Sacramento Running News

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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Jenny Capel

Special report by Gordon Ainsleigh

Monday, July 29, 2013

WHILE WE WERE SLEEPING… sweet Jenny Capel was running, and running, and running.

Starting at Tahoe Rim Trail Echo Summit trailhead on US 50 at first light on Saturday, she started the weekend off by getting lost for an hour or so in Desolation Valley Wilderness.

Jenny called out “Hi Gordy,” to me as she ran through Tahoe City at about 2 PM, looking like she had run about 10 miles (as I was airing up some tubes to float the Truckee River).

So all Saturday, and Saturday night, and Sunday, and Sunday night, and all of this morning, Jenny and her pacers were running, and running and running.

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Meghan Arbogast on her way to a new American age group record for 50 miles. (SRN Photo)

If you were looking for a top finish at this weekend’s Jed Smith Ultra Classic, you’d better have brought your “A game” because some of the country’s top talent was there throwing down.

There are many (many!) ultras in California and they are all, for the most part, pretty long. Some of them are known to be beautiful. Others are popular, mountainous, hot, sadistic, and sometimes famously hard to get into. Jed Smith has always been about speed.

The Jed Smith Ultra Classic, put on by the Buffalo Chips for the past 34 years, includes three events–a 30km, a 50km, and a 50 mile race. They are all run on an accurately measured, 4.85 mile loop course along the American River that is ideal for setting records and running 100k team qualifying times–as long as the weather on the first day in February is fine.

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