2009 Report

Report

Sean Andrish and Keith Knipling tied for first place overall at the 2009 running of The Ring. Zsuzsanna Carlson and Marti Kovener tied for first amongst the women in the field. Saturday was a beautiful, sunny, dry day in the Fort Valley, and a great day to be in the Massanuttens for a volunteer or crew member. But it turned out to be fairly hot for most of the 30 runners who started this year’s run, with daytime highs in the 80s and no cloud cover. The evening yielded “weather bliss” with temperatures dipping in to the 50s and a nearly full moon to light up the clear sky. By the time the runners rounded the southern end of the course and began working their way over the rocky trails on the western ridge towards the finish, the heat and other factors had knocked out half of the field.

Twelve runners were added to the Fellowship of The Ring with a first time finish, and a number of them clearly were racing this weekend in order to become eligible to run the Reverse Ring over these same trails in February. The other three runners who made it the full 71.1 miles were two-time finishers Carolyn Gernand and Keith Knipling, and now three-time finisher David Snipes.

BIG thanks to all the volunteers who came out to help at the run this year. We also want to thank the many crew members who pitched in to help where needed. The VHTRC would not be able to successfully put on this free run without so many offering up their time and effort to man the aid stations and shuttle drop bags forward for the runners.

Thanks also to the runners for making this year’s running of The Ring so much fun - seemed as though the heckling opportunities were even more numerous than usual for those of us fortunate enough to be out there to witness your efforts. And there were a number of inspiring runs by old and new friends that made the 2009 Ring one for the books.

For all new and previous members of the Fellowship of The Ring, the next running of the Reverse Ring will be on February 27, 2010. Registration through the VHTRC website for this free club event will open on January 21. Next year’s running of The Ring will be over Labor Day weekend, with the start at 7 am on September 4, 2010. Registration will open on July 12.

Photos

Carl Camp | Wendy Marszalek | Quatro Hubbard | Kirstin Corris

Videos

Doug Sullivan (there are three)

Results

Splits

Times are time of day on a 24 hour clock for all aid stations. Start was at 7:00 AM. All data came from Quatro to whom questions or comments should be directed.