Notre Dame-West Haven runners embrace unique night race at Moonlight Madness Invitational
· Yahoo Sports
Notre Dame-West Haven juniors Dan Carone and Gavin Eddy did some homework leading into the third Moonlight Madness Cross-Country Invitational this past Friday in Swanzey, N.H.
That's understandable given the meet's unique setup - a race run under the lights at the Cheshire Fairgrounds, hosted by Monadnock Regional High School.
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The Notre Dame-West Haven boys varsity cross country team is pictured at last Friday night's Moonlight Madness in Swanzey, N.H. From left to right: Roko Kelly, Gavin Eddy, Christopher DePalma, Daniel Carone, Brendan Schneph, Gian-Luca Zinn, and Isaiah Gombar. (Rich Andreozzi/Contributed photo)"Going into the meet, I did some looking into it. I watched some YouTube videos of the races from the prior years and looked at the results," Eddy said in an email.
Carone also watched some YouTube videos of previous races to get an idea of what to expect.
"I have never ran a cross country race at night before, but I have done a few track races at night," Carone said in an email.
Notre Dame was one of 23 boys teams that competed, but the only one from Connecticut. The Green Knights finished sixth out of those 23 teams, led by a 21st-place finish from junior Carone (16:56.1) and a 22nd-place effort from Eddy (17:00).
"The most fun thing about this race was the experience at night, the community of runners around the course giving light and playing music in the dark, and the overall experience of adding cross country with the night time," Carone said.
"This was my first experience of running under the lights," Eddy said. "I enjoyed it a lot and it was awesome having the cool weather and dark atmosphere."
The course included two loops and was slightly longer than a 5K due to safety reasons, according to Notre Dame coach Rich Andreozzi, who was told so by meet director Clint Joslyn. The extra length added about 20 seconds to each racer's time. The course consisted of hard-packed gravel and some grass.
"It was run on a fairground similar to the Guilford Fairgrounds. The course was not quite as fast as I thought," Andreozzi said in an email. "A decent hill had to be climbed two times and the lack of light made the footing feel off at times, but overall it was a fun experience running on a lighted course with the music playing and 30 teams and families yelling and rooting."
A total of 32 schools, most from New Hampshire, sent teams to the meet.
"The toughest thing about running in this race was the travel, and the terrain was a little unfriendly," Carone said. "I was constantly battling with my legs, overextending multiple times over the course, and the constant change of surfaces kept it an uneven rhythm, but that's what comes with cross country."
"I'd say the toughest thing about running in this race was the hill that you had to run up twice during the race," Eddy said. "It was rocky and pretty steep, and you definitely had to fight your way up it."
Included in the race was a stretch where runners had to make their way through a barn. You read that right, a barn.
"I'd say the most fun thing about running in this race was the fun New Hampshire terrain," Eddy said. "Running through a barn isn't something you really get in Connecticut, so it was definitely a new and fun experience."
Carone and Eddy were joined by fellow Green Knight varsity runners Christopher DePalma (57th out of 180), Brendan Schneph (64th), Roko Kelly (76th), Guin-Luca Zinn (99th) and Isiah Gombar (106th).
"I'm proud of the boys and the way they raced, especially after sitting on a bus for two-and-a-half hours," Carone said.
DePalma is the lone senior in the group. Gombar is a junior, Schneph and Kelly are sophomores, and Zinn is a freshman.
"The overall experience was very good, lots of bonding," Andreozzi said. "Stopping to eat and getting back at 1 a.m. was tough but I think we would go back again."
Eddy's takeaway was that runners should be willing to try something different.
"I think it's something I'd like to do again. The whole experience was super awesome," Eddy said.
"What I can take away from this race is that running at night is very fun, and it is always good to try new races out of state," Carone said. "I would love to do it again, but I might do it a little bit differently travel-wise to really optimize our performances."
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