BALLWIN, MO – An evening that began with a forecast for rain earlier in the week turned into a typical St. Louis summer night for more than 210 runners who took to the trails at Castlewood State Park for the second night of four in the 2019 Alpine Shop Trail Run Series. This approximately 4.2 mile race featured two substantial climbs, including the opening half mile up to meet the Bluff Trail and then a second climb that stretched over the second and third miles.
Familiar names resided at the top of the leader board as Jon-Paul LaVenture (37, Ballwin) beat the field on the 4.2-mile course in a time of 28:39.47, besting second-place runner Andy Rains (26, Ballwin, 30:03.0) to the finish line by, once again, just more than a minute. Josh Wright (41, Kirkwood), crossed the finish line exactly 18 seconds later to round out the top three in the overall standings. That’s the exact same time difference between the second and third place finishers in week 2 when Caleb Smith took third place behind Rains.
For the women’s open category, Jaime Maher (36, St. Louis) – the winner of Race 4 during the 2018 series – made her 2019 debut and promptly took first place in a time of 36:47.8. Lory Cooper (32, St. Louis), making her 2019 debut as well, finished almost exactly one minute behind Maher. Yuting Huang (28, Ballwin) moved up from outside the top five last week to third place with a time of 39:15.3.
Chris Martel (53, Francis Park) won his 10th straight masters Trail Run Series race with a final time of 32:32.4 (6th overall). Eric Buckley (56, St. Louis, 33:28.7) moved back into a familiar second place finish in the division. As stated last week, Martel and Buckley finished 1-2 in each race in 2018. Mickey Howell (56, Villa Ridge, Mo.) who finished just 10 seconds outside of the top three last week, moves up into third for the first time. On the women’s side, Kate Dewey (51, Chesterfield) took home her second straight win in a Trail Run Series race with a time of 43:17.7, with Sherri Schultz (50, Chesterfield, 43:54.6) and Julie Dobslaw (51, University City, 45:03.2) once again, taking second and third, respectively.
We also had one of the largest collection of young runners in Trail Run Series history this week with eight runners under the age of 14, including top finisher Oliver Pollock (14, St. Louis, 37:39.6) and the youngest runner in the competition, nine-year-old Ty Rauls (Wildwood, 46:38.3 ), who finished in 79th place overall and fifth of six in the under 20 division. 13-year-old KB Piepho (Chesterfield) was the top under 20 girl with a time of 51:35.7
Race 3 of the 2019 Alpine Shop Trail Run Series will take place next Thursday night, August 15 at 6:15 pm. We hope you can join us!
Overall Results
Age Group Results
Point Series Totals
Photos (by Jacob Trost)