Threatening rain clouds dwindled but the humid air stuck to anything dry as participants ritualistically prepared for this years 4th running of the Rock/Creek Scenic City Marathon & 1/2 Marathon. Nearly double the number of participants than last year, 500 hopeful racers representing 15 states, arrived to experience the flow of trails at Raccoon Mountain Pumped Storage Facility near Chattanooga, TN on Saturday May 22, 2010.
The Scenic City Marathon & Half Marathon started at 8am with a giant pack of runners transitioning from pavement to the woods on single track trails along the perimeter of Raccoon Mountain.
Among those runners was Dane Mitchell from Birmingham, AL. New to the Rock/Creek Race Team, Dane has worked up a reputation in the Southeast as a course record buster. He quietly approached Saturday morning’s race and created some friendly competition for speed hungry locals. “The trails here are really fun, it’s a good race,” says Dane while wiping his face with an ice towel after his Marathon finish. He breezed past the finish line so quickly, most spectators believed him to be a Half Marathon finisher rather than the Marathon.
Dane establishes the new Overall Course Record for the 2010 Scenic City Trail Marathon with a phenomenal finish time of 2:43:22 which is 30 minutes faster than the record time for first in 2009 by Race Team Member, Matt Sims of 3:11:47. Coming behind Dane in Second Place Men’s Overall for the Marathon and a second course record breaking time was Rock/Creek Race Team Member, Nick Selbo from Chattanooga, TN with a time of 2:56:27. Third Place Men’s Overall for the Marathon was Josh Hite from Cookeville, TN with a finish time of 3:00:15 which is again a course record breaking time of 11 minutes faster than the original in 2009.
New to the Rock/Creek Scenic City Trail Marathon podium is Kathy Youngren from Huntsville, AL who finished First Place Female for the Marathon with a time of 3:37:50 which is one minute faster than Race Team Member, Jaclyn Greenhill’s course record time in 2008 of 3:38:04. Kate Brun from Kennesaw, GA came in Second Place Female Marathon finisher with a time of 3:43:21 and Third Place Female Marathon finisher goes to Carissa Skrivanek from Augusta, GA with a time of 3:52:19.
Masters finishers for Men and Women in the Marathon were First Place Men’s Errol Josephs from Lawrenceville, GA with a time of 3:28:54. Second Place Mens Masters goes to Rock/Creek Race Team Member, Randy Whorton from Chattanooga, TN with a time of 3:37:52 and Third Place Men’s Master for the Marathon goes to Warren Sinor from Signal Mountain, TN with a time of 3:43:27.
Women’s master for the Marathon were Malinda Honkus from Knoxville, TN with a time of 4:00:05 and Second Place Female Masters with a time of 4:09:41 was Sally Evenden from Montevallo, AL. Third Place Female Masters goes to Pauline Bradley from Alpharetta, GA with a time of 4:50:10.
Clay Warner from Ringgold, GA found his way to the front of the pack early on for a First Place Men’s Overall Finish in the Half Marathon with a new course record time of 1:22:52 on the Raccoon Mountain trail. He said this is his personal record time on the Half and beat his old course time by 4 minutes and beat the first place course record time by nearly 4 minutes. Coming behind Clay for Second Place Men’s Overall in the Half Marathon was Michael Green from Chattanooga, TN with a time of 1:25:11 and Third Place Men’s Overall in the Half Marathon was Ken Youngers from Decature, GA with a finish time of 1:29:43.
First Place Women’s Overall for the Half Marathon goes to Sue Kelly from Atlanta, GA with a finish time of 1:40:21. Following in Second Place Overall Women’s for the Half Marathon was Rock/Creek Race Team Member, Jan Gautier from Chattanooga, TN with a time of 1:44:22 followed by Theresa Saupe from Mufreesboro, TN with a Third Place Women’s Half Marathon finish in 1:46:28.
Masters finishers for Men and Women were First Place Men’s Masters Adam Smith from Dalton, GA with a time of 1:35:46 followed by Race Team Member, Jim Farmer from Chattanooga, TN with a Second Place Men’s Masters finish time of 1:37:17. Rodney Walker from Ooltewah, TN finished in 1:38:08 for the Third Men’s Masters finish.
Women’s Masters Finishers were First Place Edith Kirkland from Nashville, TN with a time of 1:57:14, Second Place Liza Vannoy from Rising Fawn, GA with a time of 1:57:17 and Third Place Women’s Masters was Carrie McCary from Huntsville, AL with a time of 2:01:30.
Thank you to our presenters, The Vasque Project and sponsors The North Face, Patagonia, Hammer Nutrition, SmartWool, Marmot, The Wlderness Trails Association, Outdoor Research and Greenlife Grocery and our volunteers.
Full Race Results will be posted and photos from the day will be coming soon.
Check back on the Rock/Creek Scenic City Trail Marathon & Half Marathon race page frequently for updates! More trail races are planned in the Rock/Creek Trail Series! Come experience Tennessee trails with us! Next month, June 18,19, 20 is the Chattanooga Mountains Stage Race >
Leave a Reply