BALLWIN, MO – If you have run in Alpine Shop’s Trail Run Series before, chances are you’ve run on a course similar to what we tackled tonight. Using different sections of nearly every trail system at Queeny Park, the 3.95 mile course featured two significant climbs along with our first slippery water “crossing” next to a lily filled lake.
Stop us if you’ve heard this before: Steven Stallis (34) put nearly two minutes between him and second place finisher Andy Rains as he cruised to his tenth-straight Series victory, finishing in 22:38.37. Rains (32) wasn’t the only familiar face on the podium with Stallis as Aaron Barber (25) once again rounded out the all-too-familiar podium. The exact same top three from last year’s opening race and last week’s race.
On the women’s Open side, we have a new champion who’s not even old enough to drive a car yet: 14-year-old Leah Grither took a top-20 overall finish to take her first crown after multiple podium finishes last year. Annemarie Rains (33), after earning her first-ever overall win in the women’s division last week, slipped a spot down to second in the women’s division and 25th overall. Just behind Rains came Sloan Montgomery who had three podium finishes last year.
For our Masters divisions — defined in this series as ages 50+ — three familiar faces once again for the men as Mike Barro (57), Peter Manor (50), and Kevin Kozuszek (51), took 1-2-3 for the second straight week.
The Women’s Masters division saw Jenn Ullery took her second straight Masters victory of the series. Elyisa Krieger, and last year’s series champion, Susan Richmond (64), flipped their spots from last week with Richmond moving to second and Krieger taking third..
As usual after the race, finishers dug into hot dogs and veggie burgers straight off the grill, washed down with cold pours from our friends at 4 Hands Brewing Co. Thanks also to Optimal Performance Centers, who were on-site to keep legs limber and recovery on track—something they’ve proudly done since 2015. And a shout-out to our long-time partners at Terrain Magazine, who not only help keep the region connected to the outdoors, but also lace up and toe the line right alongside our racers. Two lucky runners also went home with Hoka One One certificates to use at Alpine Shop. Two other lucky runners took home brand new backpacks from The North Face, just dropped off by Shop friend Dan Meehan before the race.
Photos will be posted at the link below as soon as we have them all edited, so check back on Saturday or Sunday. And we’ll see you all next Thursday for Race #3 in the Series—same time, same park, new course. Let’s go!
A Note for all runners: EVERY RUNNER GETS A NEW BIB EACH WEEK. (*Sorry for yelling!) We had a situation at this race where one runner was competing in a Week 1 Bib and we had a younger runner (who was not competing, but still wearing a Week 1 Bib). Both runners’ numbers were picked up by the timing system while the current runners with this week’s bibs were still on the course. This effectively knocked out those two participants’ times for the event. So, please, make sure the old bibs stay at home next week! Thank you!
Advance Registration is available here for Race 3!
OVERALL RESULTS (Updated) | AGE GROUP RESULTS (Updated) | UPDATED POINT TOTALS