Capitol Peak 50 mile and 55K Results now posted!

Greetings to all!
The 5th annual Capitol Peak 50 mile and 55Km was a success once again regardless of spitting snow and blustery wind on the summit of Capitol Peak. 90 Runners toed the line and 86 runners finished both races. There were 41 official finishers in the 50 miler and 43 finishers in the 55Km. Jenny Capel from Reno, Nevada swept the womens field in the 50 miler with a smashing time of 8:32:21 followed by Veronica Mcilvenna in 2nd and Kris Ryding in 3rd. Ron Gutierrez from San Francisco, CA was first overall in the 50 miler with a time of 7:41:20, followed by Miles Ohlrich in 2nd and Adam Hewey in 3rd. Jamie Gifford also recieved the 5 Year Finisher Award for finishing all 5 years of Capitol Peak 50 miles, since the inception in 2005. Our Senior finishers in the 50 miler include Rainer Schultz and Tom Ripley.
The 55Km also showed stellar performances as well. Alison Hanks won the womens field in 5:45:40, followed by Shawna Whilskey in 2nd and Becky Brun in 3rd. Michael Havrda won overall the 55km in 4:28:40 followed by Jesse Stevick in 2nd and John Berta in 3rd. Michael was fortunate he trained on the course in advance since several other took a wrong turn due to mysterious false ribbons. Our Senior finishers in the 55K include John Bandur, Rick Haase and Jim Updegrove.

A huge contingent of volunteers were very greatful in coming out and battling cold and wet blustery conditions at various aid stations throughout Capitol State Forest. We couldn't survive without all these volunteers making it a great race to run. Also thanks also to Friends of Capitol Forest for all their support in trail maintenance that provided over 1000's of hours on the trail! Also thanks to the South Puget Sound Mobile Search and Rescue unit for giving radio and medical staffing support at all the aid stations.
Thank you's go out to a multitude of volunteer individuals which include (w/ respective aid station or work station):
Race Packet Pickup at South Sound Running: Kris Ryding
Registration: Roberta Woods, Jane Updegrove, Lewis Taylor, Allison Moore
Aid Station 1: Heidi Perry, Elena "Peanut" Perry and Dan Farmer
Aid Station 2: Friends of Capitol Forest, Herb Reeves, David Snyder and Gordon Carlisle
Aid Station 3: Roberta Woods, Jane Updegrove, Ashley Birmingham and Heidi Perry
Aid Station 4/5: Allison Moore, Jess Mullen, Max Welker
Aid Station 6/8: Harvey Hall, Laura Houston, Mike Adams
Aid Station 7: Kent Holder and Cooper Brown
Sweepers: Lewis Taylor, Ashley Birmingham, Jim Szumila, Max Welker, and Laura Houston
Supply Van Drivers: Herb Reeves and Mike Adams (who always never hesitates to pickup all the Talking Rain water:~)
Finish Line support: David Snyder, Heidi Perry and many others.
Finish line Timing: Genissa Sygitowicz, Jennifer Seward and Terry Pruit
And last but certaintly not least our soup preparer's extraordinaire's: Bill and Helene Pearch (aka Mom and Dad)
Also special thanks go out to all our sponsors, including: South Sound Running, Seattle Running Company, Brooks, The Balanced Athlete, Route 16 Running and Walking, nuun electrolyte drink, Gu sports gels, Talking Rain water company, The Olympia Food Coop, and San Francisco Street Bakery. Also thanks to Wild Bill Graphics for designing and printing all the great tshirts. And also to John Robinson (Timberline Design) for all the great awards. We also very much appreciate all the support the Washington State Department of Natural Resources has given us and permitted all our events without question.
And last but not least, thanks to Glenn Tachiyama for taking all the awesome photos, (see link at right).

Thanks to all who came out to support Capitol Peak! Hope to see you all next year.

John Pearch
RD-Capitol Peak Ultras

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