Hood to Coast, Ragnar Rainier, Gnar Gnar, & Canby Dahlia Recap

Fionna Fallon (second from right) with team Goats N’ Roses, the women’s overall winners of Hood To Coast

Strong races and PRs were plentiful for Rose City Track Club over the last weekend in August. Seven teammates toed the line with appearances at the popular Hood to Coast relay, the Canby Dahlia Run 10K, the Gnar Gnar 6 Mile, and Ragnar Rainier Trail Relay in Washington.

On Saturday, August 25th Marla Smith and Stephanie Ross raced for PRs at the Canby Dahlia Run 10K. Smith who is 6-months postpartum, ran mere seconds off her 10K PR in 37:42 and finished 1st overall female. Ross, who admittedly doesn’t race the 10K distance often, ran a lifetime PR of 42:51.

Over on Mt. Hood, Alejandro Fallas, Fionna Fallon, Lauren Barth, and Stephanie Norris joined their respective relay teams and embarked upon a 199-Mile team effort to race to Seaside, Oregon. Fallon and her team, Goats N’ Roses took the top overall female spot in a blazing time of 21:03:00 (ed. note – and were recognized as such only after taking to social media to express dismay about not being announced as the overall female winners at the main award ceremony, and being told by the race founder to “go tell somebody who cares”).

Fallas, who ran his 6th consecutive Hood to Coast relay, started the race strong but ultimately decided to pull out for a hamstring issue. His team, VMS – Vine Maple Savages, defended their 2nd place mixed corporate team and improved their time by 11 mins.

Not to be outdone, Barth and her team successfully raised $12,000 to fight cancer and placed 5th in the open women’s division to boot. Meanwhile, Norris proudly represented Nike Running with her team Wild Things and raised a whopping $19k for Providence Oregon. Wild Things finished 8th in the mixed corporate division.

Up north, Melissa Stocking represented RCTC at Ragnar Trail Rainier, a 200+ mile relay race on Crystal Mountain. Stocking completed 3 legs within 20 hours totaling 15.9 miles and an impressive 3,000 ft of elevation changes!

On Sunday, August 26th, Rose City was back on Mt. Hood where Caitlin Jacobsen took on the inaugural Gnar Gnar 6 Mile, a gnarly trail race involving 2,200 ft of elevation gain and loss over a technical, muddy course. Jacobsen embraced the elements and raced hard to place 3rd overall female- just behind pro runner, Keely Henninger!

Hot Takes from the Team

Gnar Gnar 6 Mile

Caitlin Jacobsen

“Gnarly time at the inaugural Gnar Gnar Trail race at Mt. Hood, racing 3.5 miles straight uphill with over 2200 ft of elevation gain then a screaming technical muddy and rocky 2.5 miles back down! Finished 3rd female overall behind pro trail runner Keely Henninger! “

Hood to Coast

Fionna Fallon

“Running the last leg of Leg 9 – which is 7.7 miles long on tired as all be legs and mind. I just kept repeating to myself you’re a marathoner so suck it up!… And that if I cut my pace down little by little we may be able to break 21 hours! We honestly would’ve broken 21 if it weren’t for the traffic jam where a runner waited for 5 or so minutes for the other to get there.”

Alejandro Fallas

“This was my 6th consecutive Hood to Coast, also the 6th time I ran leg 9. Things started really well, the first few miles were below goal pace but unfortunately, I pulled my hamstring and had to slow down a bit. I decided to run my second leg but I started feeling pain right from the beginning, so I slowed down a bit. I was not able to run my 3rd leg, it was more like a preventive measure, but I will need a couple days off I just didn’t want to risk the marathon training. At the end of the race my team (VMS – Vine Maple Savages) was able to defend the 2nd mixed corporate position that we got last year and also improved our time by 11 mins.”

Lauren Barth

“$12,000+ raised to fight cancer. 199 miles total. 26 hours total. 18 miles for me. 2ish hours of sleep. 6:16 avg pace on my miles. SO MUCH FUN! I met some fantastic humans who were kind and encouraging even on almost no sleep. These rockstars raised a crap ton of money for cancer research and pushed their physical limits to land us 5th place in the open women’s division, 109th place overall, which is in the top 10% of teams. Pretty freakin badass!”

Canby Dahlia Run 10K

Marla Smith

“6 months Postpartum today and ran my 2nd fastest 10K (37:42)!! Beat my post baby PR by 66 seconds and beat my best time on this course by 5 seconds! 1st female, 3rd overall. I kept reminding myself that if I can push through an all natural birth 6 months ago, I can push through today. I felt strong and I feel like I’m starting to get back to where I was pre-baby (my goal).”

Stephanie Ross

“The temp dropped and air cleared in time for the 2018 Canby Dahlia Run Half Marathon & 10k this morning. We ran the half 3 years ago and it was a PR at the time. This year we ran the 10k, which was basically the second half of the half course. I ran a new 10k PR of 42:51! I rarely run 10ks so that time is one of my softer PRs, but I’ll take it!”

Ragnar Rainier

Melissa Stocking

“Because of the gnarly elevation of the race I don’t really want to share my times so a highlight could be that I completed 3 legs within 20 hours totaling 15.9 miles and 3000 ft of elevation changes.”

Racing this weekend are Liz Anjos and Krysta Gunvalson at the Roses on the River 5k on Saturday, and Jaime Musgrave, Brooks Barth, and Lauren Barth at the Oregon Wine Country Half Marathon on Sunday. Let’s go, RCTC!