4th annual

1) Stick to your routine. Don’t try anything new on race day. Avoid the urge to buy some new energy bar, shoes, socks, shorts in that I-want-an-edge last minute impulse. Stick with what you know worked during your training. It will work on race day too.

2) Warm up before the race. Create a pre-run routine that gets your body and mind in the right place. The starting gun will get your butt in gear, but better to be in an active place mentally and physically beforehand.

3)Eat a light and simple for breakfast a couple hours before the start. The Bobcat Bolt starts at 9am. Have your routine breakfast at 7am (see tip #1) and then a small snack at the start. (Note:The Bolt provides bagels, bananas and coffee for runners from 7am to 9am on race day.)

4) Be fashion prepared. Bring the right clothing. If it happens to be cold on June 22nd (unlikely) make sure you have an old long sleeve shirt or something you can wear right up until the start. If it’s raining (It wont be! But we go rain or shine) a light breathable waterproof shell is good.

5) Go with the flow. You never know what might happen on the morning of the race. The weather could be different, you could get a flat tire, have a stomach ache, or feel nervous. Relax and go with the flow. We’re out there to have fun. Keep calm and carry on.

6) Drink (water) Responsibly. When taking water from the aid stations (the Bolt has 5) – pinch the cup at the top to funnel the water into your mouth and avoid taking too big a swig or giving yourself a wet t-shirt.

7) Visualize Your Run. Familiarize yourself with the Bobcat Bolt course. If you happen to live locally – bike the course or drive it beforehand. This will let you know what’s coming up (like the last hill, 1/4 mile from the finish, on the 10k coming off Bucks Hill Rd! It’s a killer!) and help you mentally.

8) Hydrate. Hydrate. Hydrate. Start sipping water the minute you wake up on race day. Keep drinking water right up until the race starts.

9) Consistency – uphill and downhill. Run a consistent pace throughout the 5K or 10K. Your pace might slow a bit as you hit the hills (first big hill past Oyster River Middle school in mile 1). Use your arms (swing them) to help you top the hill and expect your pace to increase slightly on the downhill sections by lengthening your stride. If you want to mix it up, I err on the conservative on the first half of a race. This ensures I have some kick at the end to finish strong.

10) Stick around for the Oyster River Festival. After finishing strong grab some water and a plate of food from our longtime sponsor Bugaboo Creek Steak House and sit tight until 1030am when the Oyster River Festival fires up with music and craft exhibitions.

Andrew and Robyn Gault of Gault Builders join ORAA treasurer Anita Mathur in presenting a $2500 donation to Stephen and Donna Hardy for the Nate Hardy Award and Josh Hardy Scholarship. The remaining $1000 was donated to ORAA mini-grants and scholarships in the names of Nate and Josh.

The Bobcat Bolt 5K, 10K & Kids Fun Run was established in 2009 in an effort to bring together our community in honor of Josh & Nate Hardy and help support the youth of the Oyster River School District. 

In 2012, with the support of the our generous community, the almost 400 runners who came out for the 4th Annual Bobcat Bolt and the Oyster River Alumni Association (501(c)(3) NonProfit), the event donated $3,500 to the 2013 scholarships fund.

Robyn and Andrew Gault, owners of Gault Builders (our founding sponsor) delivered the donation to  Stephen and Donna Hardy in front of Oyster River High School in March 2012.

“We are very excited to honor the winners of the 2012 scholarships.  Both Josh and Nate taught us that, no matter how hard things get, life is for living. The winners of these awards embody that spirit.”

-Dr Stephen Hardy

About the scholarships:

Josh Hardy Art Scholarship
Josh Hardy died of a brain tumor in 1993, his senior year of high school. The Josh Hardy Art Scholarship is given to a graduating senior who has found the ORHS Art Program to be a special place for growth and development.

This year’s winner, Harry Slepian, is described by the art teachers as “intensely creative” and “quirky.” His excellent work crosses dimensions from a life-like clay bison to the sketch of a winsome Cinderella dressed as a pin-up. Harry, now a freshman at UNH, has brought his talent to their Fine Arts program.

Nate Hardy Athletic Scholarship
Nate Hardy, the youngest of three, died in 2008 while assaulting an al Qaeda suicide bomber compound as a member of SEAL Team 6. That year, Don Maynard (ORHS Athletic Director) and the ORHS coaches established an award for a male and female varsity athlete who “best exemplifies what Nate stood for on and off the playing field: physical and mental toughness, leadership, and determination.”

This year’s male winner, Alex Johnson, played 3 years of varsity soccer and 4 years of indoor/outdoor track, while earning a 3.05 GPA. His soccer coach wrote that he “prepared for the season, practices, and games, better than anyone else.” He will be attending the University of Colorado at Boulder.

This year’s female winner, Isabel Gorham, played three years of varsity soccer and four years of both varsity basketball and tennis, all while earning a 3.52 GPA. Her soccer coach wrote that she was “Highly respected by her teammates and coaches, “ and that she “earned her place as a senior captain on our team this year because the players wanted to follow her.  Under her guidance, our soccer team learned not only to play with each other, but to play for each other.  Just as Nate would have liked it.”  She will attend Wheaton College where she plans to play either soccer or basketball.

Hocking won last year’s race with a 10K time of 33:22 and a 5:23 pace. He probably had a training plan…

With 120 days left to train for the Bobcat Bolt (June 22 is race day) there is still plenty of time to physically prepare for either the 5K or 10K. Lets get started! No time like the present! The best way to make sure you’re there for the fun on race day is to build yourself a solid training plan. Our friends at CoolRunning have a good “Couch to 5k” plan and there are tons of schedules to choose from online.

Here are some tips that I have found helpful in my own casual training experiences for road races and triathlons:

1) Find a Partner(s) in Crime - Statistics tell us that people who exercise with a friend are more successful at exercising consistently. You can keep each other accountable. Knowing that someone is waiting for you to exercise with them can be great motivation to show up and get it done!

2) Post Your Training Days (eg: 3x/week) on a Calendar - This is another way to keep yourself accountable. By scheduling your workouts on a calendar, preferably one that you are see everyday, you have another tool to keep yourself accountable. I have been practicing at this by mapping out the month on the whiteboard I use in my office – so I cannot escape the reality of what I’ve done (“X”) and what I’ve blown off (“O”). This puts my training in perspective despite how I might feel on any given day (motivated or… more likely not motivated).

3) Protect Your Time to Train - One step beyond marking up your calendar is setting the actual time of day to train. Like Ferriss Bueller famously said, “Life moves pretty fast…” and then he said some other stuff that doesn’t really apply here… But the point is that all of our lives feel really busy. It is simply too easy to justify skipping a run because your day takes an unexpected turn. UNLESS I protect that time like it’s an important meeting or appointment, I find myself lowering the priority of my workout as other things creep into the day. A work out first thing in the morning helps ensure that you don’t skip it later in the day. But the downside is you have to get up earlier.

4) Establish Goals –  If you’re a seasoned runner – this is always a part of the game. Trying for Personal Bests is part of what makes participating in these races rewarding. Headed into the 5th year of the Bobcat Bolt I’m sure there are lots of people in our community who have a time they want to beat – most likely their own from last year. That’s an easy goal to establish. If you’re a first timer or new to actually participating in a road race, then it’s a good idea to find your comfortable pace  (eg: currently run 9:15 miles and want to run 8:45 miles on race day) and setting a goal for race day depending on how much time you have to train. Tracking your distances and times is important if you want to get faster or go further. If you happen to have an iPhone, an easy way to do this is by downloading one of the myriad apps that track your workout.  I use the app called RunKeeper . If you dont have an iPhone – knowing the distance of your route and your stopwatch, with a notebook to write down your time, will do the trick. Either way the key is to keep track of your workouts. My friend Tim Ferriss  has logged every workout he’s completed since he was 18-years old. That’s a bit obsessive. If you’re familiar with Tim’s work (4-hour workweek, 4-hour body, 4-hour chef) you know he is an outlier of human experience to say the least. But he is a great example of extraordinary results by using careful progress tracking  systems.

5) Make it FUN. See the earlier tip about enlisting a partner in crime. A run goes by much faster with a good friend there to talk to. If you like your alone time – pop in your favorite music or an audio book. Reward yourself for sticking to your training schedule with a trip to the ice cream shop. Whatever it takes. Most of us are not training for the Olympics or competition. We’re training to participate in something fun and to feel good physically and mentally. So don’t lose sight of that either!

Having a training plan leading up to your race will make your whole experience more enjoyable. Not having one can lead to anxiety, further procrastination or, when it gets too close to the date of the race, the choice to “skip it.” I’ve been there. I’ve also followed my own advice, found great training partners, stuck to a plan, and made it fun…and had some of the best races of my life. On the flip side of that, I’ve shown up untrained without a plan and had a very different (less cool) experience. One glaring example was a triathlon that I had high hopes for and signed up months in advance. I got distracted and never made a plan but still planned on doing the race for fun. I barely trained, had no goal and on the day of the race I overslept and showed up 20 minutes after the start and had to beg the organizers to let me participate despite being a total junkshow. They let me – but needless to say I did not perform very well and I attribute it to not having planned from the start. The fact is, the overall experience is much more enjoyable if you know you’ve put in the effort and preparation for your race. You have a target pace. You have a goal for a time. These things give the day more purpose and really help build your confidence at the start line.

Next weekend, 7 days from now, I will be racing in the Escape From Alcatraz Triathlon in San Francisco. Full disclosure – until 1 month ago, even after doing a lot of races in my life, I HAD NO PLAN. I’ve been working hard to catch up, but as you runners and triathletes out there know – at a certain point you’re stuck with the reality of how much – or how little – you planned for the race. No doubt, as I dive into that 50-degree water in San Francisco Bay next week – I would be feeling better if I had focused a bit more on my plan.

Good luck in your training for the Bobcat Bolt or any other race you’re planning. You can register here to run the 5K or 10K.

Thanks,
CJ
Race Director/Co-Founder
Bobcat Bolt & Oyster River Festival

2012_bobcatbolt1

Mark your calendars! The 5th Annual Bobcat Bolt is set for June 22, 2013. Details are coming.

We are in the early planning stages for 2013 Bobcat Bolt and looking at a June date. Creating a consistent date is something that the Bobcat Bolt board feels strongly about for future events. The Seacoast running calendar is a busy one!

There have been some questions about the 2012 donation and I wanted to give the community an update. There is information in the Race Info section of this website: “where does the money go” which is a good resource for anyone with further questions.

As many of you know the Bobcat Bolt operates as part of the Oyster River Alumni Association a 501(c)3 non-profit. We are in the process of working out the final numbers, after paying all the bills from 2012, so we can make our donation to the Hardy Scholarships asap. Thank you for your patience as our volunteer staff finds the time to follow up on these matters.

We will post the details in the coming weeks regarding the final date and donation from 2012.

Thanks!
Christopher Jerard
Race Director

2012 Bobcat Bolt Start

Seacoast Online reported on the 2012 Bobcat Bolt and Oyster River Festival HERE

A very special thanks to all of our platinum and gold level sponsors who really helped make the day possible. Take a minute to check out some of their websites here and please consider them if you need services or products. There are great people behind all of these companies in the Seacoast, NH area. We highly recommend them!
Khol’s, Undertow/Super 7, Core Pediatrics of Core Physicians, The Gault Family, Gault Builders, Masiello Group/Farag Family, Durham Marketplace, Bugaboo Creek Steak House Isles of Shoals Steamship Co, Federal Savings, Direct Capital, Minuteman Painters, Great Bay Rotary, RockHouse Media, Weathervane and Timberline Signs.

Nate would have been especially proud to see a military presence among the volunteers. This included LSC Daniel L Field PNS SM HQ and MAC (EXW/AW), Steven E Wagner NMCB-27 from the Chief’s Mess at Navy Operational Support Center, Manchester. They worked the registration tables. Sea Cadet CPO Zachary J Letourneau, USNSCC – Monadnock Squadron was the greeter at registration. The UNH Wildcat ROTC Battalion was well represented by commanding officer Maj. Joshua Stringer, SFC Jose Caraballo and numerous cadets who did all the work of moving tables and chairs to set up the field and the finish area. We thank them all for their service to the Bolt and to us all.

And to all the other donors & sponsors, the volunteers, our dedicated board of directors, Oyster River High School and custodial staff, the Town of Durham, the Hardy family, and everyone else who contributes to making this event such a special day – THANK YOU!

Darren Miller delivered amazing photos of the event as usual. We will be posting more as they come in.

-Christopher Jerard
Race Director

********** MALE OVERALL RESULTS ***********
1 NICK SOUSA 28 SALEN MA 16:12
2 ALEXSANDRO MOREIRA 31 MELROSE MA 16:26
3 MICHAEL BRADY 52 DURHAM NH 18:53

MALE AGE GROUP: 1 – 19
1 27 ADRYAN GUPTILL 18 DURHAM NH 20:54
2 42 GABRIEL HERZ-KHAN 11 DURHAM NH 22:23
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 1 – 19
1 60 HANNAH HERZ-KHAN 15 DURHAM NH 23:24
2 83 ALANA ERVIN 11 MADBURY NH 25:04
MALE AGE GROUP: 20 – 39
1 14 BOB WILES 34 KITTERY ME 19:39
2 17 ANTHONY SMITH 23 MADBURY NH 19:46
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 20 – 39
1 40 KATIE BROCK 20 DURHAM NH 22:14
2 53 MOLLY HUBBARD 32 NEWMARKET NH 22:49
MALE AGE GROUP: 30 – 39
1 14 BOB WILES 34 KITTERY ME 19:39
2 18 JAMES HOULE 39 DURHAM NH 19:58
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 30 – 39
1 53 MOLLY HUBBARD 32 NEWMARKET NH 22:49
2 67 AMY HOWELL 34 BRAINTREE MA 23:56
MALE AGE GROUP: 40 – 49
1 19 CARSON SMITH 40 BRAINTREE MA 19:59
2 37 TIM HORTON 47 DURHAM NH 22:06
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 40 – 49
1 91 LYNNE VACHON 44 SOMERSWORTH NH 25:33
2 103 ELISABETH HINRICHSE 48 EXETER NH 26:12
MALE AGE GROUP: 50 – 59
1 11 MICHAEL BRADY 52 DURHAM NH 18:53
2 16 EARLE SMITH 51 STRATHAM NH 19:44
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 50 – 59
1 44 MICHELLE GRENIER 55 DURHAM NH 22:25
2 122 KRIS WEYRICK-SCOTT 50 DURHAM NH 27:19
MALE AGE GROUP: 60 – 99
1 107 MARTIN LEE 66 DURHAM NH 26:13
2 160 RYAN JAMES 64 LEE NH 29:22
FEMALE AGE GROUP: 60 – 99
1 195 ANNE KNIGHT 75 DURHAM NH 31:16
2 281 NANCYE JENKINS 63 DURHAM NH 45:58