Taking advantage of the cool weather and dry trail conditions, both the men’s and women’s winner of the Superior Trail 100-mile race set course records last weekend.
Steven Moore, 45, of Austin, Texas finished the race in 21 hours and 2 seconds, taking 40 minutes off the 2006 course record set by Sean Anderson.
Kristine Folcik, 34, of New Hampshire placed 7th overall and smashed the women’s record set by Helen Lavin in 2008 by 2 hours when she crossed the line in 24 hours and 49 seconds.
All in all 44 very brave, very tough runners finished the 100-mile race, which began at Gooseberry Falls at 8 a.m. on Friday, September 7, and finished at Caribou Highlands Lodge in Lutsen the next day.
This is the 23rd year for the ultra trail running events that follow the rocky ridgeline of Lake Superior and end at Caribou Highlands.
While no local runners ran the 100-mile event, Buck Benson of Grand Marais completed the 50-mile run and several locals competed in the Moose Mountain Marathon held on September 8. All of the runs were held in conjunction with each other.
James Sorenson, 30, of Minneapolis won the 50-mile race in 8:53:19, averaging 10:40 per mile. Deb Gibbs, 45, of Stevens Point, Wisconsin was the first women finisher in 11:54:04 with 14:17 per mile average.
Benson, 60, finished 25th overall 12:13:36, and averaged 14:41 per mile.
“This is the first year that I didn’t finish in the top 10 and I was an hour slower than usual. I’ve had some problems this past year and missed some training, so overall I was happy with my results,” Benson said.
The rugged, 50-mile trail race had 73 finishers.
Lane Johnson of Bayfield, Minnesota won the Moose Mountain Marathon in 3:55:38, averaging 9-minute miles. Willie Tibbets of Eagan was the fist woman finisher in 4:39:03, and averaged 10:40 mile pace.
Local runners to run the 26.2-mile marathon included Jonathan Rova, 39, who placed 28th in 5:20:35. Derek Smith, 25, and Lucas Will placed 36th and 37th and crossed the line in 5:28. Alex Schroeder, 23, was 44th in 5:39 and Scott Bergstrom, 55, was 72nd in 6:15.
Leave a Reply