XTERRA New England Series Finishes Up at Loon Mountain

192 Runners Brave the Rain, Mud and 40% grades at XTERRA Loon Mountain Race

LINCOLN, NH - Doubling the number of finishers from last year, 192 hearty runners raced at the final XTERRA New England race at Loon Mountain Ski Area today.

"The course reminds me a European Mountain race" remarked XTERRA New England Trail Series Director Dave Dunham, who also finished second in today's race and was top Masters finisher. "People were stoked, they all had fun and enjoyed the sense of accomplishment from tackling the course today at Loon." continued Dunham.

Today's race winners were Paul Low of Belchertown, MA and Kasie Enman of Huntington, VT.  Low continued his dominance of the XTERRA New England series, finishing first in all three races.  Enman, in her first XTERRA race, finished 9th overall.  Besides her strength as a road runner, Enman showed her mountain running skill with a 4th place women's finish at this year's Mount Washington Road Race.

The race, which is also part of the La Sportiva USATF-NE Mountain Running Circuit, gave the competitors a mix of varied terrain and elevation change on the course.  Trail consisting of a mixture of ski area cat track and ski slope made for a challenge in the wet weather.  After ascending nearly 2000 feet in the first 4 miles of the course, the runners then made a long descent along the North side of the mountain where they then gained nearly 750 feet of elevation in less than three fourths of a mile, including some sections that were a 40% grade.  The last ascent forced many of the competitors to a leg burning power walk before they made the final steep descent back down to the finish line.

"There were a lot of new faces out there today, I think a lot of people got their first exposure to both mountain and trail running."  said Paul Kirsch, Race Director for the event.  "We had competitors from ages 12 to 75 out there on the course.  We're so fortunate to have such great sponsors as Inov-8, Fuel Belt and XTERRA.  Without them the race wouldn't be able to happen."

One of the more remarkable finishes of the day was by 12 year old Sean Doherty, of Conway, NH, who won the 19 and under division, finishing in 17th place overall and looking ready to run another lap as he was smiled coming across the finish line.

Complete results for the race can be found at www.coolrunning.com.  For more information on the LaSportiva USATFE-NE series, visit www.mountainrunning.com or www.usatfne.com/trail
Race photos and story will be posted later this week at www.whitemountainmilers.com

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