Andersen and Patterson Take Wins at Catoctin 50k

VHTRC members John Andersen and Bethany Patterson were the first man and the first woman among the 144 official finishers of the Catoctin 50k on Saturday July 26. John made the trek up to Frederick, Maryland all the way from Crozet, a village just outside of Charlottesville in Central VA. This was his first time racing Catoctin. Bethany, from Richmond, VA, earned her fifth Cat card, but was making what turned out to be a very successful return to racing after an extended break.

There were at least a few other notable runs by club members. Tom Green, the original Grand Slam finisher, is once again running the Grand Slam this summer. Tom completed the second of the four 100s in the Grand Slam at Vermont, and now is looking forward to Leadville and then Wasatch later this summer. But a week after Vermont, Tom was back at Catoctin for another finish of this tough, tough 50k.

Gary Knipling earned his 16th “Cat card” from RD Kevin Sayers, lthe most of any runner, now 4 more finishes than his nearest pursuers on the all-time Catoctin finishers list. Gary’s finish is remarkable in that it came less than a week after he finished the Vermont 100 miler.

Keith Knipling also finished the Vermont/Catoctin double and earned his 10th Cat card. Keith improved on his time from last year, no doubt aided by employing this more Keith-like taper strategy this year. One additional club member to earn his 10th Cat card in this race was Paul Sherlock.

VHTRC president Alan Gowen was included in a list of a handful of club runners (such as Natalie Kennedy, Judith Weber, and Tony Escobar) who finished the entire race distance, but came in just over the rather stiff 9:15 cut-off. Alan’s son Johnathan has now joined the family business, finishing 11th overall.

Resultshave been posted for this year’s race; the all-time finishers list will be updated at a later date (rumor has it on a day when Kevin Sayers finds himself bored at work). Entry for the 2015 running of Catoctin will open on June 1. If you missed it this year, you will want to mark your calendar so you, too, can enjoy the heat and the hills, the rocks and the snakes, as well as the party in the parking lot with everyone else at next year’s Catoctin 50k.