Festivus 50k - December 5th

It's a Festivus for the rest-of-us! None of these weak holiday runs like 4th of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's Day, or Ground Hog Day...this is THE holiday run that you've waited all year for...FESTIVUS!

Join us on December 5th for the Festivus 50k!

Since this isn't an official event we don't have official event information. However, there will be a group of ultra-runners meet at the Worthington Hills Park near the gazebo at 8:00 AM EST on Sunday, December 5. It's a small park right off SR-315 behind the Olentangy Valley Center Shopping Mall about a mile north of I-270. Here is a mapto the start/finish location.

For more info visit http://www.uberrunner.com/subs/ffa50k/

This event is not organized by COTR but we hope many of you can participate.

For those running the Bigfoot 50k or Buckeye Woods FA on the same day, have fun and good luck!

Hocking Hills Labor Day Trail Run

Thanks to everyone who came out to make the 1st Annual COTR Hocking Hills Labor Day Run a success! A special thanks goes out to Jen and Barb Patton who spent the whole day out crewing for the runners.
We had 30 people out on the trails, with about 1/2 choosing to to do the 11.5 mile run and 1/2 choosing to do the 28 mile run. The course ended up being a little off the advertised 1/2 and full marathon distance but that's par for the course in a FA and trail run :) . If we had started at the Dining Lodge we would have been able to hit those distances right on the nose but I'm not sure anyone would have prefered two extra miles on road! All in all I think everyone enjoyed the trails, the weather, and the company.

Happy Trails!

COTR will be hosting their 1st Annual Labor Day Hocking Hills FA Trail Marathon (and 1/2 marathon). As a fat ass event this a low key event with no fees and no frills. Just a chance to come out and run some trails with friends. Aid will be provided approx. every 3 miles along the course. The trails are well marked but there won't be course markings so each runner will be given a course map. The run starts at 8am sharp at the Old Man's Cave parking area. Runners instructions start at 7:45am. Hope to see you there!

Lots of Shout Outs!!!

Congrats to all those that completed the Buckeye Trail 50k last weekend. A lot of local runners represented! Check out the results @ www.buckeyetrail50k.com/results.html

Burning River 100 is only a week away! There are a lot of local runners competeing and some are even entered in the USATF National Championship! Good luck to all those competing. You can track their progress next weekend at http://www.burningriver100.org/

Connie Garnder and Dave Corfmann both finished Badwater last week. Wow, what an acheivement!!! Connie finished as the 2nd female and Dave finished inside the top 25. Dave wrote a blog about his experiences and it is available to read on the Cincinnati Enquirer's website. Prepare to be inspired...http://cincinnati.com/blogs/running/2010/07/21/david-corfman-on-the-badwater-ultramarathon/

Community Ties Bicycle Tour

Come out and support the Delaware County Friends of the Trail in their annual Community Ties Bicycle Tour on July 24th. For only $20 you can do an 8 mile, 31 mile, 62 mile, or 100 mile bike ride to support the Central Ohio trail system! Follow this link for additional information, http://dcft.typepad.com/files/2010-community-ties-brochure.pdf

Hocking Hills COTR Run - July 5th

If you're interested, a small group will be gathering for a trail run at Hocking Hills on Monday July 5th. We will meet at the dining lodge parking lot at 8am (same lot used for the Indian Run start/finish).

We will run the connector trail to Old Man's Cave, then follow the Buckeye Trail south all the way to Ash Cave. We will have aid stashed near Ash Cave. From here we will run the Buckeye Trail alt. bridle route north back to Old Man's Cave. This is a less traveled trail marked with white blazes. From here you can run the connector trail back to the dining lodge for a 13 mile run.

If you chose to run further a group will be heading north from Old Man's Cave along the Buckeye Trail to Big Pine Rd (approx. 3 miles). We will have aid stashed at the Big Pine Rd. parking lot. If you chose to do so you can turn around and run back to Old Man's Cave and run the connector trail back to the dining hall for a 20 mile run.

If you chose to run further a group will run along the road on Big Pine Rd the 1/2 mile to Conkle's Hollow. Here we will loop around the gorge and run back to Big Pine Rd parking lot for an approx. 5 mile loop. From here we will follow the Buckeye Trail south back to Old Man's Cave and run the connector trail back to the dining lodge for a 25 mile run.

If you haven't had a chance to explore the trail at Hocking Hills this is a great opportunity to get out and run with a group. We will have aid at Ash Cave and Big Pine Rd but be prepared to cover 7-8 miles without aid - bring a water bottle to carry with you.

If you plan on joining us email runmikeyp@hotmail.com, call 614-581-0283, or post on Facebook or the COTR website that you're planning on attending. I just want to have an idea of how much aid to put out and who to wait for on the morning of the run.

Hope to see you out on the trails!

COTR at Mohican

Central Ohio Trail Runners represented itself well at Mohican on June 19th! We had several people participating in the 50 mile and 100 mile race. We also had several people volunteering at Rock Point Aid Station - thank you Julie and all your volunteers!

Although the finish rate was only 39% on the day, COTR had much better results.

Jay Smithberger - 50 mile mens champion!
Kimberly Dawn Boner - 50 mile womens champion!
Mikaila Hambel - 50 mile finisher
Michael Patton - 100 mile finisher (2nd buckle)
Mark Carroll - 100 mile finisher (9th buckle)
Stephen Zeidner - 100 mile finisher (1st buckle)
David Huss - 100 mile finisher (2nd buckle)

Other great efforts on a very tough day:
Rob Powel - 100 mile DNF (38 miles)
Terri Lemke - 100 mile DNF (59 miles)
Suzanne Pokorny - 100 mile DNF (59 miles)
Michelle Biscell - 100 mile DNF (65 miles)

Several people have posted race reports on their blogs - click on the blog links to the right to read about their race.

Laurel Highlands

There were a couple great performances by Central Ohio runners at Laurel Highlands on June 12th. Kim Love-Ottobre aka Kimba ran 56 miles before timing, Sharon Seslar completed the 50k race, and Dan Bellinger completed the 70.5 mile race! Great job on a tough course!!!

COTR Run at Highbanks Metropark

Highbanks Metropark
Saturday, June 12, 2010
7:30am-12:00pm

This Central Ohio Trail Runners group trail run will take place at Highbanks Metropark in north Columbus. Circling all of the main trails (Scenic River, Dripping Rock, Overlook, Wetland Spur, and Coyote Run), offers a lot of variety of surfaces and loop that is about 7.5 miles total.

Aid will be offered at various points along the loop.