2013 ESCARPMENT Trail Run - and Some Rain
The thirty sixth annual Escarpment Trail Ru (ETR) was adorned with rain and fog. The Catskills were intermittently sunny, foggy, rainy, and consistently damp for the 30K, 18.6 mile, trail run.
227 runners took part in Sunday’s race. Denis Mikhaylov of Fort Lee, was the winner with a time of 2:51:05. The course record was set in 2004 at 2:45:20 by Benjamin Nephew. This year Nephew came in second place with a time of 2:58:17. In spite of the slick conditions only three people did not finish.
Quick time for the women went to 35 year old Raina White of Vt. also a winner of previous year’s races. Her time this year was 3:42:16. Course record for women was set way back in 1999 by Cassy Bradley-Byrne, of Pa, at 3:07:22. Sherrly Wheeler,50 of Rhinebeck, ran the second fastest time for the women at 4:01:12. Wheeler is a five time winner of the ETR.
Jeff Andritz, 32 of Altamont, is a tri-athlete who says running is his strong point. What he loves about trail running is the scenery, the challenging terrain, and the varied elevation.
“You could tell when you were getting close to the peaks because it got noticeably colder,” Andritz said.
The rain didn’t really affect his race. “It only rained for so long, so there were no huge puddles. I had to be careful, but you always have to be careful,” Andritz said.
Andritz ran part of the race with a friend, Rich Teal, who had run in the Great Cranberry Island Ultra Marathon in Maine yesterday and drove over night to get to the ETR.
“The people and the volunteers make trail running different from road running,” Andritz said. “It’s completely different, it is more of an extended family and the races are an opportunity to get back together with old friends”.
Many of the top runners have blogs and comment on each other’s race reports, according to Andritz. Here is Denis Mikhayvov's race report- http://runonfruit.com/2013/07/30/escarpment2013/.
“The runners are certainly more appreciative of the volunteers than in road races,” one volunteer said. “They called us trail angels”.
Wheeler, second place woman, has run the ETR 14 or 15 times. Her first ETR back in 1999 was her first trail run ever.
“It was raining and I was wearing worn out road sneakers,” Wheeler said. And she loved it.
The tent at the finish line had a party atmosphere. Some runners were beaming as they crossed the line, others fell to the ground, and some just staggered around dazed.
As of 2:30 approximately half of the 250 runners had come in with no serious injuries reported. Congrats to all who ran and to the volunteers who came out.
...Peak Magazine
227 runners took part in Sunday’s race. Denis Mikhaylov of Fort Lee, was the winner with a time of 2:51:05. The course record was set in 2004 at 2:45:20 by Benjamin Nephew. This year Nephew came in second place with a time of 2:58:17. In spite of the slick conditions only three people did not finish.
Quick time for the women went to 35 year old Raina White of Vt. also a winner of previous year’s races. Her time this year was 3:42:16. Course record for women was set way back in 1999 by Cassy Bradley-Byrne, of Pa, at 3:07:22. Sherrly Wheeler,50 of Rhinebeck, ran the second fastest time for the women at 4:01:12. Wheeler is a five time winner of the ETR.
Jeff Andritz, 32 of Altamont, is a tri-athlete who says running is his strong point. What he loves about trail running is the scenery, the challenging terrain, and the varied elevation.
“You could tell when you were getting close to the peaks because it got noticeably colder,” Andritz said.
The rain didn’t really affect his race. “It only rained for so long, so there were no huge puddles. I had to be careful, but you always have to be careful,” Andritz said.
Andritz ran part of the race with a friend, Rich Teal, who had run in the Great Cranberry Island Ultra Marathon in Maine yesterday and drove over night to get to the ETR.
“The people and the volunteers make trail running different from road running,” Andritz said. “It’s completely different, it is more of an extended family and the races are an opportunity to get back together with old friends”.
Many of the top runners have blogs and comment on each other’s race reports, according to Andritz. Here is Denis Mikhayvov's race report- http://runonfruit.com/2013/07/30/escarpment2013/.
“The runners are certainly more appreciative of the volunteers than in road races,” one volunteer said. “They called us trail angels”.
Wheeler, second place woman, has run the ETR 14 or 15 times. Her first ETR back in 1999 was her first trail run ever.
“It was raining and I was wearing worn out road sneakers,” Wheeler said. And she loved it.
The tent at the finish line had a party atmosphere. Some runners were beaming as they crossed the line, others fell to the ground, and some just staggered around dazed.
As of 2:30 approximately half of the 250 runners had come in with no serious injuries reported. Congrats to all who ran and to the volunteers who came out.
...Peak Magazine
