Mick Jurynec stopped for about two minutes at the Cramer Road checkpoint to rehydrate, change shoes and socks and then depart down the black as coal Superior Hiking Trail. After running 78 miles, Jurynec, who hails from Utah, didn’t look winded, or tired, and he would win the race by about an hour. Staff photo/ Brian Larsen
The Superior Fall Trail races had a little bit of everything, some mud, big waterfalls, babbling brooks, dense forests, fantastic vistas and even a wedding at the 78-mile checkpoint at the Cramer Road in Schroeder.
Runners came from 34 states and six countries to test themselves over the grueling course held on the Superior Hiking Trail Friday and Saturday, Sept. 6 and 7.
Looking a little bit like astronauts in T-shirts and short pants, runners wore headlamps and intricate backpacks designed to carry fluids. Some wore GPS watches with on-wrist heart rate monitors; some used running poles to help them keep their balance on the big ups and big downhills.
All of the runners navigated the rutted, rocky trails through the inky black darkness with the use of headlamps. They came into the Cramer aid station after having completed 78 miles, some with pacemakers behind them to give them encouragement (pacemakers were not allowed to run in front of the runners and “pace” them). Runners stopped to eat pancakes, bananas, bacon, quesadillas, chicken noodle soup, gummy bears — whatever they craved at the 77.9-mile checkpoint – and reached for cups of Coca-Cola, HEED, water, Mountain Dew, and gulped fast while aid station workers scurried to fill hydration packs with water. And it was mostly water runners craved, sipping through long plastic tubes connected to their hydration packs while they ran. Some stopped to change shoes, shirts, socks, sweats. One runner smothered his feet in Desitin.
When the 50-mile entrants and then the marathon runners came through the Cramer Road aid station there was a lot of action. Some runners stopped to eat or drink, change shoes or even get married. Just another day in the life of an ultra runner. Staff photo/Brian Larsen
Whenever a runner appeared through the darkness on Friday night there would be a team waiting for them.
Running ultras is a family affair. Moms, dads, wives, husbands, boyfriends, girlfriends, and kids would crew for their runner. Stopping at every checkpoint the “team” would make sure their athlete got what they needed, whether it was certain food supplements, drink, massage, or help with taking off and putting on a new pair of shoes.
Kathy Errthum, La Crosse, Wisconsin, completed the 103-mile race in 35:23:39 to place 22nd out of 37 women runners. She placed 10th in the Master’s race for females.
There were a lot of hugs, words of encouragement, and some sadness if a person decided to drop out. But at the 78-mile checkpoint, well, when some dropped, they had already covered 78 miles. That’s more miles than most people drive in a day, so it was hardly a failure, although to the athletes — and there were only a few — who did drop, they were at least somewhat frustrated.
103-mile race results
The overall winner of the 100-mile (it was really 103 miles long) race was Mick Jurynec, 41, from Millcreek, Utah, who trotted into the 78-mile checkpoint looking like he just finished a three-mile jog. He wasn’t out of breath and he looked fresh as a dew-dolloped daisy. Didn’t look too sweaty, either, although it was colder than the snow crested glass bottom of a moonshiner’s jug when he came into the aid station.
Mick sat down in a portable canvas chair, hurriedly changed his socks, drank some water, ate a small snack, filled his blue bladder in his shoulder pack with more water and took off with a smile, disappearing into the blackness, the light from his headlamp bouncing off of the rutted, rocky, trail that snaked through the black wilderness to Caribou Highlands, the finish line for the 100-, 50-, and 26-mile trail races.
At the Cramer aid station some runners huddled near the big fire that rose and fell in the fire pit like Hephaestus’s chest, then forged on, rested and warm. However, if they sat too long by the wood heat, wooed by the dancing flames and music coming from the portable speakers, they had trouble getting motivated back to their feet and moving down the trail.
As for Jurynec, he was more than an hour ahead of second place.
He finished the rugged Superior trail 103-mile run in 20 hours, 15 minutes and 55 seconds. Three Twin Cities runners came next.
Finishing second in 21:34:51 was Benjamin Drexler, Joe Laue was third, crossing the line in 22:35, Chris Robbins took fourth place with a time of 22:44:06 and Adam Schwartz-Lowe, Duluth, placed fifth in 22:46:48.
Kelly Teeselink won the women’s 100-mile race in 25:23:19. Last year’s winner, Mallory Richard, was an hour ahead and looking great at the 78-mile checkpoint, but she sat in a chair and asked not to be disturbed. After awhile she conferred with an older gentleman (her father? Coach?) for about 15 minutes and then withdrew from the race.
April Anselmo placed second in 26:19:01. Tina Koplinski was third in 28:18:22. Colleen Jay crossed the line in fourth place in 28:58:47 and Kelly Tyrrell took fifth place in 29:50:30.
All told there were 180 entries in the 103-mile race.
50-mile race results
Jake Hegge bested 128 entries in the 50-mile field, crossing the line in 8:18:38. Greg Hexum, Esko, whose mother lives in Lutsen, placed second in 8:43:26. In third pace was Joshua Miller with a time of 8:48:02; fourth place went to Travis Zagrodnik in 9:13:34; and taking fifth place in 9:20:24 was Nate Canton.
Margart MacDonald won the women’s 50-mile race in 10:52:15. In second was Emily Carlson, 11:02:20; third place went to Sarah Krueger in 11:35:31; fourth was Anna Yurchencko in 12:13:49; and Kate Mills took fifth in 12:28:09.
Marathon results
There were 312 entries in the Superior Trail marathon.
Grand Marais’s Emma Spoon ran away from the women’s field, winning her second consecutive Superior Trail marathon in 4:20:27. Emma finished seventh overall in the race.
Joanne Sackett placed second in 4:52:43. The third-place finisher was Andrea Louwagie in 4:54:19. Fourth place went to Jody Zeleznikar in 4:59:07 and Alison Liewen placed fifth in 5:01:39.
Lane Johnson was the men’s winner, crossing the line in 3:45:08. Placing second was James Sorenson in 3:50:40; third went to Wynn Davis in 3:51:39; Chase Nowak took fourth in 4:04:09; and fifth went to John Starke who finished in 4:14:01.
Local finsihers
Sven Hoaglund, Tofte, placed 11th in 4:14:46. Josh Lindstrom, Grand Marais, finished 18th in 4:51:23. Tom Bittinger, Lutsen placed 233 in 8:12:37.
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