Gardner Takes 2nd at Chippewa 50km

The 2nd annual Chippewa 50km was another success. Mother Nature was especially kind to us as the rain held off and we dodged the previous day's mid 80's humidity and heat. The course was sweeter than a plate of pancakes with extra syrup. We had 150 starters and 142 finishers including 74 year old Dave O'Brien who got an early start to the morning and finished in 13hrs. The men's field was battle of Duluthians along with a mix of others. The lead pack of 5 were definitely pushing it hard all day and all of them looked pretty wrecked each time I saw them at an aid station. It was a matter of who would hold on the longest. Andy looked like a salt lick by the penultimate aid station with Chris closing the gap and picking off runners. There were a few lead exchanges all the way to the bitter end. Spectators get to see quite a bit of the finish unfold as they look down from a bluff onto the course. Andy came out of the trail head, meandering through frontage path and up the last big hill to the finish, which I added this year and seemed to be a crowd favorite! It is now dubbed by many as (T.F.H.) or That F&*%n Hill. My pre-race predictions called for a sub 4 finish, but even without snow the Ice Age trail lived up to its name once again by being very deceiving. It's never flat, anywhere. Andy bolted to the finish to just get under 4hrs. This was followed very closely by Chris who finished just a minute back and really made up some ground on the finishing stretch, just not enough realestate. Post-race included good eats, libations, and camaraderie. This was the 2nd race in the Fab5Fifites ultra series. Thank you to the runners, volunteers, sponsors, and of course the Ice Age Trail as we raised over $3,000 for the trail's maintenance, building, education and land acquisition. Results, pictures and report will be posted very soon in the race website.

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