A jaunt around the pond: Laconia athlete plans run around Winnipesaukee

Nathan Lamarre jogs in downtown Laconia on Thursday afternoon. Lamarre is planning to run around Lake Winnipesaukee on Wednesday, May 15. Only two other people are known to have completed the 62-mile path. Daniel Sarch—Laconia Daily Sun staff photo
Published: 05-13-2024 11:00 AM |
For a certain kind of person, they can only think of a challenge so many times before they’re compelled to attempt it. Nathan Lamarre is that kind of person, and the challenge stuck in his brain is running around Lake Winnipesaukee.
Lamarre’s best guess is that only two people have previously tackled the challenge. At 62 miles, it counts as an ultramarathon, and a particularly challenging one at that, with more than 4,000 feet of vertical gain. The most recent person to do so was Myles Chase, who circled the state’s biggest lake in 2010. The only other person known to achieve the feat was Bruce Kneuer — Lamarre’s father-in-law — in 1989.
Lamarre is a 29-year-old Laconia resident who works as a licensed nursing assistant at the Taylor Community. He’s a graduate of Moultonborough Academy and, though he did plenty of running as a soccer and baseball player, he said he “absolutely hated” running as a teenager. His feelings about running changed during college in Massachusetts, when a man who became his mentor invited him to join him on a weekend jog around his neighborhood. Those runs were around 3 miles, Lamarre said, and he started to realize why running might be worth his energy.
“A couple of Saturdays in a row, I did it,” he said about the neighborhood runs. “I was never out of shape, I was always generally healthy,” so he was able to finish the runs without much trouble, and noticed how subsequent runs became easier.
“When I moved back to New Hampshire, I discovered trail running, which became a passion.”
Lamarre’s fascination with running took off. That first college jog took place in 2016, and by 2018, he completed a trail marathon, running 26.2 miles during a running festival on Cape Cod.
The next phase of his descent into running madness was due to YouTube, through which Lamarre discovered the world of ultramarathons, defined as any run that exceeds 26.2 miles. Infected with the bug, Lamarre signed up for the White Lake Ultra, which takes place on the 2-plus-mile trail around White Lake in Tamworth, during which runners endeavor to complete as many laps as they can in either a 12- or 24-hour window. Lamarre has done both, and in 2020, when the event was cancelled, he and his now-wife Becki decided to run their own 24-hour ultra there, together completing 75 miles in 24 hours. The following year, when the event was officially back on, Becki won the female division.
Since then, Lamarre has competed in a couple of Bubba’s Backyard Ultra events, held in Conway. Backyard ultras follow a specific format in which the course is usually around 4 miles on trails, easily finished within an hour. Each lap starts on the hour, and the event is won by the runner who completes the most laps.
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In 2021, Lamarre eclipsed 100 miles during Bubba’s, and he returned the next year without a specific goal, just a thought to see how far he could push himself. He clocked 140 miles over 43 hours in the 2022 event.
All along, he’s had the thought of running around Winnipesaukee, especially since he heard his father-in-law mention his 1989 run.
In the trail running world, Lamarre explained, there are certain routes in the White Mountains, such as the Presidential Traverse and the Pemi Loop, that most local trail runners have either done or hope to do someday. The loop of roads around Winnipesaukee call to him in the same way, he said.
“It’s just there,” Lamarre said. “I’m able to cover the distance, and since there’s this route there, it’s begging to be done.”
At 6 a.m. on Wednesday, May 15, Lamarre plans to set off from the Weirs Beach sign and head toward Gilford. He expects to follow major roads — Routes 11, 28, 109, 25 and 3 — with the exception of Alton Bay, where he’ll take 28A, and Moultonborough, where he’ll take Old Route 109.
Lamarre expects to average around 10 minutes per mile, and might take a few short breaks to eat or visit a restroom, which means he’ll probably arrive back at the Weirs Beach sign sometime between 4 and 6 p.m.
Though this will be a largely physical ordeal, Lamarre said the way that he approaches such runs is through an intentional mindset. Rather than seeing the course before him as a challenge that must be defeated, he sees it as an opportunity he has the rare privilege to experience.
“The way I look at ultras is that I get to be out there,” he said. “I’m so thankful for my wife giving me this time, I have a toddler and after work I try to relieve her, but to have a whole 10, 12 hours to do something that I love is not something that I want to waste.”
Welcoming the new guy
Myles Chase, owner of MC Cycle & Sport in Laconia, completed the same run in 2010. Because he did it to raise money for the Greater Lakes Region Children’s Auction, his run was in December, and he said it was difficult to regulate his body temperature. Lamarre shouldn’t have that problem, but he might experience another drawback, Chase said.
“The biggest challenge for me was the amount of pavement running,” Chase said. “The majority of ultras are on dirt or trails, which reduces the impact to your joints.”
Chase said he’ll be wishing Lamarre well, and looks forward to welcoming a third member into the club.
“I think it’s great to add someone else to the board,” Chase said.