by Chris McWatters
The weeks leading up to the race brought a lot of rain and intermittent heat. After everyone watched on, trying to guess the weather forecast for the race weekend, we ended up with a fantastic day! Overcast, not too hot, not too cold. The runners enjoyed a nice challenge with a pretty beat up course from previous races hosted by the park. For each distance competed in, runners were mostly spread out.
For the 50 miler, Anthony Jacobs set out in the lead and maintained it all the way to the finish line. He crossed first overall with a time of 7:18:31. Nicole Studer kept her impressive racing streak alive with a second place overall and first female finish, crossing the line in 7:25:21. Which also set a new female course record for this park. Lorenzo Sanchez came in just seconds behind her for the second male, followed by Joe Cooper, Thomas Orf, and Brian Hill. Michelle Ryan was the second female, then Andreana Haley, Randi Schooley, and Stephanie Bleich were the next females in.
For the 50km, Matt Smith was the first in at 3:57:45 setting himself well apart from the rest of the field. Melanie Fryar ran a solid run mostly by herself as well, and was the first female and second overall for this distance. The next males across the line were Gabe Leatherwood, Stefan Grater, and Fred Riethmiller, and Paul Salazar. The next females to come in were Sydney Pitt, Cara Bass, Katie Bryant, and Jody Koehler.
The 25km, which was once again part of the La Sportiva Mountain Cup Series brought out fast runners from several states. Ryan Woods found his way to the top with a mark of 1:36:20. Soon after, Matthew Kempton and Skyler Cummins came in. After a little gap, Logan Martin and Anthony Rimas rounded out the top 5.
For the 10km, John Cavallo finished in 43:45 for the champion position. Gary Krupala, Devin Wimberly, Llew Williams and David Repp were the top 5 males. Karen Roberts won the women’s division in 55:27. Then Jennifer Pellerin, Adrean Ho, Jan Owen and Kelly Bates finished out the top 5 females.
Logan Schaunaman beat out his younger brother Caleb for the first and second finishers of the kids mile. Then Rider Yeaman, Andy Brown Roberts and Cardmon Fryar brought in the top 5 males. Katherine Brown Roberts was the fastest young lady in 10:39. Grace Brown Roberts, Easterly Yeaman, Brinlee Chatland, and Bella Chatland were the next females across the finish line, several of which was their first trail run ever!