Another week in the books, @Challengers, and we’ve cracked 9,000 miles for the year! We’re up to 11 finishes, with Geoff Van Fleet finishing off his Challenge with a Black Diamond Trail run in the horrible weather last Saturday—congrats on surviving! That also moved him squarely into second place for Most Points for men, dropping Pete Kresock into third. Otherwise, not much changed at the top of the leaderboard other than Andrew Flyak adding 45 Challenge miles to move into a tie for second place with Caitlin Loehr for Most Miles. Pete Kresock extended his Most Miles lead by running 62 miles last week. And the @Super-60s-70s pulled ahead again in Team Points—they’re on fire this year!
A few notes:
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Shirts are available again: I have moved the 2026 yellow Challenge shirt sales to the FLRC online store, so if you missed getting one during registration, you can order again. Sizes in the four styles are pretty limited (2 or 3 of the most common sizes), so I recommend moving on it if you want one. After you order, connect with me to get it.
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Run Forest Frolic Sunday: For those looking to do all the courses or just all the trail courses, be sure to sign up for the Forest Frolic 15K this Sunday so you can run the race and submit it for your Challenge completion. The Frolic trails are some of the nicest in the area, and they’re even more fun to run with others as part of a supported race. There won’t be a separate group run because of Frolic.
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Trackapalooza and Sights of the Heights coming up: Next weekend is going to be busy—clear your calendar! We had to postpone Trackapalooza to Saturday, August 1, so its distance events are your best chance to run a fast Sweet 1600 or Lakefront Loops 5K. Then, on Sunday, August 2, we’ll be running the popular new Sights of the Heights course, ending with a post-run party at Trail Circuit director Diana Hackett’s house, which is on the course.
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Photos of the week: Dennis Stadelman is pulling away in Community Stars by running and reporting on four or five courses on every visit to Ithaca. He photographed ospreys, ducks, and other wild things on the Inlet Shores course. But the happiest runners photo goes to Tonya Engst, Verity Platt, Rebecca Lambert, Jacqui Treml, and Sheena Heise.
Until next week, keep covering the ground!