At last week’s Forest Frolic trail race, nearly 100 runners showed up to frolic along the singletrack trails in Kennedy State Forest. Thanks to race directors Mike Stone and Pete Dady for putting on the race! This year saw 49 participants running the 7K and 46 runners completing the 15K. Full results are posted on the FLRC website and on Webscorer. Sarah Woodyear captured a bunch of great race photos while course marshaling at the rock pile, and you’re welcome to download them for free. If you took any photos at the race, please share them as well.
7K
13-year-old Leo Lang from Skaneateles came in first place with a time of 34:59 for the 7K, more than 2 minutes ahead of second-place finisher Nicholas Bernard from Schenectady, one of a group from the UAlbany Running Exchange club. Hannah Grazul from Ithaca was the first woman across the line, clocking 42:54, followed by Makiah Desjardins of Mohawk, another of the UAlbany group in 44:30. The youngest finishers were sisters Evelynn and Aislynn Leonard, 8 and 9 respectively, finishing in 1:01:14 and 1:02:05. This year’s oldest finisher, Robert Kern, 82, came in at 1:08:26.
15K
The 15K course is a figure-8, with an initial 8K loop that leads into the 7K course for the back half. FLRC cross-country standout Christopher Petroff of Ithaca finished first with a time of 1:06:18, followed a minute later by Banyan Love of Ithaca in 1:07.19. Donna Langerfeld of Port Byron was the first woman to finish with a time of 1:15:00 and now leads the women’s Pebblehead Trail Circuit rankings. Second place went to Mo Ramras of Ithaca, who ran 1:17:26. On either end of the age spectrum were 12-year-old Mckenzie Leonard of Dryden, an FLRC trail race regular who placed 13th for the women, and 65-year-old Bob Stegehuis of Windsor. Impressive running for both the young and the old!
Volunteers are a huge part of what makes races like this a success. A big thank you to Sarah Drumheller and the food team who ensured runners and volunteers alike had delicious watermelon, bagels, and other post-race snacks. Steve Nathans-Kelly and Steve Ryan (yes, you had to be named “Steve” 
) coordinated bib pickup. Court marshals included Makoto Endo, Gill Haines-Sharp, and Sarah Woodyear. Makoto Endo did double duty with Jake Griffin in sweeping the course to make sure everyone finished. Special thanks to Heather Cobb and the group run team who braved the course after the storms to check to see if trails were passable and fit to race!
Don’t miss the next race in the FLRC Trail Circuit, Forge the Gorge on August 8 and the Monster Marathon and Half Marathon on September 1!