BALLWIN, MO- The 2024 Alpine Shop Trail Run Series kicked off Thursday night with another hot and humid August night. This year’s series started with a 3.5 mile course with some long descents and short punchy climbs for an uphill finish.
Steven Stallis (33) came out on a mission to defend his title and boy did he deliver. He finished with a time of 20:12.1, with an almost 2 minute lead over second place, Andy Rains (31) at 21:58.0. Third place went to Aaron Barber (24) to round out both the Overall and Men’s Open Podiums.
Nikki Difani (41) took her first win in the Women’s Open with a time of 25:47.4 and almost a 3 minute lead over Lisa Kennedy (41) with her finish in 28:31.2 and the youngin’ Leah Grither (13) finished in 29:11.8 to finish up the Women’s top 3.
For the Trail Run Series, our Master’s Category starts at 50 and we saw a familiar face retake the throne with a Master’s win for Mike Barro (56), who won the Master’s Category in 2022 (and 3rd Overall) with a time of 24:44.6. Kevin Kozuszek (50) finished in second for the M’s Masters with a time of 25:52.7. Chris Bognar (53) rounded things out with a 3rd place finish of 26:25.3.
Susan Richmond (62) won the W’s Masters top spot completing the course in 30:41.5 and won the first race for the second year in a row as the defending Women’s Masters Champ followed by Jill Hollander (53) 34:28.4 and Barb Gruener (52) 35:30.4, both returners hoping to take a podium this year.
Following the race, participants helped themselves to beer from 4Hands Brewing and other refreshments, hotdogs off the grill, and Power Bars compliments of Paul and Great Harvest of Kirkwood. Optimal Performance Centers was on site like they have been since 2015 to take care of our athletes needs to ensure proper recovery and that they are ready to go for week 2. A big thank you goes to all the sponsors of the Off-Road Racing League that make events like this happen!
Registration is available here for Race 2!