Eric Charette from the Huntsville Track Club came up for the Rock/Creek StumpJump 50k and has compiled a great race report with photography from all over the course. Eric placed well, 5th overall, with a time of 4:44:35. You may remember Eric from his 2nd place finish in the Chattanooga Mountains Stage Race back in June. Great job Eric, and thanks for the awesome report!
Here are a couple highlights:
To soak in sweeping views of the Tennessee River Gorge while running above the cloud line along the rim of Signal Mountain on some of the best trails in the east amongst national class talent in perfect temperatures with great race management is the best way I can describe this race. In its 9th Annual running, Stump Jump 50km by Rock/Creek is a classic and should be on every runners future race calendar.
In this race there were several keys to my success. The first one was advanced course knowledge. This summer in the Stage Race, we ran the first 6 miles of the course and then on a later trip, Joey Butler, Eric Fritz and I came out to run the middle 20. Knowing that the two miles out to Mushroom Rock was on a jeep road and very fast helped me to create some separation before running through the first aid station.
Read the full report on Eric’s blog, Sirius Ultra Runner.