Granite Apples

Jenn Shelton sprints downhill.

The Granite Man Endurance Weekend has come and gone. The weekend's events were held at the always scenic Applegate Lake about 30 minutes west of Jacksonville, Oregon. There was an event for everyone. A 5K (on the Grouse Gap Trail), the 11 mile Granite Man Mountain Run (over Collins Mtn.), a 30K (one lap around Applegate Lake), a 60K (two laps around the lake), a triathlon, a duathlon and relay versions of the tri and du.

The Granite Man Mountain Run was the second race in the Oregon 2009 La Sportiva USATF Mountain Running Series. As predicted Rogue Valley Runners Erik Skaggs and Jenn Shelton ran away with the overall titles. Jenn covered the course over Collins Mountain in 1:29:43. Skaggs took a couple of minutes off his 2008 winning time by finishing in 1:12:40. With the always tough Richard Bolt out due to injury, RVR'er Ian Torrence was able to capitalize and finish second in 1:19:00. RVR Teammate Joe Griffin finished a strong fourth in 1:24:43. Full Results can be found here.

Erik Skaggs 100 meters into the Granite Man Mountain Run.

JC Callans, Greg Mueller and Adam Seibert finished top three respectively in the 30K. JC's winning time was 2:05:49. It was sweet revenge for Callans as Mueller finished ahead of him at last weekend's Pompadour Half Marathon. The women's race was won by Tawnei McDonald in 2:32:45. RVR Lady's Thursday Night Group Run leader, Maria Clementi, finished third in 2:52:51. Yeah Maria! Annie Crispino-Taylor finished fifth in 3:00:55.

Maria Clementi starts the 30 Kilometer Trail Race.

The 60K event was won by RVR'er Neil Olsen in 4:51:48. Northern California's Bev Anderson-Abbs won the women's race and finished second overall in 4:58:18. Ben Benjamin finished third in 7:00:11.

Joe Griffin is satisfied with his run. He would return the following day to take second overall in the duathlon event.

Results for all the runs can be found here.

Andy Atkinson was out along the course again taking photos. His shots can be found on his web site here.

While Richard Bolt (the USATF representative) was not running he was still at the event and taking photos as well. Here is his story. Here are his photos.