Sacramento Running News

Dakota Jones and Joelle Vaught set new course records on a muddy Lake Sonoma 50 Mile, yesterday.

Dakota Jones, of Durango, Colorado, ran 6:17:27, beating Hal Korner’s course record of 7:08:20 that was set in 2010. In fact, the field was stacked with so many ultra-talented ultrarunners, the top seven men, including the 4th place Hal Korner, were under the old course record.

On the women’s side, Joelle Vaught, of Boise, Idaho, set a new course record of 7:52:44, knocking more than 30 minutes off the 8:26:53 set by Devon Crosby-Helms in 2010. As with the men, the top women in this field were throwing down and six of them went under the old course record!

Tyler Stewart, of Novato, was the second woman with 7:56:30. You might remember that Stewart was the women’s winner in her ultrarunning debut at last month’s Way Too Cool 50K.

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Chris Conwell and Mike French celebrate their finish

Leading up to this year’s Way Too Cool 50K, the buzz was mostly about the new “faster” course. P.R.s for everyone!

As race day approached, it became apparent another key factor for the runners would be water and mud on the course. Would the loss of 1,000 feet of climbing be offset by slipping and sliding through acres of deep and sticky mud, and countless, deep stream crossings? Well, maybe.

The historic course included several miles of two-way traffic, along narrow single-track trails, and seemed designed to provoke conflict between the fastest runners and the runners at the back of the pack. The new course eliminates all the two-way traffic and knocked out 1,000 feet of climbing.

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