Liberty AC weekend racing report – July 13 2025
The USATF-New England Road Mile and Falmouth Sprint Triathlon topped the marquee this weekend, with excellent group and individual results for Liberty.
In its second year and again staged at Hopkinton HS, the road mile championship was #3 of the six-race grand prix series (designed as seven, the February 4-miler cancelled due to weather). This was conceived and put on by our LDR chairs Amanda Watters & Mike McGrane (BAA), joined this year by Brian Cullinan (SRR), not by a commercial organizer or even a large club. The same out-and-back course as last year was used, and while a baseball tournament affected parking a bit, there was plenty of signage and other improvements from 2024. But let’s get to the races themselves.
Seven races over three hours (9:00a – 12 noon), starting with (non-USATF) community and youth races, each relatively small. Then came the five club championships (men age 60-plus, 40-59, and 39-under, then women 40-plus and 39-under). For those who ran in the recent 26 x 1M relay, running the same time here would equate to a 2-3 second improvement given that (a) the relay was 1600m and a mile is 1609m, (b) the road contained speed humps and some rough spots, and (c) certified road courses are measured an extra .01 percent as a ‘short-course prevention factor’.
In reverse race order, the women’s Open was the last and thus warmest race of the day. The course was sneaky-tough, starting with a gradual downhill first 400m, a slight uphill to the turnaround, then the reverse on the way back, meaning an uphill last 1/4M – so it takes a gutsy runner to summon a strong finish. Madeline Miller (5:42) put everything out there, finishing 25th and no one less than 2 years her junior in front. Right behind came Catherine Xie (6:18), Rachel Steely (6:42) and Kate Gilmartin (7:26). Check out these and everyone’s finishes on the race video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOK7mjC0or0&t=1935s !
Speaking of great finishes – and there were plenty throughout the day -- about 30 minutes earlier the Masters women took off and, as anticipated, the women’s 60s race turned out to be a duel between a pair of great friends and rivals, Mary Cass and Greater Lowell’s Trish Bourne. Or did it? Trish went with the flow and made the most of the early downhill, opening a big gap on Mary. Mary crawled back after the turnaround, but making the last turn with 50 meters left, still had lots of work to do – which she did, just catching Trish at the line, both credited with 6:12s. Not far back was Veronique Vanderhorst (6:21, 5th 55-59) followed by Alison Conway (6:37) and Lauren Leslie (6:40, 5th 60-64). Jennifer Stewart ran into the asthma buzz-saw but stayed the course (she’s so tough) in 6:43. Spirit-leaders Maria Rojas Duran (8:36) and Caitlin Sweeney (7:33) preceded Karen Lein’s 10:09 (8th 65-69). Oh, and did we forget that other great 60-plus trip of Jackie Shakar (6:55), Mary McNulty (7:06) and first-time Liberty racer Marge Bellisle (7:17)? Jackie (65-69) and Marge (70-74) joined Mary C. as divisional champions, while Mary Mc. Was 6th in the 60-64s.
You say you want team results? Liberty was strong and deep all the way – again, particularly for a smallish, all-women’s club. Details are below but a quick recap looks like:
· Open (combined times of first 5 finishers): 6th of 12 teams, 31:08
· Masters 40+ (5): 6th of 11, 32:33
· Seniors 50+ (5): 3rd of 8, 32:45
· Veterans 60+ (3): 1st of 7, 19:47
Younger runners don’t need to care about this thing called “age grading” because, we’ll, you’re young, looking to improve and set new PRs each year. But after a certain age – 40 is the semi-arbitrary guideline – you start slowing down, so age-grading provides a standard of comparison. Broadly, 100% = world record level, 90% = world class, 80% = national class, etc. Here, Mary Cass tied for the top spot among all over-40 runners at 88.7%, while Marge (82.8), Jackie (82.7) and Lauren (82.5) went 10-11-12, with Veronique just outside 80% at 79.5. Complete individual and team results for all races can be found at https://runsignup.com/Race/Results/166062/#resultSetId-565022;perpage:100
Compared to a one-mile footrace, “sprint triathlon” is an oxymoron at 1/3M swim + 8.5M bike + 5K run. But down in Falmouth that’s just what Viki Bok, Joanne Hill and Helene Sussman did. If you haven’t read about it on Slack, Viki broke the bugaboo of finishing behind the same runner three years, er, running, and winning her 60-64 division outright in 1:02:51 (8:45, 26:51, 23:57), making up a 2:00 deficit on the 5K, 12th out of 308 women overall. Joanne was a strong 7th in that division (66th overall) in 1:10:20 (11:51 - 26:09 – 27:15), as was Helene in 10th/194th overall), 1:23:25 (12:27 - 32:14 – 30:08).
Complete results: https://my.raceresult.com/349294/results#1_BF013D (photos on Slack!)
Thanks to all who represented Liberty so well this weekend – three triathletes, 15 milers, and let’s not forget Margaret Keaveny and Jan Holmquist, who registered as Liberty volunteers to help out in Hopkinton, Jan at the check-in table (achilles boot and all) and Margaret ably handling start-area athlete access and egress.
- John