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The inaugural Forest Park 50 Mile Trail Run was won by Tom Moritz in 7 hours and 13 minutes. Cheri Gillis was the first woman in 10:56. The Forest Park 50 was the 2000 successor to the Winterhawk 50.

The Winterhawk 50 was established to fund a scholarship in memory of Winterhawk Semler, a Portland area ultrarunner killed in a tragic car accident twelve years ago. After 10 years, Red Fisher and Becky Semler opted for a low key, no entry, no awards and minimal aid in lieu of the normal full race format. The Winterhawk scholarship is now almost self-funding, so the past ten years have been a success. $1500 in scholarships will be awarded this year in memory of the individual with the Native American name, who worked untiringly for Gladstone High School and its students.

All three trail runs started together but used different turnarounds. Mike Britt was the first of the two 50K runners, while John Robinson won the Trail Marathon. Bernadette Wiskerchen, running her first trail marathon, outdistanced Becky Wallick and her royalty running companion on the women's side of the marathon.

There were two water drops on the way out, aided and unaided. Steve Smucker, six time winner of the Winterhawk and course record holder, manned the turnaround aid station. It seemed very strange to not meet Steve charging back at us on the trail while we were still heading out, a scene we had become so accustomed to over the years.

Forest Park is the largest urban park within any US city. The city sounds emanating from Portland can be heard but rarely seen. The race, as did the Winterhawk 50, started near the arboretum, ran past Portland's Pittock Mansion, a bird reserve and then along the forested ridge above the city. The trail was in excellent shape, dry for this time of year. The occasional mud holes, that never seem to dry out, were there just to remind us we were on the Wildwood Trail. The wildflowers were in full bloom and provided a carpet of color blended with ferns.

Red introduced the commemorative Winterhawk Trail book he prepared. The book covers the Winterhawk story as well as the past 10 year's race results. For those interested, Red is selling copies of this original publication for $7.

In keeping with the Spirit of the Hawk, it was hard to not think about Winterhawk as we ran the Wildwood Trail one more time. Thanks Red and Becky for providing us with another year of memories. It may have been called the Forest Park Trail Run but it was still a run for Winterhawk.

Forest Park Trail Runs
Wildwood Trail
Portland, OR

6/3/2000

4,260’ Elevation Gain (50 Miler)

50 Mile
  1.  Tom Moritz                             7:13
  2.  Dave Terry                             7:43
  3.  Larry Vardin                           8:50
  4.  Kris Kern                              8:53
  5.  Jamie Gifford                          9:07
  6.  Mike Moser                             9:38
  7.  Ron Nicholl                            9:50
  8.  Brent Spilsbury                        9:54
  9.  Mark Konodi                           10:05
 10. Karl Jensen                            10:29
 11.  Cheri Gillis                   F      10:56
 12.  Bob Ross                              11:58

50 Km
  1.  Mike Britt                             6:26
  2.  Graham Knapp                           6:57

Trail Marathon
  1.  John Robinson                          3:46
  2.  Red Fisher                             4:37
  3.  Mike Wright                            5:06
       John Bandur                           5:06
  5.  Bernadette Wiskerchen         F        5:07
  6.  Gary Parcher                           5:55
  7.  Princess Maia                 F        6:20
       Rebecca Wallick              F        6:20

25 Starters