VHTRC - The Club

Jim Blandford  and Robin Watkins were the top winners at the The 19th Massanutten Mountain Trails 100.  The weather, including no significant rain all weekend, helped produce the largest finishing rate in MMT history.  VHTRC members and many others worked hard to produce an event without a major, or even a minor, hitch. Results, photos, and reports

Jack ran a 4:14:35 to win this popular event in West Virginia on May 11.  Many other VHTRC members, including several who will be in management of MMT next week, also participated.  Results | Event Web site

The club held its annual work party on the trails of the Massanuttens on May 4.  Twenty-five people participated.  We cleared over 20 miles of trail. Additionally, we freshened the blazes on several miles of trail.  The weather was great and most volunteers seemed to have enjoyed the day.  Thanks to all who came out to help!

The 21st Bull Run Run 50 Mile is over.  It was a great day.  The results are up, but there will be much more available soon. Thanks to all who volunteered and ran!  BRR Report Page

Eva Pastalkova, Keith Knipling, and Mike Bur traveled to Frozen Head State Park in eastern Tennessee to attempt the Barkley Marathons. This was Eva's and Keith's first trip on the Barkley course. Eva finished the first 20+ mile loop in a swift 9:10 only to discover that she was missing a mandatory page from a book checkpoint. Despite backtracking on the course in a valiant attempt to find it, it was lost and she was finished. Keith made it to 1.5 loops before calling it a night in fog and rain. Bur finished his first loop only to miss the time cutoff for two loops. Nick Hollon and Travis Wildeboer became the 13th and 14th finishers of the Barkley when they came in under the 60 hour cutoff on Monday night in 57:39 and 58:41 respectively. 

63 runners finished the 2013 running of the Elizabeths Furnace 50km on Saturday March 16.  Brad Hinton ran down the early pacesetting Sean Andrish during the infamous Sherman Gap section and went on to win in a course record time of 5:16:53, with Sean second and Mario Raymond also in under 6 hours for third place.  The women's race was very exciting - or would have been had any of the top three women known how close they were to each other.  Michele Harmon won in 7:41, with Priya Naik taking second less than a minute later, and Betsy Nickle finishing third in 7:43.  Thanks to all the runners for coming out, and to the volunteers for making the race a great success this year. Results and Photos

Thanks to the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority, there is a new and very stable bridge on the Bull Run Trail at Ordway Road.  The new bridge was completed on schedule by the NVRPA.  For extra credit, the NVRPA graded the path under the road.  You may remember it was very rocky. It is now very smooth, though we are not sure how the new surface will do when the next storm floods the river. For bigger pictures, take the Read more link.

On March 5, we noted that the bluebells are popping out of the ground at Bull Run Regional Park - the upstream turnaround of Bull Run Run.  In a month they should have flowers.  We also noted extensive deer trails and a very interesting carcass.  We have sent these to Gary for interpretations. Photos (warning the carcass, which is the last one, is gross)

Robin Watkins reports: "Adam Watkins finished the Iditarod Trail Invitational yesterday. The 350 mile trek across the moonscapes of Alaska, from Willow to McGrath, saw temperatures dip to -20 deg F and Adam finished in 6 days 22 hours 30 min in 5th place in the foot division. He 'blogged' from his satellite phone and you can see more information about the race. For the ITI, racers are invited to travel 350 or 1000 miles by foot, ski or bike. Video of the start - Adam coming into view around 0:20 and the camera moves with him to the end of the shot. WOOOhooo!!!!"

The Reverse Ring was held on the weekend of February 23-24.  This year 28 runners started and 18 succeeded in completing the full 71+ mile circuit of the Massanutten Trail.  Keith Knipling was the overall winner in 16:28; Kari Brown won the women's race in 21:47.  10 of the 18 finishers have now completed the Cycle and are Masters of The Ring, having completed both The Ring and the Reverse Ring.  For results, a report, and photos, take the Read More link.