Sacramento Running News

Ranger Ollie sez: “Be careful!”

It’s the weekend and I’m sure most of us are planning to spend part of it on the American River Parkway. There are a couple of things to keep in mind.

On Saturday, May 17th, the American River Parkway Trail will be closed from Discovery Park to Del Paso Boulevard, from 6:00 a.m. to noon, for the Eppie’s Kid’s Duathlon and Fitness Festival.

The event starts and finishes at Discovery Park. More details about the closure and the race can be found here (PDF).

Then, on Thursday, May 22, Parks staff will be removing a large dead oak tree just east of the Ambassador parking lot near the 18.5 mile marker on the American River Bike Trail (near lower Sunrise).

Work will begin at 8:30 a.m. and should be completed by 11:00 a.m. There may be delays on the trail due to the size of the tree and its proximity to the trail.

Plan accordingly!

Kirsten Schneider on the way to a 50K win. (Photo courtesy of Gold Rush 100K)

McDonald, Schneider earn Gold Rush 50k victories

By John Schumacher

Paulo Medina and Jen Pfeifer took the long way home to individual titles and Mike McDonald and Kirsten Schneider ran point-to-point for their victories on a pleasant, picturesque Saturday in the second annual Gold Rush 100k/50k.

Orangevale’s Medina won the men’s 100k, completing the course that began and ended in historic Folsom in 10 hours, 6 minutes and 2 seconds. He ran conservatively for most of the course that followed the American River and Folsom Lake into the foothills before catching leader Brian Miller of El Dorado Hills with 12 miles to go and pulling away.

Miller finished second for the second consecutive year, this time in 10:22:56.

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While you may have never heard of James Nielsen before today, he is now one of the most famous (infamous?) runners in modern track and field.

James Nielsen, purportedly ran the world’s first sub-5:00 beer mile. (We’re still waiting for verification by Beermile.com, or a bit more detail about when this was done and who witnessed it.)

Nick Symmonds (Beer Mile PR 5:31) has famously announced his intentions to break the beer mile world record. Now, it looks like he’s got a bit more work to do.

I don’t know about you, but I was pretty happy to see Meb Keflezighi win at Boston–running out in front for miles and miles before anyone, finally (too late) took him seriously.

It was also thrilling to see Shalane Flanagan pulling the women out to a record pace, forcing the top women to pay dearly if they wanted to go along for the ride. I was sorry she faded, but super impressed at her run, just the same.

Here is a great analysis of the race, putting the women’s record setting race and the men’s upset into perspective.

The news that the top-American runners worked together to help another American win (and many earn personal bests for themselves) was also pretty sweet and a sign that American distance running is maturing.

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Bryan Hacker and Ronald Hess fly to the finish. (SRN photo)

By John Schumacher

Folsom’s Shadrack Biwott overcame two untied shoes and a short recovery time from a half marathon, pulling away from two-time defending champion Tesfaye Alemayehu in the final 100 yards Sunday to win the fourth annual Credit Union SACTOWN Ten-Mile Run.

West Sacramento’s Kim Conley, a 2012 Olympian, came down from high-altitude training with enough energy to pull away from Auburn’s Jane Kibii in the final three miles to win the women’s title on a pleasant, blue-sky morning in Sacramento.

Biwott and Conley, teammates on the Sacramento Running Association’s Elite Team, each took home $2,400 for their victories in the event, which featured a $15,000 purse and served as USA Track & Field’s Pacific Association Ten-Mile Championship.

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Top Women. Left to right: Tomory, Laird, Guijarro. (SRN photo)

Taking advantage of beautiful conditions, Joel Frost-Tift, 25, of Los Angeles, bested the field of more than 800 runners at the 35th running of the American River 50 Mile Endurance Run in 6:26:52.

In a pretty close 2nd place, Matthew Morales, 24, of Visalia, made it to the finish line at the American River Overlook in 6:30:40.

Coming in 3rd overall was Thomas Reiss, 46, of San Luis Obispo, with 6:39:59. Reiss was also the top male masters finisher.

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Asics Aggies’ Reyes and SRA’s Kibii prevail at the NorCal 10

The PAUSATF Road Grand Prix kicked off with the NorCal John Frank Memorial 10-Mile today in Redding. For the men, Sergio Reyes, 32, from Los Osos, out-kicked the field to win in an impressive 48:51. Meanwhile, Auburn’s Jane Kibii, 28, won handily amongst the women with a 58:42 finish.

The top local man was Lincoln’s Tim Tollefson, 28, who finished 3rd overall in 51:21.

Full results are here. (more…)

The dust has settled and USATF has reinstated Gabrielle Grunewald as the indoor 3000 meters National Champion.

In my admittedly inexpert opinion, based on repeated viewing of the available video, Grunewald didn’t deserve a DQ. Track–particularly indoor track–is a physical sport. Elbows are thrown and minor jostling is commonplace.

Truthfully, I can’t really fault Salazar for protesting or even appealing the initial dismissal of his protest. It’s pretty normal for a coach to advocate on behalf of his athlete, even to the point of obnoxiousness. What was disturbing to me (and many other observers) was that there seemed to be an extra-legal process that led to the disqualification, and that Salazar got deferential treatment.

If Grunewald had simply been DQed, there would have been complaints. There would have been accusations of favoritism, but if it appeared the rules had been followed the disturbance would have passed. But instead, the protests grew in volume. “USATF corruption” was a trending hashtag on Twitter.

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Hanna (left) and Pommier lead the pack. (Photo by Joe McCladdie)

There is a certain appeal that has kept one of the regions oldest ultras going year after year. While some races tout scenic or difficult routes, the Jed Smith Ultra Classic, hosted by the Buffalo Chips, is where ultrarunners go to be fast.

The race features two ultra distance races–50 mile and 50 km–as well as a 30 km and new 13.1 mile “fun run.” All of these are run on a 4.9 mile loop course along the American River, between Watt Avenue and the Guy West Bridge at CSUS.

This year, despite being early February, the weather was more like fine spring day, which made for pleasant running, spectating, and volunteering.

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If you can think of any ultrarunners who have enjoyed the level of domination that Ann Trason experienced at her prime, please share because I cannot think of any.

She won the Western States 100 an astonishing fourteen times.

She won the Comrades Marathon (South Africa) and turned around and won Western States a couple weeks later–twice (96 and 97)

While many lesser runners have gone on to make money with endorsements and public speaking events, Trason has largely avoided the public eye. For this reason, this interview of Trason on Ultrarunner Podcast is a real treat.

If you want more, check out Meghan Hicks’ article and interview about Trason at iRunFar.

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