Farris, Pfeifer claim Gold Rush titles: The Pair’s Patience Pays a Performance Premium
Galen Farris looking smooth at mile 45. (Photo by Sean Dulany/Freeplay Magazine)
By John Schumacher
Galen Farris and Jen Pfeifer decided to start slowly, respect the heat and try to make up ground in the second half of the inaugural Gold Rush 100k on Saturday.
The strategy paid big dividends.
Sacramento’s Farris won the men’s title and El Dorado’s Pfeifer took home women’s honors in the ultra race, put on by the Sacramento Running Association.
Temperatures climbed into the low 90s as a field of close to 200 runners made its way from the start at Sutter’s Mill in Coloma, where gold was discovered, to the finish at Sutter’s Fort in Sacramento, where gold was stored.
Farris finished in 9 hours 37 minutes and 8 seconds, with Brian Miller of El Dorado Hills placing second in 9:51:01.
“At the halfway point I was in like 10th place,” said Farris, a 31-year-old attorney for the state Attorney General’s office.
“I was able to not slow down.”
Farris took the lead at mile 47 of a 62-mile race he said he didn’t expect to win.
“I thought realistically top five,” he said. “To win, I’m ecstatic.”
Farris didn’t even plan on running in the event. But a stomach virus forced him to drop out of the Miwok 100k after eight miles last weekend, so he signed up for the Gold Rush race on Monday.
“It’s a really beautiful course, especially the first 30 miles,” said Farris, who is training for the Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run next month.
Women’s winner Jen Pfeifer powers to the finish. (Photo by Sean Dulany/Freeplay Magazine)
Pfeifer, 41, also used a conservative strategy to her advantage en route to a 10:00:12 finish.
“I tried to be really patient early on in the race,” she said. “All three women leading, I let them go.
“I was running with Galen for awhile. He was running really, really smart.”
Pfeifer took the lead at mile 32 and then used her background as a history teacher to think about the course’s historical significance.
“I tried to channel my inner historian,” she said. “I kept thinking about the historical aspect of it to motivate myself.
“It was great.”
Ashley Nordell of Sisters, Ore. finished second in 10:41:54.
Miller, the men’s runner-up, said he was running to honor his 4-year-old son Sam, who was recently diagnosed with Type I Diabetes.
“I’m running kind of for him,” he said.
Complete results are here.
The time-honored advice “Don’t go out too fast” still applies.
Five-time Western States champion Tim Twietmeyer once told me that younger runners would pass him early in the race thinking “I just passed him!” It might take awhile – 10, 20, 30, 40 miles – but he would always reel them in, usually going uphill. He would power walk past them as they were sucking wind.
Nice article.
And congrats to both Galen and Jen.
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