This will be the 25th year of the event (which takes place on Sunday, Dec 7th). Starting in Nashua, NH, the relay closely follows the Merrimack River before ending in Lawrence, MA, just over 27 miles later. The relay has 12 different divisions and consist of either 3 or 5 runners depending on the division. Most divisions do have 5 runners though. Below are links to the 5 legs:
Leg 1 - 5.6 miles
Leg 2 - 4.75 miles
Leg 3 - 2.50 miles
Leg 4 - 9.5 miles
Leg 5 - 4.75 miles
My club (The Gate City Striders) hasn't won the overall title since 2000 but has had a couple of 2nd and 3rd place finishes since then. I do like our chances this year so hopefully we'll be successful in 2008 and will bring home the trophy (and accompanying bragging rights).
I'll be running in the Mens Masters division with the following teammates:
Mike Wright
Mike Wade
Steve Wolfe
Joe Donnelly
Brian Crane
This is by far the fastest team I've been on so I'm pretty excited about our chances, at least in our division. Thankfully they were kind enough to give me the short leg.
Below is the complete list of clubs and how many teams they are fielding in each division.
| Club | CM | CO | CS | CV | FM | FO | FS | FV | MM | MO | MS | MV |
| Andover Striders | 1 | 2 | | | | | | | | | 1 | |
| Gill's Athletic Club | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||
| Gate City Striders | 2 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| Greater Derry Track Club | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Greater Lowell Road Runners | | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Mystic Runners | | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Melrose Running Club | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Merrimack Valley Striders | 1 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | ||
| New Hampshire Athletic Alliance | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| North Medford Club | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | |||||
| North Shore Striders | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| Sandown Rogue Runners | | 5 | 1 | |||||||||
| Squannacook River Runners | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||
| Shamrock Runners Club | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Somerville Road Runners | 1 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | |||||
| Winner's Circle Running Club | 2 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | |
| Wicked Runners Club | | 6 | 2 | |||||||||
| Grand Total | 17 | 48 | 14 | 3 | 12 | 18 | 6 | 2 | 20 | 19 | 17 | 11 |
Division key:
CM - Coed Masters
CO - Coed Open
CS - Coed Seniors
CV - Coed Veterans
FM - Female Masters
FO - Female Open
FS - Female Seniors
FV - Female Veterans
MM - Mens Masters
MO - Mens Open
MS - Mens Seniors
MV - Mens Veterans
