The Speedgoat 50k and the US Mountain Running Championships topped the weekend’s card, while the Burning River 100 Mile and the White River 50 Mile also took place. The U.S. Skyrunner Series returns next weekend.
Speedgoat 50k – Snowbird Resort, Utah
Sage Canaday scored his third-straight Speedgoat 50k win, pocketed $4,000 in prize money, and with a 5:13 finish time, was just 32 seconds off his own course record from a year ago.
“Went out pretty aggressively just like last year, pretty similar splits to last year actually,” Canaday said after the race, when speaking to iRunFar correspondent Vince Heyd.
“I felt really good about the effort, part of my build up to [the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc]. I just wanted to have really consistent energy all day. Hopefully it’ll be a good training stimulus; I’ve just got to extend my energy to four times this now,” he cheered.
Sage Canaday, 2015 Speedgoat 50k champion. Photo: iRunFar/Vince Heyd
Alex Nichols was second, up one spot from last year, and Dan Kraft was third. The pair finished in 5:41 and 5:57, respectively.
Last year’s fourth-place finisher, Hillary Allen, cut 26 minutes from her 2014 finish and won the women’s race in 6:37. On a course that’s been in place for two years, Allen’s time marked a new course record.
“I went out a little more aggressive than I normally would, just because I wanted to be at the front of the pack. I noticed right away that I was having trouble though, my climbing legs weren’t there,” Allen said. “I had to regroup and not get caught in negative thinking.” She reached the top of first big climb in second and soon moved to the lead for the rest of the race. “It wasn’t until about two miles to go that I looked at my watch and realized I could be close to this record. I just kept pushing, kept going. It was a very surprising day–positive thinking and momentum get you to the finish.”
Allen finished four minutes ahead of the course-record time set by Anna Frost last year.
Hillary Allen, 2015 Speedgoat 50k champion. Photo: iRunFar/Vince Heyd
Emily Richards was second in 6:52, and Abby Rideout was third in 7:00. This year’s USATF 50-mile champion Amanda Basham ran 7:21 for fourth.
In Friday’s inaugural Vertical Mile, Timmy Parr and Bethany Lewis were race winners in 1:20 and 1:46, respectively.
Parr competed in all three races of the weekend. After winning the Vertical Mile, and finishing fifth in the 50k, he capped the weekend off by winning the extreme downhill Quadbanger race. Debbie Livingston, Meredith Terranova, and Jen Collins filled the women’s podium.
Full results (when available).
US Mountain Running Championships – Bend, Oregon
Pat Smyth has been on a roll. His 2015 has already included a fifth-place finish at the U.S. Cross Country Championships, a new course record at the Way Too Cool 50k, a 36th-place finish at the World Cross Country Championships, and a 1:03 half marathon to qualify for the Olympic Marathon Trials. He was the class of the men’s field at the 2015 US Mountain Running Championships, finishing the 12k loop in 46:10. Smyth will now lead the six-man U.S. team at the September 19 World Mountain Running Championships in Wales.
Patrick Smyth, 2015 US Mountain Running Champion. Photo: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
Runner-up Andy Wacker has also had an impressive, and busy, year. Just three weeks ago he won the individual silver medal at the World Mountain Running Association’s Long Distance Championships. Here, he trailed race winner Smyth by just 10 seconds.
Third-place Joe Gray earned his eighth-straight national team berth. Andrew Benford, second at this year’s Chuckanut 50k, was fourth in 48:22. XTERRA triathlete JP Donovan was a surprise fifth in 48:53 and Colorado’s Josh Eberly earned a second-straight team berth in sixth at 49:20.
The deep field was filled with many other names familiar to this column, including Ryan Bak (7th), Zach Miller (8th), David Laney (9th), Mario Mendoza (13th), David Roche (15th), Max King (27th), and Ryan Woods (29th).
Morgan Arritola cruised through the two-lap women’s course, climbing well and crushing the descents for a 36:20 finish time and minute-plus lead on second. She was followed by Kasie Enman, who overtook Mattox on the second lap, and finished in 37:37. Kimber Mattox was third in 38:17 and trail rookie Allison Morgan was fourth in 39:11, earning the prized final spot on the U.S. women’s team.
Morgan Arritola celebrates as the 2015 US Mountain Running Champion. Photo: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
As with the men’s race, the always-deep fields at this championship event includes many well-known names. Included in that list is fifth-place Brandy Erholtz, but this is certainly the first time we’ve written of Colorado 11-year-old Alayna Szuch.
Szuch has enjoyed some success on Colorado roads of late with mid 18-minute 5ks, but competing here on the national level, against a bunch of veteran mountain runners, she was seventh in 39:35. Wow! Perhaps she’s too young for an even junior team spot, and that application deadline has already past, but congratulations to this young lady.
Other familiar names include Megan Lizotte (ninth), Mandy Ortiz (14th), Caitlin Smith (15th), and Chris Lundy (16th).
iRunFar covered the race live and in depth (updated with links to 6 video interviews and additional stories).
Burning River 100 Mile – Willoughby Hills, Ohio
The men’s race went down to the wire! Daven Oskvig topped Brian Oestrike by exactly two minutes for the win. Oskvig finished in 17:49 to Oestrike’s 17:51. Matt Wieczorek was a close third in 18:07.
In the women’s race, 24-hour world champ Katalin Nagy overcame an extra five miles to finish fourth overall, first woman, in 18:35. She was trailed by Melissa Terwilliger and Elisa Edgar in 21:44 and 23:06, respectively.
In the accompanying 50 miler, Jeff Schuler and women’s winner Elissa Ballas went first and second overall with 7:21 and 7:30 finish times.
White River 50 Mile – Crystal Mountain, Washington
Matt Cecill, a Pacific Northwest standout and last year’s Fat Dog 120 Mile winner, won the White River 50 Mile in 7:03. In second, Yassine Diboun edged out Matt Palilla. The pair both finished in 7:09, with Diboun on top by 26 seconds. These unofficial results were pulled from a picture of the top-15 finishers on the race’s Facebook site. Unofficially, we believe that Keely Henninger, Bethany Patterson , and Nicola Gildersleeve went one, two, three on the women’s podium.
Full results (when available).
Siskiyou Out Back 50 Mile and 50k – Ashland, Oregon
Ben Stern, the recent Humboldt University grad who led much of this year’s Gorge Waterfalls 100k, was a runaway winner of 50 miles. He finished in 6:30, 32 minutes up on second-place Hal Koerner, and who was another 22 minutes ahead of third-place Erich Wegscheider. Stern also looks to have taken two minutes off Ryan Ghelfi‘s course record, which dated to 2012.
Susan Barrows dominated the women’s race in 7:53, nearly two hours ahead of second. Barrows’s finish ranks fourth on the race’s all-time charts.
In the accompanying 50k, the top-seven men all went under four hours. Tyler Van Dyke, Brett Hornig, and Ryan Ghelfi ran 3:40, 3:43, and 3:44 up front, while Natalie Ghelfi championed the women’s race in 4:30. Tracy Bowling was second in 4:38, and Roxanne Woodhouse ran 5:01 for third.
Buckin’ Hell 50k – North Vancouver, British Columbia
Race director Gary Robbins calls the first-year event “one of the more technical underfoot 50k races you’ll find in North America, with a copious amount of tree roots and rocky terrain.” Racing through the Mount Seymour trail network up front were men’s podium finishers Lindsay Hamoudi, Adam Harris, and Daniel Goddard in 5:27, 5:34, and 5:35. In the women’s race, it was Marieve Legrand in first at 6:03, closely followed by Dita Grunte and Ashley Ramsay in 6:15 and 6:21, respectively. The race was part of the Coast Mountain Trail Series, which continues on August 23 with the Squamish 23k.
Other Races
George Zack and burro Jack won his second straight World Championship Pack-Burro Race in Fairplay, Colorado. It was the 67th annual race and climbed from downtown Fairplay at 9,953 feet to Mosquito Pass at 13,210 feet, and then returned to town after 29.5 miles. Zack finished in about 5:25, and won for the third time in four years. Myself, Justin Mock, and Yukon Jack, battled Zack and Jack for the first 24 miles before hitting the wall and walking it in for second. Full results (when available).
The first-year Never Summer 100k in northern Colorado, part of the Gnar Runners class of races, was said to be incredibly tough, and even more incredibly scenic. Ryan Burch looks to have been the race winner. Full results (when available).
I haven’t yet located results for the Minnesota Voyageur 50 Mile. Readers, fill us in!
At the Self-Transcendence 3,100-Mile Race in New York, Finland’s Asphrihanal Aalto set a new record by almost a day at 40 days, 9 hours, and 6 minutes. The previous record was held by Germany’s Wolfgang Schwerk at 41 days, 8 hours, and 16 minutes. Try doing the math on that one!
Asphrihanal Aalto setting a new Self-Transcendence 3,100-Mile record. Photo: Prabhakar Street
Next Weekend – Tushar Sky Race – Beaver, Utah
Both the 93k and marathon-distance races at this first-year event are part of the U.S. Skyrunner Series. In the long course, Paul Hamilton, fresh off his Audi Power of Four 50k win, is likely to race against Catlow Shipek, Timothy Olson, and Ford Smith. Janessa Taylor, who quietly has become one of the country’s winning-est 100-mile runners, headlines the women’s field.
In the marathon, Timmy Parr, who is racing a ton this summer (!), and Andrew Benford will reprise their Kendall Mountain Run rivalry, where they finished second and third just five seconds apart. Kasie Enman, who just made another U.S. Mountain Running Team, is likely to rule the women’s race.
