VHTRC dominates at Holiday Lake 50K
Bobby Gill and Justine Morrison were the top VHTRC finishers at the Holiday Lake 50K on Saturday. Bobby was 4th overall in 5:10 and Justine was 11th overall and first female in 5:15. Jack Kurisky was first male master and fifth overall in 5:11, Martha Wright was first female master in 6:21, and Janice Heltibridle was first female supermaster in 6:55. Many VHTRC members were there, no doubt trying to get in a "trail" run after Snowmageddon. Times were slower than usual due to 5+ inches of snow and ice on the course, which is now closer to a true 50K than in years past with more single track. Because of the snow, RD David Horton extended the cut-off time to 9 hours and 244 out of 268 runners finished. Results are here.
Submitted by Sophie Speidel on February 14, 2010 - 5:00pm
Comments
HL Results
Actually, I placed 5th female overall (a first for me at any of Horton's races) and Janice was first in both the master & grandmaster categories.
The snow was tough to run on. I went with plain trail shoes--not sure how much YakTrax or screws would have helped since it wasn't packed down (even 260+ people can't pack down a decent trail in the snow!) On the return loop we got to run through lots of slushy spots. And the two creeks were full of icy water this year...no getting around them.
Bobby and Justine both made it look easy as they flew by after the turnaround.
snOMG Holiday Lake
For a "fast and first-timer friendly" 50k course, Holiday Lake was neither this year. Anyone who finished gets a gold star in my book. Big congrats to Matt Woods as well, the overall winner, who I don't think is technically a VHTRC'er but is part of the WUS contingency and is definitely making a name for himself with 3rd at JFK, 1st here at Holiday Lake, and some other recent ultra wins that I forget off the top of my head. Great job everyone! My hip-flexors are still tight from all that high-stepping through the snow...
And here's my race report from my blog: http://ultrajumper.wordpress.com/2010/02/15/snomg-holiday-lake-50k/