Glacial 50 Race Report

The 2009 Glacial 50 went off on Sunday with a full one dozen LPTRunners included in 50 mile and 50K events. Cold temps left frost on the course and a skin of ice over some puddles deep into the morning. That didn’t stop the group from posting some hot performances…

The 6am start time for the 50mile ensured that the beginning of the race would require lights. The course starts out on the streets for about a half a mile – but that changes dramatically as the balance of the race is on the Ice-Age trail. Though less hilly, the northern unit of the Kettle Moraine State forest boasts more rugged trails than those of the Southern unit where both the Ice-Age 50 and Kettle 100 are held.

The tough terrain took its toll on some of the race favorites as Julie Spencer (2:44 Fox Cites Marathon and 3:34 Mad City 50K) and Albertus Rohling (the defending John Dick 50K champ) both DNF’d after falls on the course.

The attrition helped LPTRunner Kevin Grabowski (that’s me – it’s so weird to write in the third person!) to bring home first place over-all in 7:44. Ron Bero and Brad Birkholz cracked the top ten with 8^th place and 10^th place respectively. Brad dropped nearly 40 minutes from his 2008 time! Craig Swartwout placed 14^th and Jeff Mallach finished in 16^th to put 5 LPTRunners in the top 20.

The 50K results get confusing as several runners managed to add distance to the course late in the race by taking a wrong turn. Joel Lammers was one of them, but he managed to hold on to second place and record a 4:17 in the process. Todd Egnarski showed well as the next LPTRunner across in 9^th place. Bruce Udell (10^th) and Brian Seegert (11^th) were both hot on Todd’s heels. Chaz Heckman jumped into the 50K only a week after posting a 2:52 Lakefront Marathon and finished in 27^th place. Deb Vomhof was the lone female LPTRunner entered on the weekend, posting 44^th place and Jim Blanchard cruised to a 49^th place as well.

The LPTR flavor wasn’t just restricted to the participants: The race director was our very own Robert Wehner and Julie Treder & Angela Barbera also both volunteered at aid stations along the course.

Complete Results at: http://www.badgerlandstriders.org/GT50/