Mill Valley, California, November 27. Caren Spore of Davis, California broke the women’s course record in winning the 28th annual Quad Dipsea race. Leor Pantilat of San Carlos, California threatened the men’s record before falling two minutes shy and won the race handily over training partner Gary Gellin. Pantilat became only the third person in race history to break four hours, joining course record holder Erik Skaggs and Carl Andersen.
Runners faced frequent rain showers throughout the morning and the trails slowly turned into a slippery quagmire. Of the 230 starters, 204 finished the rugged course, a four-way crossing of Mt Tamalpais north of San Francisco, which contains 9200 feet of climb packed into 28.4 miles.
Men
1. Leor Pantilat, 26, San Carlos, CA, 3:54:29
2. Gary Gellin, 42, Menlo Park, CA, 4:02:32
3. Christopher Mercaldi, 29, Stanford, CA, 4:23:50
4. Mark McManus, 37, Mill Valley, CA, 4:24:50
5. Jason Reed, 31, San Bruno, CA, 4:40:29
Women
1. Caren Spore, 42, Davis, CA, 4:38:33 (course record, old record 4:39:39 by Beth Vitalis, 2007)
2. Kara Henry, 25, La Selva Beach, CA, 5:16:11
3. Clare Abram, 39, San Carlos, CA, 5:31:51
4. Lainie Callahan, 34, Fair Oaks, CA, 5:41:49
5. Erika Kikuchi, 32, Woodside, CA, 6:00:09
Photo: A mud-splattered but happy Leor Pantilat (Lisa Henson photo)