Tuesday, January 27, 2009

S.O.F.A. and Recent Marathons

SOFA 50 KILOMETER TRAIL RUN
The Group assembled at the start of the SOFA 50 Kilometer Trail Run.

Looking down the Wild and Scenic Rogue River from Graves Creek.

This year's Southern Oregon Fat Ass (SOFA) 50 Kilometer Trail Run was marked by beautiful weather and a myriad of "bonks." The annual gathering of runners, orchestrated by unofficial race director Tim Turk, along the Wild and Scenic Rogue River took place this past weekend. The after-holdiay tradition started at the Graves Creek Trailhead then traversed the Lower Rogue River Trail through the gorge for fifteen miles and returned the same way. Twenty-eight runners showed up to participate. Runners from the Rogue Valley and as far away as Eugene took part in this non-race event. Some of the runners included:

Erik Skaggs, Hal Koerner, Dan Olmstead, Todd Braje, Kurt Eisele, Eric Poole, John Price, Darcy Kleiman, Chris Rennaker, Tim Olson, Aaron Brian, Lewis Taylor, Meghan Arbogast, Craig Thornley, Nathan Blaine, Ken Ward, Dennis Gamroth, Chip Collins, Annie Crispino-Taylor, John Liebeskind, Mel Bailey, Sander Nelson, Tim Turk, Ben Benjamin, Kyle Skaggs

"The Train" of runners heads out from Graves Creek and a good day of running.

REDDING MARATHON

The setting for the Redding Marathon.
Two weeks ago several runners from the Rogue Valley traveled south for the Redding Marathon. We'd like to acknowledge their hard work and finishes.

2 JC Callans 41 M Eagle Point 02:54:45
26 Becky Hacker 38 F Ashland 03:26:40
41 Robert S. Hodge 48 M Grants Pass 03:40:33
42 Vic Harris 51 M Grants Pass 03:40:33
48 Tom Bell 39 M Medford 03:47:54
55 Aaron Ramirez 31 M Medford 03:53:36
63 Jim Fety 59 M Rogue River 04:01:39
67 Michael Sotos 33 M Ashland 04:05:25
89 Jeffery Proulx 40 M Ashland 04:26:39
107 Steve Lorenz 45 M Medford 04:43:34
135 Israel Mathewson 35 M Talent 05:17:55

MIAMI MARATHON
Meanwhile, across the country, on the opposite coast, Ashland resident Karolina Wyszynska wins the award for traveling the furthest this month for a marathon. She completed the Miami Marathon in 4:19:42.

3 comments:

Rennaker said...

Was a great day for a run on the Rogue. Nice to see everyone out there!

Geoff said...

i love that you all can gather together there for a casual local "fat-ass" run and it just so happens to contain a more talented field of runners than 99% of the ultras out there.

Unknown said...

And I am seriously jealous of the weather you guys have in Portland. Here, there is over a foot of snow on the ground, but it doesn't stop me :). Thanks for sharing the pics. Geoff's right on that one about the talent.