The Park Street Challenge Heats Up!!!

...and they came a runnin'.

Here are the newest updates from the run up Park Street (For more info on the Park Street Challenge see the blog posted on October 15th).

1) Erik Skaggs 4:31
2) Kyle Skaggs 4:56
3) John Leuthold 5:05
4) Todd Ragsdale 5:10

Though John and Todd ran up Park Street together, the Skaggs' time trials were set on solo attempts on different days. It would be interesting to see what would happen if everyone ran up Park on the same day. There are still many folks that we need to hear from! We have yet to hear some results from a lady or a master's runner.

Results from Around the States: Vegas, Redding, and Chicago

Team Rogue Valley Runners went out of state this past weekend in order to test their skills.

Mr. Hal Koerner traveled to the outskirts of Sin City (Las Vegas, NV) for the World of Hurt 50 Kilometer Trail Race. Preliminary results had Hal as the winner in 4:17, out kicking local ultra-star Josh Brimhall by two seconds. Those two seconds earned Hal $500 in cold hard cash that he could later spend in the casinos of Vegas as he recovered from the race in style. Ashland's Carly Varner missed winning prize money by one place. She finished forth in the women's race in 6:36. More details and, perhaps, some photos of this race are forth coming. Stay tuned!

RVR store employee, Chris Rennaker, traveled south to the outskirts of Redding, California for the Whiskeytown 30 Kilometer Race. This was Chris' first race after a long recovery from a knee injury. After setting an early fast pace, he was passed by only one competitor in order to finish as a strong second place in 2:32:17. Congratulations Chris!

Many other Rogue Valley runners traveled to Whiskeytown for the 50 Kilometer version of the trail race. Aaron Reed was the first local finisher. He covered the course in 4:58:02 and cracked the top ten. Other local valley finishers were Jeremy Eisen, Becky Hacker, JC Callans, Robert Hodge, Vic Harris, Anne Crispino-Taylor, Mark Sherbow, Jennifer Callans, Tom Pelsor and Jim Clover. Results can be found here.

Finally, off in the quiet mid-west, RVR store employee, Ian Torrence, tested his mettle in a fast road 5K. Through the quiet morning streets of Downer's Grove, Illinois (a suburb of Chicago) Ian managed to eke out a 17:39. Good enough for third place in the Trick or Trot 5K.

Group Run Spooked

Our highly anticipated wednesday night group run has been moved back a day to Thursday at 5:30 inorder to allow all the ghosts and goblins to roam freely. We will resume our regularly scheduled activites next week at 5:30. We hope to see everyone for some leftover candy and an all around good time.

Stagecoach Run

On October 13th Team Rogue Valley Runners took the Stagecoach 10K Run by storm, placing runners in four of the top five places.

After these parting words, "I'm going to make you pay." Talent, Oregon's John Leuthold laid down one final push over the last half mile of the 10K race to seal his victory against his closest competitor and rival, Hal Koerner. John crossed the finish line in 34:46. Six seconds later, Ashland's Rogue Valley Runners store owner, Koerner crossed the line. Central Point's Neil Olsen crossed the line third in 35:55. Rogue Valley Runners newest store employee, Ian Torrence, crossed the line in fifth about a half minute behind local hero and legend, Leonard Hill. Other notable finishes in the 10K were recorded by some of Rogue Valley Runner's Wednesday night group run regulars. Jeremy Eisen and Scott Martin finished in seventh and eight places respectively.

In the 5K, Talent's own Todd Ragsdale posted a second place finish in 17:46. RVR Wednesday night group runners Carly Varner and Maria Clementi finished in 23:55.

The race was sponsored and organized by the Southern Oregon Sizzlers. The races started and finished in historic downtown Jacksonville, Oregon. The contestants ran out and back on the Old Stagecoach Road. Most would agree that it was a long uphill return to the finish after the turn around! More than 130 runners participated.

Final results for the Stagecoach 5K and 10K can be found here. Congratulations to all runners!

The Park Street Challenge

Looking up Park Street from the "Start Line."

Here's the Challenge: Drive, bike, run or walk to the base of Park Street (with it's intersection with Siskiyou). From that intersection run or walk as fast as you can to the top of Park Street. The "Finish Line" is where the asphalt road turns to dirt. Using the Honor System...comment back to this blog spot with your name, age, hometown and state, date and finish time. You can run it as many times as you want, we will keep track of your fastest time.


The "Finish Line."


Looking back down Park Street.

The statistics: Distance from the "Start" to the "Finish": 0.60 Miles
Vertical Rise from "Start" to "Finish": 420 feet
That's a 13.26% grade on average, but you'll find that the last 0.30 miles are steeper than that!
Fastest Time: Unknown at this point in time...this is where your name could go. We will keep track of both women's and men's times, as well as age divisions. There is no end date for The Challenge at this time. If things get competitive enough, there could be some awards on the line! Stay tuned! Now get out there and do it and let us know how you did!!!

Look Here! It's a Shoe Sale!

Save up to 50% on select styles and sizes of Brooks, Saucony, Fila, Asics, and Adidas running and walking shoes at Rogue Valley Runners! Hurry while supplies last.

A Strong Portland Debut!

This past weekend (Sunday October 7th, 2007) was the 36th annual Portland Marathon. Rogue Valley Runners' store employee, Ixel Sanchez, was there to take part. Portland was her first marathon and she confidently took it by storm. Running strong all morning long she finished in 3 hours, 16 minutes and 18 seconds. She averaged 7:30 minutes per mile and, in doing so, qualified for the Boston Marathon.

You can view Ixel's speedy finish here on You Tube.



Ixel said that the roughest patch for her was just after the half-marathon mark, where the bottoms of her feet began to hurt and the hills and bridges of Portland began to slow her down. Things turned around, however, after the 20 mile mark when she was joined fellow store employee and good friend, Natalie Hemphill.

Congratulations Ixel, job well done!