Big Tesuque Trail Run Report - 2011

Big Tesuque 2011, Hadji, Eric and Mike lead out the field

Big T baby! Alright, what a fun morning. We had a damn fine group up there on Saturday, terrific weather and a whole lot of blue sky and scenery. From the looks of the pre-race crowd I figured we'd have a larger than normal field of racers but in the end we were about even with previous years. This preserves the ratio of coffee and burritos per racer so no harm done.

Well, it was obvious from the time of the starter's instructions how this thing was going to play out. Bernard Langat had come up to run and was the de facto champion before the gun even sounded. Former champion and trail racing royalty Rachael Cuellar as well as three time Big Tesuque champ Mike Ehrmantraut were in the field so there were the likely women's champ and men's runner-up. Eric Peters was lined up, Joachim Marjon was there, mountain-runner Jacob Waltz, Antonio Lopez, the esteemed Dave Simpson, Matt Dreier, and my ghost from last year Andres Santiago of Flagstaff was back. I talked with ultra-runner Ruthanne Hamrick, Caldera marathon runner-up Whitney Dreier, Erin Sindewald, Mariam Browne, Liz Jaramillo-Lopez, and Erica Micander. Who else showed up to run? You never quite know who's lurking at the start of one of these things.

Dale, supervising registration - photos by Max Mujynya

As for myself, I'd been off my feet a bit coming into the week but had my eyes on crushing the ascent. The downhill section would have to be a wait-and-see type of deal. A steep and technical downhill of pain and uncertain footing was not really going to help with the foot injury I'd been nursing. Last year the descent destroyed me, pretty much ending my running for several months. Ok, well with the gun, off we went. I eased on up the trail and found myself toward the front without much effort. I ran for a bit near Rachael and thought she might just be taking it easy over the first section, but we hit the first mile in 8:22 so it seemed we were both moving well. Feeling good, I just hammered away with my choppy little climbing stride at what felt like 200rpms. After the first couple miles Rachael had set up 50m ahead of me, Joachim was another 80m or so beyond her. The gaps didn't seem to move much the rest of the way up.

Liz Jaramillo-Lopez and William Ek leading a pack of runners at mile 1 - photos by Max Mujynya

Here's one of myself on the escalator lined in gold - photos by Max Mujynya

I was trying to get in a hard workout for the first time in several weeks and for that reason never did glance back to see what was behind me. I know that someone bridged a gap and ran up on my heels at around mile 3. It rankled that I was running slow enough to be caught so I boosted my turnover for a few minutes and the footfalls were gone. It probably took some work for whomever it was to move up onto my hip, and then when he arrived and could get a bit of rest I pressed ahead. That had to have sucked badly for him. However it made me feel like badass Clubber Lang handing out a beating. That happy thought carried me to the top and past the now descending front-runners. Bernard came jogging past near the chairlift. Mike came by at the steep hairpin. Joachim closer to the towers, then Rachel right up near the turn-around.

Assorted wildlife

At the mountain edge my watch stopped at 55m30s, my best climb by 2min. Fantastic except that I didn't think I'd be ahead of so many people at this point. If I could help it I'd rather stay ahead of them all until the finish. Quite the dilemma I'd found myself in. It started to slip away from me fairly quickly though. I lost my legs around mile 8, they just didn't have the miles in them to control the fast decent and I wasn't very confident that they could prevent a stumble or fall. I had to focus pretty keenly on the footfalls and keeping my strides and pace under control. Soon after, Mike Rahmer out of Albuquerque came blazing by with a long powerful stride and just disappeared. I felt an unpleasant bonk coming on and stopped for several cups of gatorade at the water stop at mile 9.5. Jake Lawrence and Andres Santiago sped by together as I stood there like a rube. Back on the trail I closed the gap on those two over the next mile, and then Andres jetted away out of view. As the trail leveled out a bit in the last mile I was able to sprint a few of the flat sections without the worry of falling on my face. I closed pretty well on Jake but ran out of real estate, but so did the guy behind me which I figured had to be Waltz. It was Waltz.

Bernard on the descent - photos by Max Mujynya

Rachael a few places back in fourth - photos by Max Mujynya

Whitney Dreier with the aptly named Aspen Peak in the distance - photos by Max Mujynya

Ok, good showing. My foot seemed stable and wasn't all jacked-up. I hadn't fallen hard on a bunch of rocks which is a big plus, and I had climbed strongly and avoided a complete tank on the descent. That's a pretty good hand son, maybe a full house. Mile splits on the way up were something like: 1/ 8:22, 2/ 10:00, 3/ 10:00, 4/ 9:30, 5/ 9:20, 5.9/8:18, descent/ 37:00.

Seeing that Bernard finished in a fast - but not record fast - time of 1hr 21min I asked him if he had been running hard. "No, no," he said (he's been running the trail all summer and reportedly put up a 1hr13m run in that time). He was getting in a workout for upcoming pacing duties at the Toronto Waterfront Marathon in two weeks. 81minutes on that trail is quick (the quickest time in the last 10yrs is 78min), and he took home some pottery and a certificate for a free pair of trail shoes from Alpine Sports. Joaquim Marjon moved into second on the downhill section, Mike Ehrmantraut finished third. Rachael ran away with her second women's title in roughly the same time she put up in 2009, 1hr 31min which is near the women's alltime record. The turn-around at the towers has moved a bit since the '09 race adding an extra minute to course times. She also received a trophy and free pair of trail shoes. Albuquerque's Stefanie Tierney held on for second, and Santa Fe's Whitney Dreier closed for third.

There were a number of falls in this year's race and the EMTs had their hands full. I know that Chris Chavez took a tumble, as did Kevin from Carlsbad, as did Vince Hesch, as did about a half a dozen others. No broken bones it seemed but possibly a few scrapes requiring stitches. Hope everyone was feeling a bit better the day after. 

Pete Fant did another standout job directing the event, his 14th straight year, and our fine sponsors provided support, race donations, and awards: Alpine Sports, San Francisco St. Bar & Grill, Santa Fe Screen Printers, Souder Miller Engineering and Survey, Paseo Pottery, The Santa Fe Striders, The Running Hub, Java Joes, and the Santa Fe Baking Company. Race proceeds, as always, benefit WINGS of America running club. Hope to see you all again next year.

Annie McCoy, Melissa Smith, & Mariam Johnston - photos by Max Mujynya

                                        Overall Results - Big Tesuque Trail Run 2011

Finish	Name	Time
1.	Bernard Langat,	1:21:39
2.	Joachim Marjon,	1:27:07
3.	Mike Ehrmantraut,	1:27:48
4.	Mike Rahmer,	1:30:45
5.	Rachael Cuellar (W1)	1:31:21
6.	Andres Santiago,	1:31:42
7.	Jake Lawrence,	1:32:22
8.	Kevin Brennan,	1:32:27
9.	Jacob Waltz,	1:32:49
10.	Hadji Corona	1:33:39
11.	Peter Vigneron	1:34:17
12.	Eric Peters	1:37:13
13.	Matt Dreier	1:38:24
14.	David Schoenwald	1:39:32
15.	Dale Hoskisson	1:40:00
16.	Antonio Lopez	1:40:46
17.	Kyle Dickmen	1:41:32
18.	Dave Simpson	1:41:41
19.	Robert Baker	1:42:06
20.	Vinnie Kelley	1:42:51
21.	Stefanie Tierney (W2)	1:42:54
22.	Herman Agoyo	1:43:11
23.	Chester Tepple	1:45:20
24.	Philippe Muller	1:46:51
25.	Jeremy Milligan	1:48:41
26.	Dan Tallon	1:49:19
27.	Alden Hoskie	1:51:01
28.	Brandon Johnson	1:51:05
29.	John Wilp	1:51:21
30.	Ty Lujan	1:51:39
31.	Whitney Dreier (W3)	1:52:17
32.	Jose Nava	1:52:50
33.	Laura McClellan	1:52:57
34.	Erin Sindewald	1:53:53
35.	Mariam Browne	1:53:58
36.	Shawn Edwards	1:54:00
37.	William Dearholt	1:54:23
38.	Vine Hesch	1:54:56
39.	Luke Washburn	1:55:56
40.	Ruthanne Hamrick	1:55:58

Full results and Max's photo albums can be found here

Waltz has his race report up here:
2011 Big Tesuque Trail Run

Last year's race report can be found here:
Big Tesuque - 2010






View Aspen Vista Trail (Big Tesuque Trail), Santa Fe, NM in a larger map

Santa Fe Snow Shoe Classic - Race Report

After the bottleneck, the course's first climb

A quick recap from last weekend's Santa Fe Snow Shoe Classic at the Norski Trails.  Race day weather was clear and not too cold, the track had good snow cover, and there was a great field of runners.  Scanning the race results, there were a lot of racers that made the drive from outside Santa Fe - coming up from Tijeras, Albuquerque, Penasco, Los Alamos, Los Lunas, and even a few from Socorro. People got the jones for some snowshoeing apparently.

Eric the Viking shunning comfort, as is his m.o.

The race itself loops around Norski, one lap for the 5K event, two for the 10K.  The actual course distance is a bit shy of 5K/10K but I didn't hear anyone complaining on race day since the going was tough with deceptively soft footing and finishing times that were several minutes slower than the year before. 

Lucy Ranney powers to the 5K finish

Sean Cunniff of Santa Fe ran away with the 5K overall, besting last year's champion Tarik Saleh of Los Alamos.  Last year's women's runner-up Shirley Van Slooten of Santa Fe claimed the women's 5K title over Chimayo's Gina Ortiz. Albuquerque's Daryl Dagle dropped the day's fastest two laps of the course in winning the 10K title over Santa Fe's Matt Dreier. Whitney Dreier coasted to the women's 10K title with Los Alamos' Liz Miller in second.  The consensus of the field was that soft snow conditions sapped leg turnover.  Runners looked pretty spent as they hit the finish line. Podium results were as follows:

5K Overall: 1) Sean Cunniff, 27m 35s; 2) Tarik Saleh, 30:21; 3) Shirley Van Slooten, 31:59.    
W1)Shirley Van Slooten, 31:59; W2) Gina Ortiz, 34:06; W3) Tove Shere, 35:09.

10K Overall: 1) Daryl Dagle, 53:01; 2) Matt Dreier, 55:52; 3) Nathan Romero, 56:41.     
W1) Whitney Dreier, 1:07:24; W2) Liz Miller, 1:13:42; W3) Meredith Schoenfeld, 1:21:30.

Full Results can be found here

Race Photo Album here

Ted Romero nails down his 10K effort

REI Santa Fe provided shoe rentals and raffle prizes for the race. NM Bike & Sport helped with raffle prizes, The Running Hub provided gift certificates for the overall winners as well as additional raffle prizes, Mike Walsh at Paseo Pottery provided the overall and age-group awards, and SF Screen Printers embroidered the cool ski hats. Race director Kris Peterson put the whole show together once again.  I know that we had a few more runners in this year's field than last.

Jim & Christina before the awards and raffle

I didn't run the race this year, but helped at the finish, snapped a few photos, and heckled loudly during the raffle drawing.  Afterward, Christina and I skied for an hour around the Norski loop and grabbed some lunch and a beer at Tesuque Village Market.  Another fine day on the mountain.

View Norski Trail in a larger map

  Related Posts:

  - 2011 Trail Race Calendar

  - Jaguar Cross Country Race, Pajarito Trail Fest - Oct '10

  - Chama Chile Ski Classic - Race Report - Jan '11

Related Links:

  - La Corrida de los Locos - Jan 29th

Corrida de los Locos - Race Report

A speedy crew at the start - Peters, Juniper, Espo, Abebe, Luis, Juan, Jake

This weekend's 26th annual Corrida de los Locos lived up to its name. In an inversion of annual norms, we had crazy-warm fall weather rather than snow and bitter cold. Don't know if it was the great weather or some other unseen fortune that brought out twice the regular field of runners - more than four times the number from last year.

This year's Corrida wound through the rolling golf course at Marty Sanchez before heading out and along a path paralleling Caja del Rio Rd. At the turn-around runners retraced their route to the finish. In prior years there was hardpack and ice to deal with, particularly black ice in the tree shadows of the golf greens and frustrating stretches of ankle deep post-holing on the Caja del Rio section. All of this make for a fantastic cross country race but were elements that this year's racers did not have to deal with. They did have to deal with burritos from the Santa Fe Baking Company and coffee provided by Java Joe's. More of an advantage than a deterrent actually but I digress.

A pack of runners at the mile plus mark

Another pack unfazed by the beautiful weather

Along with a record turnout this year's field was fairly stacked. Eventual champion Abebe Yimmer (former Las Vegas Marathon champion) and runner-up Luis Chavez pulled away from the returning champ Mike Ehrmantraut early in the 5.5ish mile race, and ran in tandem to the finish line. In the women's race, newcomer and this year's Santa Fe Snow Shoe Classic champ Whitney Dreier built an insurmountable lead over the rest of the field including past champions Newlyn Allison and Gina Ortiz, finishing clear of runner-up Erin Sindewald by a few hundred meters. We also had a fair turnout of prep runners this year with Daniel Romero of Los Alamos running to the front in a finishing time of 32:23, good for fifth overall in a very good field. Podium results were as follows:

Men's Overall: 1) Abebe Yimmer, 29:33; 2) Luis Chavez, 29:33; 3) Mike Ehrmantraut, 31:25.  Women's Overall:  1) Whitney Dreier, 37:41; 2) Erin Sindewald, 39:25; 3) Shiela Van Cuyk 41:06

Full and age-group results can be find at the Striders' website here.
Prior year results can be found here.
A photo album of the race can be found here.

Marc Esposito crosses the line in fourth

Eric Peters closes in sixth

Notables (and training buddies of mine) that finished up front include Highlands University runner and former Big Tesuque champ Luis Chavez; returning Corrida champ and the 2010 Big Tesuque champ Mike Ehrmantraut; former Big Tesuque champ and recent NYC marathoner Marc Esposito (4th), 31:42; All-around speed demon and former Duke City Marathon champ Eric Peters (6th), 32:25; Mt Taylor Quadrathlon front-packer Juniper Hunter (7th), 32:50; Marathoner Matt Dreier (8th), 33:07; Ultra runner (and blogger) Jacob Waltz, 35:04; Boston Marathoners Mike Dobesh 35:37, and Tony Gallegos 35:51; Corrida race director Meredith Schoenfeld crossed in 42:21; trail-runner and marathoner Gina Ortiz, 42:23; and Los Alamos trail runner Tracy Kneisler in 45:38.

A special thanks goes out to race directors Therese Trujillo and Meredith Schoenfeld and their crew of volunteers; to Mike Walsh at Paseo Pottery who provided the overall and age-group awards, and SF Screen Printers who did the printing on the race shirts we ran out of; to Whole Foods and Java Joe's for providing food and coffee. And lastly to the 106 runners that showed up to run on a beautiful January morning. Very well done to all involved and all who raced.

Kristen, the High Desert Babe, and Jen together at the finish line

 Related Posts:
   - Santa Fe Snow Shoe Classic - Race Report  Jan '11
   - Area Race Calendar
   - Area Trails List

Related Links:
   - Corrida Race Report - Santa Fe Trail Runner


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Tracking New Mexican Runners at Boston

It's Patriot's Day, and the 117th running of the Boston Marathon. A beautiful morning to be sure.

I've pulled together a tracking list of Santa Fe area runners heading out from Hopkinton into Boston today. The list below ought to include all runners from Santa Fe and Los Alamos. I found no entrants from Taos, Espanola, or Las Vegas. The master list can be found here, where you can build and tailor a list of your own, or you can wander back here where I'll be updating the tracking list as the race progresses. This morning's starting list shows 80 runners from the state of New Mexico.

Are we missing someone? Let us know.
Elite leaderboard up here
Boston livestreaming can be found here
2014 New Mexico results can be found here

Through 5K at 835am:  Vin and Mike are out strong on the downhill out of Hopkinton.
Through 10K at 905am:  Vin still ripping along at 2:51 pace, Mike just under 3hr. Amanda Cola and Whitney Dreier are charging along at 3:22 pace. Kris Houghton of Abq is smoking a 2:21 pace. Kris is the winner of three titles at La Luz.
Through 20K at 940am:  Runners settling in and pulling back from their downhill aided early paces
Through 21K-30K at 1010am:  Runners spread out all over the course now. Houghton is well off his earlier pace. Los Alamos' LorenWohletz has been very steady as have Santa Fe's Amanda Cola and Whitney Dreier.
Through 25K-42K at 1045am:  Loren and Kris charge down Boylston St. to the finish. Loren just misses sub-240. The rest of the contingent tackles the challenge of the Newton Hills and Heartbreak Hill.
Through 30K-42K at 1145am:  Mike Dobesh is through with a strong new PR of 3:05. Congrats Mike. Vin is through at 3:08, good for 9th place in the Men's 55-59 age group. Outstanding. Whitney is through at 3:23. Way to go Whit.
In the Elite Competition: American Shalane Flanagan held on for a strong fourth place in the women's race at 2:27:08. Kara Goucher followed in 6th place at 2:28:11. Rita Jeptoo of Kenya was this year's champion at 2:26:25. Jason Hartmann secured a second straight fourth place finish in the men's field at 2:12:12, besting the returning champion Wesley Korir of Kenya. Unheralded Daniel Tapia nailed down a 9th place finish at 2:14:30, followed by unheralded Craig Leon at 2:14:38. Lelisa Desisa of Ethiopa was this year's champion at 2:10:22.
In the Elite Competition:  Joan Benoit-Samuelson lays out a blazing fast 2:50:33 to win the Women's 55-59 age group as well as a new age group WR by two minutes.

Extremely Unfortunate News - 5:45pm:  Horrible news obviously with the bombing. If you hadn't heard yet, at least two explosions went off at approximately 4hrs 10min into the race, located in the spectator area right at the finish line. A third explosive was found undetonated. At least two are confirmed dead. Dozens injured. All New Mexico runners appear to be accounted for but one. Updates are fluid on Facebook. A sad day for the sport and for our country. God bless the first-responders in Boston this evening.

1145am MST

1045am MST

New Mexico Ski Season Arrives Way Early

Neff Mountain Yurt

I've got a fair amount of snow in my yard as I write this, and Thanksgiving is still a couple of days away. A big Gobble-Gobble to the pernicious winds of recent drought. The higher elevation running/biking trails (above 8,500ft) which are generally snowed out by the first or second week of December are probably done till April. All area ski resorts will open this weekend (Pajarito excepted) and the free-heel crowd has been at it for the last couple weekends.
A couple of area winter guides have already published, including the NewMexican's Winterlife Magazine insert which came out three weeks back and November's winter layout in New Mexico Magazine. I mention these two specifically because I had a few quotes published which duly impressed my in-laws.

Whitney Dreier covers the snowshoeing and winter sport opportunities in northern New Mexico, noting the Chama Chile Ski Classic and the Mt Taylor Quadrathlon as the highlights of the winter calendar. Daniel Gibson writes about the growing network of in-state backcountry yurts. He profiles the Southwest Nordic hut system in Chama and Taos noting that rarely are the winter backcountry visits dangerous or do parties encounter epics due to weather. This made us laugh. But without the occasional turn of adversity what kind of stories are you going to tell at the next get together? Boring ones, and who wants that?

Fresh snow on Cumbres Pass

It bears mentioning that Enchanted Forest up in Red River built out two new yurts on their trail network for this season. Now that we have a small tyke with us, the backcountry options are not practical whereas the groomed track criss-crossing Enchanted Forest are a diamond in the haystack welcome alternative. Also un-mentioned in any of the stories I've read: Taos Ski Valley offers daycare for the kiddies. It ain't cheap, but there may be greater cost to sacrificing a decent winter snowpack than a few greenbacks. Winter memories are lasting.

 - Daniel Gibson writes a regular winter column in the SFNM Outdoors section - worth a follow
 - Whitney Dreier is an associate online editor at Outside, wrtiting about running & skiing - worth a follow
 - Enchanted Forest XC almost always has updates and upcoming events - worth a follow.

Related Posts:
 - Enchanted Forest XC Ski Trails
 - Neff Mountain Yurt - Chama
 - Bull of the Woods Yurt - Taos

La Luz Trail Run - 2011 Preview

The portal to 2hrs of agony disguised as scenic vista

Tomorrow is the 46th running of the La Luz Trail Run, the oldest and most storied trail race in the state. It's going to be a real barn-burner with a stellar field scheduled to break from the line at the 7am start. Both men's and women's defending champions are in the field, as well as both an Olympic marathon trials qualifier and a six-time champion on the women's side. Last year's mens runner-up and third place finishers are running.

The women's race is crazy competitive so I'll list this one first. Erica Baron is the two time defending champ. She also won in 2003 with a best time of 1hr30min, is a multiple winner at Pikes Peak and ran in the 2004 Olympic Marathon Trials in St Louis. Baron's on the start sheet along with Magdalena Donahue, runner up in 2009. Donahue ran a 2hr44min Olympic Trials qualifier earlier this year and is gunning for her first win on Sandia's west face. After a year absence champion Rachael Cuellar is on the start sheet looking to add to her record 6 titles. The sortable entry list at ultrasignup.com makes it easy to spot the other top runners in this year's field including: Christie Aschwanden (CO), a past La Luz runner-up and third place finisher; Molly Krehlik (Abq), 2011 Jemez Mountain 50K champ; and Whitney Dreier of Santa Fe, (waddup!) the 2011 Valles Caldera marathon runner-up.

On the men's side we have last year's champion and un-official two time winner Kris Houghton. Houghton bandited and won in 2009 which may have led to a change in race sign-up from a manual lottery to the online system being used this year. He's also a 2:22 marathoner/adventurer/ultra guy/all around bad-ass. Following him up the trail for the second straight year is Santa Fe's Marc Esposito, last year's runner-up and 2010 Valles Caldera runner-up. Marc and Kris chase antelope in their spare time and put together do-it-yourself ultras from Albuquerque to Chimayo. These two are pals, but Espo is going to have to bring it to steal a third second title from Kris (but what would be his third straight win). Also in the mix is Houghton's Abq training partner Jesse Armijo, a 2:24 guy and top-20 national XC guy who I'd thought had finished third overall last year. Anyway, Armijo can move and will be up front with the leaders. Other top ten runners include:  Loren Woheltz (Los Alamos), perennial top ten finisher and 2010 Valles Caldera champ; Peter Doane (Abq), 2008 runner-up; Daryl Dagel (Abq); fellow outdoors blogger Jason Halladay (Los Alamos); and Santa Fe's Matt Dreier (waddup!).

A notable change in this year's race registration is that it has finally moved online. La Luz used to be a real benchmark in trail running circles and just did not adjust well when the popularity of the sport took off. It's nice to see it finally getting with the times a bit, and it's nice to see a field as stacked as this year's is. 

Race report and results here >>  La Luz Trail Run - 2011 Results

Recent years' results:
  -  2010 La Luz Trail Results
  -  2009 La Luz Trail Results
  -  2008 La Luz Trail Results

 List of Previous La Luz Champions


View La Luz Trail Run - Albuquerque, NM in a larger map

Upcoming Cross Country Events - January

One on skis, and the other on foot. This weekend, Jan. 14-15, is the 39th Annual Chama Chile Ski Classic. All kinds of fun up in the Chama valley including freestyle and classic xc-ski events, snowshoe combined events, folks in costume, folks on vintage gear, folks getting their skiing-on with babies strapped to their backs, folks in skin-tight racing onesies and top line boards and race bindings (I'm looking at you Los Alamos). Did I mention the beer sampling, live music, telemark and avalanche clinics? This event is sweet. I attended last year and wrote-up a few of the happenings. You can find me and Schroeder at The High Country Saloon this Saturday night with pints in hand.

The other upcoming event is the annual Corrida de los Locos, scheduled for Sat. January 28th out near the Caja del Rio here in Santa Fe. 5.7mi of cross-country style running over hardpack, snow, surface gravel - lots of fun. I didn't compete last year but lent a hand to the race directors and wrote-up a recap of the racing in addition to a few photos. One of the many area races last year that featured a local professional that showed up to get in a workout. Pretty stacked race. I've got the inside scoop that race prizes this year will be cowbells which ought to make all subsequent races in 2012 a whole lot louder.

Several other upcoming ski and snowshoe events are profiled over at snowshoemag.com by Santa Fe writer and swift-of-foot runner Whitney Dreier. We'll see if I can't update the Events Tab up there for the 2012 year before long.

La Luz Trail Run - 2011 Results

The official results are yet to be posted. If it's anything like the past few years it could be a couple days. I do know that unofficially, Kris Houghton ran to a third straight win (and second straight title). Rachael Cuellar claimed her seventh course title over a very tough field, denying Erica Baron a third-straight victory  (Baron did not start the race), and leaving Magdalena Donahue empty handed in a search for her first La Luz title.

The comments section is open for any other race details or stories from the day. I'll add updates and times as they come in.

>>>Results are posted. Some surprises and some fast aggregate times. The womens' defending champ did not line up to start the race. Cuellar got separation by the start of the trail portion (1.2mi) and ran away with her seventh title. Seventy+ runners snuck in under 2hrs. Better than 1hr 43min was needed for a top 20 position. A total of 343 finishers made it to the crest at or before cut-off. Terrific race.

Full results here:  La Luz Trail Run - 2011 Results

Update (8/16):   Seems the Dukes Track Club out of Albuquerque cleaned up, nabbing 4 of the top 5 overall placings broken up by 2009 runner-up and NMSU runner Ryan Fenton who ran as a bandit. Pre-race contender Jesse Armijo had to run conservatively after learning he'd be running on the national half-marathon team later this month.

I should add that a friend of mine and long time NM runner mentioned to me just the other day that his PR on the course back in 1985 was 1hr 23min, about two minutes quicker than this year's winning time. Waquie won it that year in 1hr 15min, my friend tells me his time was good for 20th place. That's messed up.

Overall
Place	First	Last	Gen.	Age	Time
1	Kristopher	Houghton	M	30	1:25:16
2	Andrew	Gisler	M	25	1:28:53
3	Loren	Wohletz	M	26	1:30:30
4	Jesse	Armijo	M	28	1:32:25
5	Rachael	Cuellar	F	29	1:34:31
6	Brent	Broome	M	31	1:34:53
7	Troy	Madalena	M	18	1:35:35
8	Vincent	Sheehan	M	53	1:36:00
9	Jason	Taylor	M	38	1:36:40
10	Joshua	Coon	M	26	1:37:24
11	Aaron	Padilla	M	26	1:38:57
12	Daryl	Dagel	M	37	1:39:07
13	Chris	Ellefson	M	21	1:40:14
14	Michael	Carey	M	36	1:41:36
15	Grant	Soehnel	M	28	1:41:51
16	Miguel	Sandoval	M	27	1:42:10
17	Dustin	Hillerson	M	26	1:42:17
18	Christopher	Keleher	M	43	1:42:31
19	Trevor	Manzanares	M	23	1:42:45
20	James	McIntosh	M	49	1:42:54

Women
Place	First	Last	Gen.	Age	Time	Overall
1	Rachael	Cuellar	F	29	1:34:31	5
2	Magdalena	Donahue	F	29	1:43:38	24
3	Molly	Krehlik	F	26	1:47:08	33
4	Linsey	Sandoval	F	27	1:57:18	58
5	Bree	Morrison	F	31	1:58:08	63
6	Valerie	Compton	F	55	1:59:09	69
7	Marisa	Sandoval	F	24	1:59:13	70
8	Whitney	Dreier	F	27	2:00:27	76
9	Julie	Dunston	F	32	2:00:28	77
10	M.L.	Rauch	F	46	2:01:10	81

Related Posts:  2011 La Luz Trail Run - Preview
                         NM Trail Run Calendar


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