Sacramento Running News

Under rainy and slippery conditions, Leor Pantilat of San Carlos earned the win with a 3:54:29 this week at the 28th running of the Quad Dipsea. Leor joins Erik Skaggs and Carl Anderson in a very small club of runners who have ever broken four hours on this course.

ALSO women’s winner Caren Spore, of Davis, makes history by setting a new course record of 4:38:33!

The Quad Dipsea is a Northern California self-abuse tradition, based on the “more is better” philosophy of ultrarunning and  takes existing, difficult trail runs–Dipsea and Double Dipsea–and makes them longer.

The official course description reads: (more…)

The 09-10 Montrail Cup ended in June with the Western States 100, but the 10-11 Montrail Cup began Saturday with the Where’s Waldo 100Km in Williamette Pass, Oregon.

Some of the top US ultrarunners lined up again this year and a few local standouts ended up with top-flight results.

After declining to defend his 2009 Tahoe Rim Trail 100 mile championship (3-weeks after Western States 100), Erik Skaden took on Where’s Waldo and finished 4th overall in 10:21, closely followed at 10:28 by a surging Mark Lantz who came in 5th overall and top master.

The overall winner of the men’s race was Timothy Olsen, who came in at 9:25. The women’s winner was 49-year-young Meghan Arbogast, coming in at 10:52.

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This is not a running story, per se, but it’s a great story about a local runner doing a good deed, for a, er, steed.

Jack Meyer, an ultra-marathon runner from Foresthill, Calif., went beyond the call of duty, when the Tevis volunteer rescued a black Anglo-Arab mare that had fallen into a ravine. Christoph Schork’s 9-year-old Castle Country Karahty (“Kat”), ridden by David Shefrin, slid from the Western States Trail July 24 during the horse and rider’s attempt to complete the 100-mile Tevis Cup ride.

Read the whole story in, where else, The Horse.com.  I’m proud to know you, Jack!

I’ve been traveling a lot to some beautiful parts of the United States, and I’ve had some really nice runs in some wonderful places.  (e.g., This morning’s run next to the Vermillion River in Western Montana.)  However, I have never seen anything as nice as what we have in Sacramento and the surrounding area.  The American River Parkway is a treasure.  The multi-use trails in the foothills spoil us.  In our area, different user groups have banded together to advocate trail development, protection and maintenance.  In other parts of the US, I find myself sharing the beauty with speeding cars and trucks.

Yesterday, the Bee’s Sam McManis had an excellent article and description of one of those local multi-use trails:  The Olmstead Loop trail.  His story includes an account of a somewhat tense interaction with horseback riders that brought back memories of several encounters of my own with horse people.  One time stands out in my mind.  While running with a friend near Cool we came across a horse and rider.  The rider demanded that we get off the trail so she could pass.  At that moment, we were surrounded by an ocean of poison oak. A testy conversation followed.

Most of my encounters with horsemen and women have been fine.  Most of these horses are amazing animals.  However, some riders give me the impression that their horses have no business being on a multi-use trail.  Is it too much to ask for folks to only bring horses that are well trained (or at least well socialized) onto these trails?

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