Rocky Raccoon 100 – Names and Faces of the Race
Posted by David Hanenburg on 02 Feb 2010 at 2:06 pm | Tagged as: race news
With nearly 700 trail runners heading down to Huntsville State Park for the Rocky Raccoon 100 mile and 50 mile trail run this weekend, it will be a day where runners of all abilities are trying their best to do one thing – get to the finish line.
Who are some of these people? I thought it might be fun to take a look.
The Pointy-End
One hundred mile trail running machine, Karl Meltzer, provided the following 100 mile names that will likely be at the front end of the 30 hour trail running train. I decided to try and provide a bit more insight and include some recent race results and any other things that I thought might be interesting for the particular speedy trail runner.
Let’s take a look!
The Female Race:
- Jamie Donaldson (CO)
- Tough on both the road and trail ultra scene. It seems, the longer, the better.
- Recent Accomplishments (2009):
- Rocky Raccoon 100 – female winner, 3rd overall
- 24 World Championships – 4th female, 1st American, 20th overall
- Badwater 135 – 1st female, 5th overall
- Leadville Trail 100 – 2nd female
- Runner-up in Ultrarunner’s Female Runner of the Year.
- Blog: Run Like a Girl
- Video from her 2008 Badwater female win:
- Connie Gardner (OH)
- Many wins since 2000 from 50 km distance up to 24 Hour National Champion.
- Recent Accomplishments:
- 2006 Rocky Raccoon 100 – female winner
- 2008 Mohican Trail 100 – female winner
- 2008 JFK 50 mile Ultramarathon – female winner
- 2008 Burning River 100 – female winner
- Anita Ortiz (CO)
- Overall tough mountain runner. Experienced trail runner but new to the 100 km and 100 mile distance. Her huge accomplishment from 2009:
- Western States 100 – female winner (First 100 mile race ever!)
- Good Runner’s World Article: Mother of Four, High Level Racing, How she does it.
- Video capturing her Western States win and post-race interview.
- Overall tough mountain runner. Experienced trail runner but new to the 100 km and 100 mile distance. Her huge accomplishment from 2009:
- Jenny Chow (NJ)
- Recent Accomplishments (2009):
- Trail Runner Trophy Series – 3rd female
- Rocky Raccoon 100 – 3rd female
- Mohican Trail 100 – 1st female
- Kettle Moraine 100 – 1st female
- Oil Creek 100 – 1st female
- Recent Accomplishments (2009):
Do you know of any other female athletes that could be a front runner?
The Male Race:
- Greg Crowther (WA)
- Recent Accomplishments (2009):
- JFK 50 – 1st male
- Chuckanut 50 km – 2nd male
- White River 50 – 3rd male
- 2007 interview by Scott Dunlap @ A Trail Runner’s Blog
- Blog: My Track Record
- Recent Accomplishments (2009):
- Nick Coury (AZ)
- Tough to find much on Nick but I did find a 28th overall finish at the Leadville 100 in 2009.
- Jamil Coury (AZ)
- Recent Accomplishments (2009):
- Zane Grey 50 mile – 1st male
- Hardrock 100 – 15th overall, youngest finisher
- Here is a very short video of Jamil at a Hardrock aid-station.
(If you can’t see the video, click here.)
- Recent Accomplishments (2009):
- Dink Taylor (AL)
- Recent Accomplishments (2009):
- Mount Cheaha 50 km – male winner
- Mountain Masochist 50 mile – 10th overall
- Recent Accomplishments (2009):
- Scott Eppelman (TX)
- Recent Accomplishments:
- 2010 Bandera 100 km – 14th overall
- 2009 GhostTown 38.5 – 6th overall
- 2009 Hardrock 100 – 21st overall
- 2009 Rockledge Rumble 50 km – 1st overall
- Recent Accomplishments:
- Paul Hopwood (HI)
- Recent Accomplishments:
- 2010 HURT 100 – 5th overall
- 2009 HURT 100 – 3rd overall
- Recent Accomplishments:
- Jonathan Allen (UT)
- Recent Accomplishments:
- 2009 Logan Peak Trail Run – male winner
- 2008 Logan Peak Trail Run – male winner
- Recent Accomplishments:
- Jimmy Dean Freeman (CA)
- Recent Accomplishments (2009):
- Oil Creek 100 – 4th overall
- Bulldog 50 km – 5th overall
- Western States 100 – 74th overall
- website: Coyote Running
- Recent Accomplishments (2009):
Here are a couple others that I think could also easily be in the mix:
- Luis Guerrero (Mexico)
- Recent Accomplishments (2009):
- Rocky Raccoon 100 – 4th overall
- Leadville 100 – 12th overall
- blog: Luis Guerrero
- Recent Accomplishments (2009):
- Ryan Loehding (TX)
- Recent Accomplishments:
- 2009 Cactus Rose 100 – 2nd overall
- 2008 Rocky Raccoon 100 – 4th overall
- Recent Accomplishments:
Any other names you are aware of that may be running at the front?
The Rest of Us
While the action will be as fast-and-furious as it can be at the pointy-end of a 100 mile journey, the rest of us will be working our plan to finish either the 100 mile or 50 mile race before the time cutoff (30 hours and 29 hours respectively).
Here are a few ultra bloggers trying to get-it-done:
- Derek @ Journey Through the Ultra World – First 100 mile.
- Bill @ Moderately Hellacious Slacker – First 50 mile.
- Jason @ “Peeswank Rouge’s” Running blog – First 50 mile.
Who else am I missing?
Good luck to all the athletes willing and able to lace them up for 6 to 30 hours of Texas trail running fun.
Be active – Feel the buzz!
David – EnduranceBuzz.com
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Thanks for the “shout-out”, I feel like a celebrity being on your blog….
Good luck Saturday. Weather looks a little warm, but nothing for us Texans, right!?!
With any luck a 100 will be in my future. I’ll try to keep an eye out for you to say hello.
-Bill
http://www.humblerunner.blogspot.com
Hey Bill – No worries. Have a great 50 mile adventure. See ya out there.
Good luck at Rocky. You’ve done your homework. -Greg
Thanks Greg! Appreciate it.
You might want to note that Monica Sholtz (Canada) is attempting to break her world record of 23 – 100 mile races in one year, by running 30+ 100 mile races in 2010.
Monica was second woman at HURT and Rocky is her second 100 miler this year.
To put this into perspective, Monica will be running more than a month during 100 mile races!
Hi Pierre – Wow, that is amazing. Good luck to Monica with this huge challenge.