@Challengers, I’m pleased to announce the first finisher of the FLRC Tough Tarmac Challenge. Congrats to Amy Dawson, 2022’s second-place finisher for Most Miles!
Amy started the day at 6:43 AM with a Sweet 1600 before running her home Run Rabbit Run course and making her way into Ithaca for the Lakefront Loops 5K. Then she tackled the tough Freeville Fly-In course and finished the day with Valley Views.
Talk about a running family! We have our second Tough Tarmac Challenge completion, @Challengers, from Elizabeth Dawson. She wasn’t quite as fast as her mother, Amy Dawson, but still completed all five road courses in 7:51:41 running time and 9:20:18 elapsed time, well under the 12-hour cutoff. Scott Dawson is one of our five Tough Trail Challenge finishers too.
Question #1 is if Elizabeth will go for a Tough Trail Challenge to run the remaining five Challenge courses she needs for her medal. Question #2 is if Xander Dawson will tackle one or both of the Tough T**** Challenges when he’s back for the summer.
My apologies for this late acknowledgment, @Challengers — it was a busy weekend with Trackapalooza. But on Friday, after I posted the recap, the posts started to come from Pete Kresock outlining his Tough Tarmac Challenge completion. He radically lowered the running time to 5:21:27, but took close to 12 hours to run all the courses, thanks to bad logistical luck throughout, as outlined in his posts: 12345. That included coming across a car accident on Freeville Fly-In, dealing with Grassroots on Run Rabbit Run, being turned around by construction while getting to Valley Views, and being hassled about parking at the Trumansburg track (again, Grassroots).
Pete’s now the only person on all three Ultra Challenge leaderboards. Will Dennis Stadelman brave the roads to join him? And will any of our Tough Trail Challenge finishers tackle the Tough Tarmac Challenge as well?
As you know by now, @Challengers, Scott Dawson added a Tough Tarmac Challenge to his previous Tough Trail Challenge completion while keeping Xander Dawson company on his 100K Ultra Challenge effort. His running time wasn’t particularly fast at 6:21:19, but he was the most efficient planner of anyone so far, completing the five courses in just 7:57:47 elapsed time.
@Challengers I’m pleased to share that Damian Clemons has now completed the Tough Tarmac Challenge, setting new records for both running time (4:38:46) and elapsed time (7:27:33). We ran into him as he was prepping for Run Rabbit Run, the last of his five courses, as the group run was finishing up this morning.
@Challengers, I called it. Congrats to Ryan Allen-Parrot, who chose a sweltering hot day to complete his Tough Tarmac Challenge and finish his overall challenge in just two days of running. Once again, Ryan nudged Damian Clemons into second place by about 16 minutes, this time by running 4:22:24, completed in 7:25:54 of elapsed time. Impressive!
I just received the Tough Trail/Tarmac Challenge mini signs yesterday, and they’re great. Once the Challenge ends, I’ll print the custom stickers that personalize each individual’s achievement and be ready to present them at the FLRC Annual Picnic on September 19. Please RSVP, since I have to submit a head count for catering very soon!
Congrats to Ryan Allen-Parrot, who chose a sweltering hot day to complete his Tough Tarmac Challenge and finish his overall challenge in just two days of running. Once again, Ryan nudged Damian Clemons into second place by about 16 minutes, this time by running 4:22:24, completed in 7:25:54 of elapsed time. Impressive!