We had quite the day last Saturday; it was the 5th annual Ogden Valley 50 mile ultra marathon. It's all on the oil except for maybe a half mile of dirt road in the north end of the valley. There are 5,600 feet of climbing and over 11,000 of total elevation change. The course peaks out at about 6,500 ft. It's a tough run on a perfect weather day, but last Saturday it never got warmer than 45 degrees, the runners endured two rain storms and it seemed like the wind was always blowing against them. To top it all off, the course is long; we should call it the OV50.50. We stage a lot of races in a year, but this one is our favorite and it means a lot to us to get the support we do for this event. All 27 finishers this year are an inspiration; every one of them had little personal battles throughout the day to get to the finish line. It's very fulfilling to see them all get it done.
Shane Martin was running his 4th OV50 and won it for the 3rd time in a personal best 7:17 (8:34pace). Shane crushes this course every year and makes it look easy. Our runner up this year, Dan Smith, was in Utah on business from Washington State and decided to get a 50 mile fun run while he was here. It was his first run at this distance; very impressive too finishing in 7:28.
We had a battle royale for third place between Kagiso Nkele (his first ultra) and veteran ultra marathon-man Phil Lowry. Phil is Kagiso's senior by 22 years and in the end youth edged experience by only 23 seconds. Phil just came off 2 sub-24 hour 100 mile finishes in September (Wasatch & The Bear). At 50 miles he's just getting warmed up.
Kristen Walker just wanted to break 10 hours this year but instead found herself chasing Tom Remkes all day and was the eventual female champion in a very impressive 8:45 finish time. Kristen is tough as nails and is just getting started. We're all excited to see what see does next.
Angie Castleton was the 2009 OV50 female champion and bettered her time by almost 43 minutes to finish in second place this year. Our youngest runner this year, 19 year old Lauren Halverson, has had a great year. She ran her first marathon ever in Ogden last May and 5 months later she's third in the female category at the OV50 finishing in 9:23.
At the end of the day it was the fastest OV50 to date. Troy Vigil ran a PR by almost three hours from 2 years ago. Father and son duo, Don and Matt Mueller bonded for 50 miles and got it done in 10:07 & 10:17. Rick Sensenstein was running his first 50 miler. If I live until I'm 90 I'll never forget Rick's accomplishment and why he did it. Kaly Fadel gets the gladiator award; battling a stomach that wouldn't cooperate with him and still got it done with a smile on. Tara Low always looks happy when she runs; it could have been a 100 mile race and no doubt she would finish without the slightest hint of discomfort.
I think Tom Remkes logged in close to 60 miles that day; I took him back to Snowbasin to run in with his wife and brother, Jamie and Ron. As soon as he got out of the truck the wind picked up and it started to rain again. The Remkes' are die hard trail runners so it's very cool to have them come out and hit the pavement all day; proof that trail runners are diverse.
Celeste Collman rounded the day out for us. She finished a 100 mile distance a few weeks prior and came out for the OV50 just to have a good time and finish the year right.
As always, we couldn't pull off the OV50 without the help of some unbelievable friends: Dave Seedenberg and Mike Rosner are like two teenagers when they're together; you can't help but feed off their energy when you've run 35 miles and the toughest part of the course is coming up. Thanks for the help guys. Tim & Julie Maurer have either helped or ran the OV50 since the first race in 2006. They go all the way too; they're there for the start of the race and they don't leave until the last runner has finished. I don't know what we would do without them -- Thanks!
The OV has become a family affair for the Halverson's -- Lauren and Kurt running then Holly crewing with her sister and sister in law (Thanks Shelly & Rebecca). Kurt and Holly made our finishers medals again this year; it's by far the most unique piece of art you'll ever get after running a race. The Halverson's have also helped and/or ran the OV50 since the first race in 2006. Thanks for everything Halverson's.
There it is, another OV50 in the books. We can't wait for next year. Here are the 2010 results:
|
PLACE OVERALL |
FIRST NAME |
LAST NAME |
AGE |
FINISH TIME |
|
1 |
SHANE |
MARTIN |
43 |
7:17:00 |
|
2 |
DAN |
SMITH |
28 |
7:50:41 |
|
3 |
KAGISO |
NKELE |
22 |
8:20:45 |
|
4 |
PHILLIP |
LOWRY |
44 |
8:21:08 |
|
5 |
TOM |
REMKES |
48 |
8:43:31 |
|
6 |
KRISTEN |
WALKER |
32 |
8:45:21 |
|
7 |
TIM |
STUMM |
37 |
9:00:00 |
|
8 |
JAMES |
HARRISON |
42 |
9:17:10 |
|
9 |
ANGIE |
CASTLETON |
31 |
9:17:20 |
|
10 |
LAUREN |
HALVERSON |
19 |
9:23:58 |
|
11 |
TROY |
LARKIN |
46 |
9:23:59 |
|
12 |
KURT |
HALVERSON |
46 |
9:39:17 |
|
13 |
CRAIG |
OBERG |
55 |
9:41:43 |
|
14 |
TROY |
VIGIL |
42 |
9:53:53 |
|
15 |
DON |
MUELLER |
57 |
10:07:12 |
|
16 |
MATT |
MUELLER |
33 |
10:17:31 |
|
17 |
DAVID |
ORGILL |
31 |
10:20:03 |
|
18 |
MICHAEL |
ULRICH |
45 |
10:21:30 |
|
19 |
METTE |
HARRISON |
40 |
10:29:12 |
|
20 |
RICK |
SENSENSTEIN |
52 |
10:58:13 |
|
21 |
KALY |
FADEL |
59 |
11:07:11 |
|
22 |
TARA |
LOW |
41 |
11:09:09 |
|
23 |
CORKY |
ESQUIVEL |
60 |
11:19:18 |
|
24 |
WILLIAM |
THOMSON |
52 |
11:23:34 |
|
25 |
JAMIE |
REMKES |
50 |
11:46:57 |
|
26 |
RON |
REMKES |
53 |
11:46:58 |
|
27 |
CELESTE |
COLLMAN |
56 |
11:59:51 |
|
|
TARA |
TULLEY |
33 |
|
|
|
RAY |
SQUIER |
41 |
|
