WEEKEND EVENTS FOR AUGUST 15 - 16

This coming weekend will be hottest of the year thus far.  High temperatures on Saturday and Sunday are expected to be around 100°, with heat indices somewhere above that.  (On this weekend one year ago, the weather was nearly identical.)  Pity and/or pray for the 111 runners signed signed up for the Bad Dawg Ultra Endurance Run in Waynesville.

Waynesville:

Bad Dawg Ultra Endurance Run (100M/50M/100K/50K/12M), Saturday

Steelville/Mark Twain National Forest:

3-Legged Monster Race (two-person trail running/mountain biking/paddling race), Saturday

Springfield:

Space Wizards 5K & 10K, Friday evening (sold out)
Summer Sizzler 5K/10K/15K, Saturday

Kansas City and vicinity:

Hearts for RMHC 5K/10K, Parkville, Saturday

St. Louis and vicinity:

Triple Crown 10K Night Trail Run Series, Wildwood, Friday evening
Seize the Day 5K, Kirkwood, Saturday
Ballwin Days 5K, Ballwin, Sunday
Forest Park 5K, Sunday

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Weekend race results (August 8 - 9):

The Kansas City Backyard Ultra crowned its finisher after 104 miles (25 hours)--16 miles (4 hours) less than what it took last year. This year's winner was last year's runner-up. Fifty-four competed at this year's race.

The  most popular race this weekend was the Taylor Swift-themed Swifty Fun Run in St. Louis on Saturday.  They had 487 participants among the four distances (1M/5K/10K/half marathon) offered.  However, that was down 37% from last year's 767 finishers. (Sorry, Taylor. There's a new kid in town, and her name is Ella.)

The second biggest race of the weekend was the Market Mile in St. Louis on Sunday.  It's a one-mile, net downhill race on Market Street in downtown St. Louis.  There were 418 entries, with the top male finishing in 4:20 and the top female in 5:04.

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MR340 (updated August 3rd)

The MR340, the world's longest non-stop paddling race, began Tuesday morning on the Missouri River in Kansas City with about 600 total paddlers in the various solo and team divisions. Paddlers have until Friday evening to reach St. Charles in order to become official finishers. Every year, almost without fail, the racers have to deal with high heat and storms, and the weather over the next few days should provide both.

There are two lake-area competitors in the men's solo paddling division--one veteran, ond one newbie. Bob Meyer of Camdenton, in boat #4130, has competed a number of times in this race. Andrew Girdley of Eldon, in boat #8670, is doing his first MR340.

You can find live tracking for the race here. For photos and race developments, check out the MR340 Community's Facebook page.

My shoulders, hands and rear end hurt just thinking about this race.  How it has remained wildly popular since its inception in 2012 is beyond me.

Locals' results:

Andrew Girdley stopped after about 4-1/2 hours of racing, covering 30 miles.

Bob Meyer didn't start the race.

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BADWATER 135 ULTRAMARATHON (updated August 3rd)

The Badwater 135 Ultramarathon, "the toughest footrace in the world", starts Monday night in Death Valley, California. Past winners Pete Kostelnick, Ashley Paulson (100-mile world record holder), and Harvey Lewis (known more for his Big Dog's Backyard Ultra races) are among the 100 competitors. The time limit to finish is 45 hours.  The finish line is at Mt. Whitney, and the course has about 14,000 feet of climbing. High temperatures for the next couple days should be around 117°; nighttime lows will be in the 90s.

Race tracking is available here.

Live streaming will be available at the race's Facebook page.   Instagram and other links can be found here.

Final results:  The men's and women's race records were broken this year.  The men's winner crossed the finish line 40 minutes ahead of the previous record of 20:53:41.  (Think about that for a second: 135 miles in extraordinary heat, with 14,000 feet of climbing, in under 21 hours.)  The top woman won in 21:05:32--41 minutes ahead of Ashley Paulson's record set in 2023. 

Pete Kostelnick finished 6th overall, in 23:50:12.  Ashley Paulson finished 7th overall--and second female--in 24:59:36.  Harvey Lewis placed 11th, finishing in 25:55:41.

There were 88 official finishers, and 7 DNF's.  There were no competitors from Missouri.  (I haven't seen Missouri represented at Badwater in all the years I've followed the race.)  About one-third of this year's field came from outside the U.S.  You can view the final results here.

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I'll post details of upcoming events as soon as I can. Until then, here are links to them:

Saturday, October 10: COMC Pretty in Pink Bubble Run 5K/10K

Saturday, October 17: Oktoberfest .5K and 5K

Saturday, November 7:  Phylicia Carson Memorial 5K

Saturday, November 14: Ozark Diamond Gauntlet 3/6/9/12-Hour and 1-Lap Races

Thanksgiving Day, November 26: LOTO Turkey Trot 5K and Fun Run