March 26th marks the date of the 2nd Annual tracks n treads Off-Road Biathlon and 5k Cross Country Race. Rock Racing will once again be an integral part of making this a great event. Chuck is the Bike course marshal and he will be keeping riders on the right path to success in this event. Robin is the race director and will have her hands full pulling together the final strings that will have people talking about this great event for years to come. Come out and spend the morning with us racing in a venue that is fun and challenging with some of the best single track in the area and the opportunity to run the famous mud mountain cross country course. Come race with us!
2010 Post Race Notes from Race Director, Robin Rongey
The First Annual Tracks n Treads, 5K and Off-Road Biathlon went off with just a few hitches, which turned out to make the race even more memorable then we had originally intended it to be.
The morning started with a crew of ROTC and Military personnel parked all along race headquarters. After speaking to the commander, I found that they would be out in the woods running combat exercises all day. Both groups had coordinated with the university, but somehow no one noticed that we would be using the same venue. It was ok, we just coordinated, they agreed to stay off the single track and keep to the woods while we agreed to use the single track and make sure all competitors knew upfront that there would be gunfire and bombs going off and they might see combat during the race.
The military being at the race site worked to our advantage, a bomb was used in place of the starter gun for the race start. It was a very memorable start. About 60 racers, both 5K and Off-Road athletes took off from the starting line and completed the 5K run in what is now the course record. The men’s 5K winner was Josh Helton of Troy, IL, finishing in a time of 21:12 and the winner of the women’s race was Melanie Harmon of Edwardsville, finishing in a time of 26:24.
The Off-Road athletes jumped on bikes and continued on at the finish of the run. Although there were some really fast runners, they soon learned that there were also some very fast bikers in the mix. Jack Daugherty of Edwardsville took the lead and by the second lap of the bike course he had a 3 minute lead on 2nd place finisher, Greg Blake of Madison, WI. Jack held the lead to win the race and now holds the course record of 1:21:29.
In the women’s race Sarah Worthington of St Louis, MO took an early lead both in the run and bike and finished in 1:34:53, six minutes ahead of 2nd place finisher Bethany Himel of O’Fallon, IL. Sarah now holds the women’s course record.
After speaking with many of the participants, there were accolades for the military exercises going on in the woods, everyone loved it and said it added a bit of extra thrill to the race.
Instead of giving the usual award of a medal, the winners received a winter beanie cap with the Tracks n Treads logo stitched in the color of the place, blue for 1st place, red for 2nd place and white for 3rd place. The race swag included a high quality long sleeve tech shirt with the really cool Track n Treads graphic. The Graphic was designed by an up and coming designer for race products, Jeff Schleicher. Jeff is not only the designer, but a valued member of the Metro Tri Club.
The Metro Tri Club would like to thank everyone that participated and we hope all had a great time and will return next year with friends in tow. To all the volunteers, you did a fantastic job and I can’t thank you enough, without all of you this race would not be possible. THANKS!
Registration Info here:
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