Brandy Erholtz wins Pikes Peak Ascent, Team USA wins Gold
Aug 22nd
Courtesy of Nancy Hobbs
At today’s 55th running of the Pikes Peak Ascent, Team USA wins gold besting the other team competitors in the 7th WMRA World Long Distance Challenge, (England, Scotland, Slovenia, Germany) in spite of three of Team USA’s runners going off course approximately one mile below the A-frame water station which is approximately three mile from the summit finish line.
Brandy Erholtz, Bailey, CO, also led start to finish, but second and third-place finishers Kim Dobson, CO, and Anna Frost, Dunedin, NZ, were closing the gap in the final switchbacks on the course. The top three women finished within More >
US Juniors prepare for trip to Slovenia for World Mountain Running Championships
Aug 20th
The 2010 U.S. Mountain Running Team is heading to Kamnik, Slovenia, to compete at the 26th World Mountain Running Championships on September 5. To be elgible to compete as a junior, athletes must be at least 16 in the year of competition and not yet 20.
The Senior Teams were selected at the sole qualifying race at the 2010 Mount Washington Road Race in Pinkham Notch, New Hampshire. The Senior Men’s Team consists of Eric Blake, 31, New Britain, CT,, Joseph Gray, 26, Lakewood, WA, Rickey Gates, 29, Woody Creek, CO, Max King, 30, Bend, OR, Tommy Manning, 34, Colorado Springs, CO, More >
Lund wins Course de Sierre-Zinal in Switzerland
Aug 17th
Megan Lund led the field from near the start of this 31km Skyrunning World Series event in Switzerland. Lund finished in a time of 3h09’28”. She outdistanced Britain’s Anglea Mudge, a past skyrunning world champion, who finished second in 3h11’02” and the new SkyMarathon® World Champion, France’s Laetitia Roux, third, in 3h11’48”.
Two other US Mountain Team members also had strong showings in the race, with Brandy Erholtz finishing in 4th and, on the men’s side, Joe Gray finished in 10th.
Brandy Erholtz wins Harakiri Run in Austria
Aug 17th
Mayrhofen-Austria, 1. August – The second “Harakiri Run” was also the second event of the WMRA Grand Prix 2010 circuit. Excellent conditions with sunny but not hot weather and dry course announced attack to the course record set at the first edition in 2009. Ahmet Arslan, 4-times European Champion was the winner in 50:39. Brandy Erholtz, USA, was the women’s winner in 1:04:26, over four minutes ahead of her nearest competitor Michaela MERTOVA of the Czech Republic.
Great Northwest Mountain Run – Mt. Hood
Jul 26th
The second race in the 2010 La Sportiva / USATF-Oregon Mountain Running Series took place this past weekend at Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood. The 3rd Annual Great Northwest Mountain Run was put on by Kevin Foreman and his excellent XDog Events crew. Yassine Diboun (Portland, OR) won the overall race and collected the $100 cash prize from USATF-Oregon. Complete results will be available soon at: http://www.xdogevents.com/scheduleandresults.html.
The next race in the series will be the 33rd Annual Mt. Ashland Hillclimb on Saturday, August 7. Find race information here: http://www.mtashlandrun.com
Pikes Peak Ascent to host WMRA World Long Distance Challenge: Team USA announced
Jul 23rd
The Pikes Peak Ascent will be held on Saturday, August 21. This year’s race is hosting the 7th WMRA World Long Distance Challenge, an event which brings together athletes from around the globe to compete for team and individual prizes. Last year’s Challenge was held in Austria. Previous hosts included Switzerland, France, and Great Britain. The U.S. also hosted in 2006 with the Pikes Peak Marathon. The event will be hosted in Slovenia in 2011.
Each country participating in the Challenge must designate their team members prior to race day. Teams can include up to five athletes with the top three to score. More >
Gray, Erholtz win NACAC Mountain Running Titles
Jul 13th
Joseph Gray (pictured right) and Brandy Erholtz (pictured left), both of the USA, were victorious at the 7th North American Central American and Caribbean (NACAC) Mountain Running Championships on July 9th, 2010. Canadians Taylor Murphy and Ivan Babikov rounded out the podium on the men’s side.
American Megan Lund and Canadian Maria Zambrano were the second and third women respectively. The Canadian men narrowly edged out the USA to win the NACAC men’s race, while the American women put in a commanding performance to win the NACAC women’s race.
In the men’s race, the American men led early with the Canadian men More >
2010 Team Member Eric Blake wins at Loon Mountain Race,
Jul 9th
Reprinted from the Running Around CT Blog
Mountain runner Eric Blake (recently named the Central CT women’s coach) has a good story now for when people ask him, “What’s the craziest thing that ever happened to you when you were running?”
Last weekend, Blake was running the second to last race in the New England Mountain Running Series, a 5.5-miler at Loon Mountain in New Hampshire. He was in the lead and close to the finish when he came upon a black bear.
Blake wasn’t really paying attention at first; neither was the bear.
But then the two spotted each other. Blake, More >
First Timers Victorious at USA Mountain Running Championships
Jun 25th
Pinkham Notch, NH — The 50th running of the Mt. Washington Road Race saw two newcomers take top honors at the USA Mountain Running Championships. Chris Siemers, 29, Arvada, CO, crossed the finish line after 7.6 miles at an elevation of 6,288-feet above sea level in a time of 1:00:22. Kristen Price, 28, Raleigh, NC, was the top U.S. woman and USA Mountain Running Champion timed in 1:11:13. Price was outdistanced by 23-year old Ethiopian Shewarge Amars who raced to a course record of 1:08:21 breaking the previous mark of 1:10:08 set by Magdalena Thorsell, Sweden, in 1988.
With their wins, Siemers and Price made More >
U.S. Mountain Running Team to be Selected at Mount Washington
Jun 15th
Colorado Springs, CO — The 2010 U.S. Mountain Running Team will travel to Kamnik, Slovenia, to compete in the 26th World Mountain Running Championships on Sunday, September 5. This year’s open team – six men and four women – will be selected at the U.S. Mountain Running Championships to be held at the Mt. Washington Road Race on Saturday, June 19, starting at 10:00 a.m.
The increased support by the race’s primary sponsor, Northeast Delta Dental, was a contributing factor in choosing a single selection race for the team this year.
“The USATF Mountain Ultra Trail Running Council, when considering a host More >