March Update to Trail Runner Mag Trophy Series

Trail Runner Magazine has been doing a great job updating the point Series so far, as noted by the below press release. One thing for sure - Dale Reicheneder is on fire! He amassed 234 points (unofficially) in the first month, racing four states in four weekends. That's quite a pace. Dale is certainly the man to catch this year.

SD

2005 TRAIL RUNNER TROPHY SERIES RUNNERS MARCH TO EARLY LEADS

CARBONDALE, COLO. MARCH 25, 2005 – They’re off! Through the first month of the Trail Runner Trophy Series, avid off-road runners are already asserting themselves as formidable foes.

As the world’s largest trail-running series, the Trophy Series is a seven-month-long points-based competition with two categories: Marathon and Shorter Distances and Ultra Distances. Participants earn points throughout the series, and the winners receive huge prize packages—including a trip to Italy provided by title sponsor La Sportiva.

Beach Boy Bolts

In the Marathon & Under Division, Dale Reicheneder of Malibu, California, has been a trail-racing machine, churning out four top race finishes--the Seneca Creek Greenway Trail Marathon (Damascus, Maryland), Carl Touchstone Memorial 20K (Laurel, Mississippi), Catalina Marathon (Catalina, California) and March Mudness Half Marathon (Portland, Oregon). Reicheneder leads both the points race and the clash for the Grand Prize, awarded to the Trophy Series participant who runs the most Trophy Series races. (NOTE: Catalina and Mudness results are still pending in recent online points standings.)

Lurking only a few points behind Reicheneder is the 2004 Trophy Series champion, Scott Dunlap, of Woodside, California.

In the women’s Marathon & Under Division, several hearty off-roaders are clustered at the top of the standings, including 61-year-old Judy Gilbert of Baltimore, Maryland. Gilbert won her age group at the Seneca Creek Greenway Trail Marathon and racked up enough points to place her with five other women closely behind Reicheneder for the overall points lead.

Says Gilbert, who was not familiar with the Trophy Series’ Marathon & Under points structure that awards points based on age-group placing, “You have to be kidding about being a leader in the series! I was almost the last finisher.” Gilbert plans to run other Trophy Series races this year, so look for her to stay close to the top.

No Raggedy Ann Here

Leading the way in the Ultra Division is a quartet of accomplished big names. Dewayne Satterfield of Huntsville, Alabama, and Ann Heaslett of Madison, Wisconsin, both won the Carl Touchstone Memorial Mississippi 50-Miler, vaulting them to the top of the current standings.

Satterfield and Heaslett joined Karl Meltzer (Sandy, Utah) and Emily Baer (Silverton, Colorado), who won the Old Pueblo 50-Miler on March 5 in Sonoita, Arizona. (Note: Old Pueblo results are still pending in recent online points standings.)

Heaslett, who claims to be purely focused on staying injury-free in 2005, was shocked that her Mississippi performance placed her in such elite company. “I didn’t know I was the current leader,” she said, “Nonetheless, it is fun to be off to a fast start.”

Next Up

April will feature 16 Trophy Series races as the snow begins to melt and more trails open up. Look for more Rocky Mountain runners to score points while the west- and east-coast runners continue the charge.

For complete points standings and more information on the 2005 Trail Runner Trophy Series and the Grand Prize package of a trip for two to the 2006 Dolomite Sky Race in Italy, provided by title sponsor and leading trail-running-shoe company La Sportiva, visit www.trailrunnermag.com.

# # #