We had a great day out there yesterday with so many smiles, happy faces, and fun racing outfits. We also saw a bunch of skinned knees and cactus wounds, and we hope everyone is doing well today . . .
Old Tucson is one of our favorite race locations and we can’t produce this particular event without the support of the team at Old Tucson Entertainment. Special thanks to the team at Old Tucson for helping us get back to such a fun venue!
On the speedster side of things, the overall winners both ran strong races to set new course records over these challenges trails. (We think the course is closer to 4.14 miles, but we’re not entirely sure exactly how long it is.)
The first race of the day saw local Mica Mountain high school student Hailey Burke take first place in 27:20, a new course record for this iteration of the TMC Old Tucson Trail Run. Hailey held off 2d place finisher Leandra Fifer, who finished in 27:33, also faster than the previous course record. Third saw Jennifer Peters cross under the arch in 29:07.
Our final finisher in the Women’s Four-Mile was Angela Moore, whose smiling 2:36 finish showed serious perseverance!
In the Open race, Jose Delgado took the first step off the line and never looked back — well, he did look back, but there was nobody there because he ran a great race and finished in 22:27, a personal best on the course.
Ultra-marathoner Manny Ochoa was second in 25:00 while third place saw Johnny Ramos finish in 25:32.
Our final finisher in the men’s race was local running legend Don Branaman, who finished in 1:09:41, 7 minutes faster than last year — not bad for 86 years of age.
The Family One Mile saw 9-year-old Ahren Engel clock a 7:44 first place finish. Thanks to all of you who walked and ran the mile!
Thanks to Geoff Schmidt for announcing all the awards!
Randy Accetta – Race Director