Saturday, January 17, 2009

Racing in the New Year

New Year's Day morning in Thompson Falls was met by 104 runners for the Annual New Year's Fun Run. 48 men and 29 women tackled the 5K* while 27 total runners took part in the 2K event.

The weather was mild (27 F +-); but, an easterly breeze of 10 to 15 mph or so presented a bit of a challenge. The roads were snow packed; but, they had been plowed and sanded and the footing was reasonably good.

It's a fun race that is well organized by Sarah Naegeli (TF XC coach), her family, the TF XC runners and the owners of Mighty Fine T's and Sherpa Log Homes. It's well organized, the T-shirts are fun, and they have a large selection of awards and door prizes. In fact, Jacob Naegeli (the overall winner and Sarah's son) makes a very cool horseshoe nail runner sculpture that was given out as the age group awards (Runners Edge sells the little mini-sculptures (or they used to).)

The only problem this year was that a turn around point was mismarked (easy mistake with the cold and snow conditions) and the 5K course turned out to only be 2.85 miles. It certainly didn't affect any finishing positions; but, would have added about 75 to 90 seconds to each time if the course had been full length.

That being said, the top finishers in each race were:

1 Jacob Naegeli, Trout Creek, 18, 16:18 (Jacob is a TF alum and as a freshman was the top runner for Earlham College (DIII - Richmond, IN) this past fall)
2 Shane Donaldson, TF, 18, 17:00 (Shane is also a TF alum and as a freshman was the top runner for the Univ of Great Falls and qualified for the NAIA XC National Championships)
3 Tony Banovich, Plains, 47, 17:59 (token old guy)
4 Joeal Sather, Noxon?, 37, 18:12
5 Charlie Knapp, TF, 16, 18:13 (Charlie is a resident at one of the local private youth home/schools and ran the course is heavy sweats and basketball shoes!!!!)
6 Sancho Rides At The Door, 17, 18:18 (one of Anders Brookers Hellgate kids)
7 David Schmetterling, Missoula?, 37, 18:24
8 Thomas Everett, Missoula, 19, 18:56 (Hellgate alum, now running for South Dakota Tech)
9 Derek Naegeli, TF, 21, 19:05 (TF alum, now in college in Seattle Area)
10 Chris Everett, Missoula, 15, 19:21 (Thomas' younger brother, Hellgate runner)

1 Emily Schall, Frenchtown, 15, 20:12 (All-State Class A XC in 2008)
2 Em Kendrick, Missoula, 32, 21:31
3 Rhonda LeClair, Plains, 52, 22:16 (stud super masters runner)
4 Ashley Mix, Missoula, 16, 22:55 (Hellgate runner)
5 Vicky Mix, Missoula, 47, 23:09 (Hellgate runner mom)
6 Mariah Naegeli, 15, Trout Creek, 23:30 (another of the running Naegeli's)
7 Jefferyanne Parker, 16, TF, 23:50
8 Deb Gideon, 26, TF, 23:51

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