Eloise Girard, from Craftsbury, leads a group of runners on Center Road in Calais. Girard won the F40-49 age group.
ADAMANT – Hardwick area runners represented strongly at the Adamant half marathon Saturday, capturing top spots after completing the 13.1 mile course.
The race, sponsored by Central Vermont Runners, saw record attendance with 113 runners assembled at the starting line. Increased numbers lead to increased competition.
Local runners were hot out of the gate, with Maxfield English and Alayne Tetor immediately positioning themselves towards the front of the pack.
The course starts with a gentle downhill to a long flat section alongside a shallow pond. Around the third mile, the race becomes more engaging as the course hits the hills. Runners pushed up and down steep hills navigating around farm machinery on the roads with sap buckets still decorating the maples and the smell of manure hanging in the air.
Emma Podolin (No. 3563), from Stannard, placed third in the highly competitive F30-39 age group.
The figure-eight course eventually descended back into Adamant village, then embarked on a second loop to the north, starting with a long gradual uphill. After a hill at mile 10 and a shoreline jaunt around Bliss Pond, runners were rewarded with a mile-and-a-half of mellower terrain, followed by a knee-hammering descent to the finish.
Ezra Merrill-Triplett of Calais was the overall winner with a time of 1:22:24, shattering the 2021 course record by almost a minute and a half.
Maxfield English of Wolcott was close behind, in the second-place spot with a time of 1:24:34. His pace of 6 minutes 27 seconds per mile set a new course record for his age group by a wide margin.
“Ezra was another level” comments English “He moved early, and while I had him in my sight most of the race, I never gained on him.” After a time, English found himself alone where he was able to enjoy the “stunning scenery.” English elaborates: “It was my first time on the course and the frequent, punchy climbs challenged my familiarity with typically longer grinds.” Both Merrill-Triplett and English went on to run the Genny Tenny 10 mile race the next day.
Tim Hogeboom, from Walden, was the most senior runner at the Adamant Half Marathon. He won the M70-79 age group.
Ira O’Meara-Costello of Hardwick slid into fourth place with a time of 1:30:52.
Avid runner Jim Flint, formerly of Craftsbury, came in first in his age category and sixteenth overall at 1:42:23.
“Adamant has an ambiance all of its own” says Flint, who first ran the course in 2019. “Reaching the 12-mile mark was the best feeling, knowing it was mostly downhill to finish!”
Tim Hogeboom, of Walden, kept standards high, finishing first in the over 70 age group with a time of 2:11:05, a pace that he describes as “conversational.” The banter with fellow runners during the first half of the race enabled him to dig deep near the end. “I struggled to keep running the last couple miles and lurched down the steep hill just before the finish line on legs that felt trashed.” Despite that, Hogeboom continues “I was smiling when I crossed the finish line.”
Hardwickian Alex Utevsky rounded out the field with a 2:09:17 finish.
Ezra Merrill-Triplett, from Calais, finished first of 113 half marathoners and set a new course record.
In the woman’s field Dylan Broderick of Middlesex breezed into the first-place finish with a time of 1:37:58. “I opted for my usual strategy of hammering downhills to compensate for the uphills, which are my love/hate nemesis.” Broderick remarks, she had energy to spare and was able to push harder than she expected towards the end. “It was helpful to have a few runners ahead of me that I had been struggling to keep in my sight for most of the race – so many strong runners out there!”
Half a minute later Craftsbury’s Alayne Tetor flew to the finish with a scorching 1:38:35. “I pushed hard to meet my personal goal, which I succeeded at,” says Tetor. “When the first-place winner came up behind me, I gave it my all to try to stay ahead of her, but she was just so incredibly strong, and she pushed ahead.”
Flint Maxfield English (#3552), from Wolcott, topped the M40-49 age group at the Adamant Half Marathon.
Emma Polodin of Stannard placed third at 1:44:32 and Eloise Girard of Craftsbury nabbed a strong 5th place finish at 1:46:37. “The course was challenging, filled with hills, but I’m thrilled with how the race unfolded” says Girard who set multiple personal records. That sentiment was shared by Tetor who pushed through cramping legs to the finish. “It felt great to cross the finish line knowing I had given 100 percent of myself out there. I limped over to the cold pond to soak my feet and calves until they stopped screaming.”
The Hardwick region was further represented by Riva Reynolds of Craftsbury with a finish of 2:07:15 and Melissa Jacobs of Craftsbury coming in at 2:32:59, sixth and 12th in their age groups respectively.
Mack Gardner-Morse, from Calais, ran leg two of the half marathon relay. He and Michael Travis placed first in the men’s relay division.
Riva Reynolds, from Craftsbury, crests the hill on Center Road. Reynolds placed sixth of 14 entries in the F40-49 age group.
This event was part of the Central Vermont Runners 2024 race series. For complete results and more information visit cvrunners.org
Ira O'Meara-Costello
