Bridle Trails - Jan 11, 2003 Forest trail, some downed trees across the trail, course marked with glo-sticks, 1,870 feet of elevation gain The results of 2003 Bridle Trails are given below, followed by my brief race report. The event consists of six loops around Bridle Trails State Park. What makes the event unique is - It starts at 4PM, so only the first loop is run in daylight. - Mud, mud, and more mud. This was my fifth time participating at Bridle Trails. The 2003 event started off with a disappointingly dry trail, but after several of us complained to the race directors, the rain begin to fall. And fall. And fall. By mid-race, the trails were approaching their usual sloppy, goopy, shoe-sucking selves. New course records established in 2003 Male Course Record (2003) Stan Holman 3:54:27 Female Course Record (2003) Georgia Daniels 4:29:01 Previous course records Male Course Record (2000) Randy Hunter 3:59:05 Female Course Record (2001) Romses Calla 4:45:16 Year 2003 - 42 Starters, 36 Finishers . Run Time Pl SexAge Name hr:min:sec 1 M37 Holman, Stan 3:54:27 2 M41 MacLane, Don 4:10:02 3 M37 George, Steve 4:12:24 4 M34 Hunter, Randy 4:14:05 5 M46 Miller, Mike 4:20:37 6 F35 Daniels, Georgia 4:29:01 7 M41 Phillippi, Tony 4:29:24 8 M45 Hartinger, Mark 4:36:44 9 M29 Meissner, Sean 4:43:19 10 M35 Warren, Chris 4:46:07 11 M44 Bodamer, Mark 4:48:48 12 M29 Collins, Timothy 4:53:21 13 M30 Blount, Byron 4:55:32 14 M35 Moser, Mike 4:57:46 15 M30 Gilley, Stephen 4:58:09 16 M46 Dutton, Dave 5:02:21 17 M44 Hansen, Pete 5:10:56 18 M49 Varga, Steve 5:18:03 19 M60 Bauer, John 5:25:51 20 M40 Barrick, Steve 5:26:18 21 M28 Castaneda, Paris 5:27:41 22 M46 Stafford, Fred 5:27:50 23 F45 King, Karen 5:27:59 24 M61 Engelmann, Eb 5:31:17 25 M35 Cusworth, Bill 5:34:56 26 M42 Covarrubias, Tony 6:00:20 27 M41 Branson, James 6:11:56 28 M36 Migotsky, Chris 6:14:20 29 M56 Frederickson, Steve 6:28:28 30 M36 Castle, Don 6:29:25 31 M37 Kieffer, Dimitri 6:41:55 32 M15 Roe, Christoper 6:43:16 33 M35 Ball, Bill 6:44:23 34 M51 Wright, Gary 7:46:00 35 F51 Ralph, Chris 7:56:00 Trail Sweep 36 M54 Ripley, Tom 7:56:00 Trail Sweep Stan Holman and Georgia Daniels both broke the previous records.Georgia Daniels ran an incredibly smooth race while shaving 16 minutes off the women's course record. She never wavered from her cheerful attitude, always encouraging other runners (as she blew by them.) (I would say equally nice things about Stan, but on the dark course, I never remember seeing him!) I counted four runners also completed the Western Washington Fat Ass 50K the previous weekend. Curiously, we finished in reverse order of our FA50K placement. At Bridle Trails, were within a two minutes of each other: John Bauer, 5:25:51, Steve Barrick 5:26:18, Fred Stafford 5:27:50, and Karen King, 5:27:59. (After the rain and mud at FA50K, we were all old enough to know better. Why did we subject ourselves again?) I ran a conservative race, which became even more conservative after rolling my ankle in the 4th lap. After wrapping it snuggly, I continued gingerly in the dark, and by the final lap had regained my stride. This is the first year that I didn't trip over any logs nor did I have a shoe sucked off, despite close calls in both categories. With a modest $10 entry fee, and a well stocked aid station, the event manages to be a fundraiser for the Sparrow Foundation. Chris Ralph and Tom Ripley, along with their talented volunteers, did a great job marking the trail, monitoring the course, timing, and running the aid station. Thanks! But next year, don't wait until the last minute to produce that trademark mud! Karen King Seattle, WA Karen L King Date: Mon, 13 Jan 2003 22:31:57 -0800