WHOBILATION 5K RUN/WALK (updated March 10th)

A record crowd of 80 runners and walkers turned out for Saturday's eighth annual Whobilation 5K at the Tri-County YMCA.  That was more than twice as many as in any of the first seven editions of the race, and came despite the chilly (mid 40s), windy and cloudy weather.

Continuing the tradition, we spelled out "YMCA" at the starting line.

To no one's surprise, Tucker Seise was the overall winner, in 16:53, five minutes ahead of his nearest rival. Tucker has won this race nearly every year since inception.  

Tucker Seise has won six of eight Whobilation 5Ks. 
(He didn't appear at the 2019 or 2022 races.)

Taylor Brown of Waynesville was the overall women's winner, finishing in 27:05.   Taylor faced a serious challenge from the winner of the women's 10-and-under age group, Conley Helton of Macks Creek, who finished 30 seconds behind.

    Women's race winner Taylor Brown (left) and runner-up Conley Helton. Conley was in the lead at the two-mile mark.

Here are the complete results from Saturday's race:

By finish order
Division winners
Runsignup.com results page

About 200 more photos from the race can be viewed here.

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Other weekend race news (March 7 - 8):

The world half marathon record was broken at the Lisbon Half Marathon in Portugal on Sunday. Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda finished in 57:20--a pace of 4:22 per mile. (He ran even faster last year, finishing in 56:42, but the international organization that governs world records declined to recognize it due to "race conditions".

The Los Angeles Marathon had a stunning finish on Sunday.  Michael Kimani Kamau of Kenya led virtually the entire race, but in a sprint to the finish line, an American, Nathan Martin, beat him in the smallest margin possible--0.01 seconds.  See it for yourself in this local NBC station report. Kimau's collapse right after finishing looked scary, but he was OK.

The Quivering Quads Half Marathon & 8-Mile Trail Race scheduled for this past Sunday was cancelled by the state park officials due to all of the rain we had last week. 

In old news, Lazarus Lake pulled yet another surprise and started the Barkley Marathons on Valentine's Day. Winter weather (rain, fog and temperatures in the 40s), on top of an already impossibly-difficult course, resulted in no finishers.  Of the forty starters, 19 finished loop one within the alloted 12 hours.  Four finished the second loop. Only one finished the third (of five) loops, although not within the 12-hour time limit.  He did finish those three loops in under 40 hours, so he was credited with finishing a "fun run".

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QUEENY BACKYARD ULTRA (posted March 9th)

It took an incredible 61 hours (254 miles), but they finally crowned a finisher at the Queeny Backyard Ultra in St. Louis.  The race started at 10:00 a.m. Friday, and ended early Monday morning.  Jeff Walker of Noblesville, Indiana was the winner, and earned a spot on the U.S. team at the Big Dog's Backyard Ultra World Team Championship in Tennessee in October.   The chance of earning a team championship spot was no doubt the reason why this year's race was double the size of last year's.  There were 126 starters this year, versus 62 last year.

Two past winners of the Lake area's now-cancelled 4 Fore 30 Infinity Backyard Ultra, Cody Eubanks of Jefferson City and Andy Emerson of Columbia, lasted 39 and 8 hours (162 and 33 miles) this past weekend. 

Complete results can be found here.  Check out the race's Facebook page for some photos and commentary.  The UltraSignup.com page, where more details about the results should be posted soon, can be found here.

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TAME THE DRAGON (posted March 3rd)

None of the 31 solo or 14 team competitors managed to clear the entire course at last Saturday's Tame the Dragon orienteering race at the Lake of the Ozarks State Park.  That was despite the most favorable weather and course conditions in the race's seven-year history--almost the exact opposite of last year, when eight inches of snow fell days before the race, and race-day temperatures hovered in the 20s and 30s.

In seven years, the course has only been cleared twice--in 2023 and 2024.  The same two-man team accounted for both of those achievements.

The complete 2026 race results can be found here.

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NAPA VALLEY MARATHON AND HALF MARATHON (posted March 2nd)

Six of our locals were in wine country in Napa, California this past weekend for the Napa Valley Marathon and Half Marathon. Here are their results:

Complete race results can be found here. 

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POLAR BEAR STRUT 5K RUN/WALK (posted March 2nd)

Ninety-six runners and walkers turned out Saturday for the 25th annual Polar Bear Strut 5K, raising $6,500 forSpecial Olympics Missouri.  The weather for this year's race was nearly perfect for running, with a temperature of 52° at the 10:00 a.m. start.  Last year's Strut, by contrast, was one of the coldest, with the starting temperature close to 30°.

Luke Webb, a senior cross country runner for Camdenton High School, was the overall winner for a second year in a row, crossing the line in 16:22.  (Luke's typical 5K finish time last season was between 17:00 and 18:00). 

The Polar Bear Strut rarely has a repeat winner in the women's race, and this year was no exception. Maddie Rademan, a sophomore cross country runner at California High School, was the winner, in 23:37. (By comparison, Maddie ran a 20:03 for an 11th-place finish at the Class 3 state championships last November.)

The complete race results can be found here.

While I don't know his name, this year's final finisher deserves some recognition for completing the course in a big, awkward, and stuffy costume. (I don't know if he was imitating Casper the Friendly Ghost, the Stay-Puff Marshmallow Man in Ghostbusters II, or some other character, but it was certainly a costume you wouldn't wear after a big meal at Taco Bell, if you get my drift.)

Finally, a finisher of 23 of the first 24 Struts was notably absent from this year's race.  Zim Schwartze, affectionately known as the Chief Empress, had to skip this year's race to attend Saturday's funerals of the two Christian County deputies who were killed in the line of duty last week.

Hundreds more photos from the race can be viewed here.

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FLAT BRANCH ULTRA (posted February 23rd)

The fourth annual Flat Branch Ultra (Facebook), held on Saturday in Columbia, had a huge increase in turnout over last year, and an even bigger gain than in its first two years.  There were 107 finishers this year, more than triple last year's total of 34.  That happened despite chilly temperatures ranging from 26° at the 8:00 a.m. start to 35° at noon, and wind chills below 30° for the entire race. 

Five runners from the Lake area competed this year, including three-time finisher Matt Patterson, two-time finisher Tucker Seise, and newcomers Aaron Koeppen, Bobbi Snodgrass and Marlisa Nolan.

Our locals' results can be found below.  Complete results can be found here.

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Weekend race results (February 21 - 22):

Besides our Flat Branch finishers, we had two other locals compete this weekend.

At the Running from Yeti 5K/10K/half in Springfield, Megan Morley of Roach ran the 10K, finishing in 1:04:53 and placing 19th (of 37) in the women's 20-29 age group.

A name that I haven't seen in any race results since the 2021 4 Fore 30, Blake Roettgen of Linn Creek, won the 10K (over 18 others) at the Time Travel 5K/10K/Half at Creve Coeur Lake Park in St. Louis on Saturday. He finished in 44:56.  (The results show him placing second overall, but to believe that, you have to believe a 49 year-old woman can run a 10K in 30:05--a pace of 4:51 per mile. A look at her finish line photo makes that even harder to believe.) Blake had a rather interesting introduction to running. He was in the band at Camdenton High School when Covid caused cancellation of the 2021 band season.  In its place, he took up running with the cross country team, and after the season ended he ran an impressive 54.2 miles in 13 hours (or "yards", in backyard ultra lingo) at 4 Fore 30. While Blake may have had a long hiatus from running, he hasn't lost much, if any, fitness.   

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Weekend race results (February 14 - 15):

Two more Lake-area runners kicked off their season this past weekend at the Runnin' Against Multiple Sclerosis 5K in Columbia.  Mitchell Allen of Osage Beach finished in 31:23 and placed 32nd among the 60 men finishers.  Karli Wolfe of Linn Creek placed 49th among 108 women, finishing in 35:01. 

The biggest race of the weekend was the Running from Yeti 5K/10K and half marathon in St. Louis, with a total of 693 finishers. The Snowball Series 4-Mile race in St. Louis on Sunday had nearly 800 runners registered, but only 521 turned out, despite much better weather than Saturday.

The Iron Heart Run in St. James had 10 race distance options (5K/10K/20K/10M/15M/20M/50K/50M/100K/100M--the most I've ever seen for a single event--but only 28 total competitors. All but 7 had podium finishes.

The Heart of the Ozarks Half Marathon in West Plains attracts lots of high school and college-age cross country runners from southwest Missouri, making it one of the youngest fields you'll find in a half marathon.  There were 41 finishers in the men's field, and no one over the age of 25 finished higher that 19th.  Three out of four finished in under two hours. If you need a dose of humility, that's your race.

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GROUNDHOG RUN 5K/10K (posted February 2nd)

It took 32 days, but we finally have a 2026 race finisher among our Lake-area runners. Three of our locals traveled to Kansas City for Sunday's Groundhog Run, held underground at the Hunt Subtropolis in its constant 65-68° temperatures. They were joined by 2,600 others fleeing the freezing weather above.

All three of our locals signed up for the 10K. Natasha Boettcher was first to finish, in 54:52, placing 9th (of 59) in the women's 35-39 age group.  Kim Sovcik finished in 1:37:10, placing 57th in that age group.  Christina Wilson had a 58:15 split at the 5K mark, but no reported 10K result.  She placed 731st of 746 overall.

Complete results can be found here.  Total participation of 2,621 finishers this year was up 10% from last year's 2,387.

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Other weekend race results (January 31 - February 1):

Besides the Groundhog Run, six other races were scheduled this races, but four of them were either postponed or cancelled due to the weather and/or course conditions. The two races that did proceed--the Columbia Track Club's Runner's Choice Trail Run (10K/20K) and the Eric's Run 5K in Carthage--had small turnouts, with 26 and 28 finishers, respectively.

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Weekend race results (January 17 - 18):

Three weekends into the year, we're still waiting to crown the Lake area's first 2026 race finisher. No one was crazy enough to race in subfreezing temperatures this past weekend. Maybe you guys are smarter than I thought. :)

The brutally cold weather didn't deter the diehards who competed at The Shippey Endurance Runs on Saturday-Sunday. There were 137 total finishers in the 100M100K/40M/20M races, and only 30 DNFs. Not surprisingly, eighteen of those DNFs were in the 100-mile race. That race was won--for the third time--by the phenomenal Chris Roberts of Kirkwood (check out his race history here), in a race-record 18:45:51, more than four hours ahead of his nearest rival. The final finisher crossed the line in 33:32:29. During that time, the temperature ranged from 10° to 25°, and the wind chill from 1° to 22°.

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Greater GO! St. Louis Marathon news: For the very first time in its history, the Greater GO! St. Louis Marathon & Half Marathon is offering a one-hour, early-start option.  This is an excellent opportunity for slower runners or walkers who would like to do a marathon or half marathon, but who have doubts as to whether they could finish within the usual time necessary (6:30 for the marathon, 3:15 for the half) to be an official finisher.  (There are few things more anxiety-producing on a race course than having to play beat-the-clock, especially in the later miles.)  For anyone with a decent level of training, a 7:30 marathon is certainly doable, although it's still going to hurt. 

There are some eligibility requirements for the early start.  You can find them on this page.

The race takes place on Saturday, April 11th.

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Houston Chevron Marathon and Aramco Half Marathon:  The first big U.S. marathon and half marathon of the year U.S. took place on Sunday in Houston. (Normally, the Houston Marathon and Half is held on the Sunday before the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, but this year's race was held one week earlier. In 2027, it moves back to its traditional day.)  There were about 9,000 official marathon finishers (before the 6-hour cutoff), and about 14,300 half finishers (before the 4-hour cutoff).  The race continues to remain popular.  Ten years ago, when interest in running was peaking in the U.S., this race had about 7,000 marathon and 11,600 half finishers.   

The large prize purse always brings out some fast runners.  The men's races had new course records, with the winners finishing in 2:05:45 and 59:01 in the marathon and half, respectively.  The women's race winners crossed the line in 2:24:17 and 1:04:49.

If you're interested in a mid-winter marathon, gives this race a look.  The flat course winds through the nicest, most scenic parts of the city.  Check out lots of photos taken at the 2015 race.

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RACE PARTICIPATION UP SLIGHTLY IN 2025

Interest in running grew a little last year, using the total number of half marathon, marathon and ultramarathon finishers at Missouri races as our gauge. There were 32,957 finishers at such races in 2025, in Missouri, up 3% from 2024. It still falls 8% short of the 35,731 finishers in 2019--the last year before COVID reared its ugly head.

Will we ever see participation reach the record levels of the early/mid 2010s?  That's looking less and less likely as time goes on.   

Here's a graph for the years 2012 through 2025.  (Click on it for a larger image.)

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Weekend race results (January 1 - 4):

Lots of runners across the state crossed a finish line this past holiday weekend, although I didn't see the names of any Lake-area runners among them. (Similar to those first newborn baby of the year announcements, I'm always curious as to who among our locals will be the first to race in the new year. In 2025, it wasn't until January 26th that we finally crowned our first finisher.)

There were 1,670 total finishers at the five races held this past weekend. Here's the list, ranked by size.

Snowball Series 5K (St. Louis)	770
Hangover Half Marathon & 10K (Kansas City)	312
SHiTR Trail Race (Half/10K/5K/1M) (St. Louis)	274
Time Travel Half Marathon & 5K/10K (Parkville)	255
Doomsday 5K Trail Race (St. Louis)	59
Total	1,670

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