield. I last ran this family friendly race in 2012, and it was easy to convince Lindsey Madison and Ron Peck to join me this year. The modest entry fee, the prospect of running early to beat the heat, the tantalizing assortment of prizes, and the promise of a post-race breakfast at Early Bird were all powerful selling points.

Clearly, most Central Maine Striders appreciate a bargain (what other club offers a year-long family membership for only $20?), and so I was not surprised to see several other members at the venue. Camp Manitou was also well represented with counselors and what seemed like dozens of young campers in the field of about 50 runners. The out-and-back course along the shores of North Pond seemed like a walk in the park compared to my most recent 5k, but it could have been the nostalgia for simpler times that propelled me through to the finish.

​The Striders cleaned up, winning many of the age group awards, and proudly claimed several loon-themed items, including a pillow, mug, and towel, as well as maple syrup and homemade jam. The race lived up to my memory as one of Maine racing’s “hidden gems,” an all-around great way to spend a Saturday morning in July with friends!

Despite the miserable weather at this year's Mount Washington Road race, a moment was captured by the official race photographer that warmed the hearts of many runners across New England.  In the days following the race, the photo shown above from Joe Viger seemed to go viral across various social media and traditional media channels.

Although Joe originally didn't know who the runners in the photo were, Laura Chadwick (wife of Chris Chadwick and mother to John McGinty) recognized the photo as being her son helping Ron Paquette up the mountain.

From Joe Viger's Facebook post:

The photo was shared by many media outlets, including this segment on WMUR in Manchester, NH.

Even the Boston Globe ran an article about the photo that included an interview with John and Ron.

Unfortunately, the Boston Globe article is behind a paywall and due to copyright laws, we can't reproduce the story here.  However, here's an excerpt:​

The Central Maine Striders are proud to have had Ron Paquette representing us in the Mount Washington Road Race for so many years, and for John McGinty to run for us for the last five years.  We hope they both make several more trips up the "one hill".

For some bonus content, check out this video interview (recently unearthed by Julie Millard) that Central Maine Strider Erzsie Nagy did with Ron Paquette when they were a Lawrence High School student back in 2012:

 Big thanks to Strider Lindsey Madison, who is coordinating the club's participation in organizing this event.  If you are interesting in volunteering, please reach out to Lindsey at lmadison13@gmail.com.

This event is part of Humane Society Waterville Area's Woofstock and following the race there will be the Canine Carnival at 12:30 and Music Festival at 4pm.

 Date:     June 10th
 Time:    Race Registration 9:30 - 10:20 am
               Race starts at 10:30 am
 Location: HSWA, 100 Webb Rd Waterville, ME

 $15 for CMS members, $20 for general public
More Information about Woofstock-2023: 
https://hswa.org/event/woofstock-2023/

In 2021 I competed in my first TUCARD, Maine’s most Terrifically (& Unnecessarily) Complicated Adventure Race and Duathalon.  You can read that race report HERE if you want to understand the next few paragraphs of this write up. Or better yet, google the TUCARD website.

In 2022, the organizers changed things up.  This year participants were given starting and ending points, and a list of coordinates that MIGHT be waypoints on race day.  This was a bonus for me, as I’m largely unfamiliar with the Old Town area and being able to scout the actual locations was extremely helpful. The night before race day we were given our final instructions- in order to know which locations were official waypoints, we could go to the point furthest from the start to visit ‘The Oracle’ who would provide the correct list of waypoints.  Option two was to skip The Oracle and just visit as many points as possible with the hope of hitting the right ones- this could be a big time saver or a wild goose chase.  The third option was to go to a point that was the furthest from the start in the opposite direction and get a ‘Golden Ticket’ which would allow you to skip all other waypoints.  The Golden Ticket would require wading through a mucky wetland, but could get you across the finish line first.  At this point in my narrative you may be thinking that this explanation makes no sense-  I will refer you back to the race name…

In the 2021 TUCARD I earned the award title ‘Lost Puppy’, as the racer that covered the most distance.  In honor of my difficulties with Time and Relative Distance in Space during that race, I donned my TARDIS dress for this race (see photo).  The race went smoothly for me- I chose The Oracle option, and was happy to see that I was well prepared to hit the correct waypoints. My primary transport was an old mountain bike, but I also ran some stretches of rough single track and paddled across the Stillwater River. 

Finish time in the TUCARD requires a complicated formula based on racing surface and mode of transport.  In the end I was 18th across the finish line, but ranked 17th overall (out of 21, a mix of teams and individuals). This year I also earned the title of Puppy Dog- the racer who had the most fun-  thanks to running the whole thing in the TARDIS dress.  

I believe that I am the only Central Maine Strider to enter this race- it's a ton of fun and I encourage you to check it out when you are planning your 2023 racing season!

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