The eighth annual Ron Herzog Memorial 50K Run was won by Mark Sherman from British Columbia in 4:09:32, just three minutes behind the record set last year by Rob Lang, also from B.C. Mark took the lead early and breezed through the course, making it look easy. Becky Wallick was the first woman finisher with 5:36:57. Becky is the women's course record holder from 1993.

It was a fast field this year, perhaps due to the "hard core" nature of this run. No t-shirts, no awards and only one aid station. With three solid days of heavy rain, we were all braced for a wet one. The rain stopped about four hours before the start and we had near excellent (still wet) Northwest running conditions. Even the one stream that had to be forded was not as deep as other years. The course crosses Canyon Creek and then makes a large loop around the north and south forks before heading back to the Mountain Loop Highway and the Masonic Park starting point. Canyon Creek is a tributary of the Stillaguamish River, which like all the Western Washington rivers, was near flood stage on race day. We were glad to see that flooding was not a problem on our route.

This year the tank traps (5 foot deep divots cut in the terrain to discourage wheels and to direct water) had a layer of weeds that aided our traction. Several fallen trees and branches that had grown across the trail provided obstacle course conditions similar to Navy Seal training. Fortunately the tank traps number somewhere under thirty and are over within a few miles. The logging roads were quiet for the most part but the low lying clouds hid the nearby mountain ranges and we only got brief glimpses of the many distant waterfalls. Chris Ralph, race director cannot be held responsible for the avid gun enthusiasts who practice near the trail, or the tank traps that were added after the second running of this race.

Once again the run was enjoyable and successful, thanks to Chris and her ever present crew of Linda Ripley, Dave Smith and the Sparkey's. Michelle Herzog and Ron's son worked the finish line adding a special touch. The course follows a favorite training route of Ron Herzog. This race is our way of remembering Ron and his untimely death due to ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease).

Thank you Cheri Gillis & Ron Nicholl for this report !

Ron Herzog Memorial 50K
Granite Falls, WA   November 13, 1999

Logging Roads, Trails, Roads

  1. Mark Sherman, B.C.         4:09:32
  2. Kendall Kreft              4:48:11
  3. Dave Lygre                 4:51:06
  4. John MacDonald, B.C.       4:56:27
  5. Doug Beyerlein             4:56:47
  6. Mike Moser                 5:12:45
  7. Doug McKeever              5:18:01
  8. Andy Banks                 5:23:02
  9. Riley Obrion               5:26:21
10. Dave Leahy                  5:27:34
11. Tom Ripley                  5:34:32
12. Becky Wallick            F  5:36:57
13. Steve Loitz                 5:53:27
14. Julian Knight, B.C.         6:05:13
15. Cheri Gillis              F 6:06:32
       Ron Nicholl              6:06:32
17. Jeral Godfrey               6:08:36
18. Jamshid Khajavi             6:14:26
19. Stan Nakashima              6:26:32
20. Ted Clelland                6:38:50

 22 Starters

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