Megan Lacy placed 4th Sunday in the Gnar Gnar trail race in Oregon, qualifying for the U.S. national team that will compete in the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Thaland next year.
The race, held at the Mt. Hood SkiBowl resort, served as the USATF Mountain Running Championships, and the first four finishers form the U.S. team that will compete in the World Championships, scheduled for Chiang Mai, Thailand, in February.
Lacy, a Cherokee High School graduate now based in Boise, Idaho, finished the challenging, mountainous course in 46:26.
Grayson Murphy of Salt Lake City won the event in 43:22, and the next three runners all finished in the span of 15 seconds – Rachel Johnson of Lynchburg, Va., in 46:11, Bailey Kowalczyk of Nederland, Colo., in 46:22, and then Lacy.
Lacy finished 23 seconds ahead of the 5th-place runner, Anna Gibson of Teton Village, Wy.
The page on the USATF web site dedicated to the event not only does not include results but does not say how long the course is. Not surprisingly, considering the entire USATF web site is a train wreck.
An article on web site trailriunner.com indicates the course peaks at about 5,000 feat but it’s not clear if the start or finish are at sea level.
The inaugural World Mountain and Trail Running Championships is scheduled for Feb. 10-13 in Chiang Mai. The event was created to replace several overlapping trail championships – the World Mountain Running Championships, World Long Distance Mountain Running Championships and Trail World Championships.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 