Krar and Kimmel Clean Sweep the Jemez Trail Half Marathon

The La Sportiva Mountain Cup made a quick change between Montana’s Don’t Fence Me In Trail Runs two weekends ago and New Mexico’s Jemez Mountains Trail Runs this past Saturday. The Jemez Mountains Trail Runs offer three race distances, a half marathon, a 50K, and a 50-mile. LSMC competitors went head-to-head at the Jemez Trail Half Marathon.

All of the races take place on trails and dirt roads in the mountains surrounding Los Alamos, and offer high desert and conifer-forest landscape, rugged running surfaces, and high altitude. The half-marathon course begins at over 7,000 feet above sea level, and an elevation gain (and loss) of just over 2,700 vertical feet offers even more challenge.

Toward the front of the race, Gina Lucrezi and La Sportiva Athlete Jason Bryant missed a turn off the fire road late in the race and ended up posting DNF’s due to the detrimental detour. Apparently the wind had blown down some flagging and neither runner noticed the course markings that led racers back into the woods. 

In this article you’ll find out exactly how the race played out for top finishers. Then, we’ll give you an update on the Mountain Cup standings. We’ll next administer our weekly giveaway contest(s) and call for your comments before ending with the full La Sportiva Mountain Cup schedule.

The Race
Men’s Race

Robert Krar of Arizona is on a winning roll. After besting everyone by several minutes at the Don’t Fence Me In Trail Run two weekends ago and boosting himself into a tie for second in the overall LSMC standings, he edged out New Mexico’s Kristopher Houghton for the Jemez Trail Half Marathon win in a time of 1:32:16. In third place was North Carolina’s Ryan Woods, who began this race in the LSMC overall standings lead, and his 1:44:26 finishing time. Los Alamos local, Chip Cooper, finished fourth in 1:48:50. Another name that keeps turning up in the top-10 men of LSMC races is Christopher Payton, of Colorado. He turned in a fifth-place, 1:53:30 finish last weekend.

1. Rob Krar - 1:32:16 
2. Kristopher Houghton - 1:33:49
3. Ryan Woods (La Sportiva) – 1:44:26
4. Chip Cooper - 1:48:50
5. Christopher Payton - 1:53:30

Women’s Race

Colorado’s Megan Kimmel shares the same winning streak as Krar. After her win two weekends ago in Montana, she bested all the ladies once again in 1:56:09, a decisive six minutes faster than second place Alison Bryant, of North Carolina. Petra McDowell, another Los Alamos local, was on Bryant’s heels, however, as she finished third in 2:03:36. Arizona’s Christina Bauer and Colorado’s Shari Marshall completed the women’s top 5. It should be noted that Gina Lucrezi, who is competing for the LSMC, did not finish the race.

1. Megan Kimmel (La Sportiva) – 1:56:09
2. Alison Bryant (La Sportiva) - 2:02:19
3. Petra McDowell – 2:03:36
4. Christina Bauer - 2:04:47
5. Shari Marshall - 2:05:51

Full Results

Here are the full results from all the Jemez Mountains Trail Runs.

La Sportiva Mountain Cup Standings

Men
In the last two LSMC races, Krar rocketed from third place into the overall ranking’s top position. Ryan Woods began the Jemez Trail Half Marathon in the overall-standings lead, but he did not earn enough points with his third-place finish last weekend to hold it. Though he’s slipped to second place, he’s just six points off Krar and a leaps-and-bounds 20 points ahead of Jared Scott. After the Don’t Fence Me In Trail Run a week ago, Jared Scott was tied for second place. Since he did not race Jemez, he dropped to third place in the overall rankings. Fourth and fifth place overall currently belong to Matt Byrne and Jason Bryant. With three races to go in the LSMC series, much remains to be decided in these standings!

• 1 – Robert Krar – 108 points from five races (26 pts from Jemez)
• 2 – Ryan Woods – 102 pts from six races (19 pts from Jemez)
• 3 – Jared Scott – 82 pts from four races (Did not race Jemez)
• 4 – Matt Byrne - 62 pts from three races (Did not race Jemez)
• 5 – Jason Bryant – 43 pts from three races (Did not finish Jemez)

Women

Christina Bauer’s fourth-place finish at Jemez earned her some more LSMC points and preserved her first place in the overall women’s standings. Alison Bryant, who began Jemez in third-overall place in the LSMC, worked her way into second place in the overall standings with her second-place finish last weekend. Gina Lucrezi started but did not finish Jemez. As a result, she earned no LSMC points and slipped into third place. Megan Kimmel has now climbed into the fourth-place position in the overall standings due to two wins, two weekends in a row.

1. Christina Bauer – 66 points from four races (15 pts from Jemez)
2. Alison Bryant – 63 pts from three races (21 pts from Jemez)
3. Gina Lucrezi – 50 pts from three scoring races (DNF’ed at Jemez, earning 0 pts)
4. Megan Kimmel – 46 pts from two races (26 pts from Jemez)
5. Shari Marshall – 26 pts from two races race (13 pts from Jemez)

iRunFar.com La Sportiva Mountain Cup Contest
Fernando Baeza of San Antonio, Texas, you won yourself a pair of La Sportiva Wildcats from our Don’t Fence Me In Trail Runs giveaway. Contact us to claim your prize.

Word is that the La Sportiva Vertical K were a hit at Jemez, so we’re giving you a chance to win a pair of these sweet, lightweight, low-profile trail racers. (Vertical K review)

Want to try the La Sportiva Vertical K? Well, to win a pair, just 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 the Rothrock Challenge 30K in Pennsylania on June 2, which Bryon Powell of iRunFar will be attending. As a reminder, if you enter to win the Vertical K,you’ll also automatically be eligible to win the grand prize – any three pairs of La Sportiva trail shoes and some sweet Sportiva schwag at the end of August.

Call for Comments
If you ran any of the Jemez Mountains Trail Runs this weekend, please leave a comment letting everyone know how you did and what you think about the race. Past racers are invited to comment, too!

The La Sportiva Mountain Cup

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Filed under Contests, Races · Tagged with Alison Bryant, Gina Lucrezi, Jason Bryant, La Sportiva Mountain Cup, Megan Kimmel, Petra McDowell, Rob Krar, Ryan Woods

Meghan Hicks is iRunFar.com's Senior Editor, a contributing editor at Trail Runner magazine, and a columnist at Marathon & Beyond. The converted road runner finished her first ultramarathon in 2006 and loves using running to visit the world's wildest places. For more information on Meghan and her adventures, please visit her personal website.
All posts by Meghan Hicks