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| Lots of smoke out there - 8/19/15 NOAA Smoke Analysis |
Smoke: The news this week is the smoke. It's out there and makes running tough. So for those who don't have a treadmill and can't do without their daily run, be careful out there. Consider waiting for it to clear up, lowering the intensity, or taking a day off. There's a point where smoke inhalation outweighs the benefits of a workout. If anyone can share some information on what that point is we'll post it here.
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| Ridge Run 2015 - Credit: Boz Boswell via Facebook |
Bridger Ridge Run: The 31st running of the Ridge Run brought its third consecutive first-time champion. 33 year-old David Ayala continued his impressive season by following up on his victories at Devil's Backbone, Bangtail Divide, and Bighorn 50 with a win on the ridge in difficult conditions. Reports from the field called the forest fire smoke Saturday the worst in the race's history. Nikki Kimball, who took top honors among the women, told the
Bozeman Chronicle"The smoke was just horrid ... As soon as the smoke came in I couldn’t breathe that much. I couldn’t breathe like I normally breathe and I just slowed way down. Pushing yourself in the smoke could be really dangerous.” Following Ayala was T. J. Anderson in 2nd, and 2014 Ridge Run Champ Peder Anderson in 3rd. Kimball's victory marked her second consecutive win on the ridge. The course record holder has won the race 6 times. Despite a slower than usual time for Kimball, this year might have been the most hard-earned because she finished less than a minute up on 2013 champ Kaitlin Macdonald. This appears to mark the closest finish in ridge run history. Becky Wheeler rounded out the podium and completed the all-Bozeman podium sweep for both women and men. The story of this years race wouldn't be complete without mentioning another Ridge Run first: course mismarking. The fact is somewhat ironic considering the course is famously unmarked. The mismarking might be the only course marking on the entire route. According to the
Chronicle, Ridge Run debutant Edward Farley had a couple minute lead on the rest of the field around the halfway mark. He, and the rest of the leaders, followed the course marking and went the wrong way. The chase pack realized the mistake and recovered quicker. The 25 year-old Farley, on the other hand, was forced to call it a day and turn his race into a training run. A "close encounter' with a mountain lion apparently didn't help either, so he made the most of it and waited around for some friends with whom he ran to the finish. At last check, Farley is registered for the Rut 50K, so he'll have another chance to run fast in the mountains in a couple of weeks. Consider him among the locals to keep an eye out for at Big Sky. Full results
here.
Standhope 60K: Quite a few Montanans competed in this super challenging ultra in Idaho. Missoula's Patrick Murphy finished as top Montanan by taking 4th overall. Full results
here.
Mountain Monday: It was great having a group back together for MTC's weekly run up Missoula's Mount Sentinel. We'll plan to do this again next week and most Mondays moving forward. Stay tuned to MTC and our facebook page for updates.
The Bob: In case you missed it,
here's an awesome recap of a Bob Marshall Wilderness adventure run a bunch of Missoulians did a few weeks ago.
Do you have news or a story to share? We strive to make MTC a community resource for Montana trail runners and a place to share news and stories of adventure that celebrate our trails, open space, and wild lands. We'll take news tidbits all weekend and try to get the news posted by Wednesday each week. We'll take stories anytime, so tell us about them here:
admin@montanatrailcrew.com
