Sunday was a return to glory on the trails of Mine Falls in Nashua, N.H., home of the historic Moose is Loose 10 mile relay race. Writers and pundits are still talking about the stunning 2010 legendary E Streeters victory, a convincing win that will forver live in the annals of racing upsets. And the victors of that clash still boast their victory mugs, right Nate Tenczar, John Piekos, Barry Scanlon and your humble blog author?
Anyways, we can't always live in the past - except when it comes to recounting Moose upsets - so it was time to notch a new page in running lore with this year's competition. Enter: Scott Spence.
First up, this year's competition again saw two E Streeter teams, or as I dubbed them for this battle, the He Streeters and the She Streeters.
Shoutouts not just to Andrew Cook and Carlos Borges for rounding out Team Testosterone, but for newcomers Rebecca Newell, Donna Corbin, Mary-Jo Griffin, and Caitlin Campopiano for entering the fray!
The female contingent was all smiles for the pre-race warm-up. Would the smiles last?
A mother-and-daughter bridge
Proudly representing Team MCC
You can't just pass by these types of natural views without snapping a pic or two
Branching out to new photo locations
Finally it was racetime! Up for the first leg, Rebecca, Scott, and myself. Yeah, here's where it gets both confusing AND incredible. You see, Scott figured it wouldn't be enough to just do his 2.5 mile leg just once. No that's for mere mortals. Instead, he signed up with ANOTHER team, and ran the first leg for their team. So here's the folks I had to compete with in the first wave. One of them looks worried. The other one doesn't. You figure out which is which.
Okay, time for relay action shots!
Rebecca is all pumped up after her impressive leg of the four-member relay. Must have been all those inspirational signs out along the course.
Over on the men's side, Carlos finishes his lightning round and passes the baton to Superman...
Who's faster than a speeding bullet
From one Superman to another, it's time for the last leg, the anchor, if you will.
Remember the name of the race, the Moose is Loose? Can you spot the moose in this picture?
Mary-Jo is done waiting around, it's her turn for the hand-off from Donna!
Superman, meanwhile, manages a high-five from mom.
Yeah, because a moose medal makes you look SO bad-ass.
Meanwhile, mom hands things off to Caitlin for their anchor leg
And finally, the winner's chute, where Scott brought things home with authority!
A winning combo, no doubt, with or without the moose ears
At race's end, a mother-and-daughter reunion. One of these two is holding the other one upright.
Finally, awards time. And let's face it, it's all about the mugs.
This year, the E Streeters took home plenty of hardware, as evidenced by the photos below. Scott, by the way, captured honors with both a first AND second place team finish. Truly, a Herculean effort, this after notching his 1,300th mile running this year with our 10-mile outing on Saturday in Westford. And he still has more than four months to go in the year.
That's it for this year's Moose! Hope to see all of you - and more - back for next year's outing! In the meantime, victors, enjoy your libations, because we all know victory always tastes better in a Moose glass!
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