MTC Weekly News: 6/29/15

Missoula's Seth Swan among the leaders at the Western States 100 - Credit: Myke Hermsmeyer

Another big weekend of trail racing resulted in some exceptional performances by Montana runners, while some low-key races took place around the state.

At the races:

Western States 100: The Superbowl of 100s didn't disappoint. Those of us who follow these things watched with high hopes for fellow Montanan Seth Swanson. Seth finished 2nd in 2014 and as evidenced by his strong run in the "Supernova" a few weeks ago we knew he'd be ready to roll. In the California heat Seth battled all day and ran in the lead at a few points during the race. As expected he crushed it with his second runner-up finish in as many years. Bozeman's Nikki Kimball also had a really good day. The multi-time WS 100 champ finished 10th, marking her 10th top 10 WS 100 finish, all under 24 hours. Congratulations Seth and Nikki.

Bozeman's Nikki Kimball knows how to get it done! - Credit: Myke Hermsmeyer

And for those of you that missed it. The most inspiring finish of the day came from 70 year-old Gunhild Swanson. If you've run the Le Grizz Ultramarathon over the years there's a pretty good chance you shared the road with Gunhild at some point. She ran he first Le Grizz back in 1987. Last year she entered the prestigious "Silver Tip" club at Le Griz for finishing it at 70. For this year's WS 100 she became the first ever 70 year-old woman to finish. To be official it had to be done by the 30:00:00 cut off. She made it in 29:59:54! Watch the video here.


Mont Blanc 80K: Kristina Pattison, racing for the first time in Europe, finished as the 6th female in this International Skyrunning Federation race. This is Kristina's second 6th place Skyrunning finish this year which bodes well for her in the overall series standing. Amazing job Kristina!

Kristina finishing in style - Credit: Andrew Pattison

Mountain to Meadow: This Lolo Pass half marathon follows rugged forest road and serves as a great final tune-up for the Missoula Marathon.This year it appears Cory Soulliard of Hamilton got the win, but he probably considers it a tie since Greg Friedman from Denmark (but soon to be residing in Missoula) finished in an official time a mere tenths of a second behind Cory's. Brian Weick of Helena rounded out the podium. For the ladies, Holly Eisinger of Missoula got the win. Jessica Giuliani of Missoula finished second and Nadia White also of Missoula took 3rd.

Celebrate the Swan: This event features several distances and proceeds benefit the Swan Ecosystem Center and supports their trail building efforts. As of this writing we didn't see any results, but check their websiteherefor updates. Also take a few moments to see what all they do up there. It looks like a great organization dedicated to developing some really nice trails.

Bighorn Race Report: In case you missed it, we posted Jesse Zentz's race report from last weeks Big Horn 50K here. Definitely a must read.

Nicole Hunt Interview: Nicole is an elite runner, coach, and mom of three. She's also a regular MTC contributor, but she switched roles here to share a bit about herself. Another great read. Check it out here.

Mountain Monday: Due to scheduling difficulty, we probably won't be getting back to our weekly group run routine until the week of July 14th. Stayed tuned.