For those who were outside Paddy’s Pub at 8:30 am (the volunteers, timing crew, vendors and Joe Brown) it was tres chilly. By 11:30 there was a bit of sun, still a good deal of wind (the balloon arch by the start was dismantled prior to liftoff), but a great day for racing and sudsing.
Defending pub titan Terry McNatt only needed a top 10 finish and hustled the maillot jeune across the finish line in the shadow of “sit and kickÛ_” ninja Lee Danforth of the HFC. Lee ran 15:47, kicking by Terry on the final Border St. straightaway to place 4th overall behind Alex Taylor, Matt Ely and former BU 4:08 miler Liam Revell who ran 15:02. In a moral victory, Lee cut a point off Terry’s total as the pair finished just 9-points apart, 282 to 273.
Mike McGrane’s mom spurred him on to Pub Series bronze, while Derek Dorval survived a scare in the 4th position as Chris Smith cut Derek’s 9-point lead down to 4. With McNatt & Smith bumping up from the 40+ division to open cash ($150-$125-$100-$75-$50), a valiant John Noland completed a successful injury rebound to claim top Master ($50) ahead of CT’s John Tolbert and Jimmy Fallon.
Tolbert, the elite athlete liason for the New Haven 20K, had a strong second half of the Series and jumped ahead of SRR’s Jim Sullivan in the Open division while breaking a tie with Mr. Fallon in the Masters category.
Thirsty Irish Runner Dave Wessman three-peats plus 1 (as in four x) as Senior suds champ with 1998 Pub Series Masters champ Paul “Corky’ Corcoran of HFC taking second with John Winters third and Cape bartender Jim McLaughlin fourth.
Gordon “FlashÛ_” McFarland ran the BAA Half last week but the sojourn didn’t cost him serious Pub points as he ran 17:39 at Paddy’s and ended up 4 points ahead of a very game Iron Joe Drugan. A game of darts in the Fitzgerald Room at Doyle’s may be needed as a tiebreaker as Duke Hutchinson was caught in the standings by steady Dave Pember. Unlike the decisive donnybrook staged by Ana Hubert and Christine Bradley among women contestants, Duke and Dave end the malt procession in a tie (for third).
The always erudite Dr. Bob Hillman repeated as Septuagenarian speedster with assistant book marker and Marshfield RR teammate Tom Wright 3-frothy points behind.
Also, in a virtuoso display of legs, lungs and livers, Stowe, Vermont’s Tom & Patty Foltz ran the Bay State Marathon in the morning, hopped in the car, paid their entry at Paddy’s, pinned on their numbers and were escorted through the course by women’s winner Mimi Fallon.
Via cellphone, Team Fabulous was alerted to the trio’s progress and joined them for the final half-mile (group photo with the Women’s Results). Wooo-hooo!
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Award night at Doyle’s awaits in Dec. with the 12th annual Malt & Hops lineup to follow early in 2009. Thanks to all for a great 2008 Series and we’ll see you down the road.
NER Pub Series 2008 Men’s Final Standings After 6 of 6 Races
Open Men (Top 50 Score)
1. Terry McNatt 282
2. Lee Danforth 273
3. Michael McGrane 255
4. Derek Dorval 231
5. Chris Smith 227
6. John Noland 224
7. John Tolbert 188
8. Jim Sullivan 187
9. Dave Wessman 161
10. Jimmy Fallon 143
11. Gordon McFarland 131
12. Paul Corcoran 92
13. Nikhil Jain 77
14. Frank Hope 61
15. Chris Crema 59
16. Iron Joe Drugan 31
17. Ben Nosek 25
18. John Winters 23
19. Mit Gnivri 20
20. Duke Hutchinson 14
20. Jim McLaughlin 10
21. Jack Murphy 5
22. Dave Pember 2
Masters (Top 10 Score)
1. Terry McNatt 58
2. John Noland 41
3. Chris Smith 32
4. John Tolbert 22
5. Jimmy Fallon 18
6. Jim Sullivan 14
Seniors (Top 8 Score)
1. Dave Wessman 41
2. Paul Corcoran 24
3. John Winters 9
4. Jim McLaughlin 7
5. Tom Foltz 2
Veterans (Top 6 Score)
1. Gordon MacFarland 29
2. Iron Joe Drugan 25
3. Duke Hutchinson 15
4. Dave Pember 15
5. Charlie Farrington 3
5. Joe Brown 3
Super Vets 70+ (Top 4 Score)
1. Bob Hillman 8
2. Tom Wright 5
Click here for women’s final standings