Couples Truffle Shuffle 5K

Spend your Valentine's Day with a loved one or good friend! This past weekend a huge group did just that on the rural roads between Phoenix, OR and Jacksonville, OR. Here are some glimpses of the morning's relay event (each person does a 5K).

Todd and Holly Ragsdale

Camden and Lela Stemple

Mike Sotos

Sarah Wilson and Joseph Vaile

Justin Loftus and Jon Obesoso

John Leuthold

John and Molly Leuthold

JJ Moses

Jenn Shelton and Brian McGuire exchange just behind Zach Elliott and Kayleigh Tyerman.

Full results can be found on the Southern Oregon Runners website. More photos by Andy Atkinson can be found here at the Mailtribune.

Old Guys Do It With Style

"Old runners never die, we just look that way." -Ben Benjamin



Tom Pelsor running in Arizona.

We'd be remiss if we didn't recognize two recent and outstanding performances by two of the older representatives of the Rogue Valley Runner ultra community. Tom Pelsor, 64, of Yreka, California, escaped the winter of northern Cali and found the Arizona sun to his liking. Tom traveled to the southwest and turned in some awesome results for the Across the Years 72 Hour Footrace (Yup, that's three days!). Tom covered 161.246 miles in that amount of time. Tom was quoted on the ATY web site as to his ultra roots.

"I ran track in high school. I started running again in the 80's - 10k's and half-marathons. Some friends got me hooked on trail running in the late 90's when I was training for a marathon. Since then I've been running slower and enjoying it more. Finished 4 JJ's and 2 Rocky Raccoon's with a best time of 27 hours. Last year was my first ATY, and I did 93 miles in the 24-hour. What a great event!"

Ben Benjamin doing what he loves.

A few weeks ago, Ben Benjamin, 61, of Ashland, Oregon, headed to the woods outside of Huntsville, Texas for the Rocky Raccoon 100 Mile Trail Race. Ben beat the trail for more than a day and finished the race in 25 hours, 9 minutes and 31 seconds. 84th place out of 239 starters!

Ben said, "The trail had a lot of roots. I fell four times! It was scenic; 5 loops around a lake."

We should all be so lucky to be doing what these fellas are doing at their age. Congratulations gentlemen!

The Beach of Clams

Although we had heard stories of dreary weather descending upon runners in 2008, a large band of Rogue Valley Runners traveled west to the Northern California Coast to test their luck at the Trinidad to Clam Beach Run. The race began in the 60s in Humboldt County, CA as a 8.75 mile winter training race for track and field athletes attending Humboldt State University and continues today alluring over a thousand participants between the 3 races (3 mile, 5 3/4 mile, 8 3/4 mile).

At high noon, runners began scampering along the windy, undulating paved roads on their way to Clam Beach. At mile 3 the race enters the smallest incorporated city in California, Trinidad, and begets beautiful views of the misty and rugged coastline. From there, the course weaves down to the beach where race volunteers help runners cross the Little River. At last, after 2 brutal miles of sand and beach, runners find their way to a festive finish.

In the 5 and 3/4 mile Todd Ragsdale and Joe Griffin finished one two with respective times of 34:22 and 34:27. They were hagled mercilessly at the finish for not competing in the 8 and 3/4 mile race, but Todd laughed all the way home with his $25 earnings for the victory.



The bulk of the Rogue Valley residents were entered in the 8 and 3/4 miler with students representing both Crater and Ashland High. It was a fierce battle all day and when the fog cleared Bob Julian had claimed top RVR resident with a 5th place finish and a time of 49:18. Hal Koerner finished one place back in 49:58 and Ryland Karlovich from AHS follow in the top ten with a 50:04 showing. RVR teammate John Leuthold worked hard for his 11th place finish in 51:36 and placed 2nd in the Masters division behind the aforementioned Bob Julian. On the ladies side, another AHS runner, Seena Frantz finished with a solid 4th place 59:53 and Carly Varner bolted across the beach to finish in 1:09:45.



Hal tries to real in Bob.





The Crater girls ford the not so mighty Little River.



We thought we'd better preserve the wonderful weather.

The Rogue Valley Runners 2009 Race Schedule: Tar N' Trail, Pompadour Half Marathon, and the Lithia Loop Trail Marathon

Here are they are! Three great races in 2009 brought to you by Rogue Valley Runners.

The first race of 2009 is the Second Annual Tar N' Trail 6 Mile Run. Race day is March 14th at 9am near The Plaza in downtown Ashland, Oregon (same place as last year). The course is the same as well.

Entries for the TNT can be picked up at RVR or printed from the image below and mailed to Rogue Valley Runners.


The second race of 2009 is the Pompadour Half Marathon. Don't let your Pear Blossom training go to waste!

Recover from Pear and a month later (May 30th at North Mountain Park) try your skills along the roads on Ashland's east side. We'll have entries available as soon as we get our final approval letters. Here's a preview of the course.


The third race of 2009 will be the setting for the 2009 and 2010 USA Track and Field National Trail Marathon Championships.

The Second Annual Lithia Loop Trail Marathon will take place on November 7th. Interested runners can register now at Active.com.
The course will stay the same, except for some added single track in the second half of the race (just before the White Rabbit Aid Station) in order to get you a better taste of the dirt.


We hope to see you there!