@Challengers Just over two weeks to go! The 2026 FLRC Challenge ends on November 15, so you still have plenty of time to finish those last few courses. If you’ve been putting off entering your runs, please take a few minutes this weekend and catch up.
Seven more finishers this week bring us to 62 total. Congrats to Patrick Milano, Lily Weinstein Terry, Paula Klaben, Harry Pruyne, Ian Woods, and Karl Smolenski for completing their Classic Challenges, and to Mik Kern for his 10-course Personal Challenge completion, which is particularly notable given that he did all the courses at least once with his son Miles in the stroller. Honorable mention goes to Matt Clark, our first Classic Challenge finisher, who continued on and has now run all 44 courses. Probably entirely with his canine friend Maggie.
Hidden in the list above is the fact that Lily Weinstein Terry ran her 10 courses in a single day as part of the FLRC 100K Ultra Challenge. Lily started at 4:43 AM on October 24 and finished at 6:12 PM that same day. Her total time was 13:29:42, with 10:52:07 of actual running. That’s the fastest of this year’s three finishers on both counts—impressive running! At 20, Lily ties for the youngest-ever Ultra Challenge finisher by years, although Xander Dawson was two months younger when he finished the Ultra Challenge in 2024.
At the top of the leaderboard, we’re finally seeing the competition heating up in most points for men. By finishing his last course, Patrick Milano vaulted into the lead, even as Adam Pesta added seven points to his total, and Chris Petroff added 22 points. Chris still has one more course to complete, as does Ryan Jacobsen. Patrick’s completion also put him in second place for Age Grade. It’s hard to imagine the @Super-60s-70s 16-point lead evaporating in the next two weeks, but the @Fabulous-50s are a couple of points closer than they were last week.
For overall mileage, we’re at 18,236 miles for the year. We logged 521 miles this week, right in line with our recent average but well short of the 700 we needed. To reach 20,000 miles by November 15, we now need 1,764 more miles in 16 days. That works out to about 110 miles per day, or 770 per week. It’s a steeper climb than last week, but last year we put together two 1,000-mile weeks at the end, so a big final push could still get us there.
Some of those miles could come at this weekend’s Halloween group run on Saturday morning if you do a Black Diamond Trail or Lakefront Loops course, but mostly you should show up in costume and have fun. We want pictures! On Sunday, it’s PGXC race #4 at Mendon Ponds, and we’d love to have you join us.
Speaking of which, photos of the week go to Julie Barclay and Jake, who are clearly having a grand time touring all the local trails.
If you need company on this year’s longest Classic Challenge course, Tonya and I are hosting a group run on the Dryden Lake Lollipop half-marathon course next weekend on Sunday, November 8. We’ll meet on the Freeville side of the course at 8:30 AM. Watch the Group Runs category for details.
Two more weeks left to cover the ground!