Montrail Ultra Cup Wrap-up; Western States Recap

The Montrail Ultra Cup 2010/11 season comes to a close after an epic 38th annual Western States Endurance Run (WS100), the final race in the series. Spectators saw the international field steal the show on an exciting Saturday in the Sierras. Montrail is proud to once again sponsor the 2011/12 Ultra Cup and announce the upcoming season’s race schedule.

Western States Endurance Run Race Recap

Spaniard Kilian Jornet (returning after a 3rd place finish last year) ran in front of the men’s field for the majority of the day, but finished a tight race with just a slight lead. Jornet beat out second place finisher Mike Wolfe by only four minutes finishing in 15 hours 34 minutes.

Montrail athlete Ellie Greenwood, a Scotland native now living in Canada, won the women’s race in her 100-mile debut with an impressive time of 17:55:00, the second fastest female time ever at this race. She made an incredible comeback after having a tough first half of the race, dealing with muscle cramping and stomach issues early on. She began to turn things around after picking up pacer Ryne Melcher at Foresthill, mile 60, where she was roughly 30 minutes behind the leader Tracey Garneau. By mile 78, the lead was down to 20 minutes, and Greenwood eventually dropped her pacer and passed both Garneau and Kami Semick by mile 95. Greenwood surged on for the last five miles to take the win.

“I was having a really terrible race for the first 50 miles or so,” said Ellie. “My hamstrings were seizing up, and my body wasn’t processing the water I was drinking, leading to stomach issues. My crew and the race volunteers are the reason I was able to pull through and keep running. Eventually things started to feel good and I knew I could make up some time.”

Notable WS100 results from Montrail athletes include: Shunsuke Okunomiya who finished 13th overall (16:56) in his first 100-miler and the first time racing outside of his native Japan; Amy Sproston, racing Western States for her first time, finished 8th in the female race with a time of 19:36. Other Montrail athletes finishing the race include Erik Skaden (18:45), Jill Perry (23:07), and Luanne Park (26:08).

Montrail Wraps Up the 2010/11 Ultra Cup Series and Announces the 2011/12 Schedule

The Montrail Ultra Cup culminates each year at Western States 100 and on Sunday after the race, the 2010/2011 Ultra Cup winners were announced. Dave Mackey and Meghan Arbogast were crowned Ultra Cup champions and each awarded a $5000 cash prize. Mackey, who won the Bandera 100k, the American River 50 and the Miwok 100k, had a strong day at Western States with an 8th place finish earning enough points to surpass second place series finisher Dan Olmstead. 50 year-old Meghan Arbogast had another impressive race at WS100 helping her earn the women’s Ultra Cup champion title for the second consecutive year. Tim Olson (3rd), Scott Jaime (4th) and Glen Redpath (5th) round out the men’s top five, while Amy Sproston (2nd), Pam Smith (3rd), Gretchen Brugman (4th) and Helen Cospolich (5th) make up the women’s top five.

The Montrail Ultra Cup is the country’s only nationwide ultrarunning point series. The series consists of 10 races in 7 states with a total cash purse of $16,000. The schedule for the 2011/2012 Montrail Ultra Cup can be seen below and found online, along with more details, at http://www.ultracup.montrail.com.

2011/12 Ultra Cup Race Schedule
1.Waldo 100k – Willamette Pass, OR – August 20, 2011
2.Run Rabbit Run 50 – Steamboat Springs, CO – September 17, 2011
3.Vermont 50 – Brownsville, VT – September 25, 2011
4.JFK 50 – Hagerstown, MD – November 19, 2011
5.Bandera Trail Runs – Bandera, TX – January 7, 2012
6.Way Too Cool 50k – Cool, CA – March 10, 2012
7.American River 50 – Sacramento, CA – April 7, 2012
8.Leona Divide 50 – Lake Hughes, CA – April 28, 2012
9.Ice Age 50– La Grange, WI – May 12, 2012
10.Western States 100 – Squaw Valley, CA – June 23, 2012