Gilford grad races through record books to Naval Academy

Some of the top competitors in endurance athletics from around the world make their way to Mount Washington, the tallest peak in New Hampshire, to scale the auto road all the way to the top.

With a daunting 22% max grade, the brutal course rises 4,650 feet over 7.6 miles and is uphill the entire way. It’s the stuff of legends, a perfectly befitting starting point in a story that may well go down in local history.

While tourists ride their cars to the top or hop onto the Mount Washington Cog Railway and inch their way to the summit, an elite class of athletes who numb their mind and embrace the suck take the feat on foot.

Patrick Gandini, 19, of Gilford, is one of those people. He wasn’t just a decade or more younger than many of the top finishers in the Delta Dental Mount Washington Road Race — he was the fastest Granite Stater to summit the course this year.

Before the race, Gandini wasn’t sure what to expect, but remembers thinking to himself, “Hopefully I can make it happen and be another New Hampshire guy to come out on top of the mountain.” 

Crossing the finish line in an impressive 1 hour, 6 minute trek to the top of the mountain, Gandini finished fourth overall in the race, first in his age group and first among competitors who call New Hampshire their home. 

“I think of it as a pretty historic race, a small, hometown kid showing up with a bunch of pros,” he said. “My outlook on training coming into that was kind of unorthodox.”

In the months leading up to the competition, Gandini wasn’t running 70-80 miles each week as he had in high school. He cut his training mileage back to somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 per week and focused on total strength and fitness, incorporating hiking and cycling into his routine, training hills just a handful of times. A few years ago, he may have taken a different approach, but he had another challenge on the forefront of his mind. 

“It was kind of weird,” he said. “But coming into the summer, I knew I needed to be strong.”

Because that wasn’t even the most extraordinary feat Gandini undertook this month.

The 19-year-old left the Lakes Region Monday for Annapolis, Maryland, where he will attend the U.S. Naval Academy and seek an officer commission while competing for the track and field team there. He received the nomination in 2023 to attend the academy from U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH). 

A 2023 graduate of Gilford High School and an Eagle Scout, Gandini spent the last 10 months in Newport, Rhode Island, where he completed a preparatory course for the Naval Academy that emphasized rigorous academics. 

He was a top athlete in high school track and field, running the mile in 4 minutes and 9 seconds, and the 0.5-mile in under 2 minutes — impressive feats by any standard. In 2022, Gandini won the state championship in cross country, where he set a course record, and placed fourth in the New England Championships. He went on to place 37th at the Nike Cross Country Nationals and multiple universities contacted him through the recruitment process, but once he set his eyes on the academy, his mind was made up.

“I always wanted to continue service in some capacity,” he said. “I realized this was a cool opportunity.”

He’s going into college completely undecided as to what his future major will be — he’ll need to make his choice at the end of his first year. But four years down the line, Gandini will be a commissioned officer of either the U.S. Navy or the U.S. Marine Corps.

Being around high-performing, motivated people was one of the most attractive aspects of attending the academy, he said. Once he learned what being there is all about, he was hooked. He’ll compete in cross country and track and field, both indoor and outdoor, while completing his studies.

“It ended up, at the end of the day, I realized that this was the ideal situation for me,” he said. “I’d like to have a really strong career while I’m at Navy, I want to compete at [the national championships] as a team for cross country. I’d like to do well individually, as well.”

On Saturday, Gandini visited MC Cycle & Sport in downtown Laconia. He worked there for five years, and counts it as a local spot that means something to him. He joked around with Myles Chase, who owns the shop, and service manager Corey Hart.

Beaming with enthusiasm, Gandini spoke about his interest in becoming a Navy pilot. He’s not sure which direction within the military he’ll go when all is said and done, but that particular vocation appeals to him — as long as he doesn’t have to take the controls of a helicopter.