We’re crisscrossing the United States to report on this week’s mixed bag of fall racing. Next week’s The North Face Endurance Challenge 50 Mile Championships and World Mountain Running Championships should wake us from our early November slumber though. Happy Monday, running friends!
Tunnel Hill 100 Mile – Vienna, Illinois
Thanks to Boa for sponsoring this edition of TWIR!
The flat-and-fast Tunnel Hill 100 Mile took place this weekend in Vienna, Illinois.
Men
Mike Bialick came away with the win in a zippy 12:59:43, just under that 13-hour mark. Jim Sweeney was second man home in 14:30. And Pete Kostelnick rounded out the podium in 14:48.
In the 50-mile race, Juan Moran was dominant with a 5:35 finish.
Women
The women’s race for the win was a lot closer than the men’s, with the top-four women finishing under 18 hours and within 40 minutes of each other. At the front of them all was Loretta Tobolske-Horn in 17:21. Lindsay Phenix was second in 17:33 and Cathy Downes took third in 17:52.
Stephanie Hill took home the women’s 50-mile win in 7:19.
Other Races and Runs
Mt. Tam Trail Run 50k
Inside Trail’s Mt. Tam Trail Run 50k, in the San Francisco Bay Area, celebrated Ryan Hoeck and Emma McCune as the day’s best in 4:22 and 5:16. Full results.
Lake Chabot 50k
Also in the San Francisco Bay Area, Bev Anderson-Abbs was the women’s champion and finished first overall at Coastal Trail Runs’s Lake Chabot 50k in 4:17. Kermit Cuff was first man, second overall, in 4:27. Full results.
Colossal-Vail 50/50
The Colossal-Vail 50/50 races start at the Colossal Cave Mountain Park and take in trails around the town of Vail, Arizona. Nathan Johnson and Angela Greynolds won the 50-mile race in 7:47 and 10:13, and Kevin Schofield and Caroline Mosley led the 55k in 4:15 and 5:27, respectively. Full results.
Franklin Mountains Trail Run
Out in the West Texas town of El Paso, Blake Benitez and Vivian Carrasco flew like the Texas wind. They each won the Franklin Mountains Trail Run 52k in 5:49 and 6:35. The event was part of the Skyrunner USA Series, and that brought Timmy Parr to the 27k starting line, and again to the finish line as a winner in 2:52. Women’s 27k winner Alexandra Walker finished in 3:44. Full results.
Alexandra Walker, 2019 Franklin Mountains Trail Run 27k champion. Photo: Trail Racing Over Texas
Rockledge Rumble 50k
Jeff Ball crushed the Rockledge Rumble 50k in Texas with a 4:08 run that brought him home 45 minutes before second. Alison Miller topped the women’s field and was third overall in 4:53. That run left her some 17 minutes ahead of her closest chaser. Full results.
Dogwood Canyon 50k
Missouri’s Dogwood Canyon Nature Park is 10,000 acres of Ozark Mountain wilderness, and host to the Dogwood Canyon 50k. First-place finishers were Terry Fenske and Sarah Waterman in 3:50 and 5:10. Full results.
Indy Monumental Marathon
There were a whole bunch of Olympic Marathon Trials qualifiers at the Indy Monumental Marathon in Indiana. Anthony Kunkel, the 2018 USATF 100k Road National Champion, ran 2:31. Full results.
Rough Trail 50k
Kentucky’s Red River Gorge is best known for climbing, but the fifth annual Rough Trail 50k happened here too. Justin Agler and Alondra Moody won in 4:31 and 5:23. Full results.
Upchuck 50k
There’s minimal support at Tennessee’s Upchuck 50k, only two aid stations on the point-to-point Cumberland Trail race. Nathan Holland won for the second year in a row, and he now has five of the race’s 10-fastest finishes ever. Holland ran 4:26 this year, and women’s winner Kari Laramore set a new course record in 5:31. Full results.
Bobcat Trail Marathon
Southeastern Ohio’s Bobcat Trail Marathon runs on a single-loop course inside of Burr Oak State Park. Andrew Ziminski and Emily Kotnik won in 3:56 and 4:29, respectively. Full results.
Stone Mill 50 Mile
The 10th Stone Mill 50 Mile race was on Maryland’s Seneca Greenway and Muddy Branch trails. Paul Jacobs and Kristen Serafin were victorious in 6:51 and 8:35. Serafini beat second-place Bethany Patterson by three minutes. Full results.
Sky to Summit 50k
Barely four minutes separated the front two men and the front two women at the Sky to Summit 50k in Georgia. The Run Bum event starts at Sky Valley, the state’s highest town at 3,297 feet above sea level. Robby Jourdan and Amanda Blair won in 4:51 and 6:01. Full results.
Amanda Blair, 2019 Sky to Summit 50k champion. Photo: Run Bum Events
Next Weekend – World Mountain Running Championships – Villa La Angostura, Argentina
The traditional World Mountain Running Championships and the World Long Distance Mountain Running Championships will, uniquely this year, be held on back-to-back days in Argentina. The former is on a 14k up-and-down course with 750 meters (2,500 feet) of elevation gain, and the latter will be 42k with 2,200 meters (7,200 feet).
We haven’t been able to locate an entrants list, so the following preview is a composite of information from several sources. Please feel welcome to leave a comment to share more info on how you think these races will go and who you’re watching for top finishes.
Men
First, let’s look at the short race. WMRA World Cup winner Andrew Douglas (U.K.), 2016 WMRA Mountain Running Champion Joe Gray (USA), and Kenyan runners Robert Panin Surum and Timothy Kimutai Kirui are all expected to challenge for the short-course individual win. Also, watch for Julien Rancon of France.
Joe Gray will double back for the next-day long-distance championships, and joins a superstar-filled U.S. team that also includes Jim Walmsley, Hayden Hawks, and Mario Mendoza. This one also includes Jonathan Albon (U.K.), who is the reigning Trail World Champion as well as Italy’s Francesco Puppi, who was the 2017 WMRA Long Distance Mountain Running Champion. Jan Margarit and Oriol Cardona, both of Spain, should feature.
Women
Lucy Murigi (Kenya) lost at Sierre-Zinal this year, but otherwise has been nearly unbeatable in recent years. She’s the favorite for the women’s short-course race. 2019 WMRA World Cup winner Sarah McCormack (Ireland) will be there too, and U.S. Mountain Running Champion Grayson Murphy has perhaps better road speed than women’s mountain running has seen in years. Also watch out for the U.K.’s Sarah Tunstall.
Reigning Trail World Champion Blandine L’hirondel (France), 2019 Skyrunning World Series winner Sheila Avilés (Spain), and 2019 Golden Trail Series winner Judith Wyder (Switzerland) ensure that the women’s long-distance race might be the year’s most competitive trail race. Italy’s Silvia Rampazzo, Switzerland’s Maude Mathys, and Spain’s Azara Garcia should challenge as well. Certainly this championship race is full of recent champions.
(In 2015, Mathys received a warning without suspension from the Disciplinary Chamber for Doping Cases of Swiss Olympic for two positive tests for clomifene [previously clomiphene] after it was determined that she was mistakenly taking the drug without first obtaining a World Anti-Doping Agency Therapeutic Use Exemption. Mathys’s Quartz Program profile shows regular health monitoring and an August 2019 anti-doping control. Quartz Program info.)
Next Weekend – The North Face Endurance Challenge 50 Mile Championships – San Francisco, California
iRunFar’s annual trip to The North Face Endurance Challenge 50 Mile Championships is upon us. Separate men’s and women’s previews are online, interviews will soon follow, and the team will be there with live race coverage.
Jared Hazen, Matt Daniels, and Sébastien Spehler (France) are among the leading men’s contenders. Hazen won the Lake Sonoma 50 Mile earlier this year and was second at the Western States 100. Daniels won the Black Canyon 100k and was fourth at Western States. Spehler was second at Lake Sonoma, seven minutes behind Hazen.
Western States #1 and #2 women Clare Gallagher and Brittany Peterson, and Lake Sonoma #1 and #2 Anna Mae Flynn and YiOu Wang could turn the women’s race into a barn burner. A long list of potential challengers await this group of favorites though.
Call for Comments
- My dog Elly’s back on the trails! Her first run post-injury went mostly okay. Thanks for the well wishes.
- Fill ‘er up, readers. Comments are welcome.
