Canadians placed on a stand-out efficiency at this weekend’s Gorge Waterfalls 100K race in Oregon, with not solely two runners hitting the rostrum, however one other 4 cracking the highest 10 within the males’s and girls’s races.
The Gorge Waterfalls occasion, hosted by Dawn Racing and Freetrail, has 30K, 50K and 100K occasions, with the 100K serving as a Western States 100 qualifier. The 100K race has runners traversing an out-and-back course within the Columbia River Gorge space, with an elevation acquire of three,352 metres. This yr’s occasion had a powerful Canadian contingent amongst each the deep elite area and the common runners.
100K
Girls’s race
Cochrane, Alta.’s Ailsa MacDonald charged to second place on the ladies’s aspect in 10:01:57, main for a lot of the race earlier than being overtaken by American ultrarunner Lotti Brinks, who earned the highest spot on the rostrum (and sixth total) in 9:53:56. Seattle-based Kristina Randup took in third in 10:14:54.
MacDonald advised Canadian Operating she was very pleased along with her race. “Beautiful course! It was robust however so price it,” she mentioned. “Superior environment!” MacDonald, 43, had a stand-out season in 2023, taking seventh place at UTMB 171K and wins at Elk Valley Extremely 50K and Shushwap Extremely 100K (amongst others).
Canadians claimed a number of different prime 10 spots within the ladies’s race, with Chilliwack’s Andrea Tarras (who gained the ladies’s race at Damage 100 in Hawaii in January) operating a powerful race for fourth place in 10:18:56. Tarras notably gained the infamous Fats Canine 120 in 2023.
Abbotsford, B.C.’s Jenny Quilty took sixth in 10:54:22, contemporary off a fourth-place end on the extremely aggressive 2024 Black Canyon Extremely in mid-February. Quilty, whose first 100K race was Gorge Waterfalls in 2017, advised Canadian Operating that the course exams all of runners’ expertise, with “actually thrilling challenges, with huge, however runnable, climbs, quick descents and the odd pocket of rocky technical work.” Kate Butcher of North Vancouver completed ninth in 11:36:29.
Males’s race
Washington native Adam Loomis topped the lads’s podium in 8:44:12, with Quebec’s Elliot Cardin taking second in 8:58:30 and Pennsylvania’s Andrew Simpson in third in 9:42:37.
Cardin advised Canadian Operating his race technique was “to carry behind a bit and make my transfer to second, and that’s what I did completely.” Cardin, who had a powerful coaching construct however struggled with some hip and leg ache within the remaining days earlier than the occasion, mentioned he was pleased along with his race. He’s a part of the elite area toeing the road at this yr’s Quebec Mega Path 100-miler in July.
Calgary’s Brandon Miller took ninth place in 10:36:40, and Canadian males additionally took spots 11-14.
Discover full outcomes for the entire 2024 Gorge Waterfalls occasions by clicking right here.