Mark Feigen/Abbey Leonardi Champs -- Danbury Boys/Glastonbury Girls Team Champs

New England XC Championship
Derek Veilleux

On a unseasonable warm November day at Derryfield Park, in Manchester New Hampshire, several of the top XC runners from Rhode Island, Maine, Vermont, Connecticut, & New Hampshire lined up to see who would stake a claim to the best runner in New England as well as the the top team.

On the boys side, an unlikely winner emerged using a great last 800m to pass the rest of the field, Mark Feigen of East Greenwich, RI (pictured left with Joan Benoit Samuleson-- photo by Dave Flewelling) took the title with a 15:47.1 clocking to outdistance fellow RI runners Andrew Springer (Westerly) 15:48 & teammate Nick Ross 15:50. Feigen came into the race hoping for a top 3 finish, but after losing to Springer at last week's RI State meet, he said " After last week, I almost thought Springer was unbeatable".

The race started with a large pack of boys in a pack, and as they hit the mile mark in a conservative 5:05, the pre-race favorite Springer was at the firnt of the pack still with a large group on his heels. Just after the 2 mile as the runners headed down the steep downhill section before hitting the fields before the climb up to finish, Springer looked to be in complete command of the race. He had a 4-5 seconds lead coming down, and looked relaxed. Feigen the eventual race winner was in around 8-10th place at this point, a good 15+ seconds back of the race winner. The final 800m of the course certainly took its toll on several runners who had made their finish move a little earlier. The race really took shape the last 800m of the race, Eric Malnati (Fall Mountian, NH) the NH MOC winner surged to lead past Springer. As the runner hit the finish stretch, a long uphill climb of 200m+, it appared Malnati had the race won as he had a 3-4 seconds lead on Springer. Feigen at this point was still a long ways back, probably 8-9 seconds. When asked he he thought he could catch the leaders, Feigen said " I had no idea, I thought I was too far back, I was just trying to get by people, I thought I could get 1-2 spots in the last 800 of the race". The hill took its toll as Malnati started to struggle, Springer seized the moment and ran by him, by back about 5 meters Feigen & teammate Ross, along with Michael Levene (Joel Barlow, CT) were moving much better than the leaders and were closing ground fast. Springer still looked like he was going to have enough to hang on by with about 30 meters left, Feigen in full stride went by him to hold on for a 15:47.1 to 15:48 win. What was going through Feigen's mind with 50 meters left " I stillthought he (Springer) was too far away, but he kept coming back, I knew I wasn't going to come this far and not push it". Once I passed him, "I just tried to hold on". (Photo: finish of top 5 - Dave Flewelling)