@Challengers, welcome to the end of our first month of the 2024 FLRC Challenge. I’m sending this from the Syracuse airport after spending the week in Salt Lake City at a conference without even enough free time to hunt down a track for a remote Sweet 1600, though I was pleased to see Diana Hackett and Caitlin Loehr posting reports from Canadian tracks on either side of the continent: Richmond, British Columbia, and Ottawa, Ontario. We’re now over 3,000 miles!
Continued signups have driven our overall numbers to 179, beating out last year and well on our way to my goal of 200. I’m particularly pleased to welcome our youngest participants ever: 4-year-old twins Adrian Kresock and Joel Kresock. Their father, 100K Ultra Challenge legend Pete Kresock, said they keep talking about the Challenge and are excited to complete the Sweet 1600 and Duck Trails for their Personal Challenge, with the Lakefront Loops 5K as a stretch goal. They join two-time Personal Challenge finisher Simon Woods, who’s continuing his trend and attempting to complete eight courses now that he’s 8 years old (he ran six courses at age 6 in 2022 and seven last year). That’s also what 9-year-old Natalie Rakow plans, which I think is perfect—the 11-mile Run Rabbit Run and 13.1-mile Freeville Fly-In road courses aren’t likely to be fun for kids.
We have another early finisher this week, Tatyana Brown, who claimed her medal with a Freeville Fly-In on the 14th and gets bonus points for coming up from Elmira for her runs. Will Patrick Milano and Tristan Lambert join her on the Completions page by running their final courses this week?
Speaking of points, I’m awarding Rebecca Lambert alliteration points for a Triple Treman Trailipop—that’s 23.1 miles on what may be our toughest course of the year. Impressive!
Photos of the week awards go to Challenge newcomer Mario Rocchio for this lovely trail shot from Treman Trailipop and this double selfie from new friends Caitlin Loehr and Lois Meyer at Valley Views.
There’s no group run this weekend because the Thom B. Trail Runs will have 100-plus runners cavorting through the Hammond Hill trails on Sunday. It won’t count for a Hammond Hill Hoctathon completion, but it should be a fun time for all. (And we could use a few more volunteers!)
Until next week, keep covering the ground!