Hashawha Hills 50km - Some Wind, Some Mud, but not Bad for February
Angus Repper and Erika Ebright were the winners at the Hashawha Hills 50km held on February 25 in Maryland. The weather was cold and windy but not that bad, compared to previous versions of the event. RD Alan Gowen and his fine volunteers braved the cold to put on a great run. Hashawha Web page
A report, results, and photos are now available:
Report
by Alan Gowen, RD
Over the past five years we’ve had our challenges with the Hashawha Hills 50km Trail run. We’ve had the roads leading to the race covered in back ice. We’ve had a reservation mix up and we’ve had the epic blizzards of 2010. This year, the fourth running of this annual event brought over-enthusiastic park employees taking down our course markings as fast as we could put them up, and race day brought frigid conditions because of the high winds we had been warned would develop.
Nonetheless, thanks to our dedicated volunteers and enthusiastic runners, Hashawha Hills 2012 was yet again a huge success. One hundred and one runners started the race and 91 completed the 50km challenge. The male and female course records, both set last year, remained unbroken despite dedicated challenges. As Neal Gorman remarked last year, the course is harder than it looks, and 31 miles of never ending hills totaling 4000 ft of elevation gain and loss, along with four stream crossings and more than enough mud, combine to present a worthy challenge for even the fastest runners.
Angus Repper was the overall winner, in 4:14:14, and Erika Ebright was the first female with a finishing time of 5:06:38. All the runners seemed to enjoy the challenge of Hashawha, and were totally respectful of our venue. Runners also seemed to enjoy our famous hot chili as they lingered indoors after the race and everyone must have also liked the finisher award mugs received upon crossing the finish line. We know this because we didn't receive even one request for a crappy T shirt instead of the finishers’ mugs handmade by a local potter.
The 2012 running of the Hashawha Hills 50km Trail Run will probably be remembered by those who were there as "The wind year" but everyone seemed to have a great time out there on those wonderful Hashawha Hills, and we look forward to seeing everyone again on the last Saturday in February 2013.
Alan Gowen, RD
