Nelson, Woods Win Uhwarrie Mountain Run
February 7, 2011 by Bryon Powell · 49 Comments
And they’re off! … or at least those running the 2011 La Sportiva Mountain Cup are. This year La Sportiva kicked off the Mountain Cup two months earlier than last year in the mountains of North Carolina at the 20th Uwharrie Mountain Run. The Uwharrie Mountain Run is actually three races, an 8 miler, a 20 miler, and a 40 miler, with the 20 miler included in the Cup.
It rained heavily the night before the race. While the storm broke before the 20 milers toed the line, it was still a raw run on a relentless course. Mountain Cup regular Rachel Cieslewicz commented after the race, “it was the wettest, coldest, crazy technical 20 mile trail run I’ve raced.” Others reported “the trail conditions were pretty gnarly” and “a couple people ate it.” Having run the 40 miler, I can assure you that the course is quite technical and unforgiving.
La Sportiva added two new components to the Mountain Cup with year, the Standout Award and a limited edition tee shirt for each race.
With the Standout Award, “the Series will recognize an athlete outside the realm of the top competitors by presenting the Standout Award to a participant who displays some kind of notable achievement regarding the race. Recipients of the Standout Award will receive a pair of La Sportiva Mountain Running shoes and an impressive prize package from the La Sportiva Mountain Running Team’s associate sponsors.” This weekend, the Uwharrie Mountain Run and the Mountain Cup presented the award to Michael Kern. Michael is in his 70s and has run in 5 of the past 7 Uwharrie Mountain Runs. This “super jolly dude” ran the 8 mile race this year. For future Mountain Cup races, we’ll announce the Standout Award winner later in the article.
Michael Kern receiving his La Sportiva Mounain Cup Standout Award.
La Sportiva also will unveil a limited edition tech tee by La Sportiva Mountain Running Team partner Greenlayer at each one of the Mountain Cup races. Tees will be on sale at the La Sportiva booth for $15 each with all the proceeds going to local land trust, nature conservancy and trail running clubs. The tee shirt sales at Uwharrie raised over $1000 for the Land Trust for Central North Carolina. If you want a sense of what the Uwharrie course was like, take a close look at the shirt to the right. The mountain profile… we’ll it’s the race’s elevation profile. Pretty cool, huh?
Our custom this season will be to begin our LSMC race coverage by filling you in on how the race played out. Next, we’ll give you an update on the Mountain Cup standings. We’ll then move on to our weekly giveaway contest(s) before calling for your comments and finishing up with the full La Sportiva Mountain Cup schedule. We’re a little short of race day data, so we’ll be fleshing out this report as more info filters in.
The Race
Here are the top five men and women’s results with links to race reports where available.
Men’s Race
- Ryan Woods – 2:23:16 – Course Record (a Mountain Cup regular and Inov-8 runner)
- Jared Scott (report) – 2:24:17 (Inov-8)
- Tom Clifford – 2:30:43
- Jason Bryant – 2:37:34 (a Mountain Cup regular and La Sportiva runner)
- Scott Williams – 2:41:41
(Ok, he wasn’t in the top 5, but a special shout out to friend Sean Andrish (Inov-8) who finished sixth in 2:44:41.)
La Sportiva team member Jason Bryant before the start.
Women’s Race
- Martha Nelson – 3:07:40
- Rachel Cieslewicz (report) – 3:15:26 (Mountain Cup regular)
- Annette Bednosky (report) – 3:26:36 (Montail)
- Jessica Durant – 3:28:14
- Lillian Brown – 3:29:42
Full Results
Results are not yet available.
La Sportiva Mountain Cup Standings
We skipped an update on the Mountain Cup standings in last year’s series premiere and we’ll do so again this year. At this point, the rankings mirror the results exactly. However, we wanted to let you know that we’ll be including a full analysis of LSMC standings after each future race and assure you that these standing updates will get exciting as the series proceeds!
We’ll also take this opportunity to remind you that series results are based on a runner’s top five scoring races. In each race, points are awarded to the top 15 runners of each gender. The top five runners receive 20, 17, 15, 13, and 11 points, respectively. The sixth through fifteenth place runners receive points descending from 10 points for sixth place to 1 point for the final scoring runner. A runner will also receive 2 bonus points for beating another runner who ranked in the series’ top 10 going into the race. You can take a look at the official scoring rules by going to the Mountain Cup website and clicking on the About tab.
One update for this year’s Mountain Cup is the removal of the master’s category. The same total $25,000 purse now spreads 5 deep among the men and women as follows:
- $5,000
- $3,500
- $2,000
- $1,5000
- $500
iRunFar.com La Sportiva Mountain Cup Contest
Classics are classics for a reason and the La Sportiva Crosslite (iRF review) has earned its status as a classic among Sportiva’s trail running line. These neutral, lightweight shoes are heavily nubbed giving you sick traction in the sloppiest of conditions. Looking to tear up the trail in the Crosslite at one of the nine remaining LSMC races? Simply leave your name and town (in the US or Canada) in a comment before we write about the next Mountain Cup race to be run at Nueces 25 on March 5 in Rocksprings, Texas. As a reminder, if you enter to win the Crosslite you’ll also automatically be eligible to win the grand prize at the end of August. Read up on the iRunFar.com La Sportiva Mountain Cup giveaway grand prize.
Call for Comments
If you ran any of the Uwharrie Mountain Run races, please leave a comment letting everyone know how you did and what you think about the race. Past racers are invited to comment, too!
Related articles:
- 2011 La Sportiva Mountain Cup The schedule of the 2011 La Sportiva Mountain Cup....
- La Sportiva Mountain Cup Giveaway Grand Prize Two final winners in iRunFar's 2010 La Sportiva Mountain Cup giveaways....
- Woods and Bryant Win Uwharrie Mountain Run Results and recap of the 2012 Uwharrie Mountain Run 20 miler....
Filed under Races ·
Bryon Powell is the Editor-in-Chief of iRunFar.com, which he founded five years ago. Also the author of Relentless Forward Progress: A Guide to Running Ultramarathons and a contributing editor at Trail Runner magazine, he's quickly approaching 10 years as an ultrarunner and 20 years as a trail runner. These days he calls Park City, Utah and its trails home.
All posts by Bryon Powell
Any coverage on the 40 miler?
I like that idea of a special shirt only available for purchase. Very cool design too.
Turi Becker
Reno, NV
Also think the shirts are a great idea, and will be running and purchasing one at the Jupiter Peak Steeple Chase.
Jadon Ross
Kemmerer, WY
Its a shame that they took the “Mt. PENN MUDFEST” race @ REading,Pa out of the Series…but happy to hear that the Rothrock Challenge is still around
Alright! My crosslites are wearing thin as I’ve been noticing on my ice/snow runs of late. It’d be great to tackle the Bull Run Run 50 again and the MMT 100 (my first attempt at MMT AND a 100) in a nice new pair of ‘em! Is it spring yet?
Hopefully I’ll make it out to one of the La Sportiva races this year; I hear Bell Monte is pretty intense though I’ve more been eyeballing the 50k for that one…
Kevin (Now in Bristow, VA)
Very cool giveaway! Hoping to do the Bel Monte 25k in VA, depends on how the marathon the weekend prior goes though.
woops, forgot locale: Arlington, VA
Love the shoes.
jared – provo ut
When I put my Crosslites on this morning I realized that there’s a huge tear near my left toe. Amazing shoes and a great idea regarding the tech tee donations. Todd-Brewster, NY
I’d really love a free pair of those Crosslites.
Greg W.
San Antonio, TX
Crosslite giveaway? Yes, please. Could always use another pair for crashing around in Rothrock! -Steve, State College, PA
I want to get 4th place in the cup, $1,5000!! Will we be seeing you at any Mountain Cup races this year Bryon?
That time already??
jacob w.
santa fe, nm
La Sportiva races and shoes- love them both. Jon Allen, Greenville SC.
Joey
Charlottesville, VA
I’d love to try the Crosslites, since I’m always looking for a lighter trail shoe.
I ran the Uwharrie 8-miler. It was a fun mud fest!
Leslie Beckwith
Fort Bragg, NC
Still very much winter here, but sometime in the future I’d love to try them out on a Montana trail.
John D.
Helena, Mt
Great coverage Bryon! To the rest, you can win, I won the grand prize last year!
Patrick
Denver, CO
Limited edition shirts to support local land ocnservation and trial running organizations is a great idea. Entering for the shoes!
Scott Broadwell
Anchorage, AK
My crosslites have tears in both pinkie toe regions- I love them and could definitely use a new pair!
Natalie
Asheville, NC
I have a pair of the Wildcats and love them. Would love to try the Crosslites.
Crosslites! Have to drive to Asheville to get them, but I’m on my way in a week or so.
Ned Barrett
Spartanburg, SC
I would love to have another pair of Crosslites. Fantastic shoe.
Henry Bickerstaff
Oklahoma
Bryon, Fabulous report and coverage as always! You are so talented. Let’s run soon!
Always like the idea of a new pair of Crosslites. Just ran my first race in them this past weekend and they are my new faves.
Leesburg, VA
As a father of 4 young children and a full-time librarian, my time on the trails is pretty minimal (and the pocket book is small). However, if I win entrance into one of these races, my family will promise me the appropriate training time to prepare! Isn’t that grand? Too bad it takes something like this to get me out on the trails more, but I’ll take it! And I promise to wear the Crosslites to the race as well!
Bradley
Puyallup WA
Thanks for all the great coverage.
Nick
Colorado Springs, Co
@NicholasBLee
love the crosslites as well as the entire la sportive line
ATL, GA
The snow’s starting to melt here in Pennsylvania – perfect time to try out a pair of Crosslites!
Looking forward to your coverage!
Alex Jones
Pocatello, ID
Running Jemez. I’ll leave a report. In the meantime, I’d love the shoes. –Tracy
Love the coverage and the shoes!
Sammamish, WA
Cool t-shirts!
Campbell River, BC, Canada
Nice writeup…thanks
Brandon Rodgers
Los Osos, CA
I’d love to try a pair of these shoes!
Kevin Landis
Elyria, OH
Awesome write up. Nice Shoes!
John Maytum
Seattle, WA
Love the Crosslites. Hope to run Jupiter Peak Steeplechase in a new pair without holes.
Kelly B.
Smithfield Utah
Kevin Schneider
Newark, DE
Great shoes would love to try some out.
Kevin Dickson
Evans, GA
Would love me some shoes…
Teresa Holman
Ocala, FL
Those Crosslites look SICK!
Rebecca
Issaquah, WA
The t-shirt design looks awesome! Btw, I liked reading your report. It’s very inspiring to people who are new runners or marathon runners to see that even in his 70s, Michael Kern can still rock it out in races like this. I’ll be looking forward to more of your stories. Good job!
This was a fun race.
Daniel Gamble
Maple Valley, WA