Pub Series Purgatory Continues at Irish Village
Perfect Publicans – Men’s Standings – Women’s Standings – Schedule & info – For all things Pub Series click promotions on top of homepage (Comments at bottom of this page).
No washouts with the weather and no wipepouts in the Series following the Irish Village 5M, although there was definitely movement up and down the leaderboard as several runners had superlative outings following Boston, a few not so great, and many of the pretenders to the Golden Goblet dropped like dried husks of corn from a ripening field.
First off, ala Doyle’s, Pub point man Joe Navas withstood the early onslaught of Chris Teague and, ala Doyle’s, caught the Liverpoolian at the turnaround and (unlike Doyle’s) blew out the second half of the course to win going away in 26:09 with Teague trailing in 26:50, clear and away from the chase pack. Navas’s lead now extends to 4 points over Mr. Teague, whose wife and son carried him off to a waiting vehicle containing the kids swing set, to be erected on the mainland win or lose (it ain’t easy).
Surprise BAA entrant Kristin Murphy had the freshest legs on the women’s side, running 5:54 pace to post up in 29:28. In a tie with Mimi Fallon for Pub Supremacy, Lara Johnson ran with Ms. Fallon, then Ms. Murphy before cruising in second in 29:59 for a 1-point advantage over the defending champ (30:35) with smilin’ Sarah Healey solidifying the fourth slot (and third in the Series) in 31:05.
Second Pack Shake-Up News
adidas Point man Mike McGrane was flashing his bright yellow adiracers up front in the chase pack but hot on his heels were six other runners, with a healthy number from the Cape. It was, however, defending champ Terry McNatt that “moved like a threshing machine through the field.”
That was our prediction on a previous post before former Pub champ and now sideline sniper Jason Cakouros informed us that Terrible Terry had, indeed, run Boston – so we amended the article but we needn’t have as Our Hero placed third in 27:21 followed by Publicans Mighty Macdara Nash, the Cape’s own Ray Joseph and McGrane – all moving up the leaderboard.
Corey Fehnel didn’t show for Irish Village and dropped like a rock, from 3rd to 9th. On the women’s side, Senior wunderkind Marge Bellisle finished sixth (32:28) with Merideth Leenhouts seventh, bringing Marge wiithin one point of Leenhouts as the duo hold down the 4-5 positions.
Congrats to Medfield’s Mary Brown and Watertown’s Connie Chiueh who finished 10th and 11th as they move into the women’s Top 10. Also to Team Fabulous member Laurie Anglin who moves onto the leaderboard despite the weekend celebration of Kate Maslowski’s 28th birthday (which carried on to Molly’s later in the evening with a hardcore group of 20-25 pool playing Publicans).
Leave it to Iron Joe Drugan to break a three-way tie for third among Veterans (60-69), a division led by the indomitable Gordon McFarland who ran 29:25 (5:53 pace) to place as the top 50+ runner.
Not far behind at 6:01 pace, Paul “Corky” Corcoran (top Master from the 1998 Series) clipped steady Dave Wessman to tie up the Senior Division at 16 points apiece.
Other News?
Congrats to “Wingman” Chris Spinney, Cow Country Barry Auskern and Jean-Guy Gaetano Barra on their first Pub points. Thomas O’Donaghue (the younger) is now commonly referred to as “the kid in yellow” as in “Look at that kid in yellow.” Thomas, 11, ran 7:12 pace to clip the “Old Man” again after letting him hang for three miles. The Kid in Yellow
Dinged and coming off Boston, Super Vet Patty Foltz had to beat back a few challenges from young admirers while actually picking it up in the 4th-5th miles (is that fair?).
OK, it didn’t rain during the race but it was still damp, dreary and the outside section cordoned off for Publican patrons (for the first time in Pub Series-Irish Village history) was used by only a stalwart few. Inside featured the usual bang-up post-race repast and the Yarmouth Fire Dept. did a yeoman’s job. The race had a record 518 entrants and 453 finishers.
The last finisher was the amazing Louis Peters of Methuen who ran 13:46 pace at age 84 and is now 3-3 in the Series.
A 5-week respite and it’s on to Squantum! Perfect Publicans – Men’s Standings – Women’s Standings – Schedule & info
