SHAMROCK SHUFFLE 5K/15K/BEER MILE (posted March 17th)

A 15 year-old runner from Texas spoiled Tucker Seise's goal of a second overall 5K victory at the Shamrock Shuffle in Springfield on Saturday. Three years ago, Tucker ran an 18:49 and took first among 280 competitors. He shaved more than a minute off that this year, finishing in 17:30, but that was 11 seconds behind the winner--though still ahead of 335 others.

Brittany Parrish also ran the 5K, finishing in 26:57. That placed Brittany fourth (of 38) in the highly competitive women's 30-39 age group.

Complete race results can be found here.   Below are the number of finishers, by distance, since the race's inception in 2022.

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Other weekend races:

St. Louis' St. Patrick's Day Parade Run on Saturday had 1,817 finishers in the 5-mile race, and 548 in the 3K. Both were down slightly from last year.  This was once one of the biggest races in the St. Louis area, with over 9,000 finishers.

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WHOBILATION 5K RUN/WALK (posted March 1st)

Here are the results from Saturday's race:

By finish order
Division winners
Runsignup.com results page

Photos from the race can be found here.

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ELDON ROCK ISLAND ROAD RACE (posted February 28th)

Sad news: After seven great years, one of our biggest annual Lake-area races, the Rock Island Road Race 5K/10K/15K is now history. Rock Island was the welcome replacement to the Run for the Children Half Marathon and 10K (2013-2018), which was cancelled after its sixth year due to declining participation.

Among many things, Rock Island will be remembered as one of the first in-person races to be held in the state of Missouri in 2020 after nearly all others had been cancelled due to COVID-19. Runners itching to race came to Eldon from all around the state and beyond to participate.

We'll miss Rock Island terribly.  It was so well-organized, and always a fun race to do.  A huge thank-you goes to all involved in putting on the race. 

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Queeny Backyard Ultra results:  Sixty two competitors (down from 94 last year) started the race on Friday afternoon in suburban St. Louis, and seven were still in contention at the 23rd hour.  Four were left for the 24th hour, and just two started the 26th--and ultimately final--hour.  The sole finisher completed 113 miles for the win.  

No familiar names were spotted in the results.  Complete results are here.

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TAME THE DRAGON (posted March 3rd)

Not surprisingly, due to the heavy snowfall four days before the St. Louis Orienteering Club's Tame the Dragon orienteering race at the Lake of the Ozarks State Park, none of the 29 solo or 11 team competitors managed to clear the entire course.  It's rare, even under good weather and course conditions, for all the checkpoints to be reached within the 8-hour time limit.  Eight inches of snow and temperatures in the 20s and 30s made it impossible.

The complete race results can be found here.

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POLAR BEAR STRUT 5K RUN/WALK (updated February 25th)

Approximately 70 runners and walkers turned out Saturday for the 24th annual Polar Bear Strut 5K benefiting Special Olympics Missouri.  That was down slightly from last year's field of 84, when the weather was noticeably warmer.  The temperature at the start on Saturday was 30°, making this one of the chillier Struts on record.

Two first-time winners were crowned at this year's race. Camdenton High School junior cross country runner Luke Webb and, from Rocky Mount, Amorita Jenkins, were the overall winners, in 18:36 and 28:23, respectlvely.

Notable faces in the crowd included Zim Schwartze (aka the "Chief Empress", according to her race bib), who has finished 23 of 24 Struts (tying her for the record), and Margie Gunter and granddaughter Katalaya, who only planned to walk up the mountain on Nichols Rd. to Osage Beach Parkway and then back to the finish line, but who, amazingly, persevered to do the entire course.

Many more race photos have been posted here.

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RUNNING FROM YETI MARATHON, HALF MARATHON, 10K & 5K (posted February 23rd)

Tucker Seise passed on a chance for a potential fourth Polar Bear Strut 5K victory and headed to Springfield on Saturday to compete at Running for Yeti.  The result, though, was the same--Tucker was the overall winner (of 142 participants), finishing in 1:37:02.  He had a four-minute lead at the finish line.

Complete race results can be found here.

Thirteen other runners from the Lake-area also competed.  Here are all of our locals' results:

There were 472 total finishers at this year's race, down 15% from last year, and the first decline in the race's four-year history.  Here are the annual number of finishers, by distance:

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Weekend race results (February 15 - 16):

Our only local to race this past weekend was Sherrie Hamner of Osage Beach. Sherrie ran the 10K at the Heart of the Ozarks Half Marathon & 10K in West Plains. (West Plains is a hotbed of cross country running. Its high school team took second at last fall's Class 4 state championship. Of the 92 half marathon finishers, 33 were under the age of 20.) Sherrie finished in 1:20:02, placing 7th (of 12) in the women's 40-49 age group. Her usual race partner, Shandi Brinkman, finished in the same time.  Complete results are here.

There were 34 finishers at Saturday's Flat Branch 50K in Columbia.  That was up from 25 last year, but the increase would have been far bigger if 21 registered participants hadn't failed to show, presumably because of the weather.  Complete results are here.

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Weekend races (February 8 - 9):

Some of the weekend races had big turnouts, although I didn't find anyone from the Lake area in the race results.  The final Frostbite Series race of the season in St. Louis had nearly 800 finishers, and the sold-out Kickoff 5K in Kansas City had 644.

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Weekend race results (February 1 - 2):

Our Jefferson City friend Cody Eubanks won the Beulah Challenge 9-hour race at Greensfelder County Park in suburban St. Louis last Saturday. Cody and two others (among the 25 total competitors) completed 10 laps of the 4.2-mile course within the alloted 9 hours. Cody finished the final lap 7 minutes ahead of his nearest rival to take the victory.

Cody has a remarkable record of winning most of the races he's done. Check out his record here.

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BIG BEACH MARATHON, HALF MARATHON & 7K (posted January 28th)

Tucker Seise returned to Gulf Shores, Alabama last weekend for the Big Beach Marathon.  Two years ago, Tucker finished fourth overall and first (of 27) in his age group with a 2:54:47 finish (which I believe is a personal best).

This time, Tucker finished in 3:13:08. That placed him 17th overall, and fourth (of 38) in the men's 30-34 age group.

Brittany Parrish of Camdenton competed in the half marathon.  Brittany finished in 2:12:35, placing 16th (of 53) in the women's 30-34 age group.

Tucker and Brittany both ran the 7K on Saturday, with podium finishes. Tucker crossed the finish line in 25:04, good for second overall and second in his age group, and Brittany in 36:14, good for second in her age group.

Complete race results can be found here.

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Weekend race results (January 25 - 26):

Brandon Sparks of Versailles took third overall (of 25 finishers) at the Alternate Chili Ten Mile Trail Run in Kansas City on Sunday. He finished in 1:45:10.

The Alternate Chili race is a shadow of its former size. Take a look at its number of finishers by year since 2013:

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Weekend race results (January 18 - 19):

Half the field for the 100-miile, 100K and 40-mile races at The Shippey Endurance Runs either failed to start or finish in the brutal wind chills on Saturday and Sunday. The marathon was won by Chris Roberts of the St. Louis suburb of Kirkwood. He won in 22:30:44--three and a half hours ahead of the second-place finisher. (He's competed at Big Dog's Backyard Ultra several times.) Complete results are here.

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