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Approximately 65 seconds. Sixty-five seconds to go about 100 meters. A laughable time for a distance of that length. Though, Christopher McCaffrey's performance over the final 100 meters of Saturday's D1 Eastern Mass Championship was anything but laughable.
Entering Saturday's Eastern Mass Championship, the Brockton senior had been having a terrific final high school cross country season. McCaffrey's first big meet of the year was a 15:34 3rd-place performance at Twilight, which was about 35 seconds faster than his outing in 2015. A strong showing at Bay State provided a result of 16:41 and one of the fastest times of the day.
Fast forward to Wrentham this past Saturday and McCaffrey seemed poised for yet another strong result. In probably the most competitive field, Chris was competing well in the top seven of the field and well on pace to dip under 16:00. Then it hit on the slight downhill going into the homestretch of the course. McCaffrey was churning hard and trying his best to not lose ground on Thomas Lingard of Lexington and Chris Polanco of Lowell. At first it appeared that McCaffrey simply tripped and would unfortunately lose a few seconds, but still hang on to a top spot in the race. Though as he pushed himself up and tried to finish the race, it was quite apparent the Brockton runner was dealing with a serious case of fatigue.
Despite being only less than one hundred meters from relief, the young runner's legs could only support him a few seconds at time. Though collapsing every few seconds down the homestretch, McCaffrey would still find the will and strength to rise every time. As he inched closer to the finish line and athletic trainers guided him home, Chris would give up on getting up and succumbed to crawling. While it must have seemed like an eternity, a minute after falling with one meters to traverse, McCaffrey was finally splayed out on the finish line mat in a state of pure exhaustion and relief.
We have witnessed these types of finishes a few times. The most memorable one was back in 2010 when Saint Johns runner Ben Perron crawled to the finish line. The rules were adjusted after this race to allow medical personal to be able to have a "hands-on medical examination". Other States have allowed competing runners to assist in the process. Is that really a bad thing?
We caught up with Chris McCaffrey and asked him a few questions about his dramatic finish.
MS: What were your goals going into the Division 1 Meet?
CM: "My goals heading into the division 1 meet was a top 5 finish so I was pretty confident in my ability to make all states but really wasn't positive cause anything could happen as seen in the end of my race. I really wanted to finish in that elite group at the top and show people who that kid from Brockton was. I also was aiming for a sub 16 to 15:50 time which I believed were all achievable for myself because of how hard I worked this season.
My goals heading into the division 1 meet was a top 5 finish so I was pretty confident in my ability to make all states but really wasn't positive cause anything could happen as seen in the end of my race. I really wanted to finish in that elite group at the top and show people who that kid from Brockton was. I also was aiming for a sub 16 to 15:50 time which I believed were all achievable for myself because of how hard I worked this season."
MS: Explain to us exactly what happened in the last 100 Meters of the Race?
CM: The last 100 meters of the race were pretty incredible and something I'll never forget. So as I was making the turn into the final 100 meters I knew I was exhausted but didn't realize exactly how exhausted I really was. I saw the finish line so my mind immediately thought "Go!" While my body was kind of on a different page. My body was pushed to its limits but I refused to have that stop me from finishing the race. So immediately when I hit the downhill my legs gave out from underneath and I fell and I just went with it. I said to myself "ok get back up and get to that line", so that's what I did I got back up and focused on my form but noticed that my legs were not responding at all and they gave out from underneath me again. I just kept telling myself " get up and finish" I was not going to let my body beat my mentality because I have never been so determined to finish a race. I couldn't hear anything I drowned out all the noise and once I stumbled close enough to the finish line I figured I might as well crawl if running isn't working so that's what I did. I really didn't know where the finish line was so I put my hand on some plastic board and just hoped that was the line. That's when the nurse came over and she said I had finished and I became so relived but still confused at what had just happened. My whole body just collapsed once I cross the line and I had pushed myself past what my body could handle but I was proud to have finished. I never thought once through that final 100 meters that I would give up, that did not cross my mind. I was too close and to determined to finish what I had started and what I had been training for the whole season. I love running and I love my city and in that final 100 meters was what I was willing to put up with for the sport and the name across my jersey.
MS: it is quite obvious your body just completely shut down, but is the mind still functioning clearly?
CM: Yes the mind was still functioning clearly for the most part. When I kept falling and getting back up I really didn't hear anyone just me breathing and me saying to myself in my head "get to that line". Every time I got up my eyes went straight for that finish line and not once did I lose focus of my ultimate goal of finishing.
We wish Chris the Best of Luck as he crawled his way to the All State finals this weekend in Gardner.
