Mountain Masochist, Lithia Loop Trail Marathon & Stone Cat Results

Reports on the 2009 Mountain Masochist 50 mile, Lithia Loop Trail Marathon, and Stone Cat 50 mile and marathon.

By on November 9, 2009 | Comments

Since we previewed three big weekend races we thought it only fair to provide you with race results for each of those races. Below are resources for what went down at the Mountain Masochist 50 mile (MMTR report) and Lithia Loop Trail Marathon (LLTM report). Kelly Wilson of Vermont was kind enough to provide us a full race report from the Stone Cat 50 (and marathon), which we include at the bottom of this post.

Mountain Masochist Trail Run 50 Mile
Mountain Masochist Trail Run 50 mile mmtrMontrail’s Geoff Roes continued his record breaking season (and cemented his iRunFar men’s ultrarunner of the year status) by setting a new course record at the Mountain Masochist 50 with a time of 6:27:55. That’s more than 20 minutes under Dave Mackey’s previous course record! Speedster Lon Freeman (6:58:25) took second more than 30 minutes behind Geoff. Canadian Gary Robbins took third with a 7:00:28. Brazilian Valmir Nunes (7:12:17) and Virginian Jeremy Ramsey (7:33:33) rounded out the top 5.

Tamsin Anstey came down from British Columbia with her GORE-TEX TransRockies Run partner, Gary Robbins, and took the women’s win in 8:09:07. Another of Tamsin’s traveling companions, Nicola Gildersleeve, followed Tamsin in to take second with a time of 8:39:53. Young Virginian Heather Fisher was third in 8:47:00. Montrail runner Annette Bednosky brought home fourth in 8:56:46, while Ginger Smith of New York was fifth in 9:08:08.

The full MMTR results are up. The race also posted live text, audio, and video updates from the course that, when put together, make a nice narrative account of the race. Geoff Roes has posted a brief race report.

Lithia Loop Trail Marathon
Lithia Loop Trail MarathonNo surprise in the men’s field with Max King ending the day as the Lithia Loop Trail Marathon winner and, more important, the new USATF national trail marathon champion. Max’s win is all the sweeter considering he essentially made his marathon debut a week earlier at the New York City Marathon where he placed top-20 with a 2:19. The men’s top five was geographically diverse. Behind Bend, Oregon’s King were California’s Sam Robinson in 2:42:54; North Carolina’s Aaron Saft in 2:48:42; Arizona’s Greg McMillan in 2:54:50; and New Hampshire’s Jim Johnson in 2:56:57.

Lithia Loop Trail Marathon 2009 Max King Sam Robinson Aaron Saft Jim Johnsonfrom l-r: Max King, Sam Robinson, Aaron Saft and Jim Johnson photo: Ian Torrence, LLTM co-RD

Cynthia Arnold of Lexington, Kentucky took the women’s championship in 3:08:42. Becca Ward’s sprint to a 3:16:14 was just good to claim second. Three ultrarunners took third through fifth in the women’s race: Devon Crosby-Helms (3:16:20), Krissy Moelh (3:17:58), and Ellen Parker (3:30:40).

Full Lithia Loop Trail Marathon results are available. Also check out the fine Mail Tribune article on the race.

Stone Cat 50 Mile
Stone Cat 50 mileAs noted above, Vermont’s Kelly Wilson provided the following report on the Stone Cat 50 mile. [Trail Goat Note: I also covered the race for Competitor Running.]

It was a beautiful, sunny fall day in Ipswitch, MA at the Stone Cat 50 mile and marathon trail races. The morning started out on the chilly side at 27 degrees but warmed into the 50s with a slight breeze.

The racers lined up at the start at daybreak, Gil gave the word to go and they were off with the marathoners turning left to do their mini loop first while the 50 milers headed into the woods.

About an hour and a half later the 50 mile lead pack came in with Kevin Sullivan, Leigh Schmidt, David Herr, Brian Rusiecki (right), Jack Pilla and a short distance behind Todd Walker.

The sun had come out and the air was warming up nicely when Kevin Sullivan came in first to complete the second lap with Leigh Schmidt about 20 seconds behind. Brian Rusiecki followed about a minute later with David Herr and Jack Pilla not too far off pace.

Kevin headed out for his third lap looking over his shoulder for Leigh. However, shortly after the leaders had left, Kevin was walking back across the field. He was dropping due to a calf injury. Todd Walker came back, too, with an IT band bothering him.

Leigh Schmidt came in first at the end of the third lap with Brian Rusiecki about a minute behind him. David Herr and Jack Pilla weren’t far behind.

Brian Rusiecki passed Leigh on the fourth lap and went on to win the race and set a new course record of 6:27:55. Leigh Schmidt finished second in a time of 6:32:06. Jack Pilla finished third in 6:51:49 passing David Herr on a hill within the last mile of the race. David Herr finished in 6:52:20.

The women’s race was exciting as well with Aliza Lapierre winning her second Stone Cat 50 mile. Her main competition was Amy Lane who has had a great season winning most of the races she’s entered this year. Aliza and Amy ran together for the first two laps. After the third lap, Aliza came in by herself and was out for her fourth lap before Amy came in. Aliza finished in 7:19:15 and Amy finished second in 7:54:40. Sue Dodge, a well known VT runner in the marathon and shorter distances, finished third. This was her first ultra.

Aliza Lapierre winning the women’s race at the Stone Cat 50 mile
both Stone Cat photos: Mark Bentsen

Ben Nephew won the marathon in a course record time. (Trail Goat Note: Here’s Ben Nephew’s race report. [broken link to US Inov-8 team blogpost entitle “Ben Nephew’s Stonecat Trail Marathon” removed])

Bryon Powell

Bryon Powell is the Founding Editor of iRunFar. He’s been writing about trail running, ultrarunning, and running gear for more than 15 years. Aside from iRunFar, he’s authored the books Relentless Forward Progress: A Guide to Running Ultramarathons and Where the Road Ends: A Guide to Trail Running, been a contributing editor at Trail Runner magazine, written for publications including Outside, Sierra, and Running Times, and coached ultrarunners of all abilities. Based in Silverton, Colorado, Bryon is an avid trail runner and ultrarunner who competes in events from the Hardrock 100 Mile just out his front door to races long and short around the world, that is, when he’s not fly fishing or tending to his garden.