The 2017 Snake Run went off as close to flawless as was possible. Other than running out of peanut M&Ms everything went as planned. This was our tenth year, and we were blessed with good weather, sunny skies, calm breezes, and almost no mud.
110 runners toed the line in the Three-Hour and Six-Hour events. The Six-Hour took off at 9:05 to give the runners time to get spread out on the single track trailz. Then the Three-Hour started 10 minutes later.
Showing up at trail races is like coming to a family reunion--or at least one where you LIKE your relatives. Laura is all smiles before her race and basically was in great spirits all day long.
Look for the smoking gun. I fired the shot then blew the remaining smoke from the barrel.
Daniel Jennings set a torrid pace for the Three-Hour race. He dialed in on a 5K sprint pace and held on to it for the win.
Jason Bement, on the other hand, found a dwarf to wear a bear costume and carry him around all day. The poor dwarf lasted only one 3.75 mile lap and the two of them crashed at the Cracked Hippies aid station.
TATUR and TZ Trail Runs do aid stations right. We had the usual fare of chips, pretzels, candies, cookies, PBJ's, and then grilled quesadillas, and BBQ and Boca-burgers. Oh, and BEER!
Back to the race--Lori Enlow came back home to run. Lori is a native Oklahoman transplanted to Arizona. It's awesome to see her run and run she did en route to a Six-Hour win.
Alicia Bell and Jessy Deanna aka the Cracked Hippies ran the aid station out on the course. This oasis serves as a pass-by watering hole twice, and between fly-bys serves as the turnaround as well. They are super busy getting hit from both sides, and as always some people get confused forgetting that the aid stop is visited three times per lap. Some runners think they are pixies magically transporting themselves from one location to the next when in reality, they are awesome but simply turn around to the table facing the other way.
Brian Williams ran a solid race, yet dd not crack the top three. He won honors for the best mustache on the mountain, though.
And back at the Cracked Hippie stand, Brandon asks where the cookie cake is. Truth be known, the cookie cake was at the start/finish. We always try to have this 20,000 calorie delicacy at the races for Brandon and his brother Cameron. They nearly always find a way to smuggle it to their car. It must be part of what makes them so fast and go so far. Brandon went the next week to Kansas and ran the Prairie Spirit 100 mile, and finished under 24 hours for the second year.
The finisher's medal. All one has to do is do one 3.75 mile lap. All who toed the line did at just that.
Mitch Drummond has timed our race almost all of the past 10 years. It's a tough job to catch every runner as they lap through, and it gets really tough when the runners begin their short laps near the end of the time period. When the runners do not have enough time to do their next 3.75-mile loop, they can start 2-mle loops on another marked section of trails on Turley Mountain. This means counting laps from two different courses. Of course, we have extra help counting these laps, but there are 30 minutes near the end of both the Three and Six-Hour events where it really gets hectic. And for the runners, there is a lot of strategy here. Do they chance doing another long loop and risk not making it back in time, or tackle the 1/2-mile loops and see how many of these they can do. This year, not a single lap was not accounted for.
And our winners: April Reeder in the middle took first in the Three-Hour running 19.75 miles in 2:55. Kristian Pfeiffer on the right took 2nd running 19.75 miles in 3:00. And Sharon James was 3rd running 18.5 miles in 2:55.
As mentioned earlier, Daniel Jennings n the right won the Three Hour running 23 miles in 2:57. Jeremy Harrison on the left was 2nd running 19.25 miles in 2:57. John Stanfield was 3rd also running 19.25 miles and doing it in 2:59.
Six-Hour ladies: Lori Enlow on the right was the winner running 36.25 miles in 5:56. Stephanie Bramlett in the middle was 2nd running 34.75 miles in 5:59. Christine Fischer was 3rd with 30 miles in 5:55.
Nobody writes up or puts on a race like you TZ. I was in Idaho seeing my Dad for the Snake and I have other family obligations this weekend or I would be doing the Lake McMurtry run. My timing is just messed up.
ReplyDeleteMitch is up to being the Race Director for next year.