Congratulations Josh

Congratulations to Josh Brimhall for being selected to represent the USA in the IAU World 100k Trail Championships. This race is being held in Ireland on July 9th.

http://www.ultrarunningireland.com/live/news/881.html

Leona Divide Trail Races

Saturday April 30th, SMUT invaded Lake Hughes California and the Leona Divide Trail Races. The 30k, 50k, and 50 mile courses consisted of a combination of dirt roads and single track trail. The 50 mile runners were treated to almost 40 miles of Pacific Crest Trail bliss. While we suffered some casualties, overall we had some excellent performances.

Typical PCT view

Another course view

In the 30k distance Shelly, Paula, and Natalia all finished. Shelly placed second female overall with a time of 3:18. Natalia finished in 3:51 and Paula finished in 4 hours flat. Additionally, Eric's wife Cresen finished in 3:43. Way to go ladies and nice running.

Natalia, Paula, Britta, Josh, and Shelly

Paula post race 

Eric Swenson completed his first 50 mile race at Leona Divide finishing in 9:33. I saw Eric around the 33 mile mark and he was looking great. However, his ankle gave him troubles and had to walk in about the last 15 miles. Well done on sticking it out. It is important to get that first one under your belt.

Erik all smiles moments after finshing

Not having raced in over a year Casey was uncertain how this race was going to play out for him. Casey exceeded his most optimistic expectations. He trained hard to get himself back into shape and finished in 9:39. This ended up being one of Casey's best 50s so no more complaining about being out of shape.

Casey finishing like those 50 miles were no big deal

I ended up having by far and away my best race yet of any distance finishing in 7:28 and 8th overall. More importantly, I bested my previous 50 mile best time by over 2 hours.

It was fun to have so many of us at the race. Congratulations to everyone who finished and a speedy recovery to those who didn't