Hagg Lake Trail Run
2002 Race Report

Oregon in February. Rain is a given, right? In 2001, the first Hagg Lake 50K trail run proved that wrong. Could we hope for another special day this year? We actually had people calling weeks ahead asking us if it was going to rain! For Oregon, the weeks prior to the race were comparatively dry. The report from the RDs who marked the course the day before was that the lake was up, and the trails were (relatively) dry and in good shape.

Well, not so fast. The night before as the runners tried to rest, the Lord blessed the course with a strong rainstorm. The sun rose (sort of) on a cloudy, mild, and very muddy course. The 2001 anomaly would not be repeated. Hagg Lake 2002 will now be known as the Mud Run.

Having said this, the runners came, the race was held, everyone got muddy, and most were smiling (griping), laughing (griping), and bragging (griping) about their mud run stories. This year the Hagg Lake 50k was the first of seven races making up the Oregon Trail Series. Whether it was all the fun had last year or the excitement of starting the trail series after a winter off, the runners came. Last year's field of 62 starters swelled to 102. Five DNFd and 19 dropped from the 50k to the 25k at the end of the first of two laps around Hagg Lake. 78 eventually finished the course with times ranging from winner Stan Holman's amazing (given the course consistency) 3:48:20 to 8:31:52.

This year's field included many return runners, and an obvious number of first time Hagg Lakers. After a short (but 1 mile longer than last year to correct a short course) out and back, the runners took to the trail around Hagg Lake for two laps appx. 14 miles each. Early starters not only got an extra hour, but got to plant their footsteps on the trail before the main pack. Course conditions were even more difficult than we thought as we learned of the bridge that lost a little more integrity and a little more wood each time someone went over it. Fortunately, no one was injured, and by the time the last runners crossed the bridge (for the second time) there wasn't enough of it left to worry about! (We have reported this to the park officials, and hopefully it is being repaired quickly.)

The race was led much of the way by Tom Moritz of Portland, but by the end Stan Holman of Carson, Washington (who had switched from the 25k at the last minute) cruised in with a 3:48:20 finish. Tom Moritz followed in 4:04:23, with third place taken by Val Buckmaster of Warren, Oregon (proclaiming his age!) in 4:07:39. Dianne Petersen from Wenatchee, Washington, took the women's race with a 4:59:23 finish. She was followed by Linda Samet of Corvallis, Oregon, in an even 5:05; and Laura Gould of Ellensburg, Washington in 5:34:45.

Like most races, this year's race had its drama apart from the race itself. Stories of creative ways of traversing "the bridge" were added to the mud stories, and friends competing for square feet of body surface covered by chocolate mud. Unfortunately not all the stories were so positive. Several ultrarunners showed the attitude common at most ultra races when they encountered a 25k runner who had broken her leg. Some rendered first aid, while others picked up their pace to get word of her injury to the race officials as soon as possible. When the RD got to the injured runner, she was still accompanied by ultrarunners who naturally treated her as more important than the race. Names of those who shone through are being withheld only because there were more than we can name, and we want all of them to be thanked equally!

The combined runs (25k and 50k) swelled to 253 runners. This year proved that the runners are there for the adventure of conquering the technical course, the mud, and for many, the winter lay-off. Next year should see more improvements born from experience. But no improvement in the attitudes of the volunteers and runners alike is needed. The race directors do wish to apologize for the misplacement of the "M & Ms ahead" sign, intended to be placed a quarter mile out from the aid station, but actually two miles out! Honestly, it was an accident! Next year, we'll move the sign, or have the M & Ms spread throughout the course!

Race Director, Randy Christian is working on the official race report. He'll send in a version to Ultra Running too (hopefully this year we can get a photo in too). In addition, Amalia Nita will be doing a story for the Spring ORRC, ODR magazine.

I did want to make a few comments based on what I saw yesterday.

• The Bridge For those of you who haven't heard, we had a bridge on the trail go out. This bridge is on the course about 1.7 miles out from Sain Creek. I haven't seen it but I heard that at least four boards are missing. Runners were jumping across and then, when it got too far to jump, they started climbing across on the railing on the side. Fortunately, no one was injured at the bridge. No one fell through and the trolls went hungry.

• Mud We marked the course on Friday morning. It was muddy but pretty reasonable (much like last year). Friday night we had a downpour of rain for several hours. This turned the course into the muddiest, sloppiest, slowest mess we've ever seen out there. Last year we took pictures when some one came in covered with mud. This year we marveled when someone came in who wasn't covered in mud.
  

• Times Needless to say, in general times were slower. The 25K was 0.58 miles and the 50K was 1.16 miles longer than last year. This combined with the aforementioned mud slowed the times down. I compared a number of finishing times for this year and last. In the 25K times generally slowed 15 to 30 minutes. In the 50K the times were 20-50 minutes slower.
  

• Great Performances In spite of the longer course and conditions there were some truly outstanding results. Stan Holman, trail series overall winner for 2001, ran a 3:48:20 50K! This is only 2 minutes and 24 seconds slower than Jim Kerby's winning performance last year (on a shorter course). How could he run through the mud that fast? Jenny Teppo, henceforth known as The Mud Queen, not only won the 25K again this year but she beat the course record she set last year by 3 minutes and 16 seconds!!! A faster time with a longer course and more mud.
  

• Course Signs We hope you enjoyed the course signs and all the course marking. We did hear about one mistake. The M&M's sign was supposed to be about about 1/4 mile out from Tanner Creek aid station. Apparently it was placed about 2 miles out. The volunteers who placed that sign will be sacked and their pay suspended.
  

• Volunteers Speaking of volunteers we would like to extend a very very big thanks to everyone who helped out. We were stretched pretty thin and a number of people went all out in their volunteer efforts. Mark Schofer swept the course by himself and didn't get out until 5:30 p.m. Gail Synder made all those potatoes and Sid volunteered at the race. Jim Rudig drove out to the store to buy additional cups. Diane Bemrose spent all day slaving by the stove cooking soup, Marcus Heckel took the 5:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. volunteer shift. Thanks to these guys and all our other hard working voluneers. You guys made this race.