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World Mountain Running Championships: Americans Max King and Kasie Enman Win Gold
From USMRT.comTirana, Albania
September 11--The USA set the bar at the 27th World Mountain Running Championships held Sunday, September 11, in Tirana, Albania, showcased by the gold-medal performances of Huntingdon, Vermont’s Kasie Enman and Bend, Oregon’s Max King.
“In my nine years as team leader, I’ve never been more proud of our athletes than I am today,” said Richard Bolt, “Kasie and Max’s performances blew me away. They made winning a World Championship look easy.”
“This is the first time I have represented the U.S. in a World Mountain Running Championship,” said Kasie Enman, “I’m very excited. I did not expect to win.”
With her victory, Enman becomes the first senior woman from the U.S. to earn an individual gold medal. She led the senior women to a fourth place finish. Her time was 40:39 over the 8.59 kilometer course. She was followed by Megan Lund in 12th place with a time of 43:56, Michele Suszek in 21st place with a time of 44:48, and Brandy Erholtz in 26th place with a time of 45:56.
“It’s an historic day for our women,” said women’s team manager Ellen Miller, “Kasie’s victory honors the past 17 years of U.S. women’s mountain running.”
For Max King, this was his second consecutive appearance at the World Mountain Running Championships, and he bettered last year’s 16th place performance with a decisive victory today. “I’m tired, but I feel very good,” said King, “This is my first individual medal (last year’s senior men’s team took the silver), and I’m proud to have it in an up/down year especially in Albania.”
King’s gold medal becomes only the second gold for a U.S. male. Jay Johnson, owner of Fleet Feet Sports in Boulder, Colorado, previously won gold for Team USA in 1989 and since that time, Johnson has been an ardent supporter of Team USA.
About his gold medal performance King said, “It was a good course for me having both the hard technical uphill and the fast and somewhat technical downhill. I had no idea I was in the lead until I crossed the finish line. The Ugandan runner was 30 seconds ahead of me at the top of the third climb and I passed him with about 800 meters to go. I didn’t think that he was the one I was trying to catch, I thought it was a lapped runner.”
King led the men’s team to a fourth place finish with his time of 52:06 over the 12.7 kilometer course. He was followed by teammates Joseph Gray in eleventh place with a time of 55:33, Ryan Woods in 49th place in 1:01:51, Matt Byrne in 51st place in 1:01:58, Tommy Manning in 79th place in 1:08:10, and Jared Scott in 96th place in 1:20:21.
“It was strong team finish, but we were obviously disappointed that we didn’t finish in the medals,” said King.
Prior to the senior races, the junior men and women competed. In the junior men’s 8.59 kilometer race, University of Richmond sophomore Ryan Lee posted an impressive 11th place finish. He was followed by fellow Spyder Billy Fayette in 28th place and Oliver Bear Don’t Walk IV in 54th place. The junior men finished tenth.
The junior women raced 4.49 kilometers. Krisztina Dearborn, a sophomore at Central Connecticut State University, finished in 24th place followed by Johns Hopkins sophomore Lara Shegoski in 29th place, and University of Richmond freshman Clare Moretz in 30th place.
“I’m tremendously proud of the efforts of our junior athletes today,” said Paul Kirsch, manager of the junior team, “They raced against the best in the world and held their own. I’m grateful to their college coaches who realize the tremendous opportunity this gives a collegiate athlete to race on a world stage.”
To learn more about the U.S. Mountain Running Team, see www.usmrt.com. Follow the team on Facebook at www.facebook.com/usatfmut, or on Twitter at www.twitter.com/usmrt.
Clare Moretz of Madison, VA on Team USA
From American Trail Running AssociationSeptember 7, 2011
The U.S. Mountain Running Team will travel to Tirana, Albania to participate in the 27th World Mountain Running Championships on Sunday, September 11. The U.S. will be one of 33 nations represented in the competition, which includes both senior and junior divisions (juniors must be at least 16 in the year of competition and not yet 20).
The running track in Albania will consist of a short section on pavement at the start and finish, and includes a course primarily of dirt, grass, and single track through forested areas within a national park. The course--being an up/down year (in even-numbered years, the World Championships course is an uphill-only route) --will be fast with lots of ascending and descending, twists and turns, and wonderful spectator opportunities.
The junior women will run 4.49 kilometers with an average grade over 11 percent and the steepest uphill section boasting a 40 percent grade. The vertical gain over the course is approximately 284 meters. The junior men and senior women will each run 8.59 kilometers with a total gain of 547 meters and an uphill section a bit steeper than the junior women’s climb. The senior men will run 12.7 kilometers with 799 meters of climbing and a maximum steep climb of 41 percent.
In the junior competition, the women can run up to three athletes with the top two scoring for the team results (combined places indicate the final score), the men run a maximum of four athletes with the top three scoring. Likewise, the senior women can run up to four athletes with the top three scoring. For the senior men, six men can run on the team with the top four finishers to score.
For the World Mountain Running Championships, preliminary entries list 51 junior women, 71 junior men, 60 senior women, and 60 senior men.
The U.S. will be in the hunt for medals with hopes of repeating some recent podium visits at World’s. The senior women’s teams have amassed four team medals--two bronze (’04, ’09) and two gold (’06, ’07)--and one individual bronze (’07), while the senior men’s teams have won both bronze (’08) and silver (’10). The junior women have won team silver (’07) as well as individual silver (’09) and bronze (’08) medals. The junior men have yet to be on the podium, but they have finished as high as fourth place.
Athlete Bio from U.S. Mountain Running Team
Clare Moretz, 18, of Madison, VA: While a senior at Madison High School (a 2011 graduate), had PRs of 5:07.71 in the 1600m and 11:16.18 in the 3200m. After being undefeated for the first half of her 2010 cross country season, she suffered a stress fracture that left her unable to compete for the rest of the cross country season. Moretz turned that around in the spring where she was 1st at the VHSL Group A State Championships in the 3200m and set a school record in the 1600m with her second place finish at the Championships. Moretz qualified for the championships in the 400m, 800m, 1600m, and 3200m. She is a freshman at the University of Richmond.
See www.usmrt.com for additional information.
The 2011 U.S. Mountain Running Team
Senior MenMatt Byrne, 36, Scranton, PA
Joseph Gray, 27, Lakewood, WA
Max King, 31, Bend, OR
Tommy Manning, 35, Colorado Springs, CO
Jared Scott, 28, Grand Canyon, AZ
Ryan Woods, 32, Boone, NC
Senior Women
Kasie Enman, 31, Huntington, VT
Brandy Erholtz, 34, Evergreen, CO
Megan Lund-Lizotte, 27, Basalt, CO
Michele Suszek, 29, Longmont, CO
Junior Men
Oliver Bear Don’t Walk IV, 18, Everson, WA
Chase Caulkins, 19, Ketchum, ID/Portland, OR
Billy Fayette, 19, Clarendon Hills, IL
Ryan Lee, 18, Wilmington, DE
Junior Women
Krisztina Dearborn, 19, Mirror Lake, NH
Clare Moretz, 18, Madison, VA
Lara Shegoski, 19, Belle Mead, NJ
Follow the team on twitter @usrmt. For more details on the team, see www.usmrt.com.
Information on the World Mountain Running Championships at wmrc2011.al/News.aspx.