Bridge of Flowers: USATF 10K Championship Race

Tilton rounding the corner just before mile 1 in the BOF 10K.

On Saturday, August 14, Shelburne Falls hosted the infamous Bridge of Flowers 10K.  Infamous because of the little hill that comes just after the two mile mark.  That hill slows everybody's time down by at least a minute.  Not a PR course.  For the good guys, Bob Wiles led the way.  He did an excellent job covering for the absence of Justin Fyffe.  Bob started off conservatively and moved his way up into the top six by the time the race ended.  Second up for the Polar Bears was DoubleJ.  Donning an early 90s vintage Polar racing singlet, Jim plowed up the hill and through the course to finish fifteen overall.  The next two runners, Andy McCarron and Mike Quintal, have been consistent performers for CMS throughout the whole GPS series.  They finished 15 seconds apart for 17 and 19 place, respectively.  CMS' 5th man, Ben Jenkins, really bailed out the team.  He came up big as the last man to score.  The team time between second and third place was a mere two seconds.  Ben's push to be the 5th man to cross the line ensured second place for CMS.  Other guys on the team also performed well.  Kevin Tilton, Tim Mahoney, and Jim Pawlicki toughed it out over the arduous course.  So did top master performers Dan Verrington and Ernest Brake.  Many of these runners (Greg Hammett and Jeff Goupil, for example) are in the midst of upping their mileage for the fall season and trained through this race.  Watch out for these guys in October.  Still more team members were coming off the Cigna 5K which took place less than 48 hours before BOF.  

Team Results

1.  BAA  2:43.46

2.  CMS  2:48.32

3.  Whirlaway  2:48.34

4.  GBTC  2:51.55

5.  GSH  2:52.25

Individual Results

1.  B. Harvey 31:55

2.  N. Krah  32:28

3.  M. Ely  32:38

4.  E. Blake  32:35

5.  D. Smith  32:53

6.  Bob Wiles  33:0

15.  Jim Johnson  33:30

17.  Andy McCarron  33:43

19.  Mike Quintal  33:58

26.  Ben Jenkins  34:18

27.  Greg Hammett  34:25

40.  Kevin Tilton  35:04

48. Tim Mahoney  35:41

49.  Jim Pawlicki  35:43

55.  Dan Verrington  36:03

94.  Ernest Brake  38:35

98.  Jeff Goupil  38:49

See more pictures by Kristen by clicking here.