2012 Leona Divide 50 Preview
April 27, 2012 by Bryon Powell · 27 Comments
[The race has been run, so here's our Leona Divide 50 mile results article.]
On Saturday, April 28, the Leona Divide 50 Mile will be the second of three ridiculously competitive 50 Mile races in a five weekend stretch, following the Lake Sonoma 50 (results) two weeks ago and preceding Transvulcania by two weeks. Yes, there are plenty of other competitive 50 milers during this span – Bull Run Run, Zane Grey, Fruita 50, TNF Bear Mountain, and Quad Rock, just to name a few – but these three are over the top.
With a great course and guaranteed early season access to the mountains, Leona Divide has long drawn a good field. However, like Lake Sonoma, its field has taken a big step up this year and likely for the same two reasons: a tireless race director and inclusion in the Montrail Ultra Cup. On the RD side, Keira Henninger has brought together a $2,800 prize purse this year and coaxed top runners to make the southern California in April (a hard sell, I’m sure). As for the Montrail Ultra Cup, it continues to spur crazy competition both for its coveted Western States 100 entries to the top 2 men and women who place in the top 3 who don’t yet have a spot in the race as well as growing interest in the men’s overall title with Timothy Olson and Dave Mackey both going for it.
Given our recent slew of race coverage I promise (really) I’ll keep this one (relatively) short, but I’d be remiss not to mention the race at all.
2012 Leona Divide 50 Mile Men’s Field
I’ll start out north of the border with the Canadian contingent converging on California. Jason Loutitt likes to go out like a bat out of hell. He did so a few weeks ago at the Chuckanut 50k, where he led late in the race before quickly fading to ninth, and led again early in last weekend’s IAU 100k World Championships before dropping out. Yes, Loutitt was planning on this double even before dropping. Joining him is fellow Canadian Aaron Heidt. Every time I preview a big race with Mr. Heidt’s name on the entrants list, the Canadian crowd calls out that he’s the man. Unfortunately, if I recall correctly, he’s not made it to the line of some of those races. With a fifth and an eighth at White River 50 Mile and a fifth at the Miwok 100k, he’s clearly strong at mid-distance ultras, but it’s yet to be seen if he can beat the top dogs. Chuckanut 50k winner Adam Campbell is on the entrants list, but he didn’t mention the race when we chatted after that Chuckanut win, so I’m not sure he’s racing. Update: Looks like the Americans have found a way to start leveling the playing field: keep all the top Canadians from showing up! ;-)
Next up, the Californians. Southern California’s Jorge Pacheco owns the fourth and fifth fastest times at Leona Divide with that fifth fastest time coming last year in 6:32:14. In total, Pacheco has four of ten fastest times on the course. Chikara Omine is one of the “fastest” guy in the race when he’s healthy. He’s been hitting the ultra race scene less of late, so it’ll be interesting to see if he’s race fit and how he races when well rested. Jorge “More Smiles” Maravilla will also be bringing his excellent attitude to the race. If he’s recovered from Lake Sonoma two weeks ago, look for him to better his sixth place finish there if he’s a bit more conservative early. Dominic Grossman is chomping at the bit to race Leona. His win at the Angeles Crest 100 mile last year shows he can blast the SoCal trails. Evan Hone has fifth at last year’s Leona Divide, which bodes well, as does the fact he was fifth at this year’s Zane Grey 50 mile… except that Zane Grey was last weekend!
One more “C” field to cover with the Coloradans. Dave Mackey is entered. If he’s there in pursuit of another Montrail Ultra Cup title, he’ll be in contention for the win. He always is. To do so, he’ll have to beat Jason Schlarb, who’s running very well now that he’s back in the States. His third place finish at Chuckanut shows just how well. If he’s not burning himself out on training and Green Mountain FKTs, he could surprise some folks with a win this weekend. Dylan Bowman is traveling the American West on a road trip/vision quest. He really impressed me with his tight fourth place finish at the Bandera 100k in January and the hills of Leona can only help this Aspen resident. Dan Vega has wildly inconsistent results, but is capable of a great showing when he’s on such as his 15:31 win at last year’s Antelope Island 100 mile and fifth place at this year’s Nueces 50 Mile. Scott Jaime will travel to California for the second time in two weeks to see if he can better his 15th place showing at Lake Sonoma. Now for my official dark horse pick, Alex Nichols. Until last December, Nichols was most familiar to the ultra crowd as Anton Krupicka’s pacer, but that was before he led midway through the TNF 50 Mile before destroying his ankle. Look for him to be up front at least through half way.
On to Arizona for one last geographic group. James Bonnett won Leona last year with the second fastest time (6:24:46) in race history, just three minutes of Ben Hian’s 16-year-old course record that is in danger of going down this weekend with temps forecast to top out at only 75F. Jason Wolfe’s ninth place at last year’s TNF EC 50 Mile put him on the radar. Michael Smith has run well at shorter, smaller ultras, so it’s time to see if he can step up his ultra game.
I’d call Utah’s Seth Wold a secret darkhorse as he’s a talented runner who’s just getting into ultras, but he just ran 2:36:57 at the Salt Lake Marathon last weekend. Oregon’s Yassine Diboun is always a threat for a top 5 finish at a big race and has been racing well so far this season. Master’s runner Steven Moore finished two spots behind Diboun to finish tenth at the competitive Bandera 100k back in January.
After his inspiring article – My Path to Contentment: From Addict to Awakened Ultrarunner – published on iRunFar yesterday, Timothy Olson gets his own paragraph this time around. Of course, Olson also earned that distinction with his second place showing two weeks ago at Lake Sonoma (post-race interview).
2012 Leona Divide 50 Mile Women’s Field
I’ll start off with some unknown women who’ll content for the win at Leona Divide. Hong Kong’s Claire Price will be completely unknown to the Americans, but not likely for long. Price was second at the TNF UTMB’s CCC sister race last year and was second women at the Hong Kong 100k in January, where she was only 22 minutes slower than Lizzy Hawker’s run there in 2011. She’s over in the US getting in a practice run before tackling Western States in June. Megan Laib is toeing the line for her first 50 mile, but demonstrated her speed at ultra distance with her second place finish in 4:00:42 last month at Way Too Cool. In December, Laib won the OTHTC High Desert 50k in 3:52:10. Melanie Fryar isn’t well known outside of Texas, where she has many wins at the likes of the Bandera 100k, Nueces 50 mile, and Rocky Raccoon 50 mile. Fryar has also run an 8:18 road 100k (Mad City ’10) and 6:51 50 mile (Lean Horse ’11).
There’s another crew ready to battle for the women’s win. Michelle Barton owns the Leona Divide 50 women’s course record by more than six minutes with her 7:19:04 in 2010. Barton also has countless ultra wins, especially at 50k. Darcy Africa is on the entrants list, so maybe she’ll be back in California for the third time in less than two months after placing seventh at both the Way Too Cool 50k and Lake Sonoma 50 mile. Jenn Shelton is a threat to win any race she enters and she ran well (4:22) at the Gorge Waterfalls 50k after dropping from Chuckanut in March. Heather Fuhr ran 6:51:51 to win the Avalon 50 in January 2011. Fuhr also ran a 3:39:42 50k in 2010 finishing second overall and beating Jorge Pacheco in the process.
Although unlikely to win, another group of fast women could make it on the podium should they race well. Paulette Zillmer was second at last year’s Leona Divide (7:59:07) and won Zane Grey last weekend. Jenny Capel is in better shape than her early season racing (7th at Chuckanut) shows. SoCal’s Angela Shartel excels in difficult terrain and has finished as high as ninth at Western States (21:28:06 ’10). Bree Lambert has numerous ultra wins and strong showings against the best women. Top 5 would be a strong showing from her. Already this year Orgeon’s Ashley Nordell has won the 3 Days of Syllamo stage race and Santa Monica Mountains 50k. After not racing ultras in 2011, Sally McRae won the Rocky Road 50 Mile in 8:24 in February.
The women’s field has half a dozen with lots of wins at shorter trail races or local 50ks: Nicole Guimarra, Kristina Pham, Shawn Chapley, and Sarah Bird. Normally, I’d omit them, but that’s be a mistake in this case as they have some noteworthy performances. For instance, Kristina Pham ran a 3:47:02 to finish third overall at the Pemberton Trail 50k in February, while last October, Shawn Chapler took fifth overall at the Rock’n River 50 Mile in 8:10.
Call for Comments
- Who do you think will win at Leona Divide?
- Who else will have a breakout performance?
- Do you know of anyone noted about who’s definitely not racing?
- What do you think the Montrail Ultra Cup is adding to the US ultra scene?
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- 2012 Leona Divide 50 Mile Results Results from the 2012 Leona Divide 50 Mile....
- Shattering the Stoke Meter: Leona Divide 50 Race Report Dylan Bowman reports on his course record win at the 2012 Leona Divide 50 Mile....
- 2012 Chuckanut 50k Preview A preview of the 2012 Chuckanut 50k....
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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
Heather Fuhr ran Avalon 50M sub 7 last year. I see her winning with a new CR.
Both mens and womans fields have so many talented runners, half I which have run big races recently, that it’s kind of a crap shoot. One thing is for sure, it’s goin to be a track meet and there’s going to be carnage.
Nice Prizzle. Great minds think alike… LOL
Heather Fuhr has never lost, and has obliterated course records in nearly every trail race I’ve seen her run (I’ve seen 4-5 of them in person). The paragraph said “shorter races or local 50k’s” which overlooks Heather’s 2nd overall finish at the AVALON 50-miler, running a women’s course record. Oh yeah, she’s also finished 19 (maybe more) IRONMAN Triathlons and has a IRONMAN KONA World Championship WIN to her credit. With about 20-years of fierce competition, I’m going to go out on a limb and say she wins the women’s race. NO dark horse. She’s THE favorite.
Megan Laib is my dark horse, 1st time 50-Miler. If she has a good day, she’ll be in the hunt. Watching her run is a little like watching a female Prefontaine, beauty and toughness in motion… HOWL!!!
Sorry for overlooking Heather’s Avalon 50 guys… so many results! I’ll update the article. :-)
Bryon,
DUDE… NO apologies needed. Your coverage is comprehensive and impressive. We were just throwing in our 2-cents. Greatly appreciate YOU and your site and the preview of a great race.
Are you THERE tomorrow?
I’m not an unbiased observer and echo the guys above – I’ll also take Heather Fuhr. Absolutely no disrespect to the phenomenal women who will be running – all have great results. One of the Heather’s other results that might have been overlooked – she did finish 3rd at the XTERRA World Championship Trail Run on Oahu in December…which I’m guessing was too short to be considered to have any bearing on a 50-mile event. Thanks for the coverage and good luck to all!
Heather has strong enough ultra and iRonman results that I’d certainly omit the Xterra finish. Besides, as you mention, it’s short enough to have no direct bearing on a 50 miler (not that one can’t be great at both).
Bryon’s staying in Paradise city. Sweeties comin’ home from Africa:)
Looks like Nichols might be out…
definitely out…
Drat!
I am calling for an AZ sweep. Bonnett and Pham! BP, take a look at Jamil Coury, He is in crazy fast shape right now. Should be fun to watch, are you gonna be out there keeping us updated?
AZspeedgoat, good to know that Jamil is in top shape. I hadn’t seen much out of him in the last little bit. Thanks for the update.
I’ll not be out at Leona. I gotta stay home sometimes! :)
Boo! Thanks anyway for all you do for us! James thinks he can run 6:15 there tomorrow. Chasing the WS carrot!
As you can guess, it’s my, Meghan’s, and everyone else on the iRunFar team’s pleasure!
Man, wish I could come out and dust it up with the boys and girls, but after Lake Sonoma 50 I am taking a very short ultra race break (like 3 weeks maybe). Not that my vote means much, my picks are my home Hoka-boy Schlarb and Heather Fuhr (because she’s fast and has the same last name as legendary Edmonton Oilers goalie, Grant Fuhr)
I figured you might be skipping this one, Mackey, but wanted to keep you on the list just in case.
Where are you racing next? Quad Rock? Miwok?
She may not like me for doing this, but I’m going to throw Tera Dube up there into the mix somewhere. I heard she’s been training well and we know her results in the past have been nothing but solid.
I’ve only been following the sport for ~5-6 years, but it feels like a LOT of fast people are coming out of the woodwork and making an impact. Tyler Stewart and now other tough female triathletes? While the first tier is still fairly predictable, it feels like that next group is getting DEEP, which has not always been the case on the women’s side. Great stuff.
If he’s in shape, Seth Wold’s 2:36 is pretty slow for him, so he should be more recovered than the folks who did Lake Sonoma 2 weeks ago. I think he’ll do well.
Go DBow!
I am not running. Not sure why I am still on the entrants list. I will be volunteering at the snack shack at my sons track meet. I am retired from running ultras.
Your retirement is another man’s Wednesday morning.
nope. I am retired for at least a month this time.
What are Bree Lambert’s chances?
Crud. How’d I miss Bree?
Mr. “More Smiles” left LD50 with more smiles :-). Thank you Bryon for your relentless work for our sport! Look forward to seeing you soon!