Relatively cool air temperatures but a high relative humidity that everyone talked about greeted and challenged the hundreds who took to the trails of Texas’s Huntsville State Park today. The men’s and women’s races were fights to the finish, but Matt Laye (post-race interview & race report) and Nicole Studer (post-race interview) proved faster than the rest of the field. They took home the men’s and women’s wins.
You can find our full play-by-play of the race as well our preview on our Rocky Raccoon 100 Live Coverage page.
As usual, we’ll be updating this article with additional results as well as links to Rocky Raccoon 100-related articles, photo galleries, and race reports.
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2014 Rocky Raccoon 100 Men’s Race
[Editor’s Note: This section was penned by our live-coverage source, Kim Wrinkle. Thank you, Kim!]
On a humid day that forced numerous drops and produced as many casualties and pace adjustments, Matt Laye weathered the weather best in a stellar time of 13:17, the fourth-fastest ever for the event and an amazing 100-mile debut for the San Francisco Bay Area standout. He earns a ticket to the Western States 100 through the Montrail Ultra Cup. Laye broke away from course-record holder and Grand Slam record holder Ian Sharman at about mile 66 and maintained his lead for the remainder of the race despite Sharman’s hard-charging effort over the final of the course’s five 20-mile circuits.
Matt Laye cruising to his first 100-mile finish, and win! Photo: iRunFar/Kim Wrinkle
Sharman placed second a a bit more than 20 minutes back despite leading for much of the race, while 18-year-old Jared Hazen finished third in an outstanding 13:58. Fourth place Steve Speirs wasalso the fastest masters runner. Young Jared and master Steve both earned their tickets to Western States, as Sharman already had a spot. Speirs was amazed each lap to find he had gained one to three spaces due to dropouts among the leaders, including early leader Dave James, the leader through the middle of the race Peter Hogg, and top-five runner Ryan Ghelfi.
Fifth place went to Neal Gorman, back after a difficult 2013 and after walking for two hours early in the race. Instead of dropping, he vowed to finish and worked his way from outside the top 10 to one spot away from a much-coveted Squaw Valley slot. Josh Finger placed sixth, Jason Lantz seventh, and 17-year-old Ford Smith eighth. Rounding out the top 10 were David Ploskonka and T.J. Dunham.
2014 Rocky Raccoon 100 Men’s Results
- Matt Laye – 13:17:42 (post-race interview & race report)
- Ian Sharman (SCOTT) – 13:38:03
- Jared Hazen – 13:57:17 (post-race interview)
- Steve Speirs – 15:26:25
- Neal Gorman – 15:31:34
- Josh Finger – 15:49:46
- Jason Lantz – 15:54:55
- Ford Smith – 16:09:06
- David Ploskonka – 16:38:36
- TJ Dunham – 16:39:03
Jared Hazen, third place. Photo: iRunFar/Kim Wrinkle
2014 Rocky Raccoon 100 Women’s Race
Michele Yates came to Rocky Raccoon with the intention of going after Jenn Shelton’s 14:57:18 course record, which is also the American trail 100-mile record. She ran aggressively as long as she could today, but she reached the time she couldn’t somewhere before mile 72. When she arrived into the mile 72 aid station, she DNFed, citing several physical issues.
As Michele sat in the aid station, two women passed by in close succession, Texas’s Nicole Studer and Nebraska’s Kaci Lickteig. The two had been running relatively close together all day, and their territory was going to get closer. At mile 86, Nicole and Kaci were in first and second with Kaci 11 minutes back. But just six miles later, their gap was six minutes. At the finish line, Kaci had closed to just under four minutes. But it was Nicole Studer who was the stronger of the two, who resisted Kaci’s pressing, and who crossed the line in first place.
Nicole Studer after winning. Photo: iRunFar/Kim Wrinkle
As for the rest of the women’s top 10, these women were the ones who survived the carnage of the day. Most of them were farther back in the rankings during the race’s first half. Take third-place woman Shaheen Sattar, who sat in the back of the top 10 early. Fourth place Larisa Dannis and fifth place Riva Johnson, each of these women had what you might call steady-burn days. No supernovas, no fizzle outs, just a steady burn from tape to tape.
Filling out the back half of the top 1o were Tracy Dimino, Starshine Blackford, Amanda Boston, Lisa Plantier, and Cindy Stonesmith.
Note that the top-three women, Nicole, Kaci, and Shaheen all earn entries into the Western States 100 through the Montrail Ultra Cup if they would like them.
Heavy hitters like Pam Smith, Connie Gardner, and Paulette Stevenson dropped.
2014 Rocky Raccoon 100 Women’s Results
- Nicole Studer – 15:42:04 (post-race interview)
- Kaci Lickteig (Pearl Izumi) – 15:45:32 (post-race interview)
- Shaheen Sattar – 16:45:26
- Larisa Dannis – 17:10:30
- Riva Johnson – 17:27:06
- Tracy Dimino – 19:51:13
- Starshine Blackford – 20:14:43
- Amanda Boston – 20:16:35
- Lisa Plantier – 20:47:47
- Cindy Stonesmith – 21:42:23
Kaci Lickteig closed in hard on second place. Photo: iRunFar/Kim Wrinkle
2014 Rocky Raccoon 100 Articles, Race Reports, and More
Articles and Photo Galleries
Race Reports
- Matt Laye (1st man)
- Ian Sharman (2nd man)
- Pam Smith (DNF)
Thank You!
Thank you to all of the iRunFar friends and volunteers who brought Rocky Raccoon’s live coverage alive, including Kim Wrinkle, Dave Hanenburg of Endurance Buzz, and Montrail/Mountain Hardwear’s Byron Pittam. Thank you also to our CoverItLive moderators Travis Trampe, Aaron Marks, Tom Caughlin, Andrew Swistak, and David Boudreau!
