Trail Twister 60km Endurance Trail Run - RunUltra Marathon

Being the Race Director of this event, there will be no splits or overall times for me, unless you count the number of hours I spent prepping the course and organizing for the race.

The day started out much warmer than I would have liked. Earlier in the week the predicted temps were going to be in the mid-50's for the morning, with the afternoon reaching into the mid to upper-80's. As race day got closer, the weather started to change. Now it was going to be in the upper-60's in the morning and then upper to low-90's in the afternoon. I know this course well and the predicted temps were going to be the deciding factor for most of the runners in the 60km and 30km.

After a short pre-race talk, I send the runners on their way. The course is one big loop that surrounds the lake, but the lake splits the course into two sections, East and West. The 60km/30km runners hit the East side first and then would finish up on the West side, while the 10km (actual distance is long at 6.4 miles) runners would do the West side only. Now that the runners are on the course, I can wind down a bit. But before I know it, we have the first runner coming in. Is this correct? Did he take a wrong turn somewhere? I look at the timing clock and realize that it is indeed correct. Kurt Mohlman from Austin, TX crosses the line first in a time of 44:10. Kyle Cassidy is on his heels and finishes with a time of 44:42. Jerrett Williams rounds out the top three with a time of 46:41. The top three female runners finish in the following order: Tamay Tipton in a time of 59:09, Mandi Gerard in a time of 1:01:50, and Dawn Parker in a time of 1:03:39.

The 30km was won by Dane Conley of Plano, TX with a time of 2:30:08 followed by Clay Brieger with a time of 2:37:21 and then Brian Mistovich with a time of 2:52:29. The first female 30km runner to cross the line was Donna Crocker of Houston, TX in a time of 3:06:10. She was followed by Karen Boman in 3:22:15 and Dawn Banka in 3:24:12. Brenda Rogers was a close to edging out Dawn with a time of 3:24:13.

The 60km saw a few drops after the first loop of 18.65 miles, mainly due to the heat. The first runner to come through the finish was Francisco Garza from Houston with a time of 5:15:36. He was follwed by Rick Autrey - 5:26:18 and Steven Moore - 5:34:21. The top three female 60km runners are all from the Bryan/College Station, TX area with Lan Ly of Bryan leading the way with a time of 6:35:55 followed by Lynne Harkey in 6:37:08 and Mckenzie Morse in 7:03:10.

The top times in both the 30km and 60km are course records since this is the first year for each of these distances. The bar has been set for next year as the consensus was good for another year of running the trails of Lake Bryan.