Osage Hills write-up

Last Saturday the Osage Hills Relatively Flat Trail Marathon, Half Marathon, 10k, 5k went off almost flawlessly despite 96 degree heat and 107 heat indexes. We had a huge increase in runners fur in part to adding the 10k.

The half and full took off at 7:30. Most half era got the job done before the heat was out of hand. But the full had a tough battle. The full was pretty accurate but the half was s little over a mile long. The 10k also was more mileage than what was bargained for. The reason for the inaccuracies is last minute changes that had to be made to the course due to bad overgrowth, multiple fallen trees, and ticks.

Like last year, runners sampled Sand Creek Falls. Ample opportunity was given for foot soaking, and a few did just that on their second and third loop.

After leaving the falls, a short climb led to the sign. Jodee and Candy were up to some shenanigans.

The course ran right at the top edge of these steep bluffs.

Good ground could be gained back on the Creek Trail. And this section was painfully flat.

A short rocky climb from the campground led to the LookOut Tower. Then a scamper through the woods dropped the runners off at the spider aid station manned by Shorty, RJ, and Johnna, and runners hit this stop three times per loop.

Most people liked the out and back over LookOut Lake Dam. It was just a half mile out and back, but is like to see a trail going around the lake. Not sure how to make this happen.

150 medals. 146 finishers. That worked out great. Congrats to all who ran. Special thanks to Matt Markel, Elisha Bell, and David West should helped me all day Saturday marking trails. And thanks to Jana, Lisa, And Krystal who worked the campground aid station. And to Shorty, Travis, and Johnna who worked the crazy intersection did station. And to Lynna and Dana who worked the start/finish. Thanks to Clint who did some course marshaling, and Chris's from Tatur Racing for doing a flawless job with the timing.


Click HERE for full results