With Saturday’s 14th running of the classic Rock/Creek River Gorge Trail Race, the 2014 Salomon Rock/Creek Trail Series has officially begun! The River Gorge Trail Race showcases the Mullens Cove loop on the Cumberland Trail, a rocky and picturesque section of trail in Prentice-Cooper State Forest.

For the first time in several years, race day came with bluebird conditions, meaning our often-soggy race loop was dry and fast. None of the course records fell, but Paul Patterson edged Rock/Creek Race Team member Nathan Holland in a great race for the front.

Here are the top finishers:

Men’s 10.2-mile top finishers:
Paul Patterson, age 18, 1:12:25
Nathan Holland, age 30, 1:12:49
Matt Haley, age 29, 1:13:49

Women’s 10.2-mile top finishers:
Beth Meadows, age 28, 1:27:17
Erin Hannen, age 23, 1:32:54
Jillian Arnold, age 26, 1:33:37

Men’s 6.5-mile top finishers:
Cullom Boyd, age 29, 52:17
Darby Marshall, age 46, 53:11
Mitchell Kohlmann, age 32, 54:49

Women’s 6.5-mile top finishers:
Dee Goodwin, age 46, 1:00:38
Mary Wood, age 47, 1:09:37
Susie Farmer, age 36, 1:12:51

Complete results are available here (click the “results” tab):
https://www.rockcreek.com/rivergorge.rco

Follow our River Gorge Facebook page and we’ll post photos when they become available. Also, definitely check out this GoPro POV video of the 10.2-mile race (watch in 1080p HD!) by Daniel Highsmith.

Next up in the series is the iconic, popular Rock/Creek Scenic City Trail Marathon and Half Marathon. If you’ve never tried this distance before, the trail system atop TVA’s Raccoon Mountain in Chattanooga is a great place for your first trail marathon. It’s the largest trail marathon in the southeastern United States, and the race for the front is both fast and competitive.

“The trails on Raccoon Mountain are some of the sweetest around for trail running and mountain biking,” says Rock/Creek Marketing Coordinator Jeff Bartlett. “This course is almost entirely singletrack, with a great running surface and less climbing than what trail runners encounter in our StumpJump 50k or Lookout Mountain 50-mile trail races.”

Last year’s Salomon Rock/Creek Trail Series featured over 3500 runners from 48 states and Canada, cementing Chattanooga’s reputation as a trail-running mecca. Many of the eight races in this year’s series are filling up fast, including the Thunder Rock 100-miler (which sold out in 2 days) and the Chattanooga Mountains Stage Race (which should be full by the time you read this).