2009 Southern California Ultra Runners Grand Prix Series
Series Director Gary Hilliard reports that as of December 2009, the Southern California Ultra Runners Grand Prix Series Membership is at 67 participants, with 15 runners registered as USATF members. The Southern California MUT chairs continue to promote USATF membership and look forward to being able to once again offer prize money to Series overall and age-group winners, who are USATF members at the Southern California Association 50K and 50-mile Championships.
Final Series statistics for 2009 show 17 runners ran more than 6 ultra events in 2009. Series runners ran 10,685 Series race miles in 2009. Rafael Covarrubias, of Long Beach, ran a total of 671 series miles and captured both the Men’s Overall Points and Men’s Mileage Championships. Michelle Barton, of Laguna Niguel, captured the Women’s Overall Championship, and USATF Representative Lorraine Gersitz, of Fullerton, won the Women’s Mileage Championship with 421 Series Miles. Tracy Moore, of El Cajon, and Lorraine Gersitz were the top USATF Male and Female Series Finishers in the Series points standings.
The Southern California Grand Prix Ultra Running Series Banquet/Picnic will be held at Mt. Wilson Trail Park in Sierra Madre. The “pot-luck” event is open to the public with all runners and anyone else interested welcome to attend. SCA Board members are invited! The traditional morning trail run will begin at 9:00 a.m. at approximately 5 – 7 miles in distance. The cooking begins at 11:00 a.m. with the lunch and awards beginning at 11:30 a.m. USATF and Series applications will be available and can be filled in by anyone interested in joining either or both for 2010.
Two Ultra Series races have taken place since the October 2009 MUT report:
Santa Barbara 9 Trails 35 Mile Endurance Run
(Due to fires, event held at)
Santa Barbara - RED ROCK 40 MILE TRAIL RUN
Los Padres National Forest Santa Barbara District
11/28/09
The Santa Barbara - RED ROCK 40 MILE TRAIL RUN is the replacement event for the Santa Barbara 9 Trails 35 Mile Endurance Run which has been moved because of fire damage and closed trails in the Santa Barbara area front country. This new Red Rock 40 includes much of the original 9 Trails course, all of the Cold Springs Trail and 12 miles of challenging back country trail and dirt road.
The run started at 6:10 a.m. on Saturday, November 28, 2009 at the Red Rock Day Use Area in the Santa Barbara Los Padres National Forest Back Country. The estimated distance was 40.68 miles and the total elevation gain was 11,729 feet. Fifty-eight runners started and fifty-three finished. The crisp, cool, autumn weather was ideal for running. Bright yellow Sycamore Trees and dark blue skies set the tone for the day.
Mike Swan of Santa Barbara was the first place finisher. His time was 6 hours and 55 minutes. Four minutes behind Mike was 27 year old, Eric Wickland of Canoga Park California. First female and forth over all finisher was 45 year old, Suzanna Bon of Sonoma California. Suzanna’s time was 7 hours and 45 minutes. Behind Suzanna was the female team of Kathy Higgins and Shatzi Sovich who finished together in a time of 9 hours and 19 minutes. The youngest finisher was Topher Norling, 18, of Santa Maria. The oldest finisher was Patricia Landis of Santa Barbara who is 68 years old.
Top three men and women:
40 Mile
MEN
1 Mike Swan, 6:55
2 Eric Wickland, 6:59
3 Dean Dobberteen, 7:22
WOMEN
1 Suzanna Bon, 7:45
2 Kathy Higgins, 9:19
3 Shatzi Sovich, 9:19
For complete results:
http://www.allwedoisrun.com/rr_results.htm
2009 OTHTC High Desert 50K Ultra and 30K
SCA 50K Trail Championship
Ridgecrest, CA
12/06/09
The OTHTC High Desert 50k ultra and 30k were run under cold and very windy conditions, but most of the runners still said they had a good time. Mountain views are plentiful—the southern Sierra Nevada range is obvious to the west, but everyone may also see a snowy Telescope Peak to the Northeast. Rattlesnakes are hiding for the winter, and temperatures are generally cool. Mother Nature always shows up to provide the runners with an added challenge!
231 runners started the ultra with 226 successfully completing the course. 121 ran the 30k with all runners going the full distance. Brad Seng from Boulder, CO was the winner of the 50k in a time of 3:27:37, and Carey Edge from Mission Viejo, CA was the female winner in a new age group record time of 4:03:33. Carey, who is 50 years old, was on the Irish Women’s Olympic Marathon Team in LA 1984 – the first ever Women’s Olympic Marathon! With a 2:28 marathon PR, it’s no wonder she set a course record! OTHTC was Carey’s first ultra but it won’t be her last. Donald Ball of Claremont, CA was the 30k winner in 2:22:10 with Beverly Buss of Camarillo, CA capturing the female crown in 2:38:19.
Top three men and women:
30K
MEN
1 Donald Ball, 39, 2:22:10
2 Mark Ford, 47, 2:29:47
3 Victor Carillo, 46, 2:32:05
WOMEN
1 Beverly Buss, 49, 2:38:19
2 Lucina Lara, 38, 2:41:28
3 Kelly Custer, 49, 2:42:49
50K
MEN
1 Brad Seng, 40, 3:27:37
2 Kris Brown, 20, 3:31:10
3 Brad Gillis, 21, 3:34:34
WOMEN
1 Carey Edge, 50, 4:03:33
2 Kate Pallardy, 24, 4:18:38
3 Sada Crawford, 43, 4:21:01
For complete results:
http://www.othtc.com/index.htm
2010 Upcoming Series Race
01/16/10 - Avalon Benefit 50 Mile: http://www.avalon50.com
01/17/10 - 50k Calico Trail Run: http://www.calicotrailrun.org/
02/20/10 - Orange Curtain 100k/50k: http://www.oc100k.com
03/06/10 - San Juan Trail 50k: http://www.bigbaztrailraces.com/
03/27/10 - Old Goats 50 Mile: http://www.oldgoatrunners.com
Gary Hilliard
SCA Open MUT Chair
gary@mtdisappointment50k.com
Lorraine Gersitz
SCA Masters MUT Chair
bruceandlo@earthlink.net
SCA MUT: http://www.scausatf.org/mut/index.htm
