Forty-year-old Brandon Newbould is now considered a Masters runner, but that doesn’t mean he’s slowing down.
At the Cranmore Mountain Race in North Conway, N.H., on Oct. 16, Newbould passed 29-year-old Stephen Kerr of Massachusetts on a downhill late in the 10-kilometer race and held on to win in 49 minutes, 43 seconds. Kerr finished seven seconds behind.
Newbould also won his 40-49 age group by more than eight minutes.
The two-lap race, held at the Cranmore Ski Resort, is considered one of the tougher mountain running courses in New England and some years has been the qualifier for the U.S. Mountain Running Team.
Included in the nearly 2,500 feet of vertical gain is the infamous Koessler Trail, a short section that has an average grade of 37 percent and a maximum pitch of 53 percent — features that are right up Newbould’s alley with his Alaska running and hiking background.
Newbould, a 2000 graduate of Soldotna High whose teammates included Brent Knight and Andy Liebner, has a marathon personal best of 2:23:51, which he set while winning the Baystate Marathon in 2017.
Newbould resides in Nottingham, N.H., and primarily makes a living playing trombone and coaching cross country running.
Brandon Newbould (right) / Photo by Joe Viger