King, Beck XTERRA Trail Run National Champions
By Trey Garman
Posted Monday, 29 September, 2008
BEND, Ore. - (September 27, 2008) - Several hundred athletes from 21 states gathered at the upscale Old Mill District in Bend, Ore. on Saturday for the fourth XTERRA Trail Running National Championship on an incredibly beautiful, crisp and clear morning along the Deschutes River.
Outside Magazine called this the best trail running town in America, and some of the fastest runners from around the state of Oregon and across the nation came to put its reputation to the test.
Ultimately the king of XTERRA trail running turned out to be none-other than Bend's very own Max King. The local favorite set the standard high turning out close to five-minute miles for a winning 13.1 mile course time of 1 hour, 8 minutes, 1 second. After just winning a six-day 125 mile race through the Rockies earlier this month and coming in second at the 2008 World Mountain Running Championship last weekend, King was able to use his hometown advantage to edge out steeplechase star Ben Bruce, 26, of Eugene, Ore. by just over a minute. Ryan Bak, 27, also from Eugene and King's teammate on the 2008 USA World Cross Country Team, took third in 1:09:41.
"When I spoke to Ryan, he said he was just coming to do the race for fun. Both he and Ben entered the race at the last minute, but I knew they would be tough competition," King said.
Being from Bend, King was familiar with the course and was able to run part of the upper track last night giving him a good feel for the twists and turns. "I love to run a course with tight curves. It might be because of my low center of gravity," he joked.
It was a close race for the first section, but at mile 3, King took the lead and never looked back. When talking to Bruce and Bak, they said that as primarily track racers, "The course was more technical than they were used to. Max was able to take the sharp turns and really open up his lead."
"It's a great course and nice to show all these runners from out of town what we have here in Bend and how you can go from this really cool downtown-type setting to forested single track in just miles," said King. "Today was beautiful in Bend, the trails weren't dusty, just perfect. Bend is really a great place for XTERRA to be, and I think that showed today."
In the women's race, it was marathon specialist Susannah Beck, 40, who took home the women's top prize with her time of 1:23:07. This Eugene native "duked it out" for first place with Bend local Kami Semick, 42, who finished just 19 seconds later. These two ultra trail runners battled each other just six weeks ago at the USA 50 Mile Trail Championship in Crystal Mountain, Wash. where Beck and Semick also took the first and second place respectively.
This morning, it was an all out tug of war as Beck took the lead from the start giving way to Semick at mile six, and then regaining the lead at mile ten to take the women's title. 2008 World Mountain Running Champion Lisa Nye, 40, of Bend, who was under the weather and only made it to the race by her children's urging, finished an impressive third at 1:25:11.
Runners for the championship half-marathon distance ranged in age from 16 to 84. John Keston, the race's most senior participant from Sunriver, Ore. is originally from England and honored the event by singing a beautiful rendition of the National Anthem at the awards ceremony. "I have only been racing competitively since I was 55," said Keston after completing the event in just 2:19:16.
After a 50+ event XTERRA Trail Run Series, 22 regional champions also went head-to-head at Saturday's race to see how they stacked up against the competition. Usually behind the scenes instead of the starting line, Philly Series race director Don Morrison said, "This was a great, fast race. The rolling hills were beautiful but not too technical. Everyone had a great time."
More than 400 runners from 21 states registered for the trail races and the beneficiary, the Central Oregon Trail Alliance, received $10 from every paid entry.
In addition to the main event, there were 5K and 10K trail runs, nearly 100 kids enjoying the XTERRA Kids Zone obstacle courses, running races and agility drills, the Paul Mitchell Cut-a-thon was six stylists deep creating cool hairdo's as a benefit for the Challenged Athletes Foundation all day, and an enormous crowd of spectators, friends and family enjoying an epic day in Bend.
4th XTERRA Trail Running National Championship
Bend, OR, Saturday, September 27, 2008
MEN
1) Max King (OR), 1:08:01, $1000
2) Ben Bruce (OR), 1:09:04, $600
3) Ryan Bak (OR), 1:09:41, $400
4) Joseph Gray (WA), 1:13:53, $300
5) Rich Skorczewski (OR), 1:15:01, $200
WOMEN
1) Susannah Beck, 40, OR, 1:23:07, $1000
2) Kami Semick, 42, OR, 1:23:26, $600
3) Lisa Nye, 40, OR, 1:25:11, $400
4) Katie Caba (OR), 1:25:18, $300
5) Lisa Goldsmith, 44, CO, 1:27:52, $200
For deeper results and more, go to: www.xterraplanet.com/xduro/nationals.html
View the picture gallery from the race at: www.xterraphotos.com and later, view the race at: www.xterra.tv
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